Analyzing the Green Bay Packers Offensive Line Headaches

I hear a lot of talk about how Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy should be fired for what they have "done" to the Packers offensive line.A So, lets review some history here regarding the offensive line.

[GBPfan]

"The day that Ted Thompson came in as the general manager the Green Bay Packers had one of the best offensive lines in football. In 2004 that offensive line set a single-season record for fewest sacks allowed at 14. A far cry from the 20 Aaron Rodgers received in four games this year already."

And this is just one of Ted Thompson's accomplishments after 5 drafts and nearly five years in Green Bay. This article makes another excellent argument for firing TT!

[eric]

Lets be fair GBPfan, the Packers were also in cap hell curtacy of GM Sherman,so he let Wahle go and Rivera was grossly overpaid by Dallas.Wahle also got cut by Carolina eventually so as he played well,it appearently wasnt up to snuff there,and Rivera had the back issue and retired ( I beleive it was a back,i know it was an injury ).
I oline also played well in past years and BF didnt get sacked that many times as well,NOW if you want to blame lack of depth last year and this year,im with you there,but,lets be fair about the whole story.I know i liked TT in the past,but,we also know you didnt like TT in the past,so your opinion might be abit bias against TT.

[Danger D]

We have built an offensive line out of toothpicks and silly glue. I am less enamored with TT’s team building skills than I was two months ago. I give him four more games before I join GBPfan and start screaming.

I do agree that it’s tough to fault management for letting some people go when we couldn’t afford any players. However, I think we’ve had enough time to fill those holes since then.

[GBPfan]

eric wrote:

Lets be fair GBPfan, the Packers were also in cap hell curtacy of GM Sherman,so he let Wahle go and Rivera was grossly overpaid by Dallas.Wahle also got cut by Carolina eventually so as he played well,it appearently wasnt up to snuff there,and Rivera had the back issue and retired ( I beleive it was a back,i know it was an injury ).
I oline also played well in past years and BF didnt get sacked that many times as well,NOW if you want to blame lack of depth last year and this year,im with you there,but,lets be fair about the whole story.I know i liked TT in the past,but,we also know you didnt like TT in the past,so your opinion might be abit bias against TT.

Yes, let's be fair. Other GMs have cap problems and either manage to maintain the quality of their teams of even improve despite the difficulty. Under TT's mismanagement for nearly five years the Packer O-line has devolved to what we see now. My not liking TT is because I've been paying attention. If you want to call that "bias" so be it.

P.S. To be blaming the horrible O-line play on cap difficulties from 2004 is ridiculous. This is especially true given the Packers current cap situation.

[eric]

so its ridiculous to lose Mike Wahle because TT couldn't afford him under the cap?No its called reality,and many agree Dallas WAY over paid for Marco Rivera,so the line started with 2 Probowl calibur o lineman down already and the Packers have had a good oline in the past

[GBPfan]

So losing Wahle and Rivera is the excuse you are making fot TT's failure to field a good O-line this year? Wow, that is grasping for straws even for you. Talk about being biased.

[normallylikeyell ow]

I've disproved this thesis so many times... with the facts. And even if it were true, it doesn't account for this porous line and the constant turnover since.

[eric]

GBPfan wrote:

So losing Wahle and Rivera is the excuse you are making fot TT's failure to field a good O-line this year? Wow, that is grasping for straws even for you. Talk about being biased.

No you blamed TT for all of it,im just pointing out that TT had no choice in letting Wahle go and Rivera was grossly overpaid,we also had a o line that BF rarely got hit or sacked during Ted time.Now the last 2 seasons,yes the oline is weak and not deep and that is Teds fault and if it doesnt improve he should be fired and rightfully so,but,dont blame Ted for the whole problem from day 1 as Sherman tied the Packers into cap trouble in Teds first year,where he had to rebuild the team and he got us to the NFC TITLE GAME in 3 years,so all wasnt bad under Teds watch.

[GBPfan]

eric wrote:

<quoted text>No you blamed TT for all of it,im just pointing out that TT had no choice in letting Wahle go and Rivera was grossly overpaid,we also had a o line that BF rarely got hit or sacked during Ted time.Now the last 2 seasons,yes the oline is weak and not deep and that is Teds fault and if it doesnt improve he should be fired and rightfully so,but,dont blame Ted for the whole problem from day 1 as Sherman tied the Packers into cap trouble in Teds first year,where he had to rebuild the team and he got us to the NFC TITLE GAME in 3 years,so all wasnt bad under Teds watch.

You said it yourself: "yes the oline is weak and not deep and that is Teds fault and if it doesnt improve he should be fired and rightfully so."

You must be arguing with yourself. I've never said ALL was bad under TT's mismanagement. I've simply told the truth. The truth is there has been more bad than good. The Packers deserve better.

Remember, the "33" in the 33-35 record that TT has accumulated while Packer GM, are wins. See, it's not all bad.

[answerman]

Not trying to start an argument... I'm just curious how this fits into this scenario.

