Ravens Need A Left "o" Tackle

[stan]

When in the world will this team start putting some money into the offensive line. Rookies are drafted then they are coached and by the time they mature into lagitimate pro linemen they are let go! Not to mention some real good free agent "O" linemen that were signed and let go a year or so later. The Ravens administration did not see the sense in keeping Centers Jeff Mitchel & Casey Rabach, free agent guard Everett Lindsay & tackle Ethan Brooks then they let tackle Tony Pashos go. Of course hind sight is 20/20 but this seems to be a comedy of errors. Billick or Ozziie must not have any idea as to what a good "O" lineman looks like.

[Guest Birdfan]

We've drafted two LTs in recent years. Now we need them to "develop".

[stan]

We've drafted two LTs in recent years. Now we need them to "develop".

Um...yeah. That's my point. Where are the linemen they had already developed? We seem to be waiting for people to develope.

[#1 D]

When in the world will this team start putting some money into the offensive line. Rookies are drafted then they are coached and by the time they mature into lagitimate pro linemen they are let go! Not to mention some real good free agent "O" linemen that were signed and let go a year or so later. The Ravens administration did not see the sense in keeping Centers Jeff Mitchel & Casey Rabach, free agent guard Everett Lindsay & tackle Ethan Brooks then they let tackle Tony Pashos go. Of course hind sight is 20/20 but this seems to be a comedy of errors. Billick or Ozziie must not have any idea as to what a good "O" lineman looks like.

The Ravens want a good, young staff of OL to work with, and they were looking at a long-term solution to the OL. and here it is. I know, it looks bad, but It will eventually develop. Its a work in progress. I guess Ozzie and Billick were looking for a more athletic OL, and here we have it. Tony Pashos and Mulitalo were the brute power OL's, and thats not fitting the running back's style of play. I mean you can constantly sign veterans such as those, but how many times will you keep on signing veterans, who are more injury prone, and they ruin our salary cap? Billick and Ozzie were looking for a long term and cheap solution to the OL by drafting, and I think that they have done a good job of finding talented Ol's.

[ragnorok99]

When in the world will this team start putting some money into the offensive line. Rookies are drafted then they are coached and by the time they mature into lagitimate pro linemen they are let go! Not to mention some real good free agent "O" linemen that were signed and let go a year or so later. The Ravens administration did not see the sense in keeping Centers Jeff Mitchel & Casey Rabach, free agent guard Everett Lindsay & tackle Ethan Brooks then they let tackle Tony Pashos go. Of course hind sight is 20/20 but this seems to be a comedy of errors. Billick or Ozziie must not have any idea as to what a good "O" lineman looks like.

--Drafting a new left tackle wouldn't solve the "taking too long to develop" thing.

--Gaither was potentially a steal, depending on how he, argh, develops. Yanda has shown potential as well.

--Ozzie knows what a good O-Lineman looks like. Cases in point: Ogden is going to the Hall. Flynn has been solid for years. Grubbs wrecked people this season. Certain sportswriters tossed Jason Brown's name around for their All-Pro lists this year. And so on.

This season sucked, yeah, but have some patience. Injuries hit the line perhaps hardest of all this year.

[PuppyPuncher]

If we want instant impact: draft me, start me, watch me never give up a sack. It's Jake Long. But I'm cool with giving Gaither a chance.

[noy]

The answer to this thread: Gaither

[Raven07]

i agree...i mean.....wasnt the whole reason why we drafted Gaither was because he was going to be the eventualy successor to JO???? and his playing style is very similiar to that of JO's so it wouldnt be like we would lose any type of ground area there. (given the proper amount of time, effort and practice) Gaither can become as good as JO is/was without a doubt in my mind

[stan]

The answer to this thread: Gaither

He gets killed on the spead rush. There is no comparison to J.O. in him. Besides J.O was a no brainer 5th pick in the first round. You all are talking about the future. Teams that are in disarray always talk about the future. The Ravens were 13-3 with Tony Pashos then he left in free agency and now we can't protect the QB & develope a run game.

