Scrutinize the O-line

[top dawg]

IMHO, the Huddle has overlooked the horrible play of our offensive line in favor of bashing our suspect QBs and WRs. To be honest, we have really not been able to fully judge our QBs or WRs (especially our newly acquired talent) because they are suffering from a Pavlov's dogs type of effect. Our QBs have been hurried and hammered each quarter (particularly the first), by blitzing beasts with bad intentions. Neither Moore nor Clausen have felt comfortable enough in the pocket to effectively and consistently get the ball into the hands of our young and inexperienced receivers. The result is that the entire offense loses confidence, and the fans lose perspective.

Now this is not to say that an ineffective O-line causes a QB to misread the defense, and/or throw into double and triple coverage. The O-line doesn't make a receiver drop a catchable ball. But, bad play of the O-line can cloud good judgment of one's general assessment of the offense (or parts thereof).

Of course I am sure that us knowledgeable Huddlers feel that we already understand this dynamic of football, and perhaps we do, but a reminder to judge within the context of the success, or lack thereof, of our O-line will hopefully help our emotional stability and objectivity in these tough times.

A bad O-line can make an otherwise good offense look bad, but a good O-line can't make an otherwise bad offense look good.

It's the intelligent football fan that strives to discern between the two.

[rayzor]

5 can't block 8 or 9. doesn't matter how good they are it can't be done. also, teams are blitzing just about every down from every angle. it's just too much for the Oline to handle.

[Ricky Spanish]

I know how our QBs feel now.

My flag football team didn't have any of our offensive lineman for our game yesterday. I am QB and i literally had 1 second to throw every time.

granted the guys chasing me are skinny white guys not 300 pound giants, and contact is not allowed, but it's still frustrating.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

5 can't block 8 or 9. doesn't matter how good they are it can't be done. also, teams are blitzing just about every down from every angle. it's just too much for the Oline to handle.

funny, they've been doing it since 2008.

short term memory has caused people to forget that the oline was handling situations like this with relative ease at the tail end of last season.

it wasn't the passing game that made the run possible last season, it was the other way around....moore and clausen will continue to suck until the oline gets it's act together. neither one of them is a QB who can carry a team without a good rushing attack.

travelle wharton said it best in an article on panthers.com...

"We're going to see that from here on out," left guard Travelle Wharton said. "But for us, we just have to win our individual battles. If we can do that, we've got running backs that can run past people or run over people."

the rest...

the line has made it a bad habit of starting off slow at the beginning of the season...just like in the past, sooner or later they'll get their act together and stop getting blown up as soon as the ball snaps.

[top dawg]

5 can't block 8 or 9. doesn't matter how good they are it can't be done. also, teams are blitzing just about every down from every angle. it's just too much for the Oline to handle.

Even if I give the O-line a pass, I still can't totally blame our inexperienced QBs and WRs. The experienced O-line is supposed to be a strength of the team. Now I will concede that calling proper plays to alleviate the pressure and/or keep defenses honest perhaps has more to do with a failure of coaching/play calling, but whether it be a veteran O-line or seasoned coaches, their going to have a bigger burden to tow the line than QBs running for their lives, or WRs that don't have an appreciable amount of opportunities to get the ball.

[Fiz]

can't i hate everything on offense?

by the way football outsiders ranks the panthers as the 5th best defense lmbo

[rayzor]

funny, they've been doing it since 2008.

short term memory has caused people to forget that the oline was handling situations like this with relative ease at the tail end of last season.

it wasn't the passing game that made the run possible last season, it was the other way around....moore and clausen will continue to suck until the oline gets it's act together. neither one of them is a QB who can carry a team without a good rushing attack.

travelle wharton said it best in an article on panthers.com...

the rest...

the line has made it a bad habit of starting off slow at the beginning of the season...just like in the past, sooner or later they'll get their act together and stop getting blown up as soon as the ball snaps.

it isn't the same thing. they were stacking the box. now they are blitzing in constantly on every down. pretty different. the only team that didn't do that was the saints. they saved their blitzing for 3rd downs.

other than that game, though, defenses have been doing it differently. wharton is right. they are going to keep seeing it more this year. they are going to keep seeing what they have been seeing this year which is different than what they have seen previous years. they will keep seeing it because it works and the offense hasn't been able to capitalize on the opportunities the defense is giving them. you figure out how to get receivers the ball consistently and defenses will stop what they are doing.

from that same article you linked...

"We're going to keep seeing that until can we get them to respect us a little bit more in the passing game," center Ryan Kalil said. "We had some explosive plays the last couple of seasons that made people respect that, but we haven't been decent in the passing game (this season)."

the passing game not working is what is keeping the run game from not working. it doesn't matter how many times you run the ball, its going to get shut down before you have a chance to get anywhere because they can afford to throw everything they have at it. smith (when he isn't hurt) can't beat double coverage anymore and our only other receiver on the field can't shake his single coverage. the QB can't get the job done and can't handle the pressure.

it's the passing game that is going to open up the run game and is going to lighten the load for the oline. until that happens we won't be doing much of anything.

