How long until we're reading about the Bengals practicing DT's at Guard?

[M.W.]

The interesting thing is that our O-line is regarded as very good by many. It is strange, I think they will get better.

[D's Nuts and Bolts]

Originally Posted by OSUfan

The line does not stink.....period. Whit is a top 5 OT in the league. Andre is becoming the RT everyone thought he would be. Cook is a top 1/3 of the league center.

It comes down to you basically have two rookies starting at OG. Zeitler is not a concern. He is just going to get better at this level with live snaps. Boling I feel is finally where he should be and that is LG. I think it is the natural spot for his skillset. He has already been showing some improvement. It was Boling that had the great pull block that got Leonard his big gain against the Pack.

Chemistry does not happen over night. Chemistry is crucial for the oline and it only comes with time.

I do believe depth could be a concern and I do think you will see OGs brought in after cut downs in an attempt to improve the depth.

I think what is making me and maybe others nervous is that there hasn't been much improvement through the 3 preseason games. Cook is a top 1/3 of the league center 50% of the time. His pass blocking is not bad, but when he is facing a nose guard he struggles in the run and pass game. Boling has looked much better then last year and looks good when pulling. Zeitler just needs some time. I do think that if the two guards pan out and they resign Andre this line is looking good for the next few years. Maybe get a Tackle next draft to learn from Whit for a couple of years. One positive is that they are all staying healthy.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by M.W.

The interesting thing is that our O-line is regarded as very good by many. It is strange, I think they will get better.

I think those people understand we have a very young OL with two very inexperienced guards. We have zero continuity along the line.
Whit has a new LG. Andre has a new RG.
Cook is sandwiched between a 2nd year guard who was at RG last season and a rookie RG who is still adjusting to the speed of the NFL.

The talent is there.
Physically they match up.
Its the mental part now. Getting on the right blocks, making the right line calls, knowing the playbook.

Notice already how very few pre-snap penalties we have had thus far. Small but a huge sign of big improvement.

[berserkerone88]

Originally Posted by D's Nuts and Bolts

I think what is making me and maybe others nervous is that there hasn't been much improvement through the 3 preseason games. Cook is a top 1/3 of the league center 50% of the time. His pass blocking is not bad, but when he is facing a nose guard he struggles in the run and pass game. Boling has looked much better then last year and looks good when pulling. Zeitler just needs some time. I do think that if the two guards pan out and they resign Andre this line is looking good for the next few years. Maybe get a Tackle next draft to learn from Whit for a couple of years. One positive is that they are all staying healthy.

It's a matter of repetition. People underestimate the importance of continuity along the OL.
Adding one new guy isn't bad. But when you add a new LG for all of TC then lose him to injury and add another new LG on top of a rookie RG, you are in for some bumps early. I think it is why against ATL you saw the top OL out there with Gradkowski. Getting reps.

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by OSUfan

The line does not stink.....period. Whit is a top 5 OT in the league. Andre is becoming the RT everyone thought he would be. Cook is a top 1/3 of the league center.

It comes down to you basically have two rookies starting at OG. Zeitler is not a concern. He is just going to get better at this level with live snaps. Boling I feel is finally where he should be and that is LG. I think it is the natural spot for his skillset. He has already been showing some improvement. It was Boling that had the great pull block that got Leonard his big gain against the Pack.

Chemistry does not happen over night. Chemistry is crucial for the oline and it only comes with time.

I do believe depth could be a concern and I do think you will see OGs brought in after cut downs in an attempt to improve the depth.

I don't know about Cook...without an exhaustive study I'd rank him somewhere around 20th best Center in the league.

[BoomerFan]

Interesting to hear Shirley is actually doing well with the Colts.

Speaking of ghosts of the past, maybe Jonathan Luigs could get a tryout? I know he had a hip injury, but maybe after another year of healing up he can play on it, or at least be a backup? He would at least be familiar with the team and some of our playcalling style.

[Truck_1_0_1_]

Originally Posted by NATI BENGALS

I'd take Shirley in a heart beat. Do you remember those pancakes? And he only played in 4 games last year after coming off the streets and put up 2.5 sacks in limited action.

If we would have kept him around and trained him to be a G he would be able to give us production similar to Stacey Andrews glory years right about now I bet.

