Originally Posted by
weneedmorelinemen
You said:
"Anyone notice how the last 2 years the line has been playing pretty good by this point in the season? This season they are still struggling, not a coincidence."
This statement is false. It's so wrong I feel it is necessary to explain to you how wrong it is.
The offensive line at this point in 2010 was terrible. Tice had misevaluated everyone. He had originally gone into the season with Omiyale as the RT, where history has shown he can only play backup left tackle. He had Shaffer as the swing tackle, where his time with the Browns had shown he did not have what it took to play LT at any level other than "liability". This was showcased in the Cowboys game for one brief series. When he was hired, he thought Asiata was going to be our LG until three weeks before the season. He cut poor Johan and was forced to move Garza over where he was terrible. The line was horrific, and this time in the 2010 season we had just gotten a chance to watch Chris Williams being used to sack Jay Cutler. We were still reeling from the 10 sack Giants game. Do not point to our record as proof the line was good enough. 56 sacks and 92 QB hits is proof our line was terrible.
2011 was no different. We were murdered by our poor tackle situation. J'Marcus Webb was promoted to LT before he was ready. Again, Tice thought Omiyale could cover swing tackle duties as both RT and LT after Carimi went down when he has shown he cannot play RT. He had to move Louis who never played RT over to cover for that error. Maybe he figured Carimi would be more durable and was not a risk. At this point in the season we were 4-3 with 21 sacks already. The only reason this number was not higher was because of Cutler's ability to move, and this point was proven once Cutler went down we could not protect Hanie at all. We ended the season with 49 sacks and 87 hits. That's not a good line.
By the way, I'm not arguing if Tice is an awesome OL coach. I'm arguing your point of saying at this point in the season our line looked good. I do get a kick out of posters keep saying Tice is a genius o-line coach. it makes me laugh. His line is looking better now with him as the OC. Granted, the badness of our line these past few years is hugely due to the level of talent. But it was Tice who thought Webb was ready to play RT as a rookie, and LT in 2011. He's made some good decisions too. I don't want to take away the things he has done right. But he's not a genius line coach.