Please Sign HippopataSmith Early, Otherwise...

The O Line last year sucked. Levi Jones was overweight, kind of hurt, slow and letting people by him while he picked daisies and longed for the days when Joey Porter and him could stay up all night talking about their dreams. Whitworth and Bobbie were fine. Ghiuacic never developed into anything. Stacey Andrews wanted nothing to do with the Bengals organization, and I don't blame him.

This year doesn't portend to be any better. As of right now they are making Whitworth play out of position at LT, where he has problems on the edge against speed rushers. Nate Livings, as far as I know is good enough at LG, but I don't think putting him there means our left side rushing attack is going to set the world on fire. Santucci and Cook were, according to Hob, "ready" to start last year. But if they couldn't prove themselves to better than Ghiuacic then I'm not going to put any faith in them to be any better now. Luigs is a rookie stepping into a position where people like Casey Hampton and Ngata will be lining up to consume whatever gets in their way. Bobbie's a rock, but I don't like how on the roster he's listed as a G/C. Just sounds like he could be another guy that has to play out of position when it becomes apparent that the three headed monster at C isn't working. Collins rounds out the projected starters and should be a serviceable tackle on whichever side he ends up. The depth is paper thin with Kooistra and HippopataSmith as the only real back ups with any potential to start. 

I'm not listing the Hippo as a starter yet because I truly believe he will hold out for a significant amount of training camp. He has made bad decision after bad decision since it became apparent to him that he was destined to be a lottery pick. Couple that with Mike Brown's mule like negotiating tactics and the Bengals have irresistable force against immovable object. If he does come into the fold late he won't be NFL ready considering how well it seems he trains without coaching and structure.

As of right now, the Bengals and Marvin are in an unenviable position of having to play a G at LT, inexperience at C, and potentially their best lineman will still be getting in playing shape by the time the Bengals play the Broncos in week 1. This squad may not be as god awful as it was last year but I'm not overcome with optimism about it being a cohesive kick ass unit. Especially since our most important player's blind side will be covered by a guy with very little lateral quickness. 

Let's hope Hippo signs early so that all the pieces can fit more easily. I'd be infinitely more happy about a line of Collins, Whit, whoever, Bobbie, and HippopataSmith than what it is now. 

Comments

[Mhlit1980]

I agree that the sooner he signs the better, missing any of training camp, especially as rookie, hurts.

As for the Hippopatasmith thing, I guess i'm not quite understanding it. Isnt our OL supposed to be big? We arent built with speed like the Colts.

[Major Payne]

Most of the offensive line stinks. The running backs stink. Most of the TE's and receivers stink. Let's just save ourselves the hassle and only field Palmer, Williams, Kelly and Coles, because everyone else stinks anyway.

Good grief.

[Bob]

A lottery pick? Which sport is this?

[BengalAnthony13]

You're missing the entire point. You all piss and moan that the line is re-worked and unproven and that it is/will be worse than last year. Those are legit concerns but there is another way to look at it. Since business metaphors are so commonly used on this site, I'll finally use one: If you were a sales manager and you had your worse numbers ever last year, wouldn't you clean house, bring in fresh blood and move things around to attempt make it better? I know that I would. Stagnation wouldn't have been productive at all. They had their worst year offensively in franchise history in 2008, mostly due to the line play. There's absolutely no way they'll be worse or as bad this year. Most of these guys who are looking at a starting position on the line have been drafted in rounds 1-4. That usually means those guys can play football. They used the #6 overall pick on an O-Lineman (arguably the best in the draft) as well as their 4th round pick on a position of major need. Yes, they need to sign both in a timely manner. You also somehow equated Luigs, a fourth round pick, to Ghiacuic who was also a fourth round center in a previous article. Not really a fair comparison seeing as how Luigs hasn't played a snap yet. Do you know who else was a fourth round Center? Jason Brown, the uber-coveted free-agent Center that everyone wanted the Bengals to pick up (myself included). Why didn't you make that comparison? Luigs had a much more decorated college career than Ghiacuic had and seems that he could be serviceable at the position. You can't just assume that he won't be able to hold up against the Steelers or Ravens without him even taking a snap. Collins and Livings flashed last year as well, but not enough to say "They're the guys!". They've replaced aging, injured lineman with younger and more athletic albeit UNPROVEN players. Am I sketchy on the O-Line situation this year? Yeah, but we won't know how they really are until preseason and the first couple of weeks of the season. It's way too presumptive to just write them off as terrible right now, though the current situation makes me a little nervous. Sly's right, they cannot let Andre holdout. I agree, Sly, the O-Line's success will hang on Andre, Whit and whoever the Center is.

