OL Switcheroo??

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Was pondering the OL situation (probably the Achille's Heel on the Offense right now) the other day and came up with a "what if" situation. Since Pace is having a heck of a time at LT (and I know that is his "natural" position) why not switch him out with Williams? Obviously, Williams is going to eventually move back to LT, where he played in college, so why not go there now? Having Pace on the Right side would help Cutler out a bunch as when he rolls out he looks that way anyhow. And when Pace loses the leverage on the rush then Cutler can make the adjustment needed without worrying as much about the blindside rush. Which brings me to the other side. I think with Williams over on the left only good things could come from this. 1) its the way of the future anyhow, 2) he is younger and more mobile and would ultimately be better at protecting the blind side 3) did I mention that this is his "natural" side? So, thinking ahead and with Minnesota on the schedule I only think that having someone like Jarred Allen coming up (who rushes from the left) that would be one way to slow him down. Just a thought.

[madlithuanian]

Seems logical to me. So I seriously doubt the coaching staff would implement this.

 

Was pondering the OL situation (probably the Achille's Heel on the Offense right now) the other day and came up with a "what if" situation. Since Pace is having a heck of a time at LT (and I know that is his "natural" position) why not switch him out with Williams? Obviously, Williams is going to eventually move back to LT, where he played in college, so why not go there now? Having Pace on the Right side would help Cutler out a bunch as when he rolls out he looks that way anyhow. And when Pace loses the leverage on the rush then Cutler can make the adjustment needed without worrying as much about the blindside rush. Which brings me to the other side. I think with Williams over on the left only good things could come from this. 1) its the way of the future anyhow, 2) he is younger and more mobile and would ultimately be better at protecting the blind side 3) did I mention that this is his "natural" side? So, thinking ahead and with Minnesota on the schedule I only think that having someone like Jarred Allen coming up (who rushes from the left) that would be one way to slow him down. Just a thought.

 

[AZ54]

I read a post from another board where they proposed putting Williams at LT and Shaffer at RT with Pace on the bench. It won't happen now but with this season rapidly going down the tubes it should happen at some point.

[nfoligno]

I've been calling for this for a couple weeks.

 

No other team in the NFL felt Pace was a starting LT anymore. Balt felt he could play RT, but not LT. I guess we thought we were smarter than the league. Anyway, we added Pace and moved Williams to the RT spot as we thought we had a better option at LT. That has proven false.

 

I don't know if Williams is a bust, nor do I know for a fact that Pace has absolutely nothing left to offer. I know that neither look very good at their current positions, and (a) Williams was projected as a LT and Pace may still be capable of playing RT, as I would argue that better suits his current skill set.

 

Maybe this doesnt work, but

 

(a) If Williams is to be our LT of the future, may as well begin the development now

 

( the next 8 games will not give us any definitive answers, but may give us a better picture as to William's potential on the left side

 

© what the hell can it hurt. Honestly, I can not imagine it being much worse than it currently is.

 

Was pondering the OL situation (probably the Achille's Heel on the Offense right now) the other day and came up with a "what if" situation. Since Pace is having a heck of a time at LT (and I know that is his "natural" position) why not switch him out with Williams? Obviously, Williams is going to eventually move back to LT, where he played in college, so why not go there now? Having Pace on the Right side would help Cutler out a bunch as when he rolls out he looks that way anyhow. And when Pace loses the leverage on the rush then Cutler can make the adjustment needed without worrying as much about the blindside rush. Which brings me to the other side. I think with Williams over on the left only good things could come from this. 1) its the way of the future anyhow, 2) he is younger and more mobile and would ultimately be better at protecting the blind side 3) did I mention that this is his "natural" side? So, thinking ahead and with Minnesota on the schedule I only think that having someone like Jarred Allen coming up (who rushes from the left) that would be one way to slow him down. Just a thought.

 

[DABEARSDABOMB]

The oline quietly had its best game of the season this week. It doesn't say much, but it played better and as a result Jay was able to look down the field more often and have a very big passing day.

 

I still like the idea of moving Williams to the LT, but only if we think he can do a better job than Pace. The reason I say this is, I don't want just anyone blocking because our most valuable player is our QB and he's already getting killed, I don't want him dying on us.

[jason]

I agree DBDB. Best game of the season. But that's still akin to a F student getting a C minus and being happy with it. The OL knew that they were passing the whole game, and there was only one thing to concentrate on. I have a feeling that if the blocking schemes got mixed up too much, and more runs were in there, we would have seen then stink up the joint more than they did as Forte would have been drilled over and over at the LOS.

[NAMEDSONPAYTON2]

Was pondering the OL situation (probably the Achille's Heel on the Offense right now) the other day and came up with a "what if" situation. Since Pace is having a heck of a time at LT (and I know that is his "natural" position) why not switch him out with Williams? Obviously, Williams is going to eventually move back to LT, where he played in college, so why not go there now? Having Pace on the Right side would help Cutler out a bunch as when he rolls out he looks that way anyhow. And when Pace loses the leverage on the rush then Cutler can make the adjustment needed without worrying as much about the blindside rush. Which brings me to the other side. I think with Williams over on the left only good things could come from this. 1) its the way of the future anyhow, 2) he is younger and more mobile and would ultimately be better at protecting the blind side 3) did I mention that this is his "natural" side? So, thinking ahead and with Minnesota on the schedule I only think that having someone like Jarred Allen coming up (who rushes from the left) that would be one way to slow him down. Just a thought.

This is what I posted 2 weeks ago on this board. So yes,I believe this should be tried.

[defiantgiant]

I don't think Pace at RT would work. As nfoligno pointed out, Baltimore wanted to bring him in to play on the right side last offseason, but his work so far this season has demonstrated that he's become a pretty atrocious run-blocker. If you look at the Adjusted Line Yards across the league, the Bears rank 29th on runs behind the left tackle; it's the worst spot on the current line in terms of the running game. Pace himself said that he's been having trouble bending his knees and getting low enough to run-block effectively.

 

If it can be done without a major increase in sacks, I'd be all for benching Pace, moving Williams to left tackle, and putting Shaffer in on the right side, as was suggested here. I think there's at least a chance that the pass protection wouldn't be any worse: last time he was starting at right tackle for the Browns, Shaffer only allowed 4.5 sacks in 15 starts. The Bears' current line has given up 19 sacks through 8 games, so Shaffer's numbers compare pretty favorably.

 

If nothing else, I'm sure that Williams-Beekman-Kreutz-Garza-Shaffer would be a better run-blocking line than the current group, which might let us keep some opposing offenses on the bench for a change. Given the way the defense has been playing, that's probably the only way we're going to hold anybody under 40 points.