Not sure what Costa and Zack Martin have to do with it.
They are comparisons... as in.... when I say Leary was bad, I mean he wasn't good enough to be what I'd like as a starting RG. That means you aren't as good as a phenom like Martin, but also doesn't mean you are as train-wreck bad as Phil Costa. It just means you aren't good enough. Leary fit into that category last year and Bernadeau fits into it, well, every year. Doesn't mean Bernadeau is a liability or you can't have a positive rushing attack, it just means you can and should do better.
This year, Leary is significantly better.
You certainly need more then just Smith and Frederick to run the ball as well as we did last year.
Number one, I don't accept the narrative that people have created that we ran the ball amazingly last year.
Actually, for the first seven games -- basically half the year -- we ran the ball under 4 yards per carry like five times.
So spare me the "our line was dominant run blocking last year."
No, it wasn't. It's dominant this year. Last year it was highly inconsistent on a week to week basis and the YPC got elevated by success we had running the ball late in the year.
Which coincidentally was around the same time Leary started to struggle a little in my opinion, so yes, that is interesting, but nonetheless its what happened. I thought Leary was actually better earlier in the year last year. Possibly because he was wearing down over time. So maybe at the same time the line was starting to get some cohesion with the five starters, and around the time Frederick was starting to turn the corner, the results followed.
But Leary got beat quite a bit last year down the stretch.
