Offensive line is the real cancer on the 49ers

I just don't see any threads dedicated to the real cancer on the 49ers merge me if I'm wrong. Its not Alexis Smith, Crabtree, or our secondary (4 picks from those guys last night), its the offensive line. This has not been addressed since Staley was drafted. We've been putting a band aid on the line every offseason and it shows in our record.

22 Sacks given up and 43 QB hits. Horrible production. We have given up the 7th most sacks in the league with only teams like Packers, Chiefs, Raiders, Lions, Redskins, and the Bills ahead of us. I don't know about you but that is not the kind of company I like.
Offensive Line Stats

The offensive line and its affect on the running game is the problem with this offense. I'm not saying Smith or Hill are the answers at QB but how many runs did Gore get nothing last night? It was the O-line's fault. Granted there have been injuries but even with everyone healthy, there is no push, no punch. If they had a decent O-line, they would move the ball a lot better.

Scott said OG were dime a dozen, I guess that's why he let Smiley go. There is a reason why Gore was averaging 1.8 yards running in the middle, both the guards are playing like backups, and maybe they are. Heitemann is serviceable, but he is no JNewberry. Synder has been and continues to be atrocious. Although Sims is playing well he isn't the long term answer. Even though they didn't give up a lot sacks against the bears, it does take away from your offensive power if you constantly have to use your WR's, TE's, RB's, FB's to help your offensive line.

Originally posted by Apone:
Scott said OG were dime a dozen, I guess that's why he let Smiley go. There is a reason why Gore was averaging 1.8 yards running in the middle, both the guards are playing like backups, and maybe they are. Heitemann is serviceable, but he is no JNewberry. Synder has been and continues to be atrocious. Although Sims is playing well he isn't the long term answer. Even though they didn't give up a lot sacks against the bears, it does take away from your offensive power if you constantly have to use your WR's, TE's, RB's, FB's to help your offensive line.

Exactly, the 49ers have to totally rebuild their O-Line and our GM needs to be fired. They can't trust next year's draft to that man.

Originally posted by Apone:
Scott said OG were dime a dozen, I guess that's why he let Smiley go. There is a reason why Gore was averaging 1.8 yards running in the middle, both the guards are playing like backups, and maybe they are. Heitemann is serviceable, but he is no JNewberry. Synder has been and continues to be atrocious. Although Sims is playing well he isn't the long term answer. Even though they didn't give up a lot sacks against the bears, it does take away from your offensive power if you constantly have to use your WR's, TE's, RB's, FB's to help your offensive line.

Well, send him a dime. The 9ers could use a dozen.

http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/thread.php?num=133417


Talking about the O line in this thread.

[ Edited by TheChozen on Nov 13, 2009 at 08:29:24 ]

Originally posted by Youngone:
I just don't see any threads dedicated to the real cancer on the 49ers merge me if I'm wrong. Its not Alexis Smith, Crabtree, or our secondary (4 picks from those guys last night), its the offensive line. This has not been addressed since Staley was drafted. We've been putting a band aid on the line every offseason and it shows in our record.

22 Sacks given up and 43 QB hits. Horrible production. We have given up the 7th most sacks in the league with only teams like Packers, Chiefs, Raiders, Lions, Redskins, and the Bills ahead of us. I don't know about you but that is not the kind of company I like.
Offensive Line Stats

The OL is a problem. So is QB.
Both need to be addressed.

But, I believe we can win consistently with this OL and a Good QB.

Can't win consistently with with a good OL and a bad QB (unless you have the best defense ever ).

Originally posted by Apone:
Scott said OG were dime a dozen, I guess that's why he let Smiley go. There is a reason why Gore was averaging 1.8 yards running in the middle, both the guards are playing like backups, and maybe they are. Heitemann is serviceable, but he is no JNewberry. Synder has been and continues to be atrocious. Although Sims is playing well he isn't the long term answer. Even though they didn't give up a lot sacks against the bears, it does take away from your offensive power if you constantly have to use your WR's, TE's, RB's, FB's to help your offensive line.

That comment and philosophy has really sunk this team

I 100% totally agree with you on this and have gone through and thought about what we've done and what needs to be done to fix this mess. I just don't know what we blame on the Front office based on what's been available

Positive Things or Attempts:

Obviously drafted Staley and signed him to an early extension to ensure we have a LT for a long, long time. They did draft Chilo in the 2nd Round of 2008 draft to attempt to shore up the Guard spot along with Baas. They also signed Barry Sims (which at the time people were excited to have him replace Jonas) and Marvel Smith (again a move in which we were excited about him bouncing back with us to his pro-bowl form) but we have had no success with these moves.

We traded our 2nd Rounder last year for an extra 1st rounder this year. By doing so we passed on Phil Loadholt, William Beatty, Sabastian Vollmer, and Andy Levitre. Are any of those guys better than what we'll have available to us this year? The FA moves surely left a lot to be desired, but I can't think of anyone who was better that was available. I would say that the only chance we had to fix an OL spot was to draft Oher at #10 this year and that would have meant passing on Crabtree, is that any better??

Questionable moves:

Letting Smiley walk without batting an eye. Taking so many chances with guys via Free Agency and not attempting to bring in a big name via trade or contract (Jason Peters, Jason Brown, Stacy Andrews--don't know how much of a chance we had to land these guys, but still) Taking Balmer in Rd 1 and not taking OL help last year or DeSean Jackson to allow us to take a guy on the OL this year.

Solution:

We have some FA moves available this year depending on the CBA, but we'll also have some options via the draft. With 2 first rounders and assuming there is a deep class (lot of kids coming out for fear of money next year) we should be able to not only land an OT, but a defensive Playmaker or QB as well. Let's look for a OG guard upgrade in FA and get this thing rolling for good next season!

I'm still not impressed with Alex at all. However last night I have to put most of the blame on the O-line. Besides the pressure Alex got, Frank had no holes for most the game. Especially at the end of the game when we were killing clock.

Give Frank a decent line like he had in 06 and he's a 1500+ yard back for 3 more times in his career.

Smith not able to get a foot and a half on that QB sneak was down right pathetic. Across the NFL a QB sneak gets a yard plus 95% of the time.

It's coaching not lack of talent. Our o-line has sucked ever since Pat Morris left. We need to find a better line coach if we plan on having any kind of offense what so ever.

It's no secret that the O-line is the weak spot on the team. It's going to be priority #1 to fix in the upcoming offseason.

I HATE this OL. They are horrible. They can't run block, can't pass protect. They suck so bad.

I can't believe the play of the interior line. Chilo and Baas, two second rounders that get pushed back all the time. The only time they're effective is on a counter run, or trap block. Such as the TD from Frank. They don't push the line.

Nutcracker drill for those two all offseason.