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Yes, it will be an intimate affair when we meet to celebrate the Left Guard of the Past, Present and Future. Members must be steady in mind, strong in spirit and possibly stubborn.
Outside of Allen Barbre in four games last year, Colledge wears the mantle of Thompson's failure to get better then mediocre production (and mediocre consistency) out of his retooled offensive line. A second round pick, he was Thompson's highest O line pick until Bulaga this year. As such, he gets blame both deserved and undeserved, often for failures not of his own making.
People look to the line before almost any other position group on the Packer offense when it struggles, perhaps even more often than QB, now that Rodgers has two seasons of solid play. But the O Line has been better than advertised (it has been advertised as the O Line equivalent of the Maginot Line) and Colledge's strengths and weaknesses are misunderstood and in the case of the latter, overstated.
Colledge performed as the best lineman on a Packer's team in 2008 that allowed 34 sacks and was completely average running the football (14th in Att, 17th in Yards and 18th in Y/A). Of the team's starters, he may be the team's best run blocker (Barbre might be as good, but sources close to me have suggested that Rodgers will retire if he starts anywhere for the Packers again). This gets virtually no notice because both tackles struggle with the run game, one historically (Clifton) and both because age have made them less mobile and ill-suited to the ZBS cutoff blocks. That, and the Packer running backs are in the last 1/3rd of the league in getting second tier yards and going deep.
Few remember that the increased success of the Packer's run game in 2009 often came from plays right behind Colledge. He also shares credit with Sitton for increased success in Power situations, as witnessed by the curious but continued success of the fantabulous fullback dive. The Packers best running plays were up between the guards (4.71 Adjusted Line Yards-Football Outsiders), with the only greater results coming from runs to Right End (4.86 ALY) which defies explanation and must have happened when a seismic tremor caused the defense to fall down. Often. Only on runs to the Right End.
That he has largely solved his first year weakness (run blocking) is usually ignored to focus on his continued difficulty with anchoring (he can be bull rushed) and the occasional whiff on a stunt or quick pass rusher. It is the latter technique issue that is maddening because Colledge has pass blocked well against quick DTs (Justin Tuck) and if his only pass blocking flaw was anchoring, he would be performing similar to the previous longstanding LG Mike Wahle.
But it is worth noting that a significant percentage of Colledge's worst performances last year were while at Left Tackle. Its clear now that he is not ready for LT and some percentage of his midseason struggle moving back to guard can likely be attributed to the adjustment. More importantly, while Barbre was behaving like a turnstile at the beginning of the year, Clifton struggled as well. With Rodgers on skates, a lot of lineman gave up sacks on unexpected change of direction as pass rushers redirected to chase the shuffling Rodgers.
Once Lang, then Tauscher stabilized RT and Clifton got healthy at LT, the entire line pass blocked better. If Colledge had continued to be the sieve he has been made out to be, Rodgers sack numbers would not have fallen as dramatically. Its also worth noting that a change in game plan (and in Rodgers assignments at the LOS) also affected the rate of sacks. In this environment, its difficult to assess how much Colledge regressed in pass blocking. While everyone will remember the pressure he gave up on the last play of the playoff game, that single play, nor his time at LT, should define his season.
You read it here first, at what might be the only single Rat fan club on this board, Colledge will be at LG in 2010, ahead of Spitz, Lang and Newhouse.
Outside of Allen Barbre in four games last year, Colledge wears the mantle of Thompson's failure to get better then mediocre production (and mediocre consistency) out of his retooled offensive line. A second round pick, he was Thompson's highest O line pick until Bulaga this year. As such, he gets blame both deserved and undeserved, often for failures not of his own making.
People look to the line before almost any other position group on the Packer offense when it struggles, perhaps even more often than QB, now that Rodgers has two seasons of solid play. But the O Line has been better than advertised (it has been advertised as the O Line equivalent of the Maginot Line) and Colledge's strengths and weaknesses are misunderstood and in the case of the latter, overstated.
Colledge performed as the best lineman on a Packer's team in 2008 that allowed 34 sacks and was completely average running the football (14th in Att, 17th in Yards and 18th in Y/A). Of the team's starters, he may be the team's best run blocker (Barbre might be as good, but sources close to me have suggested that Rodgers will retire if he starts anywhere for the Packers again). This gets virtually no notice because both tackles struggle with the run game, one historically (Clifton) and both because age have made them less mobile and ill-suited to the ZBS cutoff blocks. That, and the Packer running backs are in the last 1/3rd of the league in getting second tier yards and going deep.
Few remember that the increased success of the Packer's run game in 2009 often came from plays right behind Colledge. He also shares credit with Sitton for increased success in Power situations, as witnessed by the curious but continued success of the fantabulous fullback dive. The Packers best running plays were up between the guards (4.71 Adjusted Line Yards-Football Outsiders), with the only greater results coming from runs to Right End (4.86 ALY) which defies explanation and must have happened when a seismic tremor caused the defense to fall down. Often. Only on runs to the Right End.
That he has largely solved his first year weakness (run blocking) is usually ignored to focus on his continued difficulty with anchoring (he can be bull rushed) and the occasional whiff on a stunt or quick pass rusher. It is the latter technique issue that is maddening because Colledge has pass blocked well against quick DTs (Justin Tuck) and if his only pass blocking flaw was anchoring, he would be performing similar to the previous longstanding LG Mike Wahle.
But it is worth noting that a significant percentage of Colledge's worst performances last year were while at Left Tackle. Its clear now that he is not ready for LT and some percentage of his midseason struggle moving back to guard can likely be attributed to the adjustment. More importantly, while Barbre was behaving like a turnstile at the beginning of the year, Clifton struggled as well. With Rodgers on skates, a lot of lineman gave up sacks on unexpected change of direction as pass rushers redirected to chase the shuffling Rodgers.
Once Lang, then Tauscher stabilized RT and Clifton got healthy at LT, the entire line pass blocked better. If Colledge had continued to be the sieve he has been made out to be, Rodgers sack numbers would not have fallen as dramatically. Its also worth noting that a change in game plan (and in Rodgers assignments at the LOS) also affected the rate of sacks. In this environment, its difficult to assess how much Colledge regressed in pass blocking. While everyone will remember the pressure he gave up on the last play of the playoff game, that single play, nor his time at LT, should define his season.
You read it here first, at what might be the only single Rat fan club on this board, Colledge will be at LG in 2010, ahead of Spitz, Lang and Newhouse.
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