It was about changing the vets on the line. Culture. Tunsil was a problem, not a leader. He was worried about himself and not how the others performed.
The best 3 players for the Texans were the 2 WRs and the Tackle sandwiched between. The value of those WRs were the key.
They have enough competition. Now it is up to scheme anc coaching. Outside evaluation basically said Slowik didn't know who to fix the protection issues and it implied that he wouldn't allow CJ to adjust the protection at the line of scrimmage. All this is changing. The Texans are not dumb.
We just disagree. I don't think drafting another versatile guard/tackle would have been a wasted pick. Not sure I buy all that other stuff, but everyone has their own opinions. The first year they blamed it on player injuries, even though they didn't do any better with the starters to begin with. If it was just Slowik, and nothing to do with player talent, then letting him coach a second year, and watching Stroud take sack after sack after sack after sack after sack after sack throughout the entire season wasn't exactly smart. That being said, I didn't like Slowik, and wanted him fired well before the season ended. We went backwards offensively, even with Mixon to add more power to our rushing game. Stroud was getting spooked, rattled, and sacked, and we made it look damn near impossible to score in the red zone. So, yeah, at least our play calling should get better.
The first thing the Patriots/Chiefs did was put together the best oline possible around Patrick/Brady. The oline can make or break a offense. We had the worst offense line out of any top team and we have less talent now than we had last year. We're all drinking the kool-aid that suddenly Fisher/Scruggs are going to turn into all stars when they were garbage all last season. I sincerely hope I'm wrong but the oline is going to kill us this year. We dont have the talent
I hope we are both wrong, but my gut just isn't giving me that vibe that we are going to have a really good offensive line this year. You know, the kinds of lines that make great holes for their running backs and give their quarterbacks more time to let plays develop before launching that ball. The type of offensive line that makes scoring in the red zone much easier. That's what I'd love to see. I'll hope for the best. That's all I can do.
I love the top 3 we drafted. I would have liked to have gotten a G with our 4th pick but oh well. As I said previously, that's all ancient history now. I'd like to believe that we can compete for the AFC title with our OL. Watching Philly demolish K.C.'s OL in the Super Bowl certainly demonstrated the need for a quality OL.
I remember when Nick picked Juice Scruggs in the 2nd round. Juice was at Penn State for five seasons. He was named third-team all B1G, but Nick used a 2nd on him? That was a head-scratcher then and I don't see Juice as anything more than a backup C/G. Last year Nick used a 2nd on Blake Fisher, who was awful. I DO believe that Aireontae Ersery will perform much better in his rookie season than did Blake Fisher.
Slowik didn't adjust, the league did. If you don't consistently update your scheme, the league will eat you alive. Exactly what happened.
My hope for OL... sign Blake Schreff on Monday,,, then LT Cam - LG Ersery - C Patterson / Scruggs - RG Schreff - RT Howard I have shifted from playing Schreff at LG to his traditional RG I am in the camp that believed Howard was better at RT (than LG)... screw PFF... I know what I saw Swing tackle: Trent Brown or Blake IOL depth: Tomlinson + Scruggs / Patterson + Ingram That's 10 OL.... still on the fence about Ingram (but I like his tenacity). I would also be amenable to signing Hernandez at LG & putting Ersery at RG (prolly the better option)
Sure. But ideally you’d like to see them upgrade or at the very least replace with equal talent then. Hope I’m wrong but I don’t think they did either here.
The WR's are better and as a group deeper. They've added a bunch of big veteran dudes to the OL. I expect the OL to be much better next yr, due to competition amongst the OL positions.
Agree on the WRs and because the bar is so low, I have zero doubt the OL will be better. We just gotta keep in mind the two rookie WRs may not burst out of the gates early and some patience may be needed.
