I think this line is already better than last year in protections. They still have issues with stunts, for some reason they get confused by them still particularly in SF, and you can see them blow assignments when defenses crowd the line and make them doubt what they're doing. But all that aside in pass pro they're doing a good enough job and to my eye they're an average unit there. Seems to me given the youth of this unit they'll get better week to week if they just leave the current five alone and let them settle in.
In the run game they have been a little disappointing, guys getting beat or not sealing lanes very well, so I think Roger is right that they can do a better job even against a heavy or aggressive front. And the bonus here is the talent of Gurley, where IF they do that you will see him bust huge runs once he gets to the second level.
The problem clearly is teams know the way forward with them is to blow it up and stop the run, which is compounded by the QB play. Nobody fears Keenum's arm, and when you watch the film of this team the over-focus on short passing game is laughable and defenses are going to come in confident they can shut it down. So IMO the offense will probably improve in the run game here real soon and probably this weekend, but that's not going to be enough to get Fish the points he wants unless they continue to stretch things vertically in the passing game. And if Case can't do that Fish needs to quit screwing around and make the hard call and put in the kid, or failing that even Mannion, both of whom CAN stretch the defense with intermediate plus passing.
