O-line not lost to Rivera (or maybe it is)

[Pup McBarky]

49 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

I tend to agree, and I hope so. But honestly at this point who is best.  Larsen?

I think he's obviously the best OG option, but for whatever reason, that doesn't seem to be an option for our coaches. It's not like he couldn't just slide over if something happened to Kalil. I also think one of the rookies would probably be better than Amini, but I don't have the advantage of seeing actual film. Amini appears to be a really bad guard, but he's obviously doing something the coaches like. But for the life of me, I can't figure out what it is.

[Hoenheim]

53 minutes ago, mc52beast said:

Wow, it’s 2018 and we’re still talking about how sorry the o-line is. You would think that a competent coach and GM would have figured out how to put together a decent line by now.

I hate this poo too. Some of the same problems have persisted throughout  the entire Cam/Rivera era of the Panthers. 

[CPF4LIFE]

2 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

Anyone who thinks they know more about the state of the team than than Rivera is a fool.

If that was the case the team wouldnt be so up and down since he has been here. 

[Tbe]

2 hours ago, countryboi said:

Ron is trying to make play the hand he is dealt. He has to know the line is trash, but at all the answers suck. Personally I would be giving Larsen the reps at LG but I don’t coach anything

Yeah, You have to think that option has been explored. Regardless, we all know R. Kalil is going to get hurt and miss a few games. Think what happens then.

[t96]

1 hour ago, top dawg said:

What? That the current state of the O-line is largely due to decisions that Gettleman made, the least of which is to give Matt Kalil an absolutely ridiculous contract---probably the worst in franchise history, even topping Delhommes's last contract. Or, the fact that Gettleman made luxury picks and failed to anchor the LT spot, or really even put the right Band-Aid on it while his franchise QB was running for his life. 

Don't act like everything is black and white. Hurney 1.0 did his dirt, but Gettleman was far from the picture of perfection---the myth that is hard to die around here. 

Were Oher's freak concussion issues DG's fault? Kalil was terrible terrible terrrible, yes, but I suspect JR's meddling had something to do with that. Oh and DG acquired 3 all pros from draft/UDFA on our line... Hmm...

[thefuzz]

Our "bad O line" has a lot to do with scheme, and the QB.

The scheme is bad, period.  Hopefully CMC, Samuel, and Moore can help out a bit with this.

Cam likes to hold the ball, our WR's have had trouble getting separation, and teams have figured out that Cam and his crew aren't great against the blitz.

I do not think that Cam can't beat the blitz, but I do think our scheme has made it harder to do so.

 

Also, to add.  Anyone who thinks that DG didn't do a good job with the line doesn't understand football, the salary cap, or injuries.

[The Lobo]

Didn’t ppl think our line would suck in 2015? I’m not saying it will be the same this year, but maybe once games start they will surprise us.

[CarolinaNCSU]

My one hope with the OL is that Tepper wants return on his product, Hurney wants to keep his job, and RR knows he can't be safe for long either.  If we come out shitting the bed in the preseason, I'd expect trades to be explored in a hurry. 

[Ricky Spanish]

A few things:

There are only like, 3 or 4 teams in the NFL who's fanbases actually like their O-lines these days. O-Line play has dropped off significantly since the last lockout due to the rise of the spread offense in college and the limited amount of practice reps with pads that the young guys get now. There was an article in the offseason about the dropoff in O-Line play, I suggest some read it.

Secondly, aside from 2016 when the entire line minus Norwell died, and 2014 when Rivera was starting Amini over Norwell and GMan provided us with the once in a generation talent of Byron Bell to be our LT, our line has been average to above average believe it or not. I know a lot don't want to believe it, but it's true. Shula has been the #1 reason they have looked as bad as they did. 

Thirdly, getting rid of Gross, and Smitty, while hurting us in the short term and caused many butts to be hurt, freed up the money to extend Luke and Cam to long term deals... which is a good thing long term, at least in my opinion.

Lastly, those who bitch and moan about how our O-Line sucks have never been able to provide a respectable answer about who Gettleman should have signed/drafted in the place of those we had in the rounds where we did take some (other than Whitworth over Kalil, which I will completely agree with everyone who said that because I never wanted Matt to begin with) that would not have hurt us as we attempted to get out of the Cap hell that Hurney originally put us in. In that same time frame he was able to find all pros in the 3rd, 4th, and UDFA... not bad. Which is why I ultimately feel like it was Shula's failure to scheme around his weak areas. 

