The OL is Significantly Improved

I think we all need to look at the OL and start to recognize the significant improvement across the board on the OL.

Last night the Bears OL played against one of the best DLs in the NFL and a unit that led the NFL in sacks with 22.

Last night the Eagles OL not only did not get a sack they were not credited with a HIT on Jay Cutler.

I felt Lance Louis was dominant at RT and physically beat up Jason Babin.

I also felt that J'Marcus Webb did a very nice job of shutting down a premiere pass rusher in Trent Cole.

This OL has improved and now they also have the 2nd leading rusher in the NFL and physically mauled the Eagles OL in the run game.

I applaud them, hell of an effort

I thought they played really, really well. They have made improvements but let's not anoint them yet-we still have Det to see if the improvement is retained. I can only see Louis getting better at this point. I can't see him going back to guard.

The OL started to gel at the end of last year, but seemed to have lost any of that momentum with the loss of the offseason. Now that they seem to be gelling again, it'll be interesting to see how well they do as the season progresses and also next year after a full offseason schedule. I've seen some people in the past few weeks joke about the idea that Tice is one of the best (if not the best) OL coaches in the league. But, considering the youth, inexperience and lack of talent he's had to work with, I'd say he's doing an admirable job.

Anyone else notice that when they went to an empty backfield, the offense was still running smoothly, as opposed to earlier in the year, when it was a guaranteed sack or incompletion?

Tremendous improvement by the OLine. That right side with Louis and Spencer was just dominating Philly. Louis is a stud. He's strong as an ox and he's got some attitude and a little nastiness to him. More then once he just shoved Babin right to the ground and on another bull rush he actually lifted him right of the ground. Tice we right about him. He is an exceptional pass blocker I'm just wondering why we never saw that out of him at OG.

CWill and Spencer are getting out in front of those outside sweeps and tosses to the right so well that it reminds me of that old power sweep the Packers used to run back in the Lombardi era. You knew they were gonna run it and you still couldn't stop them and that's just the way it looked last night. A bad run was still picking up 5-6 yards.

Garza has done all you could have expected from him this year. What's kind of interesting is that he's a RG and Spencer is the OC and their flip flopped but both playing better ball than they do at their usual positions. Even J'Marcus Webb played a good game. His pass blocking was effective and I watched make some nice run blocks too. Even Kellen Davis got into the act with his blocking.

Got give Tice his due. This line was a patchwork quilt when the season began and right now they're kicking some serious ass as run blockers and holding up well as pass blockers. It also makes a huge difference that Cutler has been given the freedom to be himself and move around back there. No more 7 step drops where he just sets up as a target for the rush. Sometimes I think he throws even better on the move.

They were so bad, they had nowhere to go but up.

It if very cold in hell right now. lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimmors

They were so bad, they had nowhere to go but up.

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That's true, but that makes it sound like they still suck. They didn't just play well relative to their play earlier in the season. They played well period. We don't know if they'll be consistent yet, but for last night's game, they were good.

There are a few things before we have a top flight O-line:

1) Dump Omiyale, there are others out there ANYWHERE who would be better to improve line depth

2) Fully healed Carimi, I don't want Columbo 2.0 out there. I want the guy fully fit before he finds a place on the line

3) Draft a OG HIGH in the draft, the competition alone will help drive improvement, improve depth, and insure we won't have games like the Giants last year or the recent Lions debaccle.

4) Another blocking TE. The addition of FB Clutts and Spaeth is a reason for the improvement. K.Davis isn't that great of a blocker and we need another threat after Olsen was traded.

5) Continued improvement throughout the season. If these guys start to peak towards the end of the season it can safely be said that the line is above average. Which looked impossible to say earlier.