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dzrams
I get picking apart AW's words since I don't agree with every single thing. Most of what he said I agree with but I do have a disagreement with him on one thing.
Like you, I don't believe that the loss of Sullivan was a negative factor. He was awful towards the end of last year. Allen came in and was no better but it didn't seem like he was worse either.
But other than that quibble, I feel we've got to give a lot of weight to a player's opinion. I'd think a professional like him would know most about how the OL did and how he specifically performed.
I've mentioned before and I'll state again that Whit is on record as saying that he felt this year was his best performance as a Rams. Now that could be argued especially given the penalties but IMO other than the penalties the performing aspect of sacks and pressures allowed he didn't decline much if at all. The talk of him regressing is overblown. Seems like hyperbole to me.
As far as Goff's throw aways, per PFF Goff was tied for 7th among starting QBs. It's not 3rd but it's still pretty high up there.
However, the QB throwing the ball away can't always be pinned on the OL. QB decision making and how he's reading the field is always a factor and sometimes that's the biggest factor. Case in point: 2017 - 2019 Goff.
In 2019, Goff has the 7th most balls thrown away and we're all agreed that the OL was bad.
In 2018, Goff had the 2nd most balls thrown away. It's pretty commonly accepted that the OL was good the first half of the year and bad against physical opponents the 2nd half of the year. IOW, when balanced out the OL in 2018 was about average. Yet Goff almost led the league in throw aways.
In 2017 it is widely accepted that the Rams had a top 5 OL. Where did Goff rank in balls thrown away? 7th! Same as in 2019. Not among the fewest in the league as one would expect if the OL was the primary factor in how often balls were thrown away.
This data (provided by PFF) leads me to believe that it's mostly Goff who is in charge of how often balls get thrown away.
No one is "picking apart" AW's words. He made a simple statement in doesn't hold up in some key ways.
I give weight to opinions that hold up to scrutiny. Otherwise you end up with the fallacy of "argument by authority" which is the idea that just because someone is a so-called authority, we take their arguments at face-value rather than subject them to the same scrutiny all arguments should get.
Players had said all sorts of things over the years. They're interested parties. My bet is that you yourself can think of many times you did not take a player's account of things at face-value. You're too smart for that. So that when Chris Long said Wm. Hayes was one of be besty DEs in the game, did you take that at face value?
When it comes to what AW said.
1. Sullivan was a liability at the end of 2018. I get defending him as a teammate and friend but an interested party is an interested party. Blythe played better at the end of 2019 than Sullivan did at the end of 2018.
So no the Rams OL issues did not boil down to losing Sullivan and yes Sullivan was replaceable by a comparably younger player.
2. Losing Saffold was an issue, no doubt. Which I was saying a long time before this. But then then in the 2nd half of 2019 the OL started 3 newbies, including 2 rookies, and it did better than it did in the first half of 2019, and in fact better than it did in the 2018 superbowl. So no starting newbies is not in itself automatically the sole cause of line woes.
3. AW and Hav both played poorly for the first half of 2019. That does not get mentioned. (Odds are AW would never be seen as criticizing Hav in public).
Lots of different ways what AW says does not hold up.
And I NEVER committ the fallacy of argument by authority. His take on things is as open to scrutiny as anyone elses. Plus of course given the type of team-mater he is, he is not going to be negative about teammates in public. So much of what he says are the expressions of an interested party.
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