I was actually pretty shocked and impressed how our O-line showed up the other night. I'm not jaded enough to assume it's going to be as solid all season long, but I am looking forward to seeing how they do against the Giants defense. As much as you line to bash Brick, he was making key blocks last Saturday. People keep saying how Faneca laid-out Jason Taylor in the play when Favre threw that TD to Keller, but it was Brick stopping Taylor cold that made that play effective, Faneca just added insult to injury by knocking JT on his ass.
Well Brick r/blocking did not overly impress me in the Skins game. I think the NYG DL is a upgrade from the Skins so we will see how they do against them as you say. In my opinion Woody was also quite effective in the P/blocking but when it came to R/blocking they all went d/hill IMO
That's why we picked up Faneca and that's why our O-line suffered so much in the run game last year. Faneca, like Kendall and Mawae before him, is an excellent run blocker and he's very good at pulling to the outside for those types of runs. I don't think Brick will ever be an elite run blocker, but as long as he has a guard or center that can pull to the outside (and we have both) we can overcome that type of weakness. Moore on the other side is not a very good pulling guard, but Mangold can pull to that side. We aren't a very good offensive line yet, but we have 2 new starters so it may take a little time for them to click well.
I think the run blocking has been much better than last season as well. You can see the d-line getting driven off the ball 2-3 yards off the snap and the C, FB, or G's getting to the second level. We just haven't seen much running from the first unit yet.
Considering we haven't even tried to really run the ball yet, it's hard to really get a gauge on how the OL is doing in that department. Their pass blocking seems to be coming along nicely though.
The term : "That's why girls don't play the game" comes to mind. Its time to get in some game time practice and put the flaps in the down position. Brett can play the entire preseason and come out unharmed , only to try a meadowland leap and break his ankle. (hypothetical of course) Id rather Brett get roughed up and find out the O-line weaknesses , then discover them week one against a inferior team. The are a lot of wrinkles to work out and this defense (Giants) can bring the pressure that we "NEED" to continue to build our team for the positive. Pondering a negative is not only self defeating , is unproductive.
Hope U R right & we will C as we go along. However I did not see what you posted in the Skins game anyway & hopefully we will see it against the NYGs.
I like the performance of the line as well and I think it will only get better as the season progresses. Moore was getting bullrushed a bit and at times was bending backwards holding his block. My only concern is the backs getting better at recognizing where the blitzer is coming from. Leon's miss on the Favre sack was due to him wanting to break out into the flat. I think he was the safety release. He chose to ignore the outside rusher. He saw him but dove to the inside when he decided to release. I think he should have chipped the outside rusher. And on the long crosser to Cotch the same blitz came and he followed his guy to the outside after the dude peeked in on the inside lane and actually made a nice block just as Favre was passing. It was a nice correction. Favre also was calling recievers in for more protection. But he can get rid of the ball in a hurry. The Giants will give them all they can handle, vanilla wise anyway. They know how to blitz well. I have a feeling Favre will be ready for it. I like the way he improvises at the line. He called Brad Smith and Cotchery in on a few play and got effective blocking out of them. I'd expect more of the same.
I will take above average pass blocking right now, it is more urgent at the moment. I am tired of seeing our QBs on their asses. I can wait for the run blocking to develop over the season.
Lets keep in mind that both the Browns and Skins have pretty good DL's in their own right. Cleveland added Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams to the front 3, and has kamerion Wimbley who is a great pass rusher. The skins are consistently top 5 against the run year in and year out and have jason Taylor and Andre Carter as DE bookends. Not too shabby.
