Quote
JamesJM
"If an OL goes bad it usually takes other things with it." You bring this topic up often, any various guises... but it's one of those things that I admit has 'truth in it' but is cursory in careful examination.
Within that framework there ARE players, and teams, that take advantage of the 'few' opportunities provided them... with success. And NOT just Brady and Wilson. I'm not seeing that with the Rams.
I'm not judging anything based solely on OL performance... EVEN WHILE recognizing that it's a huge factor. There are moments.. today there were several, when the OL was simply not to blame... and I think the 'confidence being down' thing only goes so far. - JamesJM
I don't believe it is ever cursory. I think it is one of the most important things you can note about a team and its qb play. I have seen this hold up over the years.
I have directly said many times (and probably just said it again) that there are only 2 active qbs who have played well when their OLs collapse due to injuries and are struggling--Brady and Wilson. Even then, both of them have had bad games under those circumstances.
When an OL is struggling EVERYTHING that happens on offense is related to that, whether it looks like it on a given play or not. It affects the play calling, the qb's confidence, overall execution, timing, everything.
I take this as completely and absolutely the case and have never seen a good argument against it--when an OL collapses, the qb goes down with it (and then I always add the Wilson/Brady exceptions).
That not only holds up under close examination, it holds up under all examination. I am regularly in discussions about this issue have been since 2007. You put a qb behind a struggling OL, get them down by several scores (so they must pass) against a good D with a top pass rush, and you're just going to see the qb falter. In fact they were only ever in it today, when they WERE in it, because of the passing game---and that was pretty damn impressive, considering.
I may not convince you here today but I can promise you, there is no changing my mind on this.
Fair enough?
