Offensive Line - starters; pass protection and stats

[newman79]

I saw a depth chart a while ago at the JS Online. With Tauscher gone, it looks like a big question will be who starts at RT.

T - Chad Clifton, Breno Giacomini, Allen Barbre, Tony Moll, Jamon Meredith.

G - Daryn Colledge, Josh Sitton, Duke Preston, Nevin McCaskill, T.J. Lang, Andy Hartline.

C - Jason Spitz, Scott Wells, Evan Dietrich-Smith.

Packers depth chart - JSOnline

It looks like the line will be:

LT Chad Clifton
LG Daryn Colledge
C Jason Spitz -- seems like Wells could still be in the mix?
RG Josh Sitton
RT Breno Giacomini - (not sure of this one)

What's everyone think? Preston?

I also ran across an interesting analysis of stats for OL based on sacks allowed.
Offensive Lineman Pass ProtectionRankings - Bolts From The Blue

As it states it's far from perfect, but still pretty interesting to look at. Ryan Clady of DEN comes out on top at LT. (Clady finished 3rd in Offensive Rookie of the Year behind Matt Ryan and Chris Johnson). Roos of TEN is up there, and surprisingly Jason Peters, the Eagles' hyped acquisition at LT came out at the bottom.

Clifton comes out at about 24th out of 32 while Colledge came in ranking at 25th. Wells at C came in ranked at 28th. Those rankings are not too great for the center and left side of the O-line.

The right side of the O-line fared better with Spitz and Tauscher both coming in ranked at 4th overall in RG and RT, respectively.

Maybe there's something to replacing Wells at Center with Spitz?

also, an article at TSN had to do with the top tackles in league and Clifton fared better. SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NFL Football stats, scores, standings, blogs and fantasy news from NFL Football columnists

I'm not too concerned with the left side of Clifton and Colledge, but should I be?

Who's going to be the starting RT? Who will be the primary backups?

 

[PackersRS]

I'm really concerned with the right side. I've heard somewhere that Giacomini is the favorite at RT, and that he's fairly good at pass block and is very athletic. I think he was a TE in college. But he has no experience, and has questions about his "mean streak" and his ability in the running game, specially in the second level. And I don't have a lot of faith in Sitton. I think he gets manhandled by quicker inside linemen. Spitz at center would be great, because Wells just can't match the Williams and Harris twice a year.

I hope that Meredith or Lang can earn the job, and would like us to re-sign Tauscher, if he's healthy.

And I don't have faith that the guys will be coached up. MM is a great QB coach, but not so good OL coach IMO, and Campen hasn't done anything to show me he can make the difference.

I'm actually optimist about our season, but those are concerns I have...

 

[croxeye]

my estimated starting lineup

Clifton - DC - Spitz - Sitton - Lang
backups
meridith - preston(flex) - - Babre - Giacomini

I really think Lang might be able to take the starting RT spot, as he has great uperbody strength and has a mean streak, maybe not as quick as clifton, but he will have a TE to his side most of the time to help him with speed rushers, plus he's a great run blocker.

 

[danielchile]

Could it be Clifton - Colledge - Preston - Spitz - Lang (or Meredith)? Preston has the size (6'5'') and Spitz did it well at RG.

 

[favrefan4]

I think Scott Wells would be good at center, and why not try out Lang. But I do thing Clifton will be starting this season

 

[croxeye]

Could it be Clifton - Colledge - Preston - Spitz - Lang (or Meredith)? Preston has the size (6'5'') and Spitz did it well at RG.

Preston was brought to be a servicable backup, If he's starting at C over spitz, I'm going to be VERY worried about our OL.

plus the fact Josh Sitton beat out Jason Spitz at RG as a ROOKIE, I don't think that MM will be very fast to rush preston in the lineup.