[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by HoosierinFL

Polian's problem is that he didn't have a successor plan in place for the OL. In the early 2000s it was a great line. Tarik Glenn, Saturday, Scott, Diem, Lilja, DeMulling, all in their prime. By 2010, if not sooner, Lilja, Diem, and Saturday were getting old, Glenn, Scott, Peko and DeMulling were gone - and we didn't have guys waiting in the wings to take over. Hell, it wasn't until Castonzo was picked that they even found a replacement for Glenn. That was about a 4 year gap of failures.
Various starters on that line in the last 5-6 years of Polian's tenure:
Mike Pollack, Charlie Johnson (was good depth but never a true starter), Kyle Devan, Tony Ugoh, Jeff Linkenbach, Joe Reitz (another good depth but never a true starter).
And all these guys actually started. Look at the depth chart:
Seth Olsen, Mike Tepper, Quinn Ojinakka, Michael Toudouze, Jamey Richard, Jaimie Thomas, Jacques Mclendon.
I could go on, but if that isn't a depressing list of O-lineman, I don't know what is.

Polian believed in a good center and strong tackles. He treated the guards as recyclable and would use low round picks on them. He did not find a tackle to replace Glenn. Poor left tackle play was mitigated by Manning’s quick release. This was also a different time in oline play, teams could practice longer and work on technique. Today many oline attribute the decreased practice time from the CBA as the reason for decreased oline play across the league. Also may be why teams are spending higher picks for oline because they can’t develop them like they used to.

However, I think Polian’s olines were elevated by Manning. For years Manning was the highest hit QB in the league after release. I think it’s what led to his injury and decline. Too many high picks spent on skill positions. But Polian believed in a design of having a big three on offense and a dominant pass rusher on defense.