Thread: Emery and the Oline

I think it is really easy. Emery came in knowing he has to work 1 year with Lovie. He was told that he is not allowed to fire him right away and has to give him a chance. Lovies only chance was to win in the POs.
Emery is a smart football guy. Something I really like. He knows what it takes and sees talent. If those players are able to reach their potential is on a different paper. Just like KDavis. He was able to make a few great catches over the last 2 years. Catches that make you think he could be that TE we need and want in the Redzone. His consitency is bad and he made more wrong than right. Thats why I expect Emery to trade Davis.

Now coming to the OLine.
We really had limited Cap Space last offseason. Needed to see whos available and see what we need.
We all agreed that we need a backup that won't lose us games like Hanie did. We all knew that with Forte and the FT, we need a RB that is more a 1b than a clear #2 who won't amount to nothing like Barber and Taylor did. Bell wasn't enough and we knew it (and like me just were blended by some good yardage numbers).
Getting another Pass Rusher was what we wanted and needed. Nobody knew that Wooton would end up this good in pass rush. I, for one, expected Izzy to decline a bit in his production. He didn't. Now we are at the draft and needed a Pass Rusher. A guy that played as LB and DE.

We all wanted a #1 WR too. We did get our #1 WR + that #2 we missed. Emery did a great job of filling the holes on our Roster. You just can't fix all the holes in one offseason.


Emery was told by Tice and Lovie that the OLine is fine. We got Carimi back who could be seen as acquisition and he got a UDFA who was ranked as 3rd or 4th rounder. He did pick him up.

I'm not sure what to expect out of this years offseason. Not sure about our biggest need and the priority we have to look at. I'd love us to get a proven RT and LG. On the other side, I'd want to give Brown another chance as LG and want to see if Louis can come back. If not, Carimi could take his RG spot. Carimi as Swing Tackle wouldn't be that bad too. A guy like Vollmer will not get as much money as a guy like Long and he could fix our RT problems.
If we stay with our 4-3 we need a new MLB for sure. If we switch to a 3-4, we need a DT for sure.

I believe that last spring going into both FA and the draft Emery realized our problems were at OT and that there were no great finds to be had in FA. The problem was that there were no viable LT prospects when we drafted and no better RT prospects than we already had with a 1st round pick already invested in Carimi.

OG and OC weren't in all that bad of shape. Garza was a pro bowl alternate, Louis would be returning to RG, Spencer had played fairly well there last year, and we had CWill for a LG. The problems began when we moved CWill to OT and tried to make a LG out of Spencer who proved again that he can only play on one side of that line.

Scott was added after the grand LT experiment took place and Rachal had plenty of potential and still does physically but he's never applied himself enough mentally and obviously he has some other psychological issues as well.

The bottom line is there wasn't much that could be done and for whatever reason Tices confidence that he could make it work with the guys he had won out. There is some talent there. Even Tom Thayer commented on that last summer but they play a poor scheme and they are totally uncoordinated as far as playing together. Injuries have played some part in that but the rest is just poor coaching. That's gonna change as much of more than personnel will.

Webb will stick around for now, Carimi is a lock to stay at least one more year too and Scott earned a shot at sticking too. Louis is solid if that knee injury heals and he's back to normal. The guy was playing at a pro bowl level before he got hurt. Garza and a LG are what we need to focus on. That and probably Spencer being replaced by Brown.

We don't need an all pro line to succeed. Mediocre will do but this year we didn't even have that most games. Two addition, one at LT and another inside along with a better scheme and better coaching should get it done.

The oline problem spans years. That is one reason fans are crazy-angry about the lack of addressing it. Emery inherited a mess, not only the oline but a team that was a combination of aging vets and too much mediocre talent.

Emery couldn't possibly fix all of that in one off-season.

The offense will not reach its full potential until we put a rock-solid offensive line on the field. This is one of the personnel investments that pays dividends for years - maximizing the play of ALL of our skill players. It's going to pay huge dividends in the run game. It's going to pay huge dividends in the passing game. It will allow us to not have to max protect which really hurt us this year. It will make Cutler a better QB not having to have the happy-feet and the fear-factor of getting brutalized (which translates into poor QB play). It will pay huge dividends to our DEFENSE too. Being able to move the chains, keep drives alive, fewer 3-and-outs, etc which translates into our defense getting not getting gassed at times. Sometimes your best defense is having a solid offense.

I am really excited about getting a decent oline in Chicago. We will be a far better team.

Lovie never appreciated the importance of having a good offensive line. In the end, it was a big contributing factor to his crap offenses, and ultimately to his downfall in Chicago.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Score is saying that there is A LOT of chatter from HH saying that Carimi spent all year on one leg, that he never fully recovered and this was not indicative of what they expect from him.

Also I find it interesting that Scott did not give up one sack when he was in there. Seems to me that we have RT and it's depth locked up(Scott/Carimi/Webb as swing), And I think we only need depth at G w/Louis and Brown, and Carimi. Ya we need LT taken care of, and we need C depth but I think the OL is going to be better off next year then we think it will be, and w/out as much attention.

If Carimi's injury was that bad (and I'm not doubting that may have been the case) then he should not have been playing. He absolutely killed us in some of those games.