The O-Line

[oldno82]

I keep wondering how we got into this offensive line mess. We re-signed McKinnie, the same guy that was nearly perfect throughout the playoffs. We lost Birk but Gino was supposed to be a good center after all the understudying. We had Osemele at LG, Yanda at RG, and Ohrer at RT. Looked damned good to me---on paper.

 

Then McKinnie decided to stop playing. Osemele hurt his back and wasn't the same. Gino crashed. Ohrer looks like he was never what we thought he could be. And Yanda was still recovering from an injury.

 

The line is a mess. The lack of running game and number of hits Joe's taking is killing us.

 

BUT, how do we fix this mess? Seems like a whole lot of problems. Oh, and Monroe is in his last year and wants a big payday.

 

And how long are we going to have to live with this?

[vmax]

Good question.

I don't see it being fixed this season.

Maybe by training camp Osemele and Yanda report 100% healthy. That in itself would be a huge upgrade.

Maybe Monroe gets signed by us. Then Ozzie finds a center in the draft or FA.

Don't know about Oher.

 

Then...the coaching staff has to adjust to what their talent does best.

 

This will be one of the biggest priorities for Ozzie...and to find a runner.

He has to protect Joe and he has to have a running game.

[varaven45]

Rome (and an O-Line) isn't built in a day. Like you guys said, it will take a damn good draft, strong return by Yanda, Osemele (Oher?) and signing of Monroe to bring it to respectability.

Something to consider: the Steelers O Line sucks (probably worse than ours) and they are holding up somehow and winning. Go figure ?

[ravinmaniac52]

Dont be so fast on Gino.

 

And I would really like to see Jensen

[oldno82]

Good question.

I don't see it being fixed this season.

Maybe by training camp Osemele and Yanda report 100% healthy. That in itself would be a huge upgrade.

Maybe Monroe gets signed by us. Then Ozzie finds a center in the draft or FA.

Don't know about Oher.

 

Then...the coaching staff has to adjust to what their talent does best.

 

This will be one of the biggest priorities for Ozzie...and to find a runner.

He has to protect Joe and he has to have a running game.

Won't be fixed this year. Unlikely to be fixed next year as Ozzie has so many needs: WR,C,RB,TE(?), LT(?), RT. The best thing going for us is the weak division.

[cravnravn]

Rome (and an O-Line) isn't built in a day. Like you guys said, it will take a damn good draft, strong return by Yanda, Osemele (Oher?) and signing of Monroe to bring it to respectability.

Something to consider: the Steelers O Line sucks (probably worse than ours) and they are holding up somehow and winning. Go figure ?

 

We have identical record with the black and yellow.

 

And as Maniac stated, Im seeing some good out of Gino, we lost 50% of the o-line then we we had during our Championship push

[OutsideRzAcE]

We should know by the end of the year if Gino will be a keeper or not. He definitely has shown improvement in the last two games.

[OutsideRzAcE]

I like Monroe and I hope we can afford him. He's not Ogden but he's better than Oher on the left. He's good enough. I like Oher's toughness and durability (on the right of course). If he is reasonable about his price we should bring him back imo

[RavenMad]

The one change that has effected this team the most IMO has been Castillo and his crap blocking schemes. Get rid of him and the line will improve.

[vmax]

Wait a minute!

We have an O line sighting!

 

[oldno82]

I don't think Gino is an NFL caliber Center.

 

Check this out about our offensive line:

 

Pro Football Focus Grades

It comes as little surprise that the Ravens defense had 16 of 19 players earn positive grades from Pro Football Focus (PFF) after the unit suffocated the Jets.

Cornerback Corey Graham led the team with highest grade ( 4.3) after his two-interception performance, both coming in Baltimore territory. Outside linebackers Elvis Dumervil (leads NFL outside linebackers in pass-rush productivity), Terrell Suggs and defensive tackles Art Jones and Terrence Cody all finished with grades of 2.0 or higher.

Receiver Jacoby Jones graded very well on offense ( 2.8) and special teams ( 1.8), and got the PFF game ball after his 66-yard touchdown catch and consistently putting the team in good field position. But it was left tackle Eugene Monroe ( 3.8) that led the offense in ratings.

