Originally Posted by VeveJones007 (Post 135135)

Because an offensive line needs to behave like a single organism with supreme coordination and the ability to adapt quickly and cohesively to whatever the defense does. It takes time for 5 guys to develop that kind of cohesiveness, so you see an impact when you limit the number of days in pads to expose them to the array of stunts and blitzes they'll see in live action.

I generally hate military analogies with football, but think of it as giving one group of marines half the combat training as the other half. Would you expect them to be equally prepared at the start of live action?

Originally Posted by Oldcolt (Post 135194)

I disagree. Once we got to full strength last year this line was dominant. They are very young, mostly, and I expected improvement. Instead there is, in my mind, a step back. Now the run defense has taken a huge step back and there is the same coach so maybe it isn't coaching. It's curious that we have essentially the same players physically but have regressed so much. Usually you might say father time has caught up with us but that is not the case here. Hopefully just a bad stretch

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish (Post 135153)

But, in a new system.

Originally Posted by VeveJones007 (Post 135196)

I don't think this is supported by the evidence. Here's the 2018 numbers vs 2019 on a few stats:

Sacks: 18 / 24 (pace thru 4 games)
QB Hits: 77 / 68 (pace thru 4 games)
YPC: 4.2 / 4.6

They've had more negative run plays thus far, but I chalk most of that up to defenses keying on the running game w/o Luck behind center.

Originally Posted by Oldcolt (Post 135213)

I view those stats in a different light. This line showed signs that they might become dominant thru 5 games but did not become dominant until Castanzo came back full time. I believe we have regressed back to where this line was in the beginning of last year, before Castanzo came back. We didn't pick up where we left off. We picked up where we started last year, which wasn't all that impressive. I'm comparing this line to where they ended the year, not where they started out. I think they have regressed.

Originally Posted by VeveJones007 (Post 135274)

Alright, I'll calculate the YoY total thru 4 games of 2018 vs 2019:

Sacks: 9 / 6
QB Hits: 33 / 17
YPC: 3.6 / 4.6

So, no. The OL has definitively NOT regressed to where they were at the beginning of last year. They have been significantly better.