Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › old article…era of OL continuity long gone
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July 30, 2014 at 10:12 pm #2894
znModeratorRevolving door up front
Once the model of stability, offensive lines no longer stand test of time
May 21, 2010
By Len Pasquarelli | ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=5207239
When the New York Jets released six-time Pro Bowl blocker Alan Faneca last month and plugged in rookie second-rounder Vlad Ducasse as his replacement at left guard, it essentially ended one of the more compelling streaks in recent NFL history.
The Jets had started the same five players on the offensive line — left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, center Nick Mangold, right guard Brandon Moore, right tackle Damien Woody and Faneca — for 35 straight games, counting the playoffs last season. And although that consistency might not have seemed like much of a feat 25 or 30 years ago, it qualifies as an eternity now.
“You just don’t see it these days,” said Bill Callahan, the Jets’ assistant head coach for the offensive line. “Once, it was just about the norm … but not anymore.”
In fact, the Jets were the only NFL team to start the same five offensive linemen for every game in 2009. The destabilization of offensive line units, where players once stayed together for several seasons, is an unfortunate trend around the league. And it’s one that was evident last season.
Line dance
The New York Jets were the only NFL team in 2009 to use the same starting line combination in every game. Here’s a look at how many different combinations each team used and the number of different starters employed:
Team Combos No. of starters
Arizona 2 6
Atlanta 4 7
Baltimore 4 7
Buffalo 9 11
Carolina 3 7
Chicago 3 7
Cincinnati 5 8
Cleveland 4 7
Dallas 2 6
Denver 5 7
Detroit 7 8
Green Bay 6 8
Houston 4 8
Indianapolis 5 8
Jacksonville 4 7
Kansas City 6 9
Miami 4 7
Minnesota 3 6
New England 6 7
New Orleans 2 6
N.Y. Giants 3 7
N.Y. Jets 1 5
Oakland 6 10
Philadelphia 5 7
Pittsburgh 2 6
San Diego 5 7
San Francisco 3 7
Seattle 6 10
St. Louis 6 9
Tampa Bay 2 6
Tennessee 3 6
Washington 5 9Nearly half the teams, 14 of 32, used five or more different starting quintets in ’09, and 11 franchises employed at least eight starters each. The average for the league was 4.2 different starting combinations and 7.4 starters. Buffalo, which finished 6-10 and was ranked No. 30 in overall offense, used the most combinations (nine) and the most starters (11).
The only other franchises with double-digit starters were Oakland and Seattle, with 10 each. Not surprisingly, the Bills, Raiders and Seahawks finished the 2009 season with an aggregate record of 16-32.
That’s a lot of shuffling on a unit that once represented a bedrock of consistency.
Once upon a time, an offensive line coach could pencil in his starting five and count on the same group lining up every week, and perhaps from year to year. Former Bills offensive line coach Jim McNally, who spent 14 seasons tutoring blockers, noted a few years ago that one could review a bunch of team pictures and “notice that the offensive linemen were the same four, five, six years in a row … and were basically in the same places in the picture.”
Those days have been gone for several years, and the dearth of offensive line stability has been magnified by the era of free agency. Clearly, attrition accounts for some of the changes. But for all the punishment they absorb, offensive linemen tend to have long careers. Instead, the mobility created by free agency, and the spiraling contract averages that have resulted, prompted many of the switches. Since free agency began in 1993, teams have averaged 1.75 new starters per year. Until three years ago, the average was 2.1.
Most coaches and players surveyed this week agreed that, although athletes are better now on the line, overall offensive line play has waned. More than any other unit, an offensive line demands cohesiveness. But rarely do the same five players stay together long enough to achieve the necessary mesh.
“You’d like to be able to look to either side of you and see the same guys every week,” said Detroit center Dominic Raiola, who started all 16 games for the Lions. “But that hasn’t been the case for us. … I think you see effects around the league.”
The Lions started three different players at both guard spots in 2009.
The revolving door on offensive line play was so prevalent in 2009 that it really didn’t play favorites, affecting playoff teams and non-postseason clubs as well. The 12 playoff franchises averaged 4.0 different starting combinations and 6.8 starters, not significantly better than the leaguewide standard. For the top 10 clubs in total offense, the averages were 3.8 and 6.9, and only three of those teams employed fewer than three starting quintets.
Two of the six clubs that used one or two starting line units, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, failed to make the playoffs.
By far, the most stable position along the offensive line in 2009 was the center spot. Twenty-six centers started all 16 games for their respective franchises. The most itinerant position was right tackle, where teams used an average of 1.9 starters.
July 31, 2014 at 12:25 am #2900znModeratorPasquerelli says that in the era of the cap and free agency, the average NFL OL changes 1.75 starters per year. That’s at least 3 every 2 years.
Given that, you can no longer HAVE OL continuity like they did in the 70s and 80s. No more world where season after season you had Smith Harrah and Slater.
You can keep 1 or 2 key guys across several years. Not all 5. It’s impossible…unless you want to break your cap. In general, 50% of a team’s cap goes to 8-9 players. You can’t afford to have 5 linemen among those 8-9.
So that means that the onus falls on coaching. As we know, one of the things Boudreau stresses is flexibility. During the season, you need to be able to count on some guys who can move. So for example, Long goes out, Saffold moves to LOT.