GBPfan's got a point... at this point, letting Wahle and Rivera go is ancient history. However, let's look at the line from 2007 (the year the Packers went 13-3). This line allowed 13 sacks for the season:

LT - Chad Clifton
LG - Daryn Colledge
C - Scott Wells
RG - Jason Spitz (started 12 of 16 games)
RT - Mark Tauscher

And the line that should start the next game against Detroit (making a couple of assumptions):

LT - Chad Clifton
LG - Daryn Colledge
C - Jason Spitz
RG - Josh Sitton
RT - Mark Tauscher

Wasn't making Sitton the starting RG and moving Spitz to center supposed to make the line better? Otherwise, it's the same line that only allowed 13 sacks all through 2007. What happened?

[eric]

if i read it wrong im sorry and its on me.My point is the last year was weak with injuries and this year so far and no depth so i agree if its ends up badly,Ted should go ( doesn't mean he will,it all depends if Mark Murphy has the stones to pull the trigger),i personally don't think it will come down to it and im not ready to give up the season!
but after a bad rebuild the first year,we progressed nicely the next,then the next and then 1 fall back year and now this year,we dont know if we will fall back yet again,so be successful or successful as a winning record but not enough to be satisfactory!

[Pack Fan in Sea of Purple]

I know some people don't want hear this due to the investment they have in the success in TT and AR, but a large portion of the sacks can be attributed directly to the poor play of Rodgers. At this point of his career he is nowhere as good as Favre was/is at picking up pressure and getting rid of ball quickly. The disappointing thing about that is he might not improve much in that aspect of his game. Picking up blitzes and dumping the ball is just as much instinct as it is practice, so far he's shown he just doesn't have it. Time will tell, but it's going to take longer than just this season.

[gogreenbaygo4]

arod holds the ball to long and tries to make too many plays that arent there what ever happened to the coached up arod who either made the play or threw it away when nothing was there now he's killing us i dont care if he throws a million touchdowns were losing cuz we hav people wide open on the check downs and he wants to go deep i think hes getting to comfortable with his job bench him for a quarter or to against the lions that should let him no you still have to perform or out u go. and we cant run either not a 100 yard rusher yet if we dont run no playoffs c u next year

[GOPack]

Let's be honest, not one of the current Packers offensive linemen would be able to start on any other nfl team (maybe the Bills). The poor play of the line is effecting the way Rodgers is playing. He doesn't look comfortable. At the end of the year I hope Thompson makes some changes because most of these guys should not be back. Is it me or do all these guys look too small to play offensive line...

[Jeremy]

Pack Fan in Sea of Purple wrote:

I know some people don't want hear this due to the investment they have in the success in TT and AR, but a large portion of the sacks can be attributed directly to the poor play of Rodgers. At this point of his career he is nowhere as good as Favre was/is at picking up pressure and getting rid of ball quickly. The disappointing thing about that is he might not improve much in that aspect of his game. Picking up blitzes and dumping the ball is just as much instinct as it is practice, so far he's shown he just doesn't have it. Time will tell, but it's going to take longer than just this season.

Actually a smaller portion of the sacks are do to Rodgers holding on to the ball too long, that was brought up by Wayne Larrivee. Of the 25 sacks or so, 8-9 are contributed by Rodgers, so he says. I think we are also in too many predictable pass situations. It is only his second year, I really don't expect greatness just yet, he has made some head scratching plays, but he has a high ceiling. MM needs to start developing roll out plays and better protection schemes, it seems every time AR rolls out he is money, just like in end of the Bears game. I would like to see more plays accenting his athleticism. It takes time to make adjustments at the line like the veterans BF, Manning, Brees and Brady, but he'll get there, as long as he stays healthy.

[Dewy]

Danger D wrote:

We have built an offensive line out of toothpicks and silly glue. I am less enamored with TT’s team building skills than I was two months ago. I give him four more games before I join GBPfan and start screaming.
I do agree that it’s tough to fault management for letting some people go when we couldn’t afford any players. However, I think we’ve had enough time to fill those holes since then.

NO. This O-line was built by Ted.

[Dewy]

eric wrote:

<quoted text>No you blamed TT for all of it,im just pointing out that TT had no choice in letting Wahle go and Rivera was grossly overpaid,we also had a o line that BF rarely got hit or sacked during Ted time.Now the last 2 seasons,yes the oline is weak and not deep and that is Teds fault and if it doesnt improve he should be fired and rightfully so,but,dont blame Ted for the whole problem from day 1 as Sherman tied the Packers into cap trouble in Teds first year,where he had to rebuild the team and he got us to the NFC TITLE GAME in 3 years,so all wasnt bad under Teds watch.

I agree Wahle and Rivera hit the market and got over paid. But the point is the cap problem has been fixed for a couple of years now. And that is great. But Ted has failed at the O-line positions. Nothing to do with the cap any more. And as I said way back when being the youngest year after year was going to bite GB in the A** sometime. Not much vet. leadership on this team. The players got GB to the championship game. For some reason they all played over there heads and things went there way.