Can this OL protect Andrew Luck?

[1959Colts]

ESPN is reporting, at the current rate, Andrew Luck is on pace to be sacked 56 times.

 

Sack watch: The Colts have a goal of cutting Luck’s 41 sacks from last season in half. They’ve gotten off to a poor start in that department. Miami got to him three times to bring Luck’s season total up to seven in only two games. The Colts quarterback is on pace to be sacked 56 times, and that’s only if he can continue to take the constant pounding from the defensive players.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcsouth/category/_/name/indianapolis-colts

 

[Shepman]

At the same rate we are losing starters we will have all new ones by mid-season.

[IndyD4U]

At that rate his career will be over in a few years

[CR91]

Don't worry. The 49ers will sack him 7 times. 3 by aldon smith

[jvan1973]

Don't worry. The 49ers will sack him 7 times. 3 by aldon smith

no, no they won't

[chrisfarley]

Don't worry. The 49ers will sack him 7 times. 3 by aldon smith

yes, that guy is a beast.  I think you are being conservative based on the last two weeks and the supposed colts commitment to protecting luck. 8 sacks, double-digit hits (DDH last week was 14 according to NFL.com and 10 according to other sources)

[Jason_]

The OL hasn't been as bad as they're reporting.  The offense needs to learn how to adjust to blitzes (audibles, hot routes, draws, screens, etc) and then the sack numbers will go down.

[Franklin County]

Don't worry. The 49ers will sack him 7 times. 3 by aldon smith

   

 

Is the SKY FALLING at your house?

[jamesie jr]

I think the O Line is ok.

 

Costanzo is a good tackle, Great run blocker and is ok at pass protection. He will do at tackle but if we can get a LT who is better at pp i would be tempted to move him to guard.

 

Thomas was good but now he's injured. Thornton looks solid for a rookie. Will need to see him play more often imo but i like the look of him.

 

Satele is dreadful, think a lot of problems come from him and the RG. Hope Holmes can be productive as a center because it's all good protecting your outsides but the center is the centerpeice of your o line and if you cant protect the interior it will be bad for you. If Holmes can't be good as a center i would move him to Guard and then try and find Jeff Saturday 2.0

 

Mcglynn. Terrible. How he is more than a back up amazes me.

 

Cherilus, I think he is the best player on the line. I love his pass protection skills and he is good at run blocking as well. Maybe not worth the money we payed him but he's not far off.

 

That's just my take on it all. Only player's i left off were Reitz, Linkenback, Austin but they're no better really (well maybe better than Mcglynn.)

 

I don't think Luck'll get sacked as much as last year but it'll still be a lot. It was a good idea imo getting Hassellbeck as a safety net then if he does go down we won't be forced to put Harnish in who i dont think is good enough yet.

[BOTT]

And Peyton is on pace for 72 touchdowns. That's a pretty empty observation at this point.

[BlueShoe]

And Peyton is on pace for 72 touchdowns. That's a pretty empty observation at this point.

 

So true.

 

We could have a game where Luck doesn't even get touched, and rest assured some NFL talking head would say that he new it was only a matter of time, and show a good play from preseason on the big screen, and explain how he knew it back then. These guys, on TV and writing columns, are so full of it. 

 

Here is the truth and one of the best lines I have ever heard to describe the NFL.

 

"It's never as bad as you think it is, and it's never as good as you think it is." - Chuck Pagano

 

In fact, I am changing my signature to that line.

[Everyone]

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

[jmac_48]

I think the resounding answer is NO!

Our Franchise Quarterback is in serious Jeopardy!

 

On the last play by the O last week I was cringing at the mass of bodies at #12's feet.

His season is in danger, his career is in danger.

 

All this "work in progress", "it takes time to build a line", "they need to gel", "everything will be okay" rhetoric is getting old.

We have two big holes right up the middle of the line, everyone knows that.

 

I have taken off my rose colored glasses, and put on my Ray Charles sunglasses.

Because I really don't want to see it when one, Andrew Luck goes down!

 

I am usually a very optimistic Colts Fan.

But this situation really has me scared for the future of our team!

[Coffeedrinker]

Okay, I will be the first to say it.  Put in Linkenbach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

 

Just kidding.  The loss of Thomas does hurt but I was not as high on him as some of this board... he was okay at guard.  IMO the Colts should start Reitz at LG and Thornton (whom IMO will be considered a 3rd round steal at by the end of the season) at RG and then Satele will look a whole letter better.  Satele is technically sound but if he helps McGlynn then Thomas' guy was pressuring, if he helped Thomas then McGlynn's guy was not getting slowed.  Then defenses started to take advantage of that by sending 3 guys on the left side and AC has made a couple of msitakes by being confused on who to block.