If teams changeat least 3 OL starters every 2 years, that looks like it means that in 2016, chances are, Long, Barksdale, and Wells won’t be there.
I think the theory is that if you build your line to BE flexible in the first place, it lessens the impact of things like that. Robinson for example will play guard, then replace Barksdale, and then replace Long. He can’t BE a guard forever like Harrah was, because that won’t be taking best advantage of the talent.
While it’s true they had more continuity on OLs from the 80s on back to the start of the NFL, it’s also true that they didn’t know how to coach flexibility the way Boudreau does. They didn’t need to so they didn’t learn.
Another thing is constant OL acquisition–you need bodies that are always being coached up. I know that sounds like it’s obvious but there’s a special imperative here–lines turn over and over, and yet as we all know all too well, line play is crucial to this or any team’s development (Demoff once called OL injuries the Rams “achilles heel.”) And not just acquire them, but acquire them by every means possible at once, with a lot of energy put in on each approach. There’s drafting both higher and lower (Saffold, Jones, Robinson), free agency (Wells, Long, Joseph), veteran cuts and waiver wire guys (Barksdale, and we have no idea who else), UDFAs (Barnes).
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August 1, 2014 at 8:25 am #2998znModeratorJust a few sample articles on how line versatility is the new thing.
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Offensive Line Learning To Play More Versatile In Training Camp
by Sam Kweon
Last year, there were a bunch of injuries that occurred in the front five for the San Diego Chargers. In fact, the true starters barely even started together all season!
This is why versatility is very important. And offensive line coach Joe D’Alessandris knows it.
He is having DJ Fluker and Chris Watt playing LT and LG while King Dunlap and Chad Rinehart are lining up on the other side of the line in training camp.
The players (and coach) spoke on how the transition was going (per Chargers.com).
“The first day we swapped sides was a little rough, but the second day was even better. It goes to show you to just take coaching,” said D.J. Fluker
“When you can play all positions you understand the entire scheme…(they) are going to be a certain way (and) whether you’re playing guard or playing tackle or playing center,” head coach Mike McCoy said. “We’re making all the same calls but you’re doing it from a different position. You’ve got to understand……. ‘What is your role in this play?’ I think everyone understood that last year on this football team and there’s a lot of guys who hadn’t played a lot of snaps in those positions but because of the work they did get during camp, it helped them in the long run.”
Another benefit to being well versed in all sides and positions is the preparation it gives players for unexpected yet inescapable injuries.
“It’s been really good for our group to kind of switch positions and different situations,” said Chris Watt. “It really prepares us for a game situation if someone were to go down and one of us had to move across to the other side of the ball. It just gets us prepared for that.”
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Scouting the Broncos: Offensive line versatility
http://www.itsalloverfatman.com/broncos/entry/scouting-the-broncos-offensive-line-versatility
Something that came from the coaches is that everyone on the OL has to learn all the line positions. I find that approach to be one of Denver’s strengths – it’s smart football. They also use that approach with the linebacking corps. There will be some multi-positional linemen winning starting jobs this year. They have a lot of them.
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Playing guard helps Taylor Lewan transition to NFL
John Glennon
An athletic 6-foot-7, 309-pounder with 34-inch arms, Taylor Lewan is clearly an NFL offensive tackle — not a guard.
But chances are the longer he practices at guard — which he’s doing now while starter Andy Levitre recovers from an appendectomy — the better Lewan will be at tackle when he eventually returns to his natural position.
Lewan’s cross-training is helping him develop quicker reaction times, allowing him to broaden his knowledge of the offensive line’s responsibilities, and giving him the kind of first-team reps that he would not have been getting at tackle.
“It helps him everywhere — understanding the speed of the game, technique, and how physical it can be,” Titans coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “He’s a big athletic guy and it’s good to see him get a lot of reps for us.”
March 28, 2015 at 10:08 am #21675znModeratorBump. Relevant stuff from the past.
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March 28, 2015 at 10:34 am #21677
wvParticipantRams and Chiefs both had same number
of OLine combos/starters in 2009, i guess.Chiefs went 4-12 that year.
( 10-6 the next year.)w
v
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Team Combos No. of starters
Arizona 2 6
Atlanta 4 7
Baltimore 4 7
Buffalo 9 11
Carolina 3 7
Chicago 3 7
Cincinnati 5 8
Cleveland 4 7
Dallas 2 6
Denver 5 7
Detroit 7 8
Green Bay 6 8
Houston 4 8
Indianapolis 5 8
Jacksonville 4 7
Kansas City 6 9
Miami 4 7
Minnesota 3 6
New England 6 7
New Orleans 2 6
N.Y. Giants 3 7
N.Y. Jets 1 5
Oakland 6 10
Philadelphia 5 7
Pittsburgh 2 6
San Diego 5 7
San Francisco 3 7
Seattle 6 10
St. Louis 6 9
Tampa Bay 2 6
Tennessee 3 6
Washington 5 9March 28, 2015 at 10:35 am #21678znModeratorAn interesting cause in point is 98 v. 99. The 98 OL was:
Pace Miller Flannery Wiegert Gandy
In 99 it was:
Pace Nutten Gruttadauria Timmerman Miller
So counting Grutt coming back and moving Miller to OT, that’s 4 positions with new starters.
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