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Offensive Line past and present

rmoneyg35

By rmoneyg35,
in Carolina Panthers

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rmoneyg35 Proficient

rmoneyg35

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In the past few years our Offensive line has been one of our bright spots of the team. With the mix of young and experienced talent we have produced great numbers and have constantly had success in passing and rushing year after year. last year we had 2 1,000 running backs even with DeAngelo Williams going on IR and missing the last 3 games. Each year it also seems that we have broken a franchise record, last year it was the two 1,000+ yard running backs and the year before that we had given up a franchise low 20 sacks in a season, not to mention we had one of the best ground games(ranked 3rd behind NYG and ATL) 2,400+ yards on the ground with 30 touchdowns. 2008 was a very balanced year for our offense where we ranked 10th overall (19th pass,3rd rush) and we had a 12-4 to win another NFC south title.

The days of the Panthers being an elite team are in the past but in today's NFL it is hard to have back to back winning seasons. Injuries alone can change a winning teams chance of a repeat but keeping all of the players around under a salary cap can also make it hard to constantly win. In the past 3 years we have lost many key players this year we lost arguable the best player in our franchise's history that being Julius Peppers but we have kept around our best offensive players like Steve Smith but even more important than him we have kept the core of our offensive line. Sure we lost one starter this year, Keydrick Vincent who started 30 games in the two years he played for the Panthers but younger and cheaper upcoming players were to replace him. We manged to keep three Pro Bowl players on the team, all pro Linemen Jordan Gross, Travelle Wharton, and Ryan Kalil. As if Three Pro Bowl players isn't amazing enough the panthers have an additional linemen that could be a future Pro-Bowl player, his name is Jeff Otah.

Otah was a 1st round pick in 2008 and has shown great potential,but he has one big flaw and that is his health. He missed 4 games his rookie year and was placed on IR last year and missed the last three games due to a knee Injury where he had to have surgery. He was expected to play this year but was once again placed on the IR and will not return until next year. This makes a big concern for the panthers and their fans. Will Otah constanly have injury problems? Will the Knee surgery ruin his career? these are questions that will be answered next year. One thing is for certian, because of Otah's injury problems we will need to have a quality reserve ready to step up for the injury prone right tackle.

This years team has not only missed Otah but the entire Offensive line has seemed to mysteriously disappear. We have no top run attack that we have had year after year, we have not been able to protect the quarter back and have already gave up more sacks in 11 games than we did all last year. In fact it seems our whole offense has disappeared, ranking dead last in points and yards. Even our great rushing duo named "Double Trouble" is missing. This is due to the injury of DeAngelo Williams in week seven after the first win of the season. Luckily half of the duo is still around. Mike Goodson has recorded two hundred yard games and has shown he can produce as a starter. With Williams being a FA this year Goodson may replace Williams and he also has shown he can catch the ball which is a big bonus to have in a running back. The question right now is has Goodson been that good? have we had a top running back that has been buried in the depth charts behind the two pro bowl running backs or has Goodson's success be the simple fact he is have success from ghost? that's right Ghost.

Its no secret our all star line has been Ghost this year but have they returned to form? last year our line seemed to have lost it with a horrible 0-3 start no 100 yard games from our star RBs. Well we ended up going 8-8 and having 2 1000 yard running backs and winning our last 3 games after benching a qb that seemed to be loosing us games. During the 3 game streak J stew alone had rushed for 440 yards, and 4 tds (3 rush 1 receiving), Our Quarter back threw 7touchdowns with no picks and our line only gave up 5 sacks against 3 teams that had great pass rushers (Vikings, Giants, Saints).

This year our O-line has seemed to got off to a slow start once again but has improved dramatically since our first win against the 49ers. Now unfortunately we haven't been on a win streak like we did last year but we also do not have a quarter back experienced enough to win us games. We have been giving up a lot more sacks compared to years past besides giving up one against San Francisco and Cincinnati but since getting the first win of the season we have not gave up more than three sacks and our QB seems to be getting more time to throw as his qb rating has improved and completion %. Having a young QB that holds on to the ball longer than a vet is another reason why we are giving up more sacks. So lets look at the run game. In the past 4 games we have averaged more than 100 yards on the ground. two of those games was without Stewart and all were without Williams who has been gone since week 7(49ers,1st win).

