Fraley

[Legacy Fan]

Hes' getting out muscled/weighted/played at the LOS. No doubt hes' the mental/emotional anchor of the line, but I guess isn't big enough?

 

He's a true team guy. He's 1st down the field to lift our RB or receiver off the ground, he's a leader on the field & in the huddle (jumps out down near the goal line to avoid a penalty last night), smart player, and had a crucial block late where he shoved his guy into an LB and "doubled" two guys. But man, I see him getting beat way to easily on straight bull rushes.

 

Maybe a draft need? A versatile G/C? Maybe give Hadnot a shot when Tucker & Steinbach are 100% & move Fraley to RT?

[titleist585]

Hes' getting out muscled/weighted/played at the LOS. No doubt hes' the mental/emotional anchor of the line, but I guess isn't big enough?

 

He's a true team guy. He's 1st down the field to lift our RB or receiver off the ground, he's a leader on the field & in the huddle (jumps out down near the goal line to avoid a penalty last night), smart player, and had a crucial block late where he shoved his guy into an LB and "doubled" two guys. But man, I see him getting beat way to easily on straight bull rushes.

 

Maybe a draft need? A versatile G/C? Maybe give Hadnot a shot when Tucker & Steinbach are 100% & move Fraley to RT?

 

 

 

I re-watched the game and 99 for Buffalo abused Fraley all game. It wasn't pretty. Shaffer also whiffed a lot.

[Riffer X]

I'm a big Hank guy, but he struggles against the better and bigger interior linemen in the league. However, so do a lot of centers. You either give up weight for athleticism or vice versa.

 

Imagine what Rogers would have done to Fowler?

[Solon16]

Hes' getting out muscled/weighted/played at the LOS. No doubt hes' the mental/emotional anchor of the line, but I guess isn't big enough?

 

He's a true team guy. He's 1st down the field to lift our RB or receiver off the ground, he's a leader on the field & in the huddle (jumps out down near the goal line to avoid a penalty last night), smart player, and had a crucial block late where he shoved his guy into an LB and "doubled" two guys. But man, I see him getting beat way to easily on straight bull rushes.

 

Maybe a draft need? A versatile G/C? Maybe give Hadnot a shot when Tucker & Steinbach are 100% & move Fraley to RT?

 

Not a frayley fan and we need to draft a center of the future but the linebackers and safeties and RB need to be addressed first...Center and RT in 2010.

[JewDago]

we need at least one beast-type guy in the middle of our line. we paid steinbach, so he isn't going anywhere. hadnot is strong, just not strong enough to handle massive DTs like stroud, jenkins and hampton. and fraley's been getting abused all season.

 

that being said, interior linemen who can handle massive DTs simply don't come along a lot. the only example i can really think of is philly's shawn andrews, and they locked him up with a huge contract, proving how valuable those kind of guys are.

 

the key is for tucker to come back. he helps our line tremendously by letting shaffer move inside where he's better suited to play and can help fraley more. otherwise, hadnot needs to help fraley. either way, double-teaming people is the way to go because we can't let people be all over our QB the way stroud was last night.

[Greythan]

interior linemen who can handle massive DTs simply don't come along a lot.

LeCharles Bentley.

[JewDago]

no shit. that's exactly what i was thinking about as i was writing that. damn, we screwed that up royally.

[Arjuna74]

should have never gotten rid of Jeff Faine...

[Solon16]

should have never gotten rid of Jeff Faine...

 

Faine was getting handled alot...no big loss IMO...Bentley isn't playing anywhere...highly doubt he'd come back tho...you can get a great center in second round but I believe the LB's have to be addressed first and foremost.

[JewDago]

it's not that bentley got away, it's that we ruined him that bothers me.

 

and we need to address other positions more than center in the upcoming draft, for sure.

[JewDago]

staph. dude almost lost his leg.

[JewDago]

yeah, i may have overstated it. but the team hasn't fixed the problem yet and we still lost someone who was supposed to be the anchor of our line for years to come. we certainly wouldn't be having this problem with fraley right now if LCB were still around in anything approximating his original condition.

[Riffer X]

Faine was a liability here because this division is dominated by huge DT's and NT's. Faine is a technical center that just can't handle the likes of Hampton or even Sam Adams when he was with Cincy.

 

He's in a good system now in NO, and they don't have to play the Williams boys in Minny twice a year. He got absolutely destroyed by those guys when we played Minny.

 

I think teams are going to start looking for bigger centers. The theory is you want an athletic center that gets to the second level and can move around, but the NFL is attacking these guys with guys 50 pounds heavier and there is nothing they can do.

 

I expect this to become a trend soon.

[Tobalaz]

I got ticked off when we cut O'Hare and he went to the Giants.

He was a GOOD CENTER before he got here, Butch thought he'd make a better guard and when he didn't pan out at guard, instead of moving him back to center we cut him?

It's front office moves like that that's kept us in the doghouse for so long.

[Solon16]

I got ticked off when we cut O'Hare and he went to the Giants.

He was a GOOD CENTER before he got here, Butch thought he'd make a better guard and when he didn't pan out at guard, instead of moving him back to center we cut him?

It's front office moves like that that's kept us in the doghouse for so long.

 

Dudes...I'm a butch fan...still thin k he'd be good here........there I said it...lay it on...He coached his guts out. ha ha... if he didn't cut his entire LB core because off policy/dickhead cap constraints....we'd still be on top...fk holcomb. fk cleveland controversy...why did couch break his leg in SF????? fk

[Solon16]

yeah, i may have overstated it. but the team hasn't fixed the problem yet and we still lost someone who was supposed to be the anchor of our line for years to come. we certainly wouldn't be having this problem with fraley right now if LCB were still around in anything approximating his original condition.

 

Fixed the problem??????? wtf...dude we answered the bell on the O-line! or....phil savage did...drafted jt, signed steinbach, made a move for the best center in football, overpaid for schaff but a good rt... Tuck was key, thanks butch...ha ha

 

What if we never wen't after Ted Washington.....thanks RAC! peace and go phil...best gm in Cleveland history! mwah!

[Guest c-dawg]

the key is for tucker to come back.

 

Agreed.

 

With Tucker in at RG last year our line was a thing of beauty. He could wall off linebackers on run plays like few guards I have ever seen and I don't remember anyone beating him pass rushing.

 

I think he made Fraley a little better when he played guard because he was such a beast. Also, how about some of those unbalanced formations where it was: Tucker, Shaffer, Thomas all in a row? Awesome!

 

A lot of people like Tucker at RT and, I have to agree, whether he is at RG or RT he makes our line better. Without him though our right side is vulnerable rushing and passing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ballpeen]

I think the smart thing is to assume Tucker is done, and move on from there with that as the basis for future planning.

 

As for Hank....he is a great guy and a scrapper and doing a fine job, but you can look at that guy and tell that when he finally hits the wall, it isn't going to be a slow decline.

 

I would spend a great deal of time scouting centers and guards for this next draft.

[Guest c-dawg]

I think the smart thing is to assume Tucker is done, and move on from there with that as the basis for future planning.

 

Sigh. It hurts but deep down I agree. He is pretty long in the tooth and his injuries are worrisome. Oh well, at least I got my little celebratory post in if he is gone. I have really enjoyed watching him throw people around.