I remember week two he was totally dominant, think it was two. Anyway, it’s early and I have no doubts that he will be one of the best guards in the NFL
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The Offensive Line Thread
- Thread starter Sledge Hammer
- Start date
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
*incoming rant*
So.. Here we are again. My cries the last two years to fix the line don't look so stupid now. Save your apologies, I'm not here to flex my ego. I fucking knew it, yet I bought into the bullshit about the line being better.
My problem this season has been an entirely different one. Even though we've lost the last few games, Orlando Brown Jr. has looked like a bright spot with a load of upside. We should have been starting him from day one, shouold ocntinue to start him, but I have little doubt that if he were starting day one, we would at least have a running game. Congrats, we did something right for once. We drafted a ten year starter at the RT position, and potentially a very good one. Say what you will about this season, this draft class as a whole has had some gems for us.
Another spot has been Bozeman. Especially with the downside of Skura, I am once again absolutely stunned that we aren't at least giving him a shot at starting. At the very least, Bozeman can anchor, Skura cannot. Bozeman has woefully struggled in pass protection, but Skura has struggled at everything. There's no excuse at this point. The college tape of Bozeman indicated that we had a potential solid, but unspectacular starter who can be a mainstay you're content with keeping for the better part of a decade. Which is a valuable commodity.
That's what is pissing me off to no end here. I think we have the personel to have a solid offensive line across the board. Harbaugh refuses to play them because of his unwillingness to ever play rookies unless he has to. Yet another fatal flaw that he has. Bozeman has been responsible for having holes in between the tackles.
It's not the depth I'm worried about, we have guys who should be nothing more than depth as starters. If Skura, Lewis, and Hurst were our depth pieces that'd be some of the best oline depth in the league as far as I'm concerned. But frankly. I am not optimistic for Lamar's time here. Ozzie has shown that he does not give a flying fuck about the offensive line.
I expect more of the same with Eric. I will give him a chance for a year or two, but if this draft is once again devoted to defense I will lose my mind. I think if Lamar has taken the next step, all we have to do is get a good oline so we have a run game and deadly play action game going. Lamar has work to do, mostly with his deep ball(his overall change in mechanics has been very inspiring. I do think he's going to be a very good QB for us). We need to get him a line. It is absolutely laughable that Hurst, Lewis, and Skura are starters for us. It's downright embarassing. Now some of this can be amended. I think Bozeman could be the answer moving forward at LG(even though Bozeman has the smarts to play C, the LG is the least important person in Roman's scheme with the least responsibility). I know for a fact that Brown is the answer at RT. That gives us three young pieces. We need to acquire at least three interior offensive linemen this offseason.
And that contract with Hurst is still proving to be terrible. "We paid him nothing" is not a valid argument. WE HAD NO CAP ROOM TO BEGIN WITH, THAT MONEY WAS POORLY SPENT AND COULD HAVE BEEN SPENT ELSEWHERE. Paying him was dumb. We let three absolute stallions go in KO, Jensen, and Wagner. Sure, they were overpaid, but we keep Hurst, and for what he's worth(which isn't much) we decide to pay him. I'm not even going to blame Ozzie for this one. This is just another example of Harbaugh playing favorites in my eyes. He was nothing more than a below average G. Next seaosn he will be paid more than Demar Dotson, an actual quality offensive linemen because favorites.
We need to upgrade every interior position. Two starters, and a guy who we can hopefully groom into a replacement for Yanda. I don't wnat any more projects like Jermaine. I don't care if they're athleticially gifted... Get me people who can PLAY FOOTBALL.
This team is stuck in the stone age.
So.. Here we are again. My cries the last two years to fix the line don't look so stupid now. Save your apologies, I'm not here to flex my ego. I fucking knew it, yet I bought into the bullshit about the line being better.
My problem this season has been an entirely different one. Even though we've lost the last few games, Orlando Brown Jr. has looked like a bright spot with a load of upside. We should have been starting him from day one, shouold ocntinue to start him, but I have little doubt that if he were starting day one, we would at least have a running game. Congrats, we did something right for once. We drafted a ten year starter at the RT position, and potentially a very good one. Say what you will about this season, this draft class as a whole has had some gems for us.
Another spot has been Bozeman. Especially with the downside of Skura, I am once again absolutely stunned that we aren't at least giving him a shot at starting. At the very least, Bozeman can anchor, Skura cannot. Bozeman has woefully struggled in pass protection, but Skura has struggled at everything. There's no excuse at this point. The college tape of Bozeman indicated that we had a potential solid, but unspectacular starter who can be a mainstay you're content with keeping for the better part of a decade. Which is a valuable commodity.
