Our O-Line rankings

[emperorjones]

John St. Clairs ranking was posted in another thread - I thought I would post the other Bears O-Line rankings (at least from a sacks allowed standpoint). Pretty Impressed to see Beekman ranked #7 in what was basically his rookie season. And for those that say Kruetz is slowing down...well his #1 ranking doesn't show that :

LT- John St. Clair (Bears) 9.75 sacks allowed (16 starts) - Rank #30
LG -Josh Beekman (Bears) 1.25 sacks allowed (16 starts) - Rank #7
C- Olin Kreutz (Bears) 0 sacks allowed (16 starts) - Rank #1
RG- Roberto Garza (Bears) 2.5 sacks allowed (16 starts) - Rank #18
RT - John Tait (Bears) 6.0 sacks allowed (16 starts) - Rank #18

Looking at the overall picture, its clear that Chris Williams doesn't have to be dominant for the Bears' line to improve greatly (IMO he will be and is like having a 2nd early 1st round pick this year). Getting Frank Omiyale at RG could give us a strong middle (assuming the Bears are right about him). Likewise, moving St. Clair over to Right Tackle would easy the pain he currently causes. Statistically speaking his sacks allowed should go down at RT vs LT. I can see how JA & Lovie feel we are one RT away from having a dominant line. Kind of makes the case for an OT in the 1st or at least 2nd round.

[Friend_Of_Haley]

Sacks don't tell the whole picture.

However, I agree Beekman looks good. I think our line should be:
Williams, Olimaye, Kreutz, Beekman, Rookie(1st or 2nd)

with St. Clair, Garza, and Buenning on the bench, Maybe Garza becomes a cap casualty if we'd rather use the roster spot elsewhere.

[NZB2323]

Our O-line this year was very good at pass blocking, however; it was very bad at run blocking.

We got almost no separation from the line of scrimmage and many times they were unable to create holes. I want to see how well Forte can do with an o-line that is good at run blocking.

[emperorjones]

Agreed on the poor run blocking. My hope is that adding three new members to the line (as FOH said - Kreutz, Beekman, + Williams, Olimaye, & Rookie) will make our O-Line a team strength passing & running.).

O-Line is one area where I have complete faith in JA at this point. If he says Olimaye is a player, I believe it. Same for Williams and whatever RT we draft. JA is great at picking OL & DBs. WR, QBs? eh...not so great.

[NoSkyy]

Yeah, can someone add stats about how many knockdowns/pancakes our line generated last year? I bet it's not stellar.

Another thing I want to point out is that we did a lot of No Huddle last year which sped the game up alot and took away the ability of the defense to really sack Kyle because he was getting the ball out quickly, and we were tiring out defenses. That might contribute to the amount of sacks generated on us last year.

[emperorjones]

IMO a sack is a sack. You gaveup a sack - KO got knocked on his arse. I have no idea who else ran what offenses, who had no huddles or 3,5, 7 step drops. What I can see is Beekman did well vs the rest of the league in pass protection and Kruetz was tops amongst centers in pass protection - and St. Clair was hot garbage.

As fans we do a lot of "God I hate my sister" thinking. We can talk down just about anything presented to us if we didn't compete for the title. In reality, IMO, we need to acknowledge that Kruetz and Beekman did a good job and St. Clair was bad. Others were average. We have an opportunity to solidify this line for 5-7 years if we draft right. There's a lot wrong with this team, lots of problems, but - despite our beliefs - the O-line does not HAVE to be one of them. It can actually be a team strength in 2009.

[NoSkyy]

I mean, we're merely pointing out that it's a very one dimensional statistic. If you view a quarterback by only how many touchdowns their scores(ala, Brett Favre did well in NYJ with 22 Touchdowns compared to our Kyle Orton with 18) while ignoring the interceptions (Brett Favre threw 22 interceptions, so it's not like there was a huge gap between him and KO this year).

A good offensive line protects the quarterback and mows down the opposing defense to establish a good running game. I just want to know how well we rank as rushing oline(in which I think St Clair might have been a lot better than we thought he was, and Beekman wasn't as great. I don't know. Just assumptions) before I make any conclusions about our line.

[emperorjones]

I understand your point. In fact, you point out something that must be right - St. Clair MUST have graded out good against the run for the Bears to want him back as their starting RT (which is more run dominated position).

[Chewie]

I understand your point. In fact, you point out something that must be right - St. Clair MUST have graded out good against the run for the Bears to want him back as their starting RT (which is more run dominated position).

More likely that they're looking for a home-town discount with a guy that knows the system. If given the choice between THAT and a slightly more expensive and talented option from outside the organization, they'll take the former every time.

It's like I know how the Bears work or something....