Mark Schlereth Wants To Punch Jerry Jones In The Face

[Smitty]

Also, the talent we have tends to accumulate in the skill positions, and tends to lack in the trenches. That's a backwards way of building a team, and tends to cause a team that can "compete" on a regular basis to collapse when push comes to shove.

People call the Cowboys talented because people tend to notice the flashy, skill position talent (where we have it) and tend to overlook the vitally important talent in the trenches (where we are lacking on both sides of the ball).

We "look" more talented than we are.

The lines directly influence the play of the people behind them and not vice versa.

It's that simple.

So bad lines makes good skill position players literally play worse.

Good lines can make bad or average skill position players literally play better.

I'm not saying you can turn Derrick Lassic into Emmitt Smith, but the effect trickles down from the lines, not up from the skill positions.

Our lines our horrid. It's the absolute worst way to build a team, because we've sunk so much money into some very talented skill position players and then we get 80 cents on the dollar for them on gameday because the line sucks.

That's the difference between winning the division and missing the playoffs right there.

 

[ravidubey]

Our lines our horrid. It's the absolute worst way to build a team, because we've sunk so much money into some very talented skill position players and then we get 80 cents on the dollar for them on gameday because the line sucks.

Your first sentence explains it all.

Skill players are going to win the game in the NFL because the lines are roughly equal. But if the lines are greatly unequal it can cause a blowout because everyone is compromised by the weakness.

Building the OL has diminishing returns. It has to be solid, but even if you have pro-bowlers at every position it still won't transform average skill players into great ones. The best NFL OLs in the FA era are well coached, have two blue-chip players (one should be an interior position), and also have solid but unspectacular talent at the other spots. That is more than good enough.

 

[Smitty]

I don't know if I agree that it doesn't turn average skill players into great ones.

Look at the Saints. The two best areas of their team has been Drew Brees and their OL.

Their receivers have been nothing special, and neither have their backs. Elite QB and elite OL = elite offensive production. Maybe the OL by itself isn't turning their average skill players into stars, but the combination of the top-notch OL and QB certainly get elite production out of their skill players.

We could have had that here, plus even better skill players. Instead, we get Carr and Claiborne whose impact was minimal.

Maybe you want to argue the Saints never had 5 All Pro OLs, and that's fine, but I'm not saying we should have 5 All-Pros either. But I still think we should have one or two, and the the other OL positions also can't be black holes like Free or Bernardeau. So we still need to invest high picks or big contracts into 2-3 more of these guys, because we're not getting it by burning 4th round picks on them.