The rest of the offensive line didn’t fare as well, with all four starters scoring negative points.

“[Center Gino] Gradkowski (-5.4 overall) was the worst of the bunch, little more than a speed bump to the Jets at times,” wrote Thomas Maney. “Likewise [right tackle Michael] Oher struggled to handle the quickness of Richardson and the New York linebackers. It also didn’t help that Marshal Yanda couldn’t follow up his 6.2 showing a week ago with a similar performance.”

OFFENSE DEFENSE

Name Snap Count Rating Name Snap Count Rating

Eugene Monroe 66 3.8 Corey Graham 36 4.3

Jacoby Jones 39 2.8 Elvis Dumervil 41 3.9

Joe Flacco 66 1.8 Arthur Jones 33 2.6

Tyrod Taylor 12 0.9 Terrell Suggs 45 2.5

Ricky Wagner 6 0.5 Terrence Cody 21 2.0

Dallas Clark 9 0.4 Lardarius Webb 55 1.7

Brandon Stokley 9 0.2 Haloti Ngata 27 1.2

Ed Dickson 57 -0.4 Daryl Smith 57 1.2

Torrey Smith 66 -0.5 Jimmy Smith 57 0.5

Vonta Leach 12 -0.5 Arthur Brown 20 0.5

Marlon Brown 45 -0.9 Albert McClellan 2 0.5

Bernard Pierce 31 -1 Courtney Upshaw 20 0.4

Tandon Doss 8 -1.2 Matt Elam 57 0.4

Marshal Yanda 66 -1.3 Pernell McPhee 24 0.4

Ray Rice 36 -1.9 Jameel McClain 23 0.3

Michael Oher 66 -2.2 James Ihedigbo 57 0.3

A.Q. Shipley 66 -2.8 Josh Bynes 14 -0.4

Gino Gradkowski 66 -5.4 Chris Canty 24 -0.7

DeAngelo Tyson 14 -0.9

[Money]

Eugene Monroe will be signed long term. Yanda and Osemele will be fine. It's very feasible to find a quality RT to replace Oher. I'm not giving up on Gino, but they will draft (or sign) better competition.

 

Bottom line...you invest in the OL with Flacco. It's on him to make due with the rest. I'm not comparing Flacco to Brady (for the benefit of the trolls on here), but NE's philosophy with Brady has always been to put a quality line in front of him and do their best with the rest. It's simply the right way to do things when you have a franchise QB.

[oldcrow]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsTJaP2tC0A

[oldno82]

Eugene Monroe will be signed long term. Yanda and Osemele will be fine. It's very feasible to find a quality RT to replace Oher. I'm not giving up on Gino, but they will draft (or sign) better competition.

 

Bottom line...you invest in the OL with Flacco. It's on him to make due with the rest. I'm not comparing Flacco to Brady (for the benefit of the trolls on here), but NE's philosophy with Brady has always been to put a quality line in front of him and do their best with the rest. It's simply the right way to do things when you have a franchise QB.

 

Absolutely agree though I would like to see us draft a capable WR. I hope Pitta makes a full comeback too.

[RavenMad]

Absolutely agree though I would like to see us draft a capable WR.

 

I would like to see us draft a WR with good hands. Someone that Joe can throw the ball to on 3rd down and know he is going to catch it. I like the rest of our young WRs but we lack a guy that catches everything that hits him in the hands.

[tgann68]

Marlon Brown doesn't miss many when Flacco throws it where he can catch it...

 

I think he will develop into a big target for Flacco.

[RavenMad]

Marlon Brown doesn't miss many when Flacco throws it where he can catch it...

 

I think he will develop into a big target for Flacco.

 

True, I guess I'm looking more at Doss and thinking we could still do better despite his improvement. He still puts too many balls on the ground for someone we thought would be a good possession WR. Marlon still needs to improve more to the point where he beats Doss out for playing time but yeah I really do like Marlon's potential.

[Spen]

For me to decide how the O-line is playing I need to look at each player individually then look at what their contract is, then I will tell you how they are doing.