Will Our crappy O-Line kill cooleys production?

[jermus22]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I'll go one step further and say that suggesting that our line is crappy is downright crazy and makes no sense. First off, if we need a tight end to do some blocking for us, then Fauria will come in the game. Cooley will be expected to block about as often as Tony Gonzalez was expected to block.

Samuels is slightly overrated, but he's still a very good left tackle. He blocks all above average DEs in the game, the only guys he has trouble with are the superstars like Simeon Rice. Dockery is not a pass protection liability, he's so big that not too many DTs can get by him. The knock on Dockery in the past was always his discipline - too many penalties. But he curtailed that stuff last year, he was much better. He could still stand to improve his technique to harness all his power in run blocking, but overall he's solid. Rabach is unspectacular but solid, he's quick enough to get to the LB level of the defense, and he makes all the right calls on the line. Randy Thomas is a friggin beast, one of the best RGs in the game, big, athletic, and disciplined. Jansen is rock-solid, he struggles with guys like Strahan, but he can be relied on consistently.

Someone's going to have to convince me in what way our line is a weakness. That doesn't make any sense to me.

I completely agree with your assessment of our starters, but if one of them goes down, we are in a load of trouble. We picked up two decent backups at guard (Pucillo from Cleveland and somebody from Houston). But we lack a true backup at tackle and center. Lefotu (our sixth round pick) can play any position on the line but isn't a high quality backup, and our best option at tackle is Jim Molinaro (who isn't highly rated as far as I know). I hope we add a little depth through free agency.