Worst Line Play In KF Era?

[resultsads]

Say what you will about the lack of talent at key skill positions, but this team goes as the line goes. History proves that as the Hawks have had impressive seasons despite the lack of skill players...when the line play was good. This year's line play is just plain awful on both sides of the ball.

Today's offensive line play was beyond bad. Allowing 6 sacks and nearly 200 yards rushing, while only gaining 79 yards on a 1.9 ypc is pitiful. With the experience and "talent" we have on the o line, those kinds of numbers just aren't acceptable. Especially considering the teams we've played thus far.

Defensively, we're just as offensive. Where's the quarterback pressure? Where are the sacks? Where are the consistent stops at or behind the line of scrimage? Again, with the returning experience and "talent", there's no excuse for this poor play.

Bottom line: until the o and d lines come together and play to their potential, this is going to be a long season. The success of this team going forward rests squarely on the shoulders of the men up front.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

This just can't be stated enough... I agree 100% with everything you brought up and this is all I could think about walking to the car after the game.

Above average line play can cover up for a lot of deficiencies, especially for the wide recievers. Below average line play with limited playmakers gives us exactly what we saw today- a team getting blown away by a below average team.

All that said, there are two other major concerns for me. 1- the penalties and mental mistakes are beyond ridiculous, especially the offensive line. Serious question, is this on Brian Ferentz? The amount of mental mistakes and errors are unbelieveable this season. I don't know what the penalty total is but I'm going to say we are almost flagged 3 times more than our opponent.

The second is a question for the coaches. Are they putting the guys in situations that they can be successful and limiting their deficiencies? At this point when we throw I feel like CJ has to roll out. Croston and Botteger have just been so unreliable in pass protection on a straight dropback. I just wonder how much things like that go into the playcalling or is it a case of do what we always have?