The Offensive Line - Better Than We Think?

I have two rules when it comes to peoples names: nobody named Todd can be cool, and nobody named Cole can be trusted.

The main one was that it didn’t seem well researched. Look at some of the other teams, not necessarily where he ranked them but why. I didn’t understand any of his reasoning. An at least some of the blame must go to the O-line for the horrid running last year, that said with the injuries last season to our normal starting line, it is really hard to have an effective running game in the zone blocking system with guys who are not totally used to playing together. I think the improvement at the end of the year was finally getting all of the o-line guys working together, at the same time adding foster, who seemed to put out 3x more effort that Moats.(I love guys who play with a chip on their shoulder)

That being said this guy is just pulling stuff out of his ass. This line sealed it for me, “If the Colts were at least some kind of threat on short-yardage situations, then they’d be ranked much higher”. The Colts are ranked three spots lower than us, despite being the, “best pass-blocking unit in the league last year,” because they were ineffective on short yardage. Does he realize how many games we lost because we couldn’t get one yard?

I thought there were often times when the RB’s had holes that they just didn’t see. Running in the zone scheme is all about vision and decision making, and slaton in particular didn’t do a good job on that front last year IMO.

In all fairness most things about this team aren’t as good or bad as we act like they are…the fan in us tends to exaggerate our opinions.

1) Chris Myers is a lot better than most people in Houston are willing to give him credit for. Yes, he may have been on the receiving end of the most embarrassing play for an offensive lineman in 10 years, but the center’s job is of utmost importance, and Myers held that line together—including the astounding pass-blocking—despite a rotating door at the guard positions on either side of him due to injuries. He got lit up by Kris Jenkins, but held his own for basically the rest of the season. And let’s be honest, the Jets game was AJ’s fault for getting dominated by Revis; Pitts’, Myers’, and Brisiels’ fault for getting dominated on the interior rush; Slaton’s fault for critical fumbles; Diles’ and Williams’ fault for not making those INTs; Frank Bush’s fault for starting Brice McCain, Dominique Barber, and Nick Ferguson; and most of all, Kubiak’s fault for not having the team ready to play that game.

2) As was mentioned in the article, both Joyner and PFF have fairly high ratings in terms of pass and run blocking. Slaton was slow and injured, Brown was terrible, but showed flashes here and there, and Moats did what he could with what he has. When Foster came in, the team tore up two otherwise-stout defenses on the ground. That doesn’t happen without a good offensive line.

3) Kasey Studdard. Everyone knows he’s extremely limited in terms of physical ability, but the guy showed improvement every game. I’d go so far as to say there wasn’t much difference between his play by the end of the season and standard Chester Pitts performance.

4) A little-talked-about fact is that we probably have the two best tackles in the game at setting up for the screen. I don’t know what the author of this article was talking about in saying our tackles are “limited physically.” Duane Brown is an impressive athlete for the position, and both he and Winston are the two best there is right now at getting to the perimeter and throwing blocks on shifty defensive backs. They are fantastic at getting to the second level in this regard.

5) Depth. Wade Smith was decent as a starter and provides good depth. Rashad Butler has never allowed the line to miss a beat in the few plays he’s been in. He’s a great swing tackle. Chris White, despite being undersized, knows the system well and looked much better than any of the other guards we rotated in last season. Cole Pemberton and Shelley Smith have both received good marks so far. They both have the athleticism to succeed in the scheme and desirable size to be effective, as well. We’ll leave the CSU nepotism/elephant in the room regarding these two alone.

And it’s probably true that Slaton sucking made it look worse than it actually was. But it’s also important to note that the guys that did well didn’t exactly face the Ravens when they were putting up the stats. Moats had his 100 yard game against Buffalo. Foster did it against a Wilfork-less Patriots.

So it’s probably a case of us underrating our team (as I suspect we do more than we should, but can you blame us?) and this subjective rating system overrating us.

But mr PK from espn afc south blog deserves the credit. I hope y’all all hot a big laugh out of our #6 ranked oline. I guess
no one ever told chris brown we were that good in the trenchs…..

But it’s not the 6th worse either… Overall i’d say the Texans have about an average offensive line, with the potential to be slightly above average with the new additions and hopefully lack of injuries next year…

I think the line gets ragged on more than it deserves on both sides of the ball, but that’s only because when people can’t find an obvious culprit to a team’s woes they pick on the obvious unseen culprit, right or wrong.

since we haven’t even seen em in action yet. ask me about a week before the regular season… AFTER preseason is over.

Ifan after four games into the season the run game is running lights out, will the credit be going to the O-line, the RBs, the coaches, or all of the above? And, will anyone be saying, “I knew the O-line could do it!”

If that happens, I will be waiting for the implosion, because I think it will be coming.

Actually, what I think will happen is that it will be a mixed bag of success, depending on what team the Texans face.

iono if a line that was next to last rushing the ball is an ovrall top 6 line.. Ill agree if it was solely about the passing yds