So just a little bit of perspective on the O-Line. There's really no one out there that can improve our line right now unfortunately. We are going to roll with who we have, but we all need to agree that Amini should not be the starting LG. We've seen that episode before. It sucks and something better should be available, like Larsen, Sirles, or even the UDFA dude we just signed.

[Ace_Aladdin]

3 hours ago, top dawg said:

I've seen a lot of insinuation that Rivera is simply and completely clueless about the O-line problems, but Tim Weaver of USA Today reported a little "gem" I hadn't heard---not saying that it hasn't been reported, but I hadn't heard about it, which probably means others missed it too.

 

"On Thursday, the normally cool Rivera snapped on the unit for its lack of progress and even dropped an F-bomb in the bargain. The offensive line may turn out to be Carolina’s Achilles heel this season."

 

Now most of us know there is something called coach-speak (where the coach says one thing in public, but is really thinking another), and though I don't know for sure what's rolling around in Rivera's dome, I suggest that he's not as clueless---or maybe even as steadfast in his belief that vets must play---as many in the Huddle think. 

In any event, whether Rivera is clueless, or simply maneuvering the hand that he has been dealt, let's hope that the the savior of our O-line doesn't just chill, but comes to r rescue...

 

 

OK, folks, the last line is admittedly a tad corny, but more than what it seems:

Achilles - chill + r = Ares

 

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2018/08/04/panthers-2018-training-camp-10-takeaways-from-fan-fest/7/

 

This will solve all the issues. 

[top dawg]

1 hour ago, stbugs said:

No it isn’t. The biggest hole on the line isn’t LT. It’s LG and Hurney had plenty of chances to address. He had time before Norwell’s last year to extend him and had the best G draft maybe ever and we have Amini.

So tiring defending a GM who isn’t here over a position that isn’t our biggest issue. RT isn’t as much of an issue because thankfully we have Moton. C isn’t as much of an issue thankfully we have Larsen who’s played a ton the past two years for Ryan. LG is an issue because Hurney didn’t foresee the one injury and we are in trouble scenario. Just like he fuged up with WRs last year. I was thinking he had done a great job this offseason but I wasn’t as happy with rounds 2/3 and all the trading down. Jackson and Gaulden may be decent and I hope they are all pros but if you told me Amini had a chance to start, I have to go in a different direction or use one of my two 2019 3rd rounders to make sure I get one of the top guards, most who slipped to the 2nd. 

Competent guards are easier to find than left tackles, and a guard doesn't have to have the same skills as an LT. Moreover, that's why they aren't historically drafted as highly, paid as highly, and overall valued as highly within the concept of building a team. I would argue that it's easier to land a decent guard than cornerback or safety also.

An elite LT, or even.a good one, in Super Bowl XL may have made all the difference in the world.

One good reason why we couldn't keep a premiere OG in the game is because we already had one, and teams don't usually invest that type of money in OGs. But even if we had desired to gamble and buck that thought, Matt Kalil's supremely idiotic contract took that possibility away.

Now we can nitpick and second guess about the draft, but at this point we don't know how things will turn out for that draft class. Just because a player looks to be good on paper doesn't mean that they will be on the field, and that's why we have to trust that our GM, coaches and scouts make the best decisions in fitting with the puzzle of building a competitive team on a yearly basis. They're able to see everything. We're not. So it's kind of hard to be overly critical in August. At least we tried to address areas of weakness as opposed to making luxury picks at positions of strength.

 

[top dawg]

1 hour ago, t96 said:

Were Oher's freak concussion issues DG's fault? Kalil was terrible terrible terrrible, yes, but I suspect JR's meddling had something to do with that. Oh and DG acquired 3 all pros from draft/UDFA on our line... Hmm...

Oher was not the savior, but he was a good try. If Kalil had gotten Oher's deal, I would be noticeably less critical of G-man. I still wouldn't think he was great though (G-man, not Oher...but Oher too). He did a decent job of identifying some talent, but he crapped the bed at other aspects of his job which took him squarely back into average territory. 

[top dawg]

43 minutes ago, Ace_Aladdin said:

 

This will solve all the issues. 

This is beyond old and tired.  

[xav8tor]

1 hour ago, The Lobo said:

Didn’t ppl think our line would suck in 2015? 

I sure didn't. It was just the way I like 'em.

Thanks.

Signed,

Von