Wish he was still playing O-line. Maybe he could have helped us.

2.5 sacks on Carolina's line is good stuff, ESPECIALLY in 4 games.

BTW, 3 of them were half sacks, and NFL scorekeepers don't know how to record a half sack, thuuuuuuuus he actually had more than 2.5

Originally Posted by NC Bengal Mike

How is he doing well if he keeps getting cut?

2.5 sacks in 4 games seeing 18 snaps a game on running downs.

Exactly.

[Lolli]

Originally Posted by THE PISTONS

Place your guesses here...

LOL. I bet Yamms would make a killer OG.

[OSUfan]

Originally Posted by D's Nuts and Bolts

I think what is making me and maybe others nervous is that there hasn't been much improvement through the 3 preseason games. Cook is a top 1/3 of the league center 50% of the time. His pass blocking is not bad, but when he is facing a nose guard he struggles in the run and pass game. Boling has looked much better then last year and looks good when pulling. Zeitler just needs some time. I do think that if the two guards pan out and they resign Andre this line is looking good for the next few years. Maybe get a Tackle next draft to learn from Whit for a couple of years. One positive is that they are all staying healthy.

There has been improvement if you are looking at what the line is doing it just needs to gsin consistency which will happen with repetition.

Not sure where you have been but Cook has made his living against nose tackles which has been a big part of him keeping his job.

[D's Nuts and Bolts]

Originally Posted by OSUfan

There has been improvement if you are looking at what the line is doing it just needs to gsin consistency which will happen with repetition.

Not sure where you have been but Cook has made his living against nose tackles which has been a big part of him keeping his job.

So the line has improved from the first preseason game? If the GB game was improvement from the Jets game I didn't see it. Gruden did say he only ran one power pulling play and maybe he is being vanilla. I hope so for Andy's and the RB's. This team has not ran the ball well in a while including last year. But like Whit said if there scoring points whats it matter how the win.

As far as Cook, I live in Kansas so I don't get to see all of the games during the season, side note I am going to my first game in Cin after 25 years of being a fan!
Maybe berserkerone88 can break down Cooks preseason like he did Whit's. In the ATL game when Jerry was over Cook he was getting lots of pressure and in the GB game same issue.

[Jasonew6]

Originally Posted by THE PISTONS

Place your guesses here...

Several years.

[McC]

Originally Posted by THE PISTONS

Place your guesses here...

Answering your question with a question. How long until you **** and moan again? My guess--not long.

[yellowxdiscipline]

Originally Posted by bengalfan74

Don't know for sure what the problem is but our O-line is very near code blue critical ! People are talking about the backup RB's, the playcalling, no gameplan, no true WR #2 and any number of other things.

But I can sum up our ineptness on O so far this preseason with four words.

Our O line stinks !

This isn't a "the sky is falling, end of days post" But they better be doing some serious extra practice between now and MNF !

I wouldnt go that far. Id say we have good pass blocking, aside from the running backs being asked to block. From what I saw in the preseason Brooks and Brown were horrible in pass protection. Our oline is having a severe problem opening holes for the backs though.

[OSUfan]

Originally Posted by bengalfan74

Don't know for sure what the problem is but our O-line is very near code blue critical ! People are talking about the backup RB's, the playcalling, no gameplan, no true WR #2 and any number of other things.

But I can sum up our ineptness on O so far this preseason with four words.

Our O line stinks !

This isn't a "the sky is falling, end of days post" But they better be doing some serious extra practice between now and MNF !

The oline does not stink but this post does.

[eoxyod]

Originally Posted by berserkerone88

And two of them aren't the problem!

Zeitler isn't really a problem either :l

[D's Nuts and Bolts]

Originally Posted by OSUfan

The oline does not stink but this post does.

You got a real hard on for the Oline. The run game was bad last year too 27th ranked 28th in passing, or was that Benson's fault? They have shown nothing this preseason as for as being able to run the ball, the TE's haven't helped either. Run deep AJ is not going to work this year, teams have adjusted to Andy and AJ. That is why a run game is important. If we had a top passing offense I wouldn't care.
The O is holding this team back.

But we have injuries, need chemistry, it's preseason, it's the play calling. I agree these effect things for sure but GD the Oline/TE's have not looked good.