[noy]

He gets killed on the spead rush. There is no comparison to J.O. in him. Besides J.O was a no brainer 5th pick in the first round. You all are talking about the future. Teams that are in disarray always talk about the future. The Ravens were 13-3 with Tony Pashos then he left in free agency and now we can't protect the QB & develope a run game.

Gaither is on par with Yanda, Grubbs, Smith, Yamans, Barnes etc age wise, and imo skill wise. All of them are rookies, all of them are learning. I'd rather have a young team learning than start filling positions with old players who only have a few seasons left in them.

Linemen are not great from the get go, it's not an easy position like so many think. Ogden is a hall of famer because he is one of the best ever. Replacing him will be difficult, but the obvious size comparison of Gaither to Ogden only shows the possibility of another star. The fact that he has Ogden to show him the ropes for a year is genius because the two are so similar.

If you're looking for an immediate solution, your also asking for more terrible seasons like this one. The solution to our line problems is already here, now lets give him some time to prove himself.

Oh and, no running game? Are you joking? It's the only offense we're consistent at...

[stan]

Gaither is on par with Yanda, Grubbs, Smith, Yamans, Barnes etc age wise, and imo skill wise. All of them are rookies, all of them are learning. I'd rather have a young team learning than start filling positions with old players who only have a few seasons left in them.

Linemen are not great from the get go, it's not an easy position like so many think. Ogden is a hall of famer because he is one of the best ever. Replacing him will be difficult, but the obvious size comparison of Gaither to Ogden only shows the possibility of another star. The fact that he has Ogden to show him the ropes for a year is genius because the two are so similar.

If you're looking for an immediate solution, your also asking for more terrible seasons like this one. The solution to our line problems is already here, now lets give him some time to prove himself.

Oh and, no running game? Are you joking? It's the only offense we're consistent at...

OK. This is a challenge. If J. O. doesn't come back and all things remain the same I bet we'll be looking for a left tackle next year

[theFRANCHISE]

When in the world will this team start putting some money into the offensive line. Rookies are drafted then they are coached and by the time they mature into lagitimate pro linemen they are let go! Not to mention some real good free agent "O" linemen that were signed and let go a year or so later. The Ravens administration did not see the sense in keeping Centers Jeff Mitchel & Casey Rabach, free agent guard Everett Lindsay & tackle Ethan Brooks then they let tackle Tony Pashos go. Of course hind sight is 20/20 but this seems to be a comedy of errors. Billick or Ozziie must not have any idea as to what a good "O" lineman looks like.

Of the guys you listed, only Jeff Mitchell is the one that I see as being a mistake in letting go.

Casey Rabach has played alright for Washington, but nothing spectacular. Everett Lindsay doesn't ring a bell, and I don't know where in the world Ethan Brooks went after leaving Baltimore, so that must not be good. The jury's still out on Tony Pashos, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since Jacksonville's ground game has been doing well (as they always have).

As for other guys, Keydrick Vincent was a free agent guard that didn't pan out since he got beaten out by Ben Grubbs AND Jason Brown at one point.

Edwin Mulitalo was getting old and let go after he became injury-prone. Hasn't really done much in Detroit this season, so not a big loss there since Jason Brown was able to fill his void.

Jeff Saturday (whom most people seem to forget) was picked up as an undrafted free agent in April 1998, and released by June of that season. He had not even taken an NFL snap yet, so that doesn't count, especially since he would get the majority of his coaching in Indianapolis instead. Mike Flynn was the reason Saturday was released since he had already taken a roster spot and would serve as Jeff Mitchell's backup before becoming a starter upon Mitchell's departure.

Orlando Brown was a great free agent pickup for a few years, but age and injuries got the best of him, so it wasn't a loss since he would admirably be replaced by Tony Pashos.

Basically, every offensive lineman lost was replaced by the next man up. So it's not as if the personnel department doesn't know what to look for, since suitable replacements have been found each and every time.

[Raven07]

with the ever lasting effect of the whole "age" deal around the league with different players and the potential of their diminishing skill and athletic ability....teams will keep drafting younger player to bring into the systems and learn from the veterans of the team so they when they're names are called out there... they can perform and perform well at that.

