Cincy Jungle

I always try to base my opinions on facts. Opinions based on misinformation, misperception, or factual inaccuracies are baseless, however. Therefore, a couple of things:

And to set the record straight, I’m not bashing Smith but I am merely pointing out that he has had an an awful last three years and his only productive year was 2011.

First, if (as you asserted above) Andre had an “awful last three seasons”, yet had a “productive” 2011 season, then that means you are saying he was awful in 2010, 2009, and 2008 (i.e. awful 3 seasons). I’m not exactly sure how he can be considered awful in 2008 during his last year at Alabama when he won the Outland Trophy as the best interior lineman (offensive or defensive lineman btw!!!) in college football. So I’m not sure what you mean by that quote, but it certainly is not based in fact. However, if you meant Andre has struggled in his three seasons as a pro, well, again, that opinion is simply NOT based in fact. He actually played very well this season.

And to say that he was arguably the best lineman in 2011 is ludicrous. Whitworth was the best olineman on the team, Bobbie Williams was the next best, and Smith was a faaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrr third

In looking at the numbers, Andre gave up the exact same number of sacks (3), qb pressures (16), and qb hits (3) as Big Whit, hence my assertion that he “was arguably our best offensive lineman” last year. I did not say “definitely” or “certainly”, I said “arguably” which implies what it means. That is, a (rather strong) argument can be made that Andre was our best lineman last year. He graded as a markedly better pass blocker than Bobbie Williams this past season (4.8 PFF pas blocking grade compared to Bobbie’s 0.9 PFF grade), and while Bobbie Williams was a better run blocker than Andre, note that Bobbie only played in 9 games this season (i.e. which is only 2 more games than Andre played in 2010 when people were claiming that he couldn’t get on the field). Thus, in looking at the PFF grades (which admittedly do not always tell the complete story) Andre received the second highest pass blocking grade (behind Whitworth), yet still allowed the exact same number of sacks, qb pressures, and qb hits as Whitworth. Additionally, when you factor in that Whitworth gave up all those pressures at the end of the Ravens game in Baltimore when the Bengals had a first and goal inside the Ravens’ 10 yard line (reports after the game said it had to do with silent snap count issues, but nonetheless), plus Whitowrth’s critical holding penalty that negated a crucial third down conversion to Simpson in the first Steelers game, it is certainly anything but “ludicrous” to say that Andre was arguably our best offensive lineman last year. Whitworth (who I really like btw, and who I’m not meaning to slight in the least) was clearly better as a pass protector, but Andre was much better in the running game compared to Whitworth.

A game that sticks out to me, and which speaks to Andre’s maturation, was the second Cleveland game (played on 11/27). Jabaal Sheard really was dominating Andre Smith in the first half of that game (I think 2 of Andre’s 3 sacks he gave up all season were given up in the first half to Sheard). The second half was a completely different story, and Smith (and the coaching staff) clearly made the proper adjustments at halftime. Smith dominated Sheard in the second half. Also, if you remember the phenomenal Dalton-Green 51-yard pass that set up Nugent’s game winning field goal that game, I urge you to watch that play again closely. Smith does a great job in pass protection on that play (against Sheard), while Big Bobbie (who you claim was “clearly” our second best lineman last year) gets completely shoved back into Dalton’s face. In fact, the reason the throw sailed was because Dalton stood strong in the pocket, fully knowing that he was about to get hit from the Cleveland defensive lineman (either Phil Taylor or Ahtyba Rubin) who was shoving Bobbie straight back into him and collapsing the pocket.

Bottom line, Smith’s play last season does not warrant incessant criticism regarding his first two pro seasons.

Finally,

And to set the record straight, I’m not bashing Smith but I am merely pointing out that he has had an awful last three years and his only productive year was 2011. That is NOT GOOD for the amount of money that the Bengals paid him in 2009.

Of course that wasn’t good for the amount of money they paid him, but the Bengals and Smith were both at odds over his contractual worth after he was drafted – hence the prolonged holdout!!!!!! The Bengals had to pay him at a level commensurate with a top ten draft pick. With the rookie scale contained in the new CBA, however, this problem will simply not happen in the future.

The_Black_Stripes - February 16, 2012 reply