So who, or which players, underachieved last year? Or maybe I should say what unit underachieved last year? It was pretty easy to see for me, and my view point could be pretty controversial.
My biggest disappointment was in Jake Long who easily had his worst season in my eyes. I have not been able to pin down the number of sacks he gave up. It varies from the sources I have checked. I have seen some that say he gave up 4 sacks and another one that said 7. No matter what they say, he didn't have a good year by the standards he set for himself earlier in his career.
His run blocking grade was -1.1 for 2011, for the year of 2010 it was 8.5. Now I have no idea what that means, so I will have to take the word of Football Outsiders which say his run blocking was way off from his previous years also.
Please take note the only reason I have singled Jake Long out is because he was brought here to solidify the most important position on the offensive line. Although his play wasn't the best of his career, the rest of the offensive line was worse. At right tackle we had Mark Columbo who was nearly useless, not only against the pass but also in the running game. Between the 2 tackle positions a total of 17 sacks were allowed. As bad as that was the interior line was even worse. The entire line gave up 52 sacks which was 31st in the league. Which means the remainder of the sacks 35 of them came from between the tackles.
In my view the offensive line was the worst unit on the team. If that unit does not improve, will it really matter who the QB is ?