[justifythegame]

I get that ozzie n billick wanted to go young at OL. But this team was actually trying to go for a superbowl run. We are not really trying to rebuild the team. And it should've been obvious with our starting quarterback being McNair. So this was not the time to cut our vets and randomly go young. And now we are paying for it with this horrible season thanks to injuries caused by bad protection.

Our 13-3 season, i was angry at our pass protection because i watched McNair getting hit and and not get much protection and Jamal Lewis not getting any run blocking in any way whatsoever. So when i saw that we let some vets go, i thought it was for the best. But instead of replacing them with better vets, we draft more guys and replace them with WORSER players. The one good OL pick was Ben Grubbs. The rest of those guys shouldn't even be allowed on a football field, the way they protect.

Chris Chester has proven he sucks. Brown and Terry are mediocre at best. I had hopes for Yanda but he's even worse - i watched defenders embarass him, just knocking him over flat on his back with just a nudge and most of the hits Boller took were his fault. I really had high hopes for Gaither given his physical similarity to Ogden, but when he played in place of Ogden the first few games, he proved he is not anywhere close to what Ogden is. He was terrible, i couldn't believe such a huge guy was getting manhandled. He is the reason why McNair got beat up. McNair was getting hit right the second of the snap, thats how bad the protection was and why he got hit, fumbled and injured. Its no shock why we are on our third QB, and i was on the edge of my seat hoping Troy Smith wouldnt get seriously injured last week, and it must've been a miracle he didn't. Thank god for his mobility. Last but not least, i dislike our center Mike Flynn because he very bad at run blocking and only average at pass protection, he is over rated by bmore fans because he is a vet. I have no clue why we would let a great center like Rabach go. So basically the only people on the OL who are good are JO and Grubbs. And JO may not be back next year. Unless we add some good vets thru FA, look for all our QBs to get injured again next yr and McGahee will take so many hits behind the line of scrimmage it wouldn't surprise me if he got injured again either. If we can get another guy like Grubbs with our first pick, we seriously need it. But i don't see any use for this team to draft more replacements at OL with our other picks with "hopes" they will be good or develop. We need protection now.

[ragnorok99]

Chris Chester has proven he sucks. Brown and Terry are mediocre at best. I had hopes for Yanda but he's even worse - i watched defenders embarass him, just knocking him over flat on his back with just a nudge and most of the hits Boller took were his fault. I really had high hopes for Gaither given his physical similarity to Ogden, but when he played in place of Ogden the first few games, he proved he is not anywhere close to what Ogden is. He was terrible, i couldn't believe such a huge guy was getting manhandled. He is the reason why McNair got beat up. McNair was getting hit right the second of the snap, thats how bad the protection was and why he got hit, fumbled and injured. Its no shock why we are on our third QB, and i was on the edge of my seat hoping Troy Smith wouldnt get seriously injured last week, and it must've been a miracle he didn't. Thank god for his mobility. Last but not least, i dislike our center Mike Flynn because he very bad at run blocking and only average at pass protection, he is over rated by bmore fans because he is a vet. I have no clue why we would let a great center like Rabach go. So basically the only people on the OL who are good are JO and Grubbs. And JO may not be back next year. Unless we add some good vets thru FA, look for all our QBs to get injured again next yr and McGahee will take so many hits behind the line of scrimmage it wouldn't surprise me if he got injured again either. If we can get another guy like Grubbs with our first pick, we seriously need it. But i don't see any use for this team to draft more replacements at OL with our other picks with "hopes" they will be good or develop. We need protection now.

Yeah, Gaither's clearly a bust. It's not like he left college early or had to start about a year before anyone expected or wanted him to. Stick a fork in him.

And why is Jason Brown "mediocre at best?" Because nobody ever talks about him? If I recall correctly, he actually stayed healthy all year, and he was a big reason for the best game the Ravens played this year (he helped destroy the Patriots' defensive line). And like I said earlier, he was also an early candidate for at least one All-Pro list.

The line had its share of problems this year, but there's no point in attacking players who weren't at fault.