Really good Grantland article about the decline of both the offensive and defensive lines

Discussion in 'Tennessee Titans and NFL Talk' started by TorontoTitanFan, Oct 12, 2012.

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  1. Scarecrow

    Scarecrow All-Pro

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    Letting go of Schwartz and Haynesworth did not 'break' this team. Schwartz was one of the most criticized coaches on this team for A LONG time until Fat Al had that monster year. The biggest thing going against our defense between now and then, is Jim Washburn. Fat Al made everyone on that line that year with the exception of KVB. I wanted KVB to stay, but I doubt he would have had the same success here compared to DTW. Largely in part because of Suh. Hey, we missed out on JPP, Morgan has up to this point been a bust BUT he had a great game yesterday. It is still way to early to write him off.

    Our offensive line has fallen off, largely because of the lack of draft picks and our inability to sign younger guys in the off season. I agree with him on this point.

    I hate the injury excuse, we were banged up to. We stopped their run game, gave Ben some decent pressure and we played tight on the receivers. We still have work to do, but flat out, we played well executed football last night. To deny that is flat out foolish.

    And this comment at the end, is potentially the most ignorant thing ever written about the Titans.

    'For the Titans to return to their prior glory, they need to get away from spending first-round picks on wide receivers'

    He ended it with a good point on CJ and going after the trenches, but we have not neglected the D line and we attempted it with the O lone.

    Poorly written article, what few good points he made are things you have seen on here since last year.
     
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  2. Clark

    Clark #ShoutboxAlley4Life

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    Does that mean we don't take into account the price of a first round pick? A bad fit is a bad fit... Why would you intentionally DRAFT a bad fit?

    Yes I fully understand the o line is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more suited to be a power run unit.... But we happen to have a o coordinator that is running a different scheme.

    If we had a power run scheme and coordinator I think every day of the week, the pick would have been decastro.
     
  3. MaxFischer

    MaxFischer Rookie

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    Saw that article this morning. At least the front office has given some attention to the D-Line. They've left the O-Line's problems to fester into what has become, for the second straight year, arguably the worst run blocking O-Line in the NFL.A terrible move considering we don't have a proven QB and our proven RB can't run behind these clowns.

    Our front office is terrible. Instead of making moves to get an Offensive Lineman high in the draft, they take the weak (5 bench press) and overrated Kendall Wright at a time when our WRs were actually a strength of the team. I know it's sacrilegious to criticize Kendall Wright over here, but you have to admit we overpaid for him. Just another foolish move.

    We should just go vulture Ozzie Newsome from the Ravens, double his pay, and let him run things from there.
     
  4. Alzarius

    Alzarius Pro Bowler Tip Jar Donor

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    The offensive line was a fast drop off that no one could have expected. Less than 2 seasons ago, we had the best rushing attack in the league and the line could keep KC from laying on his backside. Crump also contributed a lot to that success in the running game as well. Yes, losing a player like Mawae hurt, but I dont believe anyone could have predicted the line declining this fast. That, along with still needing to fix the defense, who has not been the same since the fatty left, I cannot fault them for not having invested high picks in the line.

    Next draft, however.......

    Same could be said for the defensive line, we have tried here and there to fix it but looking at the draft history the past few years. (top 3 pics, wont go deeper than that)

    Last draft. Wright (yes, we needed a WR no matter what anyone thinks), Brown (LBs did need fixed as well), and martin (a DT)

    2011 Locker (doh), Ayers (yes, we needed a LB), and Casey (yes, we needed a DT)

    2010 Morgan (see they knew that needed a DE), Williams (WR, discussions about WR's are moot, everyone knows we have been needing them for years), Curran (even then they were trying to fix the LB situation)

    2009 Britt (imagine the what ifs), Marks (DT), Cook (doh)


    IN fact, you have to go back to 2007 to see where we didnt pick a defensive linemen in our first 3 picks of the draft.

    This has been, and still is a team that has holes that need to be fixed. If you can pick between an average DE/DT or a solid safety (either spot) with our first pick next draft, what do you take? Its a matter of what is on the board when you draft, and unfortunately we have not drafted too high except 2011 since 2006.

    Draft picks are hit and miss. If Martin, Casey, Marks, and Morgan play like we expected them to when we drafted then, then there would be no story to write about when it comes to our defensive line.
     
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  5. Clark

    Clark #ShoutboxAlley4Life

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    Bingo!

    And to answer your question...

    Average de vs solid safety.

    General rule of thumb for the nfl is priority of the QB, LT and DE positions... None of those things on a winning team are average (unless you have Jim harbaugh as a head coach apparently)

    Average is not allowed on the DE position.

    You take the solid safety.
     
  6. MaxFischer

    MaxFischer Rookie

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    Wait... you're saying it's ignorant to say that we should stop sending 1st round picks on wide receivers?

    lol... ok... consider the fact that Williams, Britt, and Washington are on the level of good to pretty good. Or that someone like Kendall Wright will never be able to outrun defenses like Mike Wallace or Desean Jackson. It isn't like we took the best available player in picking Wright.

    Might as well plug the holes we have. Don't know why saying we should avoid WRs when we have other huge pressing needs is so ignorant.
     
  7. Scarecrow

    Scarecrow All-Pro

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    your opinion is so poorly inaccurate, that outside of this post, I am not even going to address it.
     
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  8. nickmsmith

    nickmsmith Most poverty RB core.

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    How's Joe Thomas' team doing? D'brickashaw's? Robert Gallery's? Alex Mack's?


    Drafting OL in the first round is BORING, and it doesn't necessarily have an impact on your team.

    I am guaranteed pissed if the Titans take an O lineman in the first 10 picks.

    If you're gonna draft high... DRAFT AN IMPACT PLAYER! or at least trade down and get 2 good offensive linemen.

    Note that I'm not against a pick like that in the high picks in the 1st round. If you're 20-32, I'm ok with that.
    But in the top 15-20, there are real explosive, athletic players to be had.
     
  9. Obie09

    Obie09 Pro Bowler

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    It doesn't have to be the first round..how about the first three or four? That's mainly what got us to having one of the worst run blocking o-lines ever.
     
  10. nickmsmith

    nickmsmith Most poverty RB core.

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    Totally. This article only takes the first round into consideration. We've spent tons of high picks on DL... Too bad Marks and co. are a bunch of losers.

    They act like the franchise ignored the DL.. simply not true, they just picked crap players.

    OL, yeah.. pretty much ignored it. And we were all pissed about that, when they could have picked someone for the interior line at some decently high point.
     
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