Hindsight: The domino effect of the offensive line troubles

its funny. neither winston or briesel were immune to criticisms from texans fans last season. in the long run the texans made the right choice. we have a very good rookie in ben jones, who may have hit a wall, but he has the upside to stick and make an impact. Brooks might eventually take over for wade who only has 1 year left on his contract, he certainly has the size to make a nasty left side tandem with duane brown. now i believe the texans will continue to look to fill holes and create depth with mid to late rounders in the draft. even with the o-line struggles, it seems like we need 5 all-pros to keep matt effective.. the problem isnt the o-line.. its #8..

 

meh..

 

Andrew Lucks been getting his ass hammered all year long, yet he looked like a HOFer against us and our "Bulls on Parade" defense. Good teams find ways to win, normally on the shoulders of a play-maker QB, which we sadly do not have...

 

Truthfully, the original plan wasn't to replace it with youngsters, Caldwell is a third round pick that has been on the team for 4 or 5 seasons now, Butler has proven serviceable in the past replacing Brown at LT and being a back up swing tackle.

Couldn't pay Briesel (who was undrafted and won the starting RG spot) and with his contract season being now you had to see if Caldwell could be a starter full time instead of just rotating. Unfortunately, Caldwell proved not to be able to do it and eventually Ben Jones who wasn't even in the running for the spot at first beat him not unlike how Briesel did the year he was drafted. Ironically, we could really use a healthy Caldwell because Jones appears to have hit the rookie Wall and Brooks while showing flashes is also showing why they didn't have him on the field more earlier in the season.

Winston, they had to let go to keep Myers at center but it was Butler's job until he lost it at camp by not beating the 2nd year Newton completely. Newton seemed to have turned the corner until his injury in the Detroit game. Since then he is rotating again with Harris and both are getting beat from the looks of it.

It is a sort of domino effect, starting from that side but as any good offensive lineman will say they are a singular unit, so when one fails, they all do.

 

The edge rushers of the Colts were giving us hell last year. Duane Brown was beat just as bad as Newton Sunday.

As mentioned, Jones looks great for a rookie, especially coming from the mid rounds. Newton was also starting to get things done before banging his knee.

The reality is, you can't plug and play O-Linemen. Part of why our group was so great last season was because they had chemistry from playing together for a few years. Linemen need time to learn this system, and it's always critical to give them at least a full season to develop a rapport.

It sucks that we're retooling the line at the same time we're trying to win in the postseason, but our hands were forced by the ghosts of bad deals past. We honestly should count our blessings that we didn't lose Myers as well, and that the left side of the line stayed healthy this season.

Something I think is not getting enough mention is the loss of Dreesen. He was near elite as a block-first TE, and had the hands to be a serious contributor in the play action. With the team never truly replacing Vonta Leach, going into this season with a reworked right side, and a dropoff in TE blocking, it's all caught up with Kubiak and his system is sputtering.

Going into the draft, I'd definitely continue to look for a (swing) tackle and guard/center (Caldwell was poor as a starter both this season and last, Gardner is godawful, Harris looks lost and terrified half the time, and Brooks simply has to get into better shape if he is going to make it in a ZBS system)...but I think a bigger priority (not to mean early rounds) is digging up a stonewall blocking TE and a fulltime FB that can blast holes. I like Graham and Casey, don't want to lose them, but they don't qualify.

 

What the Texans want to do is be a contending team after the next couple of seasons. They have shown that they can get the right offensive lineman to fit their scheme. It is just about replacing the players and turning the wheel without rebuilding. We see it in the WR corps and in the offensive line. It is all about developing for the future while staying elite at the same time. If the three young lineman pan out, we will have a devastating line for years, combining with Brown and Myers (whom, sad to say, will be replaced in the near future as well).

 

It's not the oline, its schaub. All this analyzing and pontificating... Get a real qb.

 

The same Schaub that was playing very well during the first half of the season? Lots of factors why the Texans are a bad team now including Schaub.

 

O-Line chemistry was incredible last season. Not saying Brisiel and Winston were worth it but breaking up that chemistry was my biggest fear. With the problems we're having lately, I was right to be fearful..

 

Where, how, who? If Yates is not the successor, who is?

 

Games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage, it's true, look it up. With great line protection, schaub is a real qb--unless he's throwing to James Casey open over the middle...ok, there are several things wrong with the Texans, but it starts up front.

 

When you go deep in the playoffs and you start playing those elite teams, your QBs gonna have to make a few plays when the play breaks down or an Oline assignment is missed. Schaub cannot throw on the run, Schaub cannot escape a sack, Schaub cannot make the deep throws, Schaub is not good in the redzone, Schaub is the million dollar man who is supposed to lead this team to the promise land.

 

rather than trying to find a QB to match Brady/Manning (not happening), you develop an elite o-line so you can control time of possession and keep those guys off the field, and also allow an average QB like Schaub to have more success with play action

maybe it couldn't be helped, but our weakened o-line causes everything else to break down

 

every QB is going to suffer without a good line

look Brady last two playoff games:

against Ravens, he didnt had a good game, because the d-line of the Ravens was getting to him a lot, he only won the game, because of a drop of a WR and a FG miss.

against the Giants, again, the d-line was getting him a lot, and he lost the game.

 

Did the line change in the last 4 weeks?

So . . .at 11-1 they were just OVERCOMING the Line issue
and in the last 4 games. . .the line got worse and fell apart?

Rocket River

 

No, our line just dipped their play even more. Duane Brown had a rough stretch, along with Myers, who as we all know, usually play at the Pro Bowl level.

 

I'm more concerned about the effect of the line on the running game at this point. I think that's a problem.

 

You could say this about any facet of their team, RR. And, yes, for all sorts of reasons players and teams can regress.