Given the choice next season, do you...

[Woodie]

Good enough to be a full time starter with the same kind of impact as say, Carl Nicks with the Saints or Chris Snee with the Giants?

Love Schwartz, but still think he's better suited to be a backup.

Schwartz never played Guard in his life until around mid-season last year (2010). They wanted to move him there in the offseason, but with Otah out, they kept him at RT and used Bernadeau at RG. However, when it became obvious that Bernadeau could not play RG, the benched him and moved Schwartz inside. And once there, he played well, and it's no coincidence that our running game began to take off.

And lets be honest, it's not really fair to compare the impact of a RT who only played Guard for half a year with two of the best Guards in the league. Of course he's not going to have the same impact (heck, very few vets would), but give him an offseason, and there's no reason to think he won't at least be serviceable...which is better than we can say for our DL at this point...with the caveat that he is healthy.

[lightsout]

We SHOULD be able to do both. But, if I had to pick one, I'd say defense. As said a lot already, the offense was OK with the OL we had. The defense struggled mightily. Better defense with the SAME offense (and it won't be, as Cam has progressed and will continue to, and we're getting a healthy Gettis and a more experienced offense in general next season) we had this past year, and we're in the playoffs.

[rayzor]

FWIW Bell got worse as the year went on..

rookie wall maybe? it was to be expected. it happens to the vast majority of rookies. him being a udfa doesn't make him anymore prone than being a first round pick.

we lucked out with cam in that regard, but that's just another area that he was an anomaly.

[Kurb]

that was my thought

he did an outstanding job against matthews when we played GB

I think the kid can be at least solid as he develops

he is a wierd tweeter tho

[JawnyBlaze]

D-line/secondary.

[Mr. Scot]

the oline is fine or at least good enough to get by without doing much this year.

we had bell who was an udfa and newton survived and he'll only get better. the oline did a pretty good job of protecting him. don't let that 21st in pass protection make you think they didn't do a good job. that doesn't tell all the story. they were pretty well above average in giving him 3 seconds. when that happens that tells that they are doing their job.

cam's sacks came because he holds on to the ball and waits/looks for opportunities and scrambles. the sack rate is usually high with QBs who do that. also him being rookie made him more prone. i gave more info about it in that thread that talks about them being the 21st ranked team in pass blocking.

meanwhile, we have a very weak Dline. we can't stop the run. we can't get to the passer. we give the QB too much time and that makes everything harder for the D.

we have to get that fixed. that is priority #1.

This year's D-Line wasn't good enough. That I won't argue.

The notion that we could be set on OL with just what we have now? That I can't buy into.

[ThePantherDude]

This year's D-Line wasn't good enough. That I won't argue.

The notion that we could be set on OL with just what we have now? That I can't buy into.

I think it's a little early to judge both the OL and the DL to be honest.

With the OL we had Schwartz go down, then Otah went down, along with some guys we thought were great depth like Bryant Browning and Garry Williams. We then inserted an undrafted FA in Bell and he didn't do horrible but with a full off-season should improve at least a little bit. That doesn't mean we are set though with Gross getting up their in age and Otah never being healthy.

The DL is the same way almost, we lose Edwards, and insert two rookie DTs alongside a 2nd year DE and hope for the best. I think we need to go look at some vets and through the draft but no reason to go out and get big names.

That being said I think us improving the D-Line is more important at the moment then the OL because the offense still did well and if we improve our D-Line it'll help our secondary and LBs whereas improving the OL won't so much difference imo.

We go defense in FA and draft this year and evaluate the line next year.

[Doc Holiday]

d-line

[carolinarolls]

lots of evaluation needs to take place on all the young'uns we broke this year at tackle before we can assess this.

it's likely we will not know. that is not to say that many of us won't act like we do.

the best situation we can hope for is a combination of the two based on two or more players, one being Jeff Otah, prove something we aren't expecting right now.

If that turns out not to be the case however, you have to go d-line hands down. Without a pass rush we are not going to beat Atlanta or Breez and we are going to watch the playoffs without the Panthers again.

[csx]

You can do both so why phrase it like that?

[rayzor]

This year's D-Line wasn't good enough. That I won't argue.

The notion that we could be set on OL with just what we have now? That I can't buy into.

it was good last year. it's just going to get better this year with otah and schwartz coming back and the whole line to get a full offseason in the blocking scheme under their belts.

we could aford to bolster it and we shouldn't be content with what we have there.

but.....dline is much more an urgent need to address. same with CB. same with FS. same with WLB.

[jramsey4]

I would do A in FA then draft Reiff in the 1st to shore up the right side of the OL. If Otah comes back and is healthy and can make the transition move him to RG. If he can't play there you have a solid Hangman to fall back to.

Someone like Garay at DT to shore up our run D and I would like to make a run at Michael Griffin FS from the Titans.

[Pox 08]

Oline. I've very little faith in the right side of the Oline. Even when we get a few players back from injury, I'm still unsure about it. What good is a good Dline if our qb gets murdered before he has a chance to do anything?

[rayzor]

I would do A in FA then draft Reiff in the 1st to shore up the right side of the OL. If Otah comes back and is healthy and can make the transition move him to RG. If he can't play there you have a solid Hangman to fall back to.

Someone like Garay at DT to shore up our run D and I would like to make a run at Michael Griffin FS from the Titans.

why not garay & 'B'?

we need to quit pissing around and get serious about improving the Dline and quit relying on late and mid round or even UDFA projects in hopes that the front lines of the defense get better.

Oline. I've very little faith in the right side of the Oline. Even when we get a few players back from injury, I'm still unsure about it. What good is a good Dline if our qb gets murdered before he has a chance to do anything?

did he get killed last year?

the oline will be better next year.