OG Competition

[HarveyWallbangers]

It almost seems like most of you are surprised by the piss poor performance of the O-line in the first pre season game. Why? Didn't most of us agree that the O-line was the biggest question mark going into this season? I for one went on at least 10 drunken rants about our need to fix the problem during the offseason, above everything else. Now, the problem was certainly addressed in the draft, which is good. It was not even blinked at however, in free agency. So how can we be suprised that two rookie guards didn't perform well in their first live action against an unfamaliar foe? I was dissapointed, but definitly not surprised. Now, as many of you have said, it is very early. Give the kids some patience....it was their first time. How good were you your first time?

Good point. What's discouraging to me though is that apparently the coaches expected more and have been willing to bench Daryn Colledge already. Now, Moll sounds like he's playing so bad that Colledge will be gifted the job back, but I would expect a coaching staff who expected growing pains wouldn't have benched him so quick.

[woodbuck27]

It almost seems like most of you are surprised by the piss poor performance of the O-line in the first pre season game. Why? Didn't most of us agree that the O-line was the biggest question mark going into this season? I for one went on at least 10 drunken rants about our need to fix the problem during the offseason, above everything else. Now, the problem was certainly addressed in the draft, which is good. It was not even blinked at however, in free agency. So how can we be suprised that two rookie guards didn't perform well in their first live action against an unfamaliar foe? I was dissapointed, but definitly not surprised. Now, as many of you have said, it is very early. Give the kids some patience....it was their first time. How good were you your first time?

Good point. What's discouraging to me though is that apparently the coaches expected more and have been willing to bench Daryn Colledge already. Now, Moll sounds like he's playing so bad that Colledge will be gifted the job back, but I would expect a coaching staff who expected growing pains wouldn't have benched him so quick.

Three reasons:

A wake up call for Colledge. To test MOLL's REAL progress, and look for depth on the OL with what is available.

[Bretsky]

It almost seems like most of you are surprised by the piss poor performance of the O-line in the first pre season game. Why? Didn't most of us agree that the O-line was the biggest question mark going into this season? I for one went on at least 10 drunken rants about our need to fix the problem during the offseason, above everything else. Now, the problem was certainly addressed in the draft, which is good. It was not even blinked at however, in free agency. So how can we be suprised that two rookie guards didn't perform well in their first live action against an unfamaliar foe? I was dissapointed, but definitly not surprised. Now, as many of you have said, it is very early. Give the kids some patience....it was their first time. How good were you your first time?

Good point. What's discouraging to me though is that apparently the coaches expected more and have been willing to bench Daryn Colledge already. Now, Moll sounds like he's playing so bad that Colledge will be gifted the job back, but I would expect a coaching staff who expected growing pains wouldn't have benched him so quick.

Three reasons:

A wake up call for Colledge. To test MOLL's REAL progress, and look for depth on the OL with what is available.

GOT BAD NEWS

We have to have starters before we look for depth.


Cheers,
B

[BooHoo]

I think we all need to recollect something ... something overlooked in this thread ... something essential regarding our o-line ... something that all of us who watched and rewatched and rewatched Saturday's game came to the conclusion of ...


The guards play against the Chargers was not that great, however, Clifton and Tauscher had very subpar games, and they and the RB's were mostly at fault in the plays that are etched in our memorys from Saturday. The plays in which our QB's were sacked and running for their lives. Henderson, Clifton, and Taushcer, and Coston were literally thrown backwards a few times. And those plays were the ones that ended up with the worst results.

We all KNOW that Clifton, Tauscher, and Hendo are actually very good at their respective positions. Right?

So, what am I getting at? Well, it seems to me that if MM and TT saw this, they would have to come to the conclusion that LEARNING THIS NEW SYSTEM OF BLOCKING is as much, if not more to blame for the o-lines failure than the amount of talent we have at X position. Are you still with me here? I mean, if not, then explain to me why these very good experienced players had just as bad a game as the rookies.

So, with this train of thought, is it really that big of a deal that they just want to give Moll his fair shake Saturday? Both these guys are rookies so why not see what Moll can do out there. Colledge didn't do anything extraordinary to solidify the position, so maybe they just want to see what they have in Tony, before rushing to judgement that Colledge will fare better. But, I find it hard to believe that they suddenly think that Colledge CANNOT perform at left guard. How could they possibly come to that conclusion when our tackles and Hendo were less than impressive also.

I might be way off here, but I don't think this is the coaches giving up on Colledge, I think it is just a natural progression of preseason. Also, I thought that Spitz was more impressive than Colledge, so it makes sense to move him to left guard. Maybe this was the first thing they discussed, and then thought, well hell, if we are switching our left guard to right and right guard to left, why not throw Moll in there to see what he's got while we're at it?

One thing that IS a fact. NOBODY on that line played well, and as backwards as this may sound, that actually makes me feel good about the situation, becuase we know our tackles can play, so how can we dis the guards without dissing them too. I think we are in better shape than it looked Saturday.

Some very good points. I guess even good veterans have problems learning a new system. This is only the first game so we don't have to cut our throats. More time for the team to learn the system.