They where holding up decently. Especially Colledge looked pretty good. Then again, he went up against Long, who is more of a DT/DE tweener and can't get past bigtime LTs, anyway. The interior line held up strong. Wells, Spitz and Sitton did just as good a job as Colledge, Spitz and Sitton in pass protection. Barbre was beaten by old man Little. He got him on the speed rush and on the inside spin moves pretty badly. Rodgers scrambled around a lot and evaded quite a bit of pressure. For the passing game, it was pretty good. Nothing the Vikes will be scared of, but it was decent.

Running game was, again, going nowhere. At least, not untill we got into the last part of the game. Interesting was that Lang played LT on a running play or 3. At least 2 of them went for 6+ yards. Couldn't open up a whole lot of holes in the middle and blocks on the outside wheren't too great either, except from our receivers on their CBs.

That said, our RBs appear to be just as much to blame as our O-line on the running game. I saw some huge cutback lanes and some holes opening up about 2 yards from where the play was designed to go, but both Grant and Wynn would just run right into the pile nearly every single time.

Different? Field position. Throw aways. WR getting open. Running game picking up a few yards instead of smothered at the line.

Basically, the Rams were what was different. lol

edit, I must say I think McCarthy's play calling was a tad better too. There were a few different plays out of different formations. I could be mistaken, but it seems at times that certain formations, you know the play. It fooled me several times yesterday.

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I agree with Rockmolder. I think the mediocre performance of our running backs was as much the fault of the backs as our line. There were several times -- Wynn's run was a glaring example -- in which huge holes opened up to the right, but our backs simply stumbled blindly into the pile. Particularly in Wynn's case, it looked like he was so afraid of an open-field tackle that he decided to go behind the blockers and save himself some contact.

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Not sure about that. Yeah Wynn missed one of the biggest holes a RB can expect, but what I see most of the time for Grant, are LBers in the backfield. Also we are getting no seal on the backside of the play, and that backside pursuit is closing the holes to quick.

Wynn should only be in as a blocker, passing option, or a battering ram on 3rd and 1. Not that we have been in many of them situations.

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Thanks for the updates.

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I was sending text after text to people while I was at the bar saying, "CUT BACK CUT BACK CUT BACK". It was WIDE open several times... hell, nearly every time.

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Having 2 TE set could be a resolution big time. Aaron can make audibles if he or the linemen can read the blitz is coming. That way we have Donald Lee and Finley on the field and they have shown what they can do after that catch the ball. It will keep the Defense guessing and not blitz as often as they do. Our O Line is not that good at grabbing the Blitz yet and this 2 TE option could be a great option to confuse the D.

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I agree that the max protect plays into the weakness of our O line. I would rather see a spread field. Force them into nickel and dime. Pass first, then run. When we get Grant running on a defense that is looking behind themselves, he'll get back to his 100+ yard games.

The Oline btw, needs a lot of growth and in a hurry. I will address that in another thread as it's off topic and has me heated up enough to post about it.

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I agree with Nonstop.
Our RB's could have made alot more yards if they had beyyer vision and hit the open hole.

Plus, watching AR......that guy has a CANNON for an arm. Some of those passes came out at a speed that shocked me.
He did miss a few guys, and there were a few drops. But he didn't throw an INT also.

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Gimme a break on the whole speculating that Wynn was afraid of an open field tackle thing.

Maybe he didn't break to the right because of religious beliefs. My theory just as legitimate as the other one.

Another thread, another comment. Props for the one on Tausch and conventional wisdom.

Not the Tausch part. The conventional wisdom part.

As soon as I see some conventional wisdom I will let you know.