It's the Line stupid

[Russ Smith]

Mark Gruttadauria's injury that eventually ended his career was a real blow to the team.

It really looked like they had the pieces in place with Shelton(1st),Kendall(FA),Gruts(FA),and Davis(1st). They allowed only 29 sacks in 2001 and in 2002 had one of the best years rushing. So good that Shipp scored 6 rushing TDs!

Mark got hurt against St.Louis and the carousel began again. They had more injuries on the line as the season progressed and ended the season with Shelton,Wragge,Starkey,Dishman and Roundtree as starters.

With Gruts out they started 2003 with Shelton,Spikes,Kendall,Davis and Clement and we all know how that ended.

I thought Mike Gruttadauria hurt his neck lifting weights or something like that?


Agree though our OL has never recovered from his injury, before he got hurt the OL was solid and getting better, right after he got hurt we had a sack fest. Then we moved Kendall to C and never found a viable replacement.

There are no easy answers to NFL OL's, the Raiders were given A's by most draft experts for taking Gallery and Grove and right now Gallery is a near colossal bust and Grove isn't exactly doing well either. They have clear coaching issues but so far both appear to have been overrated.

Even Denver is having trouble giving Jake time to throw although they can still run the ball, and KC is having trouble replacing Roaf.

 

[JeffGollin]

Mark Gruttadauria's injury that eventually ended his career was a real blow to the team.

Injuries are a way of life, and good teams incorporate this into their personnel strategy. The loss of one player should never derail the effectiveness of an entire O-line.

The better teams either add veteran backup players who can step right in or bring in and develop valuable youngsters so that they're two deep in talent at every position.

It takes advance planning along with the willingness to let a few million of your cap budget go fallow if no one gets injured, but I believe it pays off over the long haul.

 

[Duckjake]

Injuries are a way of life, and good teams incorporate this into their personnel strategy. The loss of one player should never derail the effectiveness of an entire O-line.

The better teams either add veteran backup players who can step right in or bring in and develop valuable youngsters so that they're two deep in talent at every position.

It takes advance planning along with the willingness to let a few million of your cap budget go fallow if no one gets injured, but I believe it pays off over the long haul.

I don't think that is true anymore. Just not enough talented veteran players to go around with 32 teams. Free Agency robs you of your young players if they are not starting and sometimes even if they are. Unless you are extremely fortunate or New England there's just no way you can have 22 players who are just as good as the 22 guys ahead of them.

And good centers don't grow on trees, it is 4 years since Grutts went out and the Cards still don't have an adequate replacement.

 

[Russ Smith]

I don't think that is true anymore. Just not enough talented veteran players to go around with 32 teams. Free Agency robs you of your young players if they are not starting and sometimes even if they are. Unless you are extremely fortunate or New England there's just no way you can have 22 players who are just as good as the 22 guys ahead of them.

And good centers don't grow on trees, it is 4 years since Grutts went out and the Cards still don't have an adequate replacement.

Look at the Chiefs this year without Roaf, not awful but nobody is talking about 2000 yards for LJ right now either.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Look at the Chiefs this year without Roaf, not awful but nobody is talking about 2000 yards for LJ right now either.

It's kind of hard to replace a pro-bowl tackle right before the season starts. In a way I think that Roaf kind of screwed the Chiefs even if he didn't mean to.

 

[Big T]

Hello, long time Card fan and occasaional lurker, trying to figure out how things work to post.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

I wish they would let the OLine play 3 games together and let them gel. and Get rid of Stepanovich play Leckey or try Wells at C. How many bad snaps did Step have today? 3 I remember.

Well, you second sentence doesn't "gel" with the first...

 

[Big T]

hello

 

[Big T]

As Jeff says:

Who IS accountable for this mess of a situation with the OL.

I think its about time some coaches start being held more accountable for a number of inaduacies on their part, from deciding who is playing where to trying to make 330-340 lb linemen into "zone" blockers.

 

[Big T]

test

 

[bratwurst]

test

Posting and You

 

[jenna2891]

Posting and You

 

[CronosCard]

"..And in this corner.."

Big T
who else's responsibility would it be but green's?He's trying to use Denver's OLschemes with players twice as slow and 40-50 lbs heavier--why is he so damn stubborn about it[his OL]? Why is he so blind to see, as everyone else does, that L Davis is a guard.. Leonard says"LT is where I want to Play" but he isn't good enough to protect Kurt's back...


Stubbornness will get Denny Green fired..

 

[Pariah]

****

Huh?

 

[Pariah]

And in this corner...

Why do you always start posts with this?

 

[BACH]

Big T
who else's responsibility would it be but green's?He's trying to use Denver's OLschemes with players twice as slow and 40-50 lbs heavier--why is he so damn stubborn about it[his OL]? Why is he so blind to see, as everyone else does, that L Davis is a guard.. Leonard says"LT is where I want to Play" but he isn't good enough to protect Kurt's back...


Stubbornness will get Denny Green fired..

I love totally inaccurate posts like this....

Denver's scheme has NOTHING to do with our blocking scheme!