 

Also the loss of Allen hurts but it may be an opportunity to run more 2 RB sets with Havii in the backfield who can be an extra blocker in both the run and pass game, then if the D starts sending more just slip him into the flat for a dump pass.  Wayne, Hilton and Fleener can get open, if Luck gets some time.

[Gavin]

The O line has not been as bad as the sack numbers portray...

 

The first sack of the season is on 2nd quarter 13:32 2nd Quarter Luck on that roll out vs Oakland....If he throws the ball out of bounds like he should have then he dont take a 2 yard loss at 13:35 of 2nd Quarter

 

Sack #2 is on him.....Coby was wide open over in the right flat he was focused on looking deep hanging onto the ball while pressure was bearing down on him  vs Oakland

 

3rd sack our wr's have to get open or he has to get rid of the ball, it was a coverage sack, Have to throw the ball away vs Oakland

 

4th sack at 1:57 of 3rd quarter vs Oakland he did not pick up on the blitz

 

5th sack Luck locked onto Wayne 1:11 vs Miami 1st quarter and did not see DHB out to the left open

 

6th sack 2:03 4th quarter held onto the ball and did not see a wide open Hilton on an in route  

 

7th Brown got whipped by Wheeler at 1:35 4th quarter vs Miami (I did not like the blocking scheme on that play)

 

Our O line still has problems no doubt about it of course but part of that problem has to be placed on Luck not getting rid of the ball

[atapcl]

The O line has not been as bad as the sack numbers portray...

 

The first sack of the season is on 2nd quarter 13:32 2nd Quarter Luck on that roll out vs Oakland....If he throws the ball out of bounds like he should have then he dont take a 2 yard loss at 13:35 of 2nd Quarter

 

Sack #2 is on him.....Coby was wide open over in the right flat he was focused on looking deep hanging onto the ball while pressure was bearing down on him  vs Oakland

 

3rd sack our wr's have to get open or he has to get rid of the ball, it was a coverage sack, Have to throw the ball away vs Oakland

 

4th sack at 1:57 of 3rd quarter vs Oakland he did not pick up on the blitz

 

5th sack Luck locked onto Wayne 1:11 vs Miami 1st quarter and did not see DHB out to the left open

 

6th sack 2:03 4th quarter held onto the ball and did not see a wide open Hilton on an in route  

 

7th Brown got whipped by Wheeler at 1:35 4th quarter vs Miami (I did not like the blocking scheme on that play)

 

Our O line still has problems no doubt about it of course but part of that problem has to be placed on Luck not getting rid of the ball

Which was the sack that caused the fumble? That one was on Brown as well. Brown whiffed and the blitzer knocked the ball out of Luck's hand. At least Brown made up for it by recovering the ball.

[Flash7]

San Francisco has one of the best O-lines, yet, Kaepernick still gets sacked-- and quite a bit. Even the best O-lines will allow their QB to get sacked.

 

 It used to be that if you were big, fast and physical, you would play O-line and get paid top dollar. Now with the new CBA and with a premium on defensive pass rushers, if you're big, fast, and physical, you'd rather play on the D-line and still get paid top dollar, while getting more recognition than your counterpart O-linemen. Why would you want to play O-line in today's NFL? The defensive line is drawing better athletes, making it unbalanced. I'd argue that overall, the better athletes are on the defensive side of the line now and that overall sack numbers will continue to go up. That along with the increase in overall number of pass attempts (it's a passing league now) will make it increasingly more difficult to protect any quarterback, especially Luck, with our average-to-below average O-line.

[colts_mp]

The O line has not been as bad as the sack numbers portray...

 

The first sack of the season is on 2nd quarter 13:32 2nd Quarter Luck on that roll out vs Oakland....If he throws the ball out of bounds like he should have then he dont take a 2 yard loss at 13:35 of 2nd Quarter

 

Sack #2 is on him.....Coby was wide open over in the right flat he was focused on looking deep hanging onto the ball while pressure was bearing down on him  vs Oakland

 

3rd sack our wr's have to get open or he has to get rid of the ball, it was a coverage sack, Have to throw the ball away vs Oakland

 

4th sack at 1:57 of 3rd quarter vs Oakland he did not pick up on the blitz

 

5th sack Luck locked onto Wayne 1:11 vs Miami 1st quarter and did not see DHB out to the left open

 

6th sack 2:03 4th quarter held onto the ball and did not see a wide open Hilton on an in route  

 

7th Brown got whipped by Wheeler at 1:35 4th quarter vs Miami (I did not like the blocking scheme on that play)

 

Our O line still has problems no doubt about it of course but part of that problem has to be placed on Luck not getting rid of the ball

You didn't count the times that Luck should have been sacked but by his own strength got out of it either scrambled or got a pass off.  The O-line still failed to protect him in those instances.