[BengalAnthony13istheWorst]

BengalAnthony13

You're the worst.

[BengalAnthony13]

Hahaha awesome.

[Major Payne]

BengalAnthony13, that made entirely too much sense.

Also, if people want to point to the 2006 game in Indy to show that Whit is a slow LT, that's dated and less-than-convincing evidence to build on. You can't forget that the Bengals were running well on the Colts until Big Willie's knee gave out. When Andrews came in, he got schooled by Robert Mathis as much as Whit got schooled by Freeney. And how many rookies would you give a legitimate shot against Freeney in his prime? LT isn't brand new to Whit. He's got tenacity and two more seasons of savvy since then. I'll reserve judgement on him until we see him play some real games.

I also think that being lost in all of this hand-wringing over the O-line is the slow transformation of the Bengals into a defense-oriented team. (Isn't that why Marvin was brought in here?) That doesn't negate the need for a decent O-line, but a strong defense takes some of the pressure off of the offense. IF (repeat, IF) the defense plays up to its potential, the Bengals will be able to win a number of games with 17-20 points instead of needing 30+ every week to have a shot. Look at Pittsburgh last year. They were said to have one of the worst O-lines in the NFL, but we have to admit that the team did OK anyway.

Just to be clear for those who will want to misrepresent me: I'm not saying the O-line is unimportant, but that the play of the defense will have a greater bearing on any success in 2009 than the O-line will.

[I am we todd did]

---"ready" to start last year. But if they couldn't prove themselves to better than Ghiuacic then I'm not going to put any faith in them to be any better now.---

Cook was going to replace guycheck but was injured in the warmups...

---Luigs is a rookie stepping into a position where people like Casey Hampton and Ngata will be lining up to consume whatever gets in their way. Bobbie's a rock, but I don't like how on the roster he's listed as a G/C---

This is the nfl have you been watching long? Alot of teams do it and it works out fine our own beloved Rich Braham was a center in college played guard for several years and then went back to Center.....

--- Whit got schooled by Freeney. ---

Best passrusher vs a rookie LT it's going to happen,W Whitworth may not be lights out in passprotection,but I think he'll be serviceable enough if the rest of the line can Gel....

PS,Once again I'm glad Smith is on the right RUN THE BALL RUN IT HARD RUN IT OFTEN.....Let Big fella cream some little fellas.

[braveduck]

"the play of the defense will have a greater bearing on any success in 2009"

Really, because I'm pretty sure last year we finished 12th in defense and look how that turned out. Oh that's right, we are getting Carson back though. So when Carson gets hurt again because our offensive line is inexperienced it will somehow be o.k.(even if our defense cracks the top 10)? I don't mind the "trying something" different, I'm just not sold on the O-line being better THIS YEAR! And the Pittsburgh analogy doesn't work because...quite frankly we are no Pittsburgh. The Patriots were supposed to be moderate at best when their star quarterback was out for the year. That didn't happen because the Patriots are a solid organization that have quality backups waiting to plug into their fine system and can easily adapt. Same goes for the Steelers. What evidence would tell you the same could be said about our Bengies? In the Bengals Organization, we can't afford to have injuries because we (historically speaking) don't have the quality backups and a system that would allow it.

[Whodey anti revolution]

[b]
The Ravens are converting former tackle David Hale to center.
Hale, last year's fourth-round pick, is working with the second team behind Matt Birk
[/b]

Yes because other nfl teams don't move players...Because the Patriots & Steelers two of the most [b]SUCCESSFUL[/b] Franchises in the past 10 years never move players out of position right??????....you guys who are making a big deal about Andre going to RT,Luigs getting time at guard & Maualuga to SLB (((Until he learns the system and gets experiance))) need do some freaking research before you cry.

[Major Payne]

braveduck, excuse me for trying to be rational. Clearly we should follow your line of thinking to it's logical end... call Goodell's office and forfeit all games for 2009 so that we can save Carson since this O-line couldn't block pre-schoolers. Let us all know who the Bengals should be picking with the first pick in the 2010 draft.

[ItmightbeJB]

Getting back on topic, I am pessimistic the Bengals will sign Smith until the pre-season is almost over. MikeyBoy is the cheapest of the cheap and Smith's agent is just now coming on board...again. Besides that, Smith most likely doesn't want to go to training camp anyway. Can you say Michael Strahan?