Poll: How Was the Right Tackle Situation Against Indy?

i was more concerned that we ran the ball only OK. I really was waiting for Hardesty to come in and give a change of pace, with quicker cuts, etc. and see if he could contribute. i was disappointed to see when and how he was used…but i am very encouraged that Shurmur recognized and acknowledged that he wasn’t used correctly, that tells me that he is learning and also that he wants to use Hardesty more. I am hoping for around ten carries a game for at least a while…..what does everyone else think the carry ratio should be? probably depends on how each is doing.

Shurmur’s assessment is on the sunny side, in my view. I also don’t agree with people above who think Cousins did any better. Consider these plays:

- In the first touchdown drive in the second quarter (a few plays before the TD to Evans), Hicks got badly beaten by Mathis, forcing McCoy to run right and throw incomplete at the last second to Marecic

- A couple plays later, he drew the holding penalty by grabbing Jamaal Anderson, who had a clear line to McCoy.

- On a 3rd and 12 toward the end of the third quarter, Hicks got beat badly, pushing McCoy out of the pocket. He forced a throw to Momass on the run. It was incomplete, setting up a punt on the next play.

- Early in the fourth, Hicks again almost allowed a sack. Nonetheless, McCoy was able to thread it through defenders to an open Little across the middle.

…and that’s just Hicks.

- On the long throw to Momass that set up the second TD, Cousins (and Pinkston) didn’t take care of their men, making the throw that much tougher for McCoy. Luckily he put it in accurately on the run.

- When McCoy rushed for 9 yards near the beginning of the second half (and right before the Hillis fumble), he was almost sacked on the play because of Cousins’ poor blocking.

- During the drive after the Colts kicked their first FG of the second half, Cousins allowed Mathis to go to McCoy unblocked, forcing a quick throw to Hillis near the sideline. He immediately got taken down for a one-yard loss.

- In the red-zone drive after Young’s interception (which ended in a field goal), Cousins let Pat Angerer run right past him on 3rd and Goal to put pressure on McCoy, forcing a throw in the corner of the endzone to Alex Smith, who caught it out of bounds. If Cousins hadn’t blown that one, we might have had a TD instead of an FG.

- On a 1st and 10 during the Browns’ next possession, McCoy ran a play-action and dropped back but was forced to roll right because Cousins couldn’t contain Jamaal Anderson. He still made a nice throw right on target to Marecic for 9 yards.

People might say that, well, these guys at least didn’t allow any sacks. And yes, they didn’t. But I’d attribute that less to their effectiveness in containing the defense than to McCoy’s ability to get the ball away when he needed to – and sometimes make some accurate throws under pressure.

FWIW, profootballfocus grades them poorly, even giving their game ball to Mathis for consistent disruption of our offense throughout.

It also mentions that Pinkston struggled pretty badly. I shudder to think about what the situation would look like if Mack or Thomas missed any time.

I think we are viewing the line as having played more favorably this week, and they probably did improve a little, but I think the biggest difference was actually that both the playcalling and especially McCoy were better in dealing with it, making it appear not as big of a deal.