In re-watching the game, the play of the guards continues to frustrate me. There are times when they are very solid, but Diehl is obviously at the end. He just can't deal with quickness anymore. If he had to play tackle now, it would be a mess. Boothe has had a rough couple of games. Again, steady for the most part, but the mistakes are glaring when they occur (both as a pass and run blocker).
That all said, the Packers threw the kitchen sink at this line. Lots of blitzes...lots of stunts. And there were drives when the line blocked very well for the run and the pass.
Pugh/Diehl also continue to have some issues on stunts.
Don't want to make it sound like the OL was a disaster. It wasn't. But there were some issues.
Baas, Snee, and Diehl should be gone at the end of the season. I'd also get rid of Boothe and Cordle, but one probably stays. Cordle seems the most likely since his natural position is center, and he's younger. You pick, but if it's Cordle I certainly hope he isn't starting next year.
Resign Joseph and get a FA guard. That's how most of our money should be spent in the offseason. We will also need a veteran tackle, but that should be cheaper. As for the draft, i'd like a real mauler at guard. Gabe Jackson would be nice.
You then hope that at least one or two of Brewer, Mosley, Herman, and maybe Goodin can actually play or at least be decent backups.
Offensive Line: Rough start for the rookie RT Justin Pugh, giving up an early sack on the Giants’ second possession, but Pugh steadied himself and helped pave the way for Andre Brown’s big day. LT Will Beatty gave up an early pressure as well, forcing a Manning underthrow, but like Pugh, he held his own the rest of the day. Despite three sacks, the OL played pretty well, paving the way for a big day on the ground but their blitz recognition was below average on all of the sacks, an unfortunate result of a unit that has not played long enough together. My hat goes off to Jim Cordle again, he’s not pancaking anyone, but he kept rhino-sized DT Pat Sims from getting in Eli’s face and helped lead the way to Andre Brown’s big day. Cordle is by far the player who has improved the most from his first game. He’s gone from liability to steady presence, and has been a pleasant surprise.
People have it in their head right now that Cordle sucks, but it's simply not the case in the last few games against some tough opponents. More of the problems have come from the guards.
OCs.
Optimus-NY's second favorite website is a great resource for keeping tabs on the FA market.
Starting, but not ending, with theirs
Can Mosley or Brewer be that much worse? At least with those two there would be upside to look forward to.
Coaches have said Mosley is basically a rookie because he missed all of last year. Flaherty commented on this over the bye.
I'd sign one big ticket OG this offseason and wouldn't be at all disappointed if we were to draft another in the 1st round. Let's reestablish the OL and running game as a strength of this team, and make Eli's life a lot easier.
Having Brewer as a third TE basically is putting him out in space where the team already acknowledged is not his best spot.
Asamoah's 25, Beadles is 27, as is Schwartz, Pollack is 29. I'd take any one of them over the guys we have at OG now.
As for OC, I think we're stuck with Baas for another year, but if we could, I'd bring in Brian de la Puente for a look.
We're going to have to pay somebody. Might as well pay for guys who can actually play.
I'm guessing that probably the only reason Diehl is still around is that he calls calls all the signals (a very important job), but now he just can't do the physical stuff.
Da-One Brewer, I don't think it's going to happen for him. In some ways he reminds me of Guy Whimper, physically more than good enough, but a little slow up-stairs.
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/44405/309/2013-nfl-free-agents
there is a reason the "double barrel" blitz up the middle, caused so many issues for us, the guards are simply poor.
1 top tier guard and a TE that can block would turn the line into good from sub par, imo.
Cordle was worse than Brewer ever was yet with playing time he is getting better. Why isn't the same principle applied to Mosley and Brewer. They will probably leave and become starters on another team. Watched the Eagles game last night and DD got pushed aside like a damn turnstile.