Time to pump the brakes: the Oline isn't that bad.

[*rfaulk34*]

(10-01-2016, 10:27 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Hill is averaging 3.8 ypc while Bernard is averaging 2.7. In this game, Hill averaged 3.4 while Bernard averaged 1.8 on 10 carries. If Hill is a big part of the problem, how is Gio not when he's putting up inferior numbers?

I agree that Ogbuehi has been a big problem thus far. Bodine is as well. He was much better in this game, but I'm still very worried about him going forward. It's fair to wonder if Hill contributes to the run problems, but I just have trouble believing he's a big part of it when (1) Gio is averaging a full yard less per carry and (2) we've ranked 20th or worse in YPC in every season but one (2014) from 2006-present. The one year we were good, it was mostly thanks to Hill, so...

I wouldn't say Hill is a big problem. My point with this thread is, the Oline isn't as big of a problem as people think, overall. For the most part (again, just going back and watching this game because it seemed that they were a huge problem this game) they played well with only a few missed blocks (about what you'd expect in a typical game). 

I'm just saying, the bigger problems were TEs and WRs missing blocks on the end of the line, Og was the weakest link this game and RBs were missing open lanes. Miami also run blitzed a fair amount of snaps. 

Generally, the typical fan won't realize that RBs contribute to a poor running game. They see a tackle at the LOS or a tackle for loss and automatically think someone on the line screwed up. In other game, that may well be true. Not so much this game. 

One thing i still don't understand is, if something is working, why not do it more until the other team stops you? The Packers didn't care how many times they ran the power sweep. They were going to keep doing it, and doing it successfully, until you stopped them and then they were going to do it some more. I remember a question being asked of someone (on the Bengals staff once) why they didn't run something more, since it was working so well, and the answer was, 'we didn't want them to catch on and make adjustments to stop it'. Something to that effect. 

I'd need to go back and watch the other games this year to see if what i'm saying for this game is true for those. I don't think too many teams are scared of the Bengals passing attack this year so they're packing the box more. 

And i'm not making excuses for the Oline because up to now, i've been right there screaming about how bad they seem to be. I wasn't looking to find excuses for them, i was actually trying to figure out who was playing so bad, but after going back and watching again, i just don't believe they were as bad this game as people, including me, originally thought.