That's what is pissing me off to no end here. I think we have the personel to have a solid offensive line across the board. Harbaugh refuses to play them because of his unwillingness to ever play rookies unless he has to. Yet another fatal flaw that he has. Bozeman has been responsible for having holes in between the tackles.
It's not the depth I'm worried about, we have guys who should be nothing more than depth as starters. If Skura, Lewis, and Hurst were our depth pieces that'd be some of the best oline depth in the league as far as I'm concerned. But frankly. I am not optimistic for Lamar's time here. Ozzie has shown that he does not give a flying fuck about the offensive line.
I expect more of the same with Eric. I will give him a chance for a year or two, but if this draft is once again devoted to defense I will lose my mind. I think if Lamar has taken the next step, all we have to do is get a good oline so we have a run game and deadly play action game going. Lamar has work to do, mostly with his deep ball(his overall change in mechanics has been very inspiring. I do think he's going to be a very good QB for us). We need to get him a line. It is absolutely laughable that Hurst, Lewis, and Skura are starters for us. It's downright embarassing. Now some of this can be amended. I think Bozeman could be the answer moving forward at LG(even though Bozeman has the smarts to play C, the LG is the least important person in Roman's scheme with the least responsibility). I know for a fact that Brown is the answer at RT. That gives us three young pieces. We need to acquire at least three interior offensive linemen this offseason.
And that contract with Hurst is still proving to be terrible. "We paid him nothing" is not a valid argument. WE HAD NO CAP ROOM TO BEGIN WITH, THAT MONEY WAS POORLY SPENT AND COULD HAVE BEEN SPENT ELSEWHERE. Paying him was dumb. We let three absolute stallions go in KO, Jensen, and Wagner. Sure, they were overpaid, but we keep Hurst, and for what he's worth(which isn't much) we decide to pay him. I'm not even going to blame Ozzie for this one. This is just another example of Harbaugh playing favorites in my eyes. He was nothing more than a below average G. Next seaosn he will be paid more than Demar Dotson, an actual quality offensive linemen because favorites.
We need to upgrade every interior position. Two starters, and a guy who we can hopefully groom into a replacement for Yanda. I don't wnat any more projects like Jermaine. I don't care if they're athleticially gifted... Get me people who can PLAY FOOTBALL.
This team is stuck in the stone age.
Zrebiec:
Per PFF: Ravens rookie third-round Orlando Brown Jr. gave up zero pressures against Steelers and he has allowed no sacks or hits so far this season. Sounds like James Hurst could be ready to return after bye week, but Ravens should leave Brown right where he is.
Per PFF: Ravens rookie third-round Orlando Brown Jr. gave up zero pressures against Steelers and he has allowed no sacks or hits so far this season. Sounds like James Hurst could be ready to return after bye week, but Ravens should leave Brown right where he is.
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Lol, if only we weren't asking for him to start from week 1.
balfan23
MVP
I don't know why it took us so long to get Brown on the field. Many here seemed to feel that our best o line would be Brown at RT and shift Hurst to LG. I could only guess that Brown wasn't ready - but everything he's shown is that he's more than ready.
Well, now that the season is basically over, maybe we'll get it right. Or maybe we won't. Maybe we'll go back to the configuration that we started the season with and that has been generating zero ground game.
While Lewis hasn't been good, Skura seems to be getting abused. Probably too late to try and move Lewis over or try anyone else, but it seems hard to believe there wouldn't be a better option there.
Brown is a real bright spot. Honestly we'd have a really solid O line if we only had a center, but that should sound like Gruden complaining about not having a pass rush after letting Mack go.
allblackraven
Hall of Famer
Skura is Gino Gradkowski level
what's craziest about this is that Hurst took none of the training camp snaps at right tackle and Orlando took all of them - like it made no sense not to keep hurst at guard (albeit shift him to LG with Yanda's return) especially with Brown's meteoric rise during the preseason...
it would literally improve 2 spots on the line (3 if you include backups)
Hurst comes in and improves the run blocking from LG especially the pulling aspect
Orlando comes in and improves the run blocking from RT and as he has shown has dealt well with edge rushers too
Alex Lewis dropping to the bench gives you higher level backup at both guard spots and both tackle spots in all likelihood - but most importantly he gives you backup who isnt gonna get destroyed in pass protection where its seemingly most crucial - that also means that Bozeman becomes primarily the center backup which means he gets more time to focus on being a center rather than just pure cover for all 3 interior spots
skura is the weak spot on this OL and has been from week 1 - but Orlando coming in for Lewis strengthens the line in multiple ways
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
I love that the common defense for Skura rather than Bozeman is that Bozeman is awful in pass protection... Skura is just awful in general. At least Bozeman can anchor and the more he develops the more complete he will be.
