The Big Orange Posted May 28, 2005 Report Share Posted May 28, 2005 The good news is we are ranked top 5, bad news is we are behind Baltimore and Pittsburgh...but I think Pitt will be near as good this season.http://www.footballguys.com/05smith_ol.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiLBurn Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 They have Clevelands O-line ranked higher than New Englands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybren Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 They give the Bengals as an "A-" without listing Rich Braham as either a starter or backup. So either we're that much better with Braham in the equation, or this writer is so clueless that he don't know who the team's starting center is.Though it is interesting that they would suggest that Levi has passed Willie as the top guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucktkd Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 They give the Rats a B for pass blocking when everyone knows they can't and as far as depth goes they were given a B as well. This past year they showed that they had little depth and lost a starter and a backup to free agency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ29 Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 They have Clevelands O-line ranked higher than New Englands ohmy.gifThat's unbelieveable. And they gave NE a C+ for cohesion, andthe Browns a B. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobcat Bengal Posted May 29, 2005 Report Share Posted May 29, 2005 They have Clevelands O-line ranked higher than New Englands ohmy.gifThat's unbelieveable. And they gave NE a C+ for cohesion, andthe Browns a B. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It probably won't.Don't go looking for praise and respect from too many media outlets yet....We'll just have to suprise everyone.The bandwagon will be filled to capacity by this time next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsfan2 Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 The bandwagon will be filled to capacity by this time next year. We had a bunch come and go last season ....... Jumpers jump on ..... and off.... the faithful stay no matter what.The respect will come during this season. About midway, we won't be surprising anyone ... by then, they'll KNOW they're in for an ass - kickin when they play the Bengals. :player: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownsblow05 Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 Our O-line has depth and experience.They are definately deserving of a top 5 ranking.Who-Dey :player: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indycat Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 The respect will come during this season. About midway, we won't be surprising anyone ... by then, they'll KNOW they're in for an ass - kickin when they play the Bengals.Now that's what I like to hear.......... WHODEY :player: :player: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schweinhart Posted May 30, 2005 Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 No doubt the O-line is excellent...Unless they're looking at another Scott Rehberg nightmare like they had in 2003 when Levi missed the 2nd Ratbirds game.Hopefully, the O-line coach has picked wisely and realistically for O-line reserves. Stacy the Giant could not be any worse than Rehberg was if he had to start for Levi and he'd proly already be servicable backing up Big Willie. A healthy Larry Moore will go a long way to provide quality at C and G until one of the pups can prove they're better than him at either place.The O-line may be Top 5 or Top 10, but 1 thing for sure, the QB and WRs kick a$$ :player: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Orange Posted May 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2005 You know that it all starts up front...that doesn't mean the play starts up there, that means that where the battle is won and lost. It's always been that way in tackle football...Paul Brown said it and you can take it to the bank. Why does KC's O rock? Because they dominate everybody up front. Priest is no better than Rudi...Green isn't any better than CP...but their line can open up holes that I could run through. I mean 8 rushing TD's against the Ravens?Sure the skill positions are necessary, and you need a lot of peices to have a good football team, but most times it comes down to who won the battle on the line. Our O won it last year most days, but our D got creamed most days. And when that means 3, 4, or 5 guys, and one and sometimes 2 of those guys aren't doing much...I mean there were some games than almost everybody on our line dissapeared. Mike Williams was absolutely worthless. Clemmons took whole games off. John Thorton rarely needs to be double teamed and Justin Smith was often. But with such a weak effort by the other guys the entire opposing line schemed often only had to take into account 2 threats. Our LB's weren't coming much except for Hardy (which was the one thing he did pretty well...this was mostly due to predictable and repetative play calling...which drove ML absolutely crazy...why else does the guy take over for a game mid-season. It also drove Justin Smith crazy...I'm surprised he didn't smack Frazier mid-season.But back to our O line...it will be better and deeper than last year. We will dominate more...Rudi will be closer to 1600 than 1300, and Carson will kill defenses and play intheir blood. Watch and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schweinhart Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 But back to our O line...it will be better and deeper than last year. We will dominate more...Rudi will be closer to 1600 than 1300, and Carson will kill defenses and play intheir blood. Watch and enjoy. Play in their blood? There's some killer instinct The starting O-line should be even more effective as long as they are all playing healthy. It will be a welcome change from last year, though Fontenot was a trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walshfan Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 I agree the the O-Line is the strongest part of the team....Our tackles do a fine job or runblocking or pass protecting.. Levi played hurt last year as did Wille. Both will be even more effective this year.. Steinbach is the one that I see improving the most what with him being able to fully extend his elbow now... He's a great pulling guard... Bobbi is a mauler.. His technique is improving by all reports on him... Our backups are question marks so hopefully we stay healthy.. I do like Guy-check though.. I think he's going to be a keeper.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet23 Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 Until they can prove that they are consistent, I see the O-Line as average at best. Whoever thinks Levi is better than Big Willie needs to put down the bong water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoosierCat Posted May 31, 2005 Report Share Posted May 31, 2005 I can't give the Bengals' o-line a top 5 ranking, at least right now, because of the difficulty they've had in staying healthy and on the field. Both tackles have had injury issues in each of the last two seasons; Big Willie in particular seems to screw up his knee simply by walking onto the field opening day. He hasn't allowed it to stop him from playing, and that's commendable, but I'm sure he'd be better were he 100%, and he never seems to be. Steinbach had a good rookie campaign, but elbow surgery ended up costing him a big chunk of '04. Braham was out early last season and is coming back off an injury too.IF these guys can all (or even 4 out of the 5) stay healthy, I think they could be as good as any o-line in the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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