[washingtonismoney]

This is an interesting comparison. It's just so hard to tell based on one game. For example, if you compare this year to last year, you can spin the OL play as a positive. In 2011 the team gained 3.5 yards per carry with no sacks; in 2012, 4.6 yards per carry with a sack (that, judging from the video provided on ESPN.com, looks more like Nunes' fault than the OL's).

I think the issue is basically that our offensive line just starts slow, for whatever reason. Through two games last year, a lot of people were justifiably asking whether we'd have a lot of problems replacing the three missing starters--we weren't running great, and Luck had to muster a lot of magic to avoid getting hit more often (...but still quite often). Same thing happened in 2009. The only year I think our OL started out well out of the gate was 2010, and that was probably because we returned four experienced starters that year, and were able to put in a fifth-year senior as the final piece of the puzzle.

One criticism I would have of whomever made this decision was moving Yankey from guard to LT. Shaw explained quite clearly why he preferred not to do it, and with the descriptions of how good the young tackles were, I expected Shaw to really get their feet wet immediately. Maybe Shaw's taking a more deliberate approach. At any rate, Yankey's athleticism at guard is a very good fit for what we want to do on offense.

[washingtonismoney]

This is an interesting comparison. It's just so hard to tell based on one game. For example, if you compare this year to last year, you can spin the OL play as a positive. In 2011 the team gained 3.5 yards per carry with no sacks; in 2012, 4.6 yards per carry with a sack (that, judging from the video provided on ESPN.com, looks more like Nunes' fault than the OL's).

I think the issue is basically that our offensive line just starts slow, for whatever reason. Through two games last year, a lot of people were justifiably asking whether we'd have a lot of problems replacing the three missing starters--we weren't running great, and Luck had to muster a lot of magic to avoid getting hit more often (...but still quite often). Same thing happened in 2009. The only year I think our OL started out well out of the gate was 2010, and that was probably because we returned four experienced starters that year, and were able to put in a fifth-year senior as the final piece of the puzzle.

One criticism I would have of whomever made this decision was moving Yankey from guard to LT. Shaw explained quite clearly why he preferred not to do it, and with the descriptions of how good the young tackles were, I expected Shaw to really get their feet wet immediately. Maybe Shaw's taking a more deliberate approach. At any rate, Yankey's athleticism at guard is a very good fit for what we want to do on offense.