Haley and Bell should get a lot of the credit for the O-line looking so much better.
Haley somehow has taught Ben, either by scheme or by pounding it into his thick head, to get rid of the ball by dumping it off.
Bell is one of the best to "dump it off to" in the league, maybe the history of the league. Bell is also obviously great at being patient and bursting through a hole that isn't there at first. Bell gets yardage when our line gets no push at all.
Has anyone noticed over the last several years, when a starting offensive lineman has been injured, we haven't missed him a bit? Do you think that's because our backups are so great?
I will give our line one thing... Ben has spent most of his career with a strong likelihood on every dropback that someone was going to come free through the middle or edge and hit him before he even set his feet. He'd either throw it away quickly, dodge the guy and try to make a play on the run, or get sacked. Some said he was "holding the ball too long". I said our line sucked at blocking. But now that barely ever happens. (oops, @Miami, @Philly) Our linemen are better. We've had enough linemen get hurt that we now have Gilbert and Villanueva and Foster. I still think they're mediocre talents, but they're better than who they replaced.
The combination of all this makes our line look better and our offense better as a whole. Having a Hall Of Fame quarterback helps a whole lot too (3 picks yesterday notwithstanding).
Just gotta beat the damn bengals and ravens! That might clinch it, and we can either sit starters and possibly lose to the winless clowns (being nice), or warm up for the playoffs by stomping them and rubbing their noses in their ****** season!
