Ayt wrote:I have to agree with the philosophy. QB and both lines are the keys to your team. TT spent his first draft choice on a QB I think has the potential to be damn good and he's put a ton of resources into the lines.
Defense is all about disrupting the flow of the opposing offense. There is no better way to do that than having a dominant front four. Offense is mainly about being able to dictate what you want to do, and you can't do that without a dominant front five.
I think a top DL is quite a bit more important than a top OL.The Packers in their prime had a solid offensive line,but it was far from dominant.The Patriots have had a solid OL over the year,but nothing overly special.That Saints 2002 team you said finished third in points didn't have a great line from what you said you remember.
So long as an offense has playmakers and a good QB,they generally can have a productive offense if their line is solid,but not among the better ones.It's when an offensive line is really bad,that's where an offense can suffer greatly for it.
Obviously if a team has a dominant offensive line it can make mediocre backs look better than they are and help the passing game by not needing to max protect ever,but a pretty good number of teams who played in Super Bowls didn't have a special OL.Continuity is very important at that position,a group that's not ultra talented but functions well together can be a sum of the group being better than it's individual parts.It's harder for that two happen on the DL,individual talent is a bigger key.