12-10-2021, 01:37 AM
(12-08-2021, 05:52 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: I haven't seen such vigorous defense of mediocrity (at best) since the days of Marvin Lewis. I really don't get it. Even if you don't think the line is complete trash (I don't) you should at least be positioning yourself on the "we definitely need to be better" side.
As far as stats, different sites show different things.
Pro Football Reference advanced stats show the following:
Sacks- 2nd most
Attempt- 17th most
Pocket Time- 23rd most (which suggests he isn't hanging around all that much)
Pressures- 9th most
Blitzed- 18th most (which means teams are getting pressure with the guys up front)
ESPN's pass block win rate has us ranked 31st.
But I guess we can go on blaming Burrow and the RBs for everything. Apparently that narrative is really sticking. Probably because everyone is burned out talking about the line. Which I 100% get.
Tbh, I think the hidden reason this debate is so intense is that we have different expectations for the line. Some will be content with an average line. I don't think everyone believes a top line to be necessary, and if that's the case, you probably think we're very close to achieving that.
Others want studs up front. A top shelf o-line. Looking at it that way, we're still pretty far off.
The line 100% needs to play better, but I think it is important to recognize that the healthy version of this line that we have seen in 2 of the last 3 weeks has looked better than the line we originally fielded this season. RG seems to finally be in decent hands, and Trey was finally looking like he was getting back to being at least okay. We finally get Adenjii back, and then two weeks later we lose Reiff and Hopkins. Granted we have been relatively healthy, so it was bound to happen. I think if this unit gets some time to gel over the remainder of the season, then we might see this line in a very different light come the offseason. But yes, it has looked ugly a lot of the time. I still think this is a marked improvement from last years line. As inconsistent, and at times just bad, as our line has been, I still think Burrow at times makes their jobs a little harder. Although, I would certainly say that overall the line has made his job harder than he has theirs.
