Originally posted by dj43:
Originally posted by Bluefalcon61:
I'm willing to go out on a limb that no other NFL team in the past 5-7 years has invested as many high round draft picks on offensive linemen. Our O-line coaches have had good credentials and while they have had some success at run blocking, pass blocking has been a constant problem.
Why? Why?
I beg to differ in that George Warhop has been stealing money for years an as "OL coach." The guy was not good. I applauded when he was let go in mid-season, IIRC.
As to your main point, I believe that both Nolan and Singletary put so much emphasis on running the ball that they did not spend adequate amount of time on pass protect. Also, too much of the time was spent in man blocking which is very difficult to pass protect in, especially once the defense figures you out and start to loop and stunts. Though Chilo has had enough problems for which there are not excuses, one thing I will NOT fault him on is the many times he was beaten when in an obvious man scheme and the defense looped or stunted and he wound up blocking air.
Whoop! Quotes are working!
It will be interesting to see how the line plays, but also how the backups play. I expect to see at least one, perhaps two, Stanford linemen to make the team as backups. Not necessarily because they are more talented than the "other guys," but because they know the Harbaugh offensive system and are well grounded in it.
Bill Walsh inheirited a GREAT line when he came onboard in 1978, but it was just as unheralded and full of questions marks as our current line is. Nobody would ever guess that Randy Cross, John Ayers, Fred Quillan, Keith Fahnhorst would pave the way to two or three Super Bowl titles. But they did. And nobody knew who the kids were in 1978. Nobody knew how they would perform -- nor how well they would grow together as a unit.
You can give all the credit in the world to Bill Walsh for those Super Bowl titles, and it's well deserved. But it's Monte Clarke who drafted and built that line, and nobody gives Monte any credit.
My thanks to the people who are working on getting the bugs out of the new system. It's much improved today!