[Gavin]

Which was the sack that caused the fumble? That one was on Brown as well. Brown whiffed and the blitzer knocked the ball out of Luck's hand. At least Brown made up for it by recovering the ball.

I'd have to go back again and look, Ill check it out in a bit

[Gavin]

You didn't count the times that Luck should have been sacked but by his own strength got out of it either scrambled or got a pass off.  The O-line still failed to protect him in those instances.

Your O line can only block for so long if your QB is holding onto the ball

[BOTT]

I think the resounding answer is NO!

Our Franchise Quarterback is in serious Jeopardy!

 

On the last play by the O last week I was cringing at the mass of bodies at #12's feet.

His season is in danger, his career is in danger.

 

All this "work in progress", "it takes time to build a line", "they need to gel", "everything will be okay" rhetoric is getting old.

We have two big holes right up the middle of the line, everyone knows that.

 

I have taken off my rose colored glasses, and put on my Ray Charles sunglasses.

Because I really don't want to see it when one, Andrew Luck goes down!

 

I am usually a very optimistic Colts Fan.

But this situation really has me scared for the future of our team!

Drama queen

[Coffeedrinker]

Just a note.  I looked up the Colts rank on Innovative Stats (football outsiders) and the Colts have the number 1 ranked run line based on adjusted line yards.  All the numbers point to the oline being primarily responsible for the success of the run game (the site does mention that a good back will elevate the numbers and a bad back will lower the numbers but when you look at the formula it is pretty sound overall.

 

Unfortunately, the Colts are ranked 26 in pass protection which is based on adjusted sack rate. Advacned football stats (a site that provides numbers for individual lineman)have not updated their stats for the 2013

[jmac_48]

Drama queen

Dayam took you long enough... LOL

 

Hey we're a running team now with the trade today.

No Worries, Luck might survive!

 

J/K, but I do worry about the young man with this line.

[rock8591]

Sacks are misleading; it simply means the QB is tackled behind the LOS, not that he took a blindside hit nor that he had no time to throw the ball. That's why Michael Vick has been sacked so many times, simply because he runs a lot.

[Jason_]

Just a note.  I looked up the Colts rank on Innovative Stats (football outsiders) and the Colts have the number 1 ranked run line based on adjusted line yards.  All the numbers point to the oline being primarily responsible for the success of the run game (the site does mention that a good back will elevate the numbers and a bad back will lower the numbers but when you look at the formula it is pretty sound overall.

 

Unfortunately, the Colts are ranked 26 in pass protection which is based on adjusted sack rate. Advacned football stats (a site that provides numbers for individual lineman)have not updated their stats for the 2013

 

How do they formulate their adjusted sack rate?  do you have more details on that?  Just curious what they adjust for.

[Day at the Hilton]

I was thinking about it and why would Joe Thomas want to stay in cleveland? He's 28 and the browns are rebuilding and he may want to go to a contender. Why not throw a 2 and 3 for him. I mean our draft for 2014 is already gonna be small. We could move castanzo to left guard. Thornton to right guard. And when Thomas comes back he could play center.

Thomas-Castanzo-Thomas-Thornton-Cherilus

It's not like the browns are using him anyway. And they want to rebuild. Crazy idea but hey that o line looks good to me

[Coffeedrinker]

How do they formulate their adjusted sack rate?  do you have more details on that?  Just curious what they adjust for.

There is a link on there that explains the adjsuted sack rate.  It's been a while since I've read it, but I believe it's basically adjusts for number of drop backs rather than just number of sacks, for example if someone has been sacked 7 times on 77 pass attempts they would have an adj. sack rate of 9% compared to someone who has been sacked 7 times on 100 PA, they would have an adjusted sack rate of 7%.  I believe they also count intentional grounding the same as a sack in the adj. scak rate.

[Coffeedrinker]

I was thinking about it and why would Joe Thomas want to stay in cleveland? He's 28 and the browns are rebuilding and he may want to go to a contender. Why not throw a 2 and 3 for him. I mean our draft for 2014 is already gonna be small. We could move castanzo to left guard. Thornton to right guard. And when Thomas comes back he could play center.

Thomas-Castanzo-Thomas-Thornton-Cherilus

It's not like the browns are using him anyway. And they want to rebuild. Crazy idea but hey that o line looks good to me

Can someone please explain where this whole move AC to guard idea got started?  And why does anyone think it makes any sense at all?  But let me see if I understand this; the idea is to take a tackle whose only weakness is his strength at the POA and move him to a position where one of the most important attributes is strength at the POA.  This is not the Colts old line under Mudd, they are not zone blocking anymore.