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Michael Oher vs Frank Alexander

Jeremy Igo

By Jeremy Igo,
in Carolina Panthers

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KB_fan Proficient

KB_fan

Posted
Posted

This is a good thread.

I've been thinking about the OLine situation this year compared to last year.  On another site I was reading discussion of Oher and the OT situation and there was the usual type of stuff:

"God I hope there are some roster cuts and we can pick up someone better"

"I trust GMan to find an adequate backup. Someone will cut one as Training Camp and the Preseason wind down."

"But we said that LAST YEAR and look how THAT turned out"

 

But I think we are already in a FAR better place with the OLine this year than last year for a couple of reasons:

1) 1st & most importantly, we've got our starting line up, and they've got time to gel.  We know who our starting 5 are.  Oher, Norwell, Kalil, Turner, Remmers.  Whatever rotation is going to be tried, it will be among the backups, not the starters.  This is huge.  I forget how many weeks it was before we knew who would start on the OLine last year.  It was constant juggling around in the preseason & during the season.  Oher mentioned something in an interview yesterday about not being comfortable with all the individual attention on him, that for the OLine guys, it's all about the line as a group and working together.  This year our line has time to learn how to do that.

2) Oher > Bell.  All I've seen so far seems to make that clear.

3) We're not remaking three position groups, that gives the coaches a chance to focus more on Oline.  G'man talked about the challenge last year of remaking 3 entire position groups:  Oline, WRs. DB.  I think that stretches the staff.  They can't just focus on one position of need, they've got lots of fires to fight.  Right now, we are pretty dang solid on almost all positions except OT.  Figuring out a plan to get us greater depth on OT can become G'man's highest focus.

Sure, we're pretty dangerously thin on OT.  In the wake of the Martin mess, I'm not happy to be relying on Chandler or Amini as backup... but last year they were being tried out to START.  And yes, our OLine backup depth is a bit weak across the board, though D. Williams shows promise.

BUT HAVING AN OBVIOUS STARTING 5 FROM DAY 1 OF TC IS HUGE.  I predict it will make a world of difference to the line's play this year.  And 4/5ths of that starting line up played together and played pretty well in the stretch run last season.  We've got something to work with here.

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Proudiddy Grand Master

Proudiddy

Posted
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Yeah,  I call it for Oher...  He never lost him and stayed engaged the entire time.  At the very least, on a real play with Cam back there, it gives Cam time to step up or get rid of the ball versus with Bell, he would've been picking himself up off the ground by the end of this play. 

What stood out to me for some reason though, is man, Oher looks pretty small in that video...  Looks much trimmer than I would've expected. 

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dldove77 Newbie

dldove77

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This is like the Zapruder tape. If you watch their feet, and the flag on the ground, it looks like Oher keeps Alexander pretty north-south, running back in a straight line until he's out of the play. The pictures later in the thread seem to back it up. I think Oher does a nice job here. 

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