They had a debate going that I found interesting so I'll put it out there; What's more important to a football team, the offensive line or the defensive line?
Was listening to golic and wingo this morning
- Thread starter ScWildthing61
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I'll stop you there!! Your problem is watching Golic&Wingo!!! But I will inquire as to one team that won a Superbowl without a great oline!!!
I think it depends if you are on Offense or Defense at that moment.
A good defense & D-line can keep you in a game when your O-line and offense may struggle. A great D can be left our to dry if the O-line can't run out the clock and secure a few first downs.
A small edge to the D-line in this particular example, because without them you get shoved around, run on, and you don't see the ball.
A good defense & D-line can keep you in a game when your O-line and offense may struggle. A great D can be left our to dry if the O-line can't run out the clock and secure a few first downs.
A small edge to the D-line in this particular example, because without them you get shoved around, run on, and you don't see the ball.
I always felt the lynchpin of our three straight 11 win years was our DL. That DL was loaded with future NFLers
IMO, a good OL is more important. You can mask deficiencies in a DL with LBs and secondary blitzes, run or pass, but you can not mask OL deficiencies. A weak link or a missed assignment on the OL will blow up most any play.
Which is my source for proving the opposite. As dominating as our DL was, it wasn't enough. No championship, no championship game....conference or otherwise. We just couldn't make up for the deficiencies on the OL.
If you went to a zone blocking scheme you the Oline isn't required to dominate in that type of system. We ran this system while OBC was at his zenith. Without the D line you don't win championships. That was the thing Clemson had to correct during our run. They are stocked again this year.
Outside of Clowney and maybe a year with Devin Taylor, remind me of the all the future NFLer's? I'm not suggesting you are wrong. I remember a lot of decent players on the DL but don't remember many NFLer's.
I know you weren't addressing the question to me. But there was Melvin Ingram, Travian Robertson, and Cliff Matthews to name a few.
4 seasons at one particular school is a poor sample size!!! In general across the sports spectrum, the oline has proven a little more critical... But it's very close and very debatable
I feel like you can make changes to neutralize a good DL by getting the ball out fast. Of course that means they changed your entire offense. Also, same could be said of a team with a bad OL...that they can get around that by quick passes. But at the end of the day you are going to have a game or two when you have to run the football when everyone in the world knows you are going to run it. I’m going OL.
As long as both lines are at least serviceable, I'd choose to have a great D-line and serviceable O-line. Offensively, you can vary blocking schemes from man, to zone, to gap to create opportunities, call plays that protect bad matchups, etc. A great D-line makes a defensive coordinators job so much easier. If the d-line gets backfield pressure, sacks, tackles for loss, etc, without needing tons of blitz calls, you can leave LBs and DBs to account for other field responsibilities. Plus, two or three quality pass rushers make pass coverage look good.
D-Line...If the other team can't score, you'll be in every game
It’s definitely...D-Line. If you can rush 4 and drop 7, it’s hard to play offense against it. See Gamecocks 2011-2013 and Clemson 2015-2018.
Problem is one isnt much good without the other....so in order to bring championships, etc. you need to have both be good. I think if yiu start with the assumption you have two solid lines on both sides of the ball then having a great O-line has a bigger impact.
Of course a great secondary and LB corp can help off-set a Dline and great skill players and QB can offset an Oline
Of course a great secondary and LB corp can help off-set a Dline and great skill players and QB can offset an Oline
Was going to start by saying d-line, but thought about it a second and it really depends on my offense. If I'm a run-oriented coach, I want an o-line that can dominate and grind out 10-11 play drives that eat up eight or nine minutes at a go and put points on the board while keeping the other guy's defense on the field.
Flip side of that is if I'm a 'big-play' or pass oriented offense then I would recruit hell out of d-linemen to make sure other guys didn't hold onto the ball and keep my guys off the field.
Since I actually enjoy watching a good running attack -- triple option, old Southern Cal and UGA tailback stuff, I'd go with Oline as a priority.
Flip side of that is if I'm a 'big-play' or pass oriented offense then I would recruit hell out of d-linemen to make sure other guys didn't hold onto the ball and keep my guys off the field.
Since I actually enjoy watching a good running attack -- triple option, old Southern Cal and UGA tailback stuff, I'd go with Oline as a priority.
You can have zero production from your offensive line and a great defense can keep you in games. However, the same can't be said about the defensive line. If you can't stop your opponent from scoring, you're not going to win many ball games. Look at Steve Tanneyhill's senior season. Granted, our o-line wasn't that great but offensively we scored a ton of points. On the flip side, we had a bad d-line that couldn't stop a parked car and we only won 4 games that year.
And then there was the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, where a Nebraska OL completely dominated what was up until that point a very good Florida defense...with a good DL.
Nebraska was a juggernaut that year and they actually made UF's D-Line look bad. That had to be one of the most physically dominating performances I've ever witnessed.
I tend to go with D-line. But I'm awfully uncomfortable with the implication that mediocre O-line play is excused when the D-line is great.
I don't think that was the intent. To be a really good team you have to be good on both lines of scrimmage.
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