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Just how good was Don Majkowski?
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<blockquote data-quote="TJV" data-source="post: 471316" data-attributes="member: 4300"><p><span style="color: #141414"><span style="font-family: 'Tahoma'">IMO this used to be true regarding the OL but isn’t any longer. In the previous era of establishing the run to open up the passing game it was true. For Lombardi’s Packers and their ability to run his sweep successfully even when everyone in the stadium knew what was coming, it was true. Even for the “passing teams” of the bygone era the OL was very important because it had to protect the QB as passing routes took time to develop it was true.</span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #141414"><span style="font-family: 'Tahoma'">But this isn’t your dad’s/grand dad’s/great grand dad’s, etc. NFL anymore. If I had to pick a point in time that it changed I’d choose the advent of the WCO popularized by Walsh in San Francisco. The roots of the system go back in time but it was the success of Walsh’s 49ers in the copy-cat league that is the NFL that accelerated a change away from the importance of the OL. Walsh used the short passing game to replace some running plays and he stretched defenses sideline to sideline to open up deep routes and to spring RBs for longer gains when they did run. Walsh <em>established the passing game</em> and the NFL hasn’t been the same since IMO. Walsh’s OLs didn’t have to manhandle defenders in the running game and didn’t have to hold their pass protection blocks “forever” as was previously necessary. The league office helped this process along by continuing to implement rule changes favoring passing offenses. This evolution has de-emphasized the importance of having 5 really good O linemen. Instead, IMO the OL has to be just good enough. </span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Tahoma'"><span style="color: #000000">If what net posted was true, IMO there would be a more direct correlation between the quality of OLs and winning. But look at Pro Football Focus’ listing of the top 10 lines going into this week’s games: </span><a href="https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/24/offensive-line-rankings/" target="_blank"><u><span style="color: #800080">https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/24/offensive-line-rankings/</span></u></a><span style="color: #000000"> The teams who they rank as having the top ten OLs contain only three teams with winning records. The 1-5 Chiefs are number two. The record of their top 10 overall is 29-38. I’m not saying PPF’s rating system is the last word in evaluating OLs but they do grade O linemen on each play. Packers fans can look at last years’ team for more evidence: Marshall Newhouse not only wasn’t “really good”, he played most of the snaps at LT and was demonstrably bad at the most important spot on the OL for a passing team, yet the team went 15-1 in the regular season. </span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Tahoma'"><span style="color: #000000">Don’t get me wrong, a team starting a player like Allan Barbre at OT is going to struggle so having adequate starters at OL is important. And I don’t know a serious fan who thinks the skill positions operate in a vacuum. But IMO other aspects of the game now supersede the importance of the OL, like protecting the ball and taking it away (TO ratio), which correlates to winning more than having a “really good” OL. </span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TJV, post: 471316, member: 4300"] [COLOR=#141414][FONT=Georgia] [/FONT][/COLOR][COLOR=#141414][FONT=Tahoma]IMO this used to be true regarding the OL but isn’t any longer. In the previous era of establishing the run to open up the passing game it was true. For Lombardi’s Packers and their ability to run his sweep successfully even when everyone in the stadium knew what was coming, it was true. Even for the “passing teams” of the bygone era the OL was very important because it had to protect the QB as passing routes took time to develop it was true.[/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#141414][FONT=Tahoma] [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#141414][FONT=Tahoma]But this isn’t your dad’s/grand dad’s/great grand dad’s, etc. NFL anymore. If I had to pick a point in time that it changed I’d choose the advent of the WCO popularized by Walsh in San Francisco. The roots of the system go back in time but it was the success of Walsh’s 49ers in the copy-cat league that is the NFL that accelerated a change away from the importance of the OL. Walsh used the short passing game to replace some running plays and he stretched defenses sideline to sideline to open up deep routes and to spring RBs for longer gains when they did run. Walsh [I]established the passing game[/I] and the NFL hasn’t been the same since IMO. Walsh’s OLs didn’t have to manhandle defenders in the running game and didn’t have to hold their pass protection blocks “forever” as was previously necessary. The league office helped this process along by continuing to implement rule changes favoring passing offenses. This evolution has de-emphasized the importance of having 5 really good O linemen. Instead, IMO the OL has to be just good enough. [/FONT][/COLOR] [COLOR=#141414][FONT=Tahoma] [/FONT][/COLOR] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]If what net posted was true, IMO there would be a more direct correlation between the quality of OLs and winning. But look at Pro Football Focus’ listing of the top 10 lines going into this week’s games: [/COLOR][URL='https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/24/offensive-line-rankings/'][U][COLOR=#800080]https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/10/24/offensive-line-rankings/[/COLOR][/U][/URL][COLOR=#000000] The teams who they rank as having the top ten OLs contain only three teams with winning records. The 1-5 Chiefs are number two. The record of their top 10 overall is 29-38. I’m not saying PPF’s rating system is the last word in evaluating OLs but they do grade O linemen on each play. Packers fans can look at last years’ team for more evidence: Marshall Newhouse not only wasn’t “really good”, he played most of the snaps at LT and was demonstrably bad at the most important spot on the OL for a passing team, yet the team went 15-1 in the regular season. [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000] [/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#000000]Don’t get me wrong, a team starting a player like Allan Barbre at OT is going to struggle so having adequate starters at OL is important. And I don’t know a serious fan who thinks the skill positions operate in a vacuum. But IMO other aspects of the game now supersede the importance of the OL, like protecting the ball and taking it away (TO ratio), which correlates to winning more than having a “really good” OL. [/COLOR][/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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Just how good was Don Majkowski?
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