It's about as lazy as saying this OL unit is one of the tops in the league when they fail time after time to convert 3rd and short in key situations.
We watched today and in the past few weeks, where teams like the Saints, Philly and the Cowboys, blew open holes for their backs that our vaunted Oline can only wistfully dream about.
Yes but this ignores two key things.
One: Our O-line has been banged up pretty much all season. Scherff is playing on one leg, Trent is playing with a Kneecap that floats around and needs surgery, Moses is playing on two sprained ankles (which judging by the way he was getting up off the ground yesterday are still bothering him) and even when they're playing any of the guys playing with them are a rotation of rookies or people signed off the street to fill a hole. It's a miracle they stand upright let alone do the job they're doing.
They managed to protect Kirk long enough to put up one of his best games yesterday, only 1 sack on the day, and they help Perine have over 100 yards rushing. I think they're getting healthier and yesterday was a sign that they're on their way to getting back to that point.
Secondly, the Saints, Philly and the Cowboys blew holes in our D-Line because we're missing Allen and Ioannidis, or have Ioannidis playing with a club hand. Are we surprised they're blowing holes we can only dream about? Camparing how their broadly healthy O-line blows though our decimated D-line with how our decimated O-line can't blow holes in their relatively healthy D-Lines is like comparing apples and breeds of cat. We've also played THE hardest schedule to date in the NFL, so these are paper teams we're battling.
If we were healthy I reckon we could EASILY be looking at something like a 7-2 record. Games are won and lost on the line and injuries have killed us on both sides in that area, which is why we're 5-5. We can blame coaching, or Kirk, or Pryor or whatever we want to... but no coach pitches the perfect game, no QB throws a perfect season, no RB hits the hole every time and no WR always run perfect routes and catches the ball. I could be a fan of pretty much any team in the league and have all the same complaints, draft a new QB, sack the coach, cut that player etc.
First thing Wifey said to me last night after the loss to the Saints was..."Now you know how that feels!" - a reference to the Packers heartbreaking collapse to the Seahawks a couple of years ago.
Remember this one...
Epic Packers Collapse!
They were up 19-17 with a couple of minutes left and collapsed to let the Seahawks win in overtime (sound familiar!). And this was the NFC Championship game.
Consider Atlanta in the Superbowl last year.
These things happen in football, even the best teams can suffer a systemic collapse across the board at the worst times.
It's kind of what makes Football so satisfying. The Cinderella ending. Sometimes you're simply on the wrong side of it.
Anyways...
I spent a little time crunching the injury numbers this morning regarding the O-Line health and our Run game....
Now if you compare that to our Injury History so far...
Week 1 - PHILADELPHIA EAGLES – 64 Yards (5 Active, 2 carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams, Catalina, Moses, Long*
Inactive: Catalina, Clemmings
TE's Inactive: Sprinkle
Week 2 – LOS ANGELES RAMS – 229 Rush Yards (5 Active, 3 Carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams, Moses*, Long*, Nsekhe
Inactive: Catalina, Clemmings
TE's Inactive: Reed
Week 3 – OAKLAND RAIDERS – 116 Rush Yards (5 Active, 3 carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams*, Moses*, Long* Nsekhe*
Inactive: Catalina, Clemmings
TE's Inactive: Reed
Week 4 – KANSAS CITY CHIEFS – 111 Rush Yards (5 Active, 4 carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams*, Clemmings*, Moses*, Long*
Inactive: Catalina, Nsekhe,
TE's Inactive: Sprinkle
Week 6 – SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS – 94 Rush Yards (5 Active, 3 carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams*, Catalina, Moses*, Long*
Inactive: Nsekhe,
TE's Inactive: Sprinkle
Week 7 – PHILADELPHIA EAGLES – 75 Rush Yards (5 Active, 3 carrying injuries)
Active: Scherff, Williams*, Catalina, Moses**, Long*
Inactive: Nsekhe,
TE's Inactive: Sprinkle
Week 8 – DALLAS COWBOYS – 49 Rush Yards ( 1 Active, 1 playing with injury)
Active: Scherff**
Inactive: Nsekhe*, Williams*, Catalina*, Moses**, Long*
TE's Inactive: Sprinkle
Week 9 – SEATTLE SEAHAWKS – 51 Rush Yards - (4 Active carrying injuries)
Active: Moses**, Nsekhe*, Scherff*, Williams*
Inactive: Lauvao, Long**
TE's Inactive: Reed, Paul
Week 10 – MINNESOTA VIKINGS – 81 Rush Yards - (6 Active, 5 carrying injuries)
Active: Lauvao*, Moses**, Nsekhe*, Scherff*, Williams*, Long*
Inactive: Kouandjlo
TE's Inactive: Reed, Paul
Week 11 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS – 156 Rush Yards - (5 Active, 4 carrying injuries)
Active: Lauvao*, Moses**, Nsekhe*, Scherff*, Williams*
Inactive: Long, Kouandjlo
TE's Inactive: Reed
I tried to list the TE's that were out during the period too, as I know they can contribute somewhat towards run blocking. What I didn't have time to do was factor in the weeks when we lost Kelley to injury to. We also need to factor in things like the struggle to get Pryor involved, Doctson's learning curve and Perine trying to get up to speed in a system he's never played in. It all factors in.
Oh and on the above a '*' indicated the player was carrying an injury. A '**' means he was carrying two injuries. Moses is still carrying the Sprains in both ankles and at one point Scherff had both a back injury and a knee injury.
If you look at where the *'s line up on the weeks with the graph you can see that our Oline was at it's most banged up during the Cowboys game, where we only managed 49 yards.
Lately it's been recovering as we get players back and the results are improving too. This weeks effort was outstanding by our Line.
But... we're not in a position to be blowing holes in D-Lines consistently. Look at the injuries listed...
As of this week:
Lauvao – Listed with Stinger
Moses – Listed with sprains to BOTH ankles
Nsekhe – Listed with Core Muscle injury
Williams – Listed with Knee injury (requiring surgery)
Scherff – Listed with a Knee injury
Long – Listed with Injuries to BOTH knees
Lot of Knee, Ankle and Core injuries there, if you think this line is going to be able to push consistently with any strength... We're lucky they're still standing and can run and pass block to the extent they are. This group have been warriors all season. Even though it's been an injury riddled mess all season pretty much, they are only allowing 2.5 sacks per game. Which is a kinda miracle. That coupled with all the changes to the personnel meaning Kirk has been behind a different O-Line almost every game, it's another miracle that he's only had 4 fumbles on the season and only 5 interceptions.
You're right, you might not be able to call this unit one of the best in the NFL... but then it's not been a complete and healthy unit for 99% of the season. Game 1 we weren't ready as a team and that's on Gru. Game 2 we were healthy and killed the Rams. After that point they started to drop like flies till we hit the nadir of the Cowboys game. Since then they've been getting healthier and this week was their best game for a while, just missing Long now to get back to all our Starters, but even then they won't be completely healthy till next season.