Grim
Ravens Ring of Honor
Personally I’ve wondered that if you want your best OL on the field then shift Yanda to C put Hurst at RG and if you have this love affair for Alex Lewis then keep him at LG with Stanley at LT. With Yanda at his age I would at least consider it since he’s the only one I think who could make such a move
balfan23
MVP
Agree on all counts - except I'm not 100% sure that Jensen is overpaid. O line has become one of the hardest positions to adequately stock from the draft. Jensen was made the highest paid center in football. Even if you don't think he's the best center in all of football, it doesn't mean he's overpaid. It means that the market is trending dramatically higher at O line positions. All those other centers will quickly become the next highest paid as soon as their new contract comes around.
What would having Jensen mean to this team? He'd be worth every penny.
Finally - I'm not disagreeing ... I'm just praying you're wrong and that Eric will not be Ozzie 2.0. I'm hoping that he learned well from Ozzie in terms of how to patiently work a draft - how to obtain trade capital and still get the player you want and will follow that education - but will also understand the changing environment of the NFL and not keep us stuck in the stone ages.
DeVito52
Ravens Ring of Honor
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to watch Skura get bullied right into Flacco’s lap I’d be able to buy this team from Steve B
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
But we still couldn't get laid
DeVito52
Ravens Ring of Honor
I had no problem letting KO or Jensen or especially Wagner walk.
Great teams don’t make someone the highest paid player at a position. Great teams let them walk most of the time, take a comp pick, and draft a replacement. The Lions Raiders and Bucs are doing reaaaallll good after those signings right?
The draft is where great teams are made. And for a while we were complete shit in the draft. We wouldn’t be complaining about losing KO or Jensen if we’d freaking draft interior players. Instead of overpaying Wagner we have a much cheaper player for 4 years who is better than Wagner.
Great teams don’t make someone the highest paid player at a position. Great teams let them walk most of the time, take a comp pick, and draft a replacement. The Lions Raiders and Bucs are doing reaaaallll good after those signings right?
The draft is where great teams are made. And for a while we were complete shit in the draft. We wouldn’t be complaining about losing KO or Jensen if we’d freaking draft interior players. Instead of overpaying Wagner we have a much cheaper player for 4 years who is better than Wagner.
on top of this the Ravens are currently spending the 4th least on OL in the league - so we arent drafting and we're not bringing in free agents - naturally its going to be hard to build a consistently good unit
cdp
Ravens Ring of Honor
I found this Zeus Compilation on twitter. Great start for him. D'Alessandris knows how to coach OL!
Ryan Jensen is the player that many wanted to hold onto, despite the cost of giving him the highest contract for a Center in the league. He is not only paid the most of any center in the league, but he has more penalties of any Buc by a wide margin and he hasn't helped them much in the running game as they are 27th in the league in yards per game. Skura, although many can't stand him, isn't as bad as it seems.
@Edgar @Filmstudy
@Edgar @Filmstudy
DeVito52
Ravens Ring of Honor
I didn’t care if we didn’t resign Jensen, and skura isn’t terrible but “isn’t terrible” isn’t what I want me center to be
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
Just @ me next time, but while he's not Gino levels of bad.. Let's not mistake him for passable either. He's well below average and was a big reason we could not get the run game going with Joe. At all. If we settle for him a starter next year, even with Lamar everything is going to struggle including the run game. It's just a classic example of us settling for mediocrity. And we need to stop it.
Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
I'm just saying, we need to stop settling for these mid round trenches prospect. I know people love to harp on Flacco, but the running game was never going to work with Hurst, Lewis, and Skura starting respectively at the same time. Brown Jr. helps, but it's been the Lamar show mostly. If we do not replace the LG and C positions because of this, that just shows to me that the team has learned NOTHING. It's like us keeping Marty because of the games last december even though every team we played in December was just utter shit defensively. It's like giving Hurst a contract where he's getting paid top 15 RT money for some reason because he was "an elite pulling guard". It's just classic examples of us settling for mediocrity. No more Nico Siragusas or Eluemenors. Oline needs to be addressed earlier on. Stop ignoring the trenches.