Fredtoast take on the O-line issue

[Shake n Blake]

(03-06-2017, 11:09 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Because they act like Alexander has never done anything good and that no other O-line coach in the league has ever coached a bad player.

Give me the name of an O-line coach who has turned every single draft pick he has coached into a star and I'll suggest we take him to replace Alexander.

You honestly think Alexander WANTED the Bengals to go almost a decade without spending more than two picks in the first two rounds on O-linemen?  The guy was forced to get by on scraps for years and he did a pretty good job with what he had.

Between 2002-2016, the Bengals took 7 o-linemen in the first round. At few points were they ever lacking talent at tackle, the most important position. I don't think the situation was that bad for as long as you claim. 2008-2009 I'd say we were weak at some spots on the line. Other than that, I'd say PA has always had more than enough to work with.

(03-06-2017, 01:32 PM)Benton Wrote: But as to the thread, I don't get the knocks on Alexander. He's helped several linemen progress. At the end of the day, all a coach can do is provide insight and what they've learned. The rest is on how bad the player wants it. Guys like Whitworth don't just happen because they've got a good coach, they become one of the best linemen in the league with a long career because they want to be the best and they take their job seriously. Guys like Andre bust out for the other end of that — all the talent in the world doesn't help you if you're lazy. And coaching those guys only goes so far. You motivate a guy like Andre some in the lockerroom and some in contract negotiations.

I don't pretend to know what Alexander does behind the scenes, so I just look at production and judge him on that. The fact that we've ranked 20th or worse in YPC for every year since 2006 (sans 2014) is something I put on Paul. Pass protection hasn't been as good as some think. Dalton has helped with that. I look at handpicked guys Paul has failed to get ready or develop. Ogbuehi was the "MVP" of a season where we won 6 fewer games than the previous year. Paul picked that player, coached him "up" and threw him out there.

Any normal team would've fired him for that reason alone. Teams don't brush off entire seasons as if they're no big deal. That's more of a Bengals thing. When you have no accountability, suddenly it's okay if a coach submarines a 12-4 team by drafting one of the worst tackles in history. Not to mention Bodine. Or Fisher. Or how he kept Livings over Mathis. Or the weird fascination he had with Dennis Roland. Or Eric Ghiaciuc.

In short, there's a lot not to like.