OL

Is it just me or is the offensive line starting to kick some butt? On that TD to Smith Jake had all day to stand back there. That is a pretty good front seven they faced today too. Granted we did not run the ball much but the pass protection was pretty good.

Something I thought interesting is that on our early possession that ended in a field goal after having first and goal, all three of our rushing attempts were to the right side behind Hangartner, Mathis and Bridges. Granted we did not score but the coaches must have some confidence in those guys. Bridges has to be the street free agent we have ever signed during the season.

 

I've also noticed how well Foster reads the blitz.

 

Foster does read the blitz well. Probably one reason he was considered "the starter" whenever healthy.
Hangartner had a couple things not called well on the blitz.

 

Run blocking is still poor. For some reason that always seems to be the case. For a team that is supposed to be built around running the ball, we dont have any of the road grader types on the line.

 

The run blocking was not great but remember it was the Ravens who have a very solid run defense. I was hoping Hartwig would help out our run game a lot but he is MIA and all....

 

We've never had the strong road graders. We have, however, started investing in some. Mathis is strong, as is Montgomery.

Overall, though, we get guys who can block on angles and get leverage.

 

Foster really stoned up a couple of blitzers.


And the line is starting to gel, communicating better. We don't have physically dominating guys right now, but we seem to have some cohesion out there.

 

I've been skeptical of Maser's abilities but have to commend him for the work he's done rebuilding the OL on the fly this time around.

As to Hartwig, anyone feel like we could afford to hold him out until the bye to make sure he's healthy, and get the two weeks to work him in? Hangman has played more with this OL than Hartwig.

 

Last year's draft is starting to look a lot better now that we appear to have gotten solid guys in Mathis and Hangartner.

 

With as much emphasis as Maser puts on OL gelling, now that they've got some of that happening, what will happen when they throw Hartwig back in? Or even next year when Wharton comes back?