The health of our offensive line hasn't been good this year. We all know Otah has not played a single down this year,Travelle Wharton has missed the last two games and Bernadeau has missed a few games but health has been a minor concern. One concern is depth. If you look at our offensive line the past few years we have had great depth. Duke Robinson is a player that we could of used on depth. He hasn't played much but He is a big body and I believe he could be a good player. He was injured before the season began. Garry Williams was supposed to be a back up but has started due to injuries. I can't really say weather or not he is our problem but he isn't no Otah. He has got the job done and that's all that matters. on September 29th we signed Chris Morris who is gives us some experience at back up. He started 11 games in his career 10 of them was last year, he gives us versatility which is always a plus. He played as a guard and center for the raiders. He isn't starting material but he provides us much needed depth. Rob Petitti is our most experienced reserve he started his rookies season for the Cowboys, starting all 16 games but has only been in six games since and only has started one. He can only play the right tackle position but does give us experience.

In the past few years we have had so much depth it actually was scary good. In 2008 we had Jeremy Bridges, Geoff Hangartner, and Frank Omiyale. All of these players didn't make the 2009 roster but did find starting jobs elsewhere. Frank is the starter for the bears, Hangartner is starting center for the Bills and Bridges is the starter for the Cardinals. Having three starters as reserves comes in handy. in 2009 we lost depth but had 2 year players Schwartz and Bernadeau step up and become starters in the last few games of the season. We ended the season with a 3 game win streak which pretty much handed the two a starting job. Keydrick Vincent was release which put a end to the depth we have had over the years on the line. With no draft picks or free agent acquisitions our line was the thinnest in years.

Since John Fox has been head coach we have drafted 14 offensive linemen only 3 of them have not started or played a game. that's pretty impressive if you ask me. Unfortunately we have not been able to keep but six of them. I have made a list of Players that we have drafted since 2002 (John Fox Era)

2002

Pete Campion (7th round) Never made it in the NFL

2003

Jordan Gross (1st round) Panthers starter, pro bowl

Bruce Nelson(2nd round) never made it, I think injuries got this guy

2004

Travelle Wharton (3rd round) Panthers starter, made a pro bowl

2004

Evan Mathis (3rd round) started for the panthers and currently plays for the Bengals where he has started last year but not this year

Geoff Hangartner (5th round) started for Panthers until Kalil took his spot,currently the starter for the Bills

Joe Berger (6th round) Is the current starting center for the Dolphins

2005

Rashad Butler(3rd round) Never worked out for us, had a illness, has started some games for the Texans but is primarily a back up

2006

Will Montgomery (7th round) Started 4 games for us and has started games for the Jets, plays for the Redskins where he is currently starting.

2007

Ryan Kalil (2nd round)Starter and has made Pro Bowl.

2008

Jeff Otah (1st round)Panthers Starter

Geoff Schwartz (7th round) Panthers Starter

Mackenzy Bernadeau(7th round)Panthers Starter

2009

Duke Robinson (5th round) Panthers IR, the kids still young and could be a starter in the future.

Even though we won't have Fox around next year I will give him and our coaching staff mad props I mean only 2 drafted players have failed completely and Duke hasn't played any games but he still is young and probably will get playing time some where in the NFL. The Panthers know what they are doing with their line. I wish they could produce wide receivers like they could linemen. Linebackers is another position we know how to draft.

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panthers55 Grand Master

panthers55

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I suspect the offensive line will be a strength next year. Part of sucking this year and not having Otah means other guys got lots of experience for next year. That assumes we keep Kalil and resign him. If we don't and keeps going with the youth movement (how much younger could we get??) we could struggle next year. Seems to me that the Kalil is the one piece we have to keep in order to maintain some continuity and keep our line talent intact.

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