[rayzor]

Even if I give the O-line a pass, I still can't totally blame our inexperienced QBs and WRs. The experienced O-line is supposed to be a strength of the team. Now I will concede that calling proper plays to alleviate the pressure and/or keep defenses honest perhaps has more to do with a failure of coaching/play calling, but whether it be a veteran O-line or seasoned coaches, their going to have a bigger burden to tow the line than QBs running for their lives, or WRs that don't have an appreciable amount of opportunities to get the ball.

i'm not giving the oline a pass. false starts are unacceptable. that right side has been pretty bad because we don't have otah in there, though we didn't the last few games of the year last year either. still...RG hasn't been doing well at all and the OL as a whole just isn't gelling correctly yet. i agree that they usually take some time to get their act together but they have a whole lot more coming in than they have in the past. like i said, no matter how well they play, 5 can't stop 8 or 9 defenders blitzing in. the issue is much bigger than their lackluster performance.

[rayzor]

can't i hate everything on offense?

by the way football outsiders ranks the panthers as the 5th best defense lmbo

what's to like?

[SpeedOFLight]

What gets me about this team is how does just everyone on Offense look thatbad. I seen other teams with "no name" receivers putting in work. Hell look at the rams. I look at our roster and I am lefted puzzled. Yeah, we do have rookie receivers but still. I'm clueless.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

it isn't the same thing. they were stacking the box. now they are blitzing in constantly on every down. pretty different. the only team that didn't do that was the saints. they saved their blitzing for 3rd downs.

other than that game, though, defenses have been doing it differently. wharton is right. they are going to keep seeing it more this year. they are going to keep seeing what they have been seeing this year which is different than what they have seen previous years. they will keep seeing it because it works and the offense hasn't been able to capitalize on the opportunities the defense is giving them. you figure out how to get receivers the ball consistently and defenses will stop what they are doing.

the passing game not working is what is keeping the run game from not working. it doesn't matter how many times you run the ball, its going to get shut down before you have a chance to get anywhere because they can afford to throw everything they have at it. smith (when he isn't hurt) can't beat double coverage anymore and our only other receiver on the field can't shake his single coverage. the QB can't get the job done and can't handle the pressure.

it's the passing game that is going to open up the run game and is going to lighten the load for the oline. until that happens we won't be doing much of anything.

i guess we'll just agree to disagree.

like i said before, what the o-line is seeing now is nothing new. this season is shaping up to be no different from last. the eagles laid out the same gameplan in game one that you see defenses playing now. heavy blitzing, shutting down the run, and putting the game on the qb's shoulders.

last season, no one respected the passing game. hell, they wanted the ball in the air so they could get it. the offense didn't have a heartbeat unless they leaned on the run and the defense...even when matt moore was under center.

i'm not saying run all the time, but there's no excuse for week in and week out not having one of the league's two top running backs touch the ball 20(+) times a game.

people need to face the fact that there is no passing attack...and unless moore, clausen, and the recieving corp has a God given epiphany, there won't be one any time soon.

as much as some might hate it, the only thing that is going to breathe life into the offense is foxball. lean on the run. lean on the defense. it's ugly...it's VERY ugly, but it's what this team should be living and dying by because there's nothing else.

[MadHatter]

Well, it is about the time that our OLine starts playing well.....started out slowly for first 5 or so game s for the past three seasons. The past two, we have rebounded.

Only time will tell.

[bleys]

funny, they've been doing it since 2008.

short term memory has caused people to forget that the oline was handling situations like this with relative ease at the tail end of last season.

it wasn't the passing game that made the run possible last season, it was the other way around....moore and clausen will continue to suck until the oline gets it's act together. neither one of them is a QB who can carry a team without a good rushing attack.

travelle wharton said it best in an article on panthers.com...

the rest...

the line has made it a bad habit of starting off slow at the beginning of the season...just like in the past, sooner or later they'll get their act together and stop getting blown up as soon as the ball snaps.

I accidently gave you pie.. I meant to hit quote.. because the bolded part reminded me of that infamous Eagles game last year.. so yeah, we've been ballin for years now..

now, I do agree somewhat.. however there are big differences this year to the past years..

the right side of our line has totally changed. could be the biggest reason of all.. and a very important reason we aren't seeing the same production..

2nd point I'd like to point out is defenses had to stay somewhat honest last year and they couldn't tee off on our run game EVERY play.. also, our playcalling has never been more obvious..

I see where you are coming from in your points.. but I don't think you're explaining the whole picture...

[ihateforumnames]

The only thing that can fix this..

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