Bob Wylie 2014 Midterm Report Card

[BigBlue]

Here's Wylie's history from the Bomber website:

"Under Wylie’s watch, Oakland’s offensive line improved the Raiders from one of the worst in sacks given up, to the top five in the NFL. In 2010, Wylie coached the offensive line for the Denver Broncos, improving the Bronco’s rushing average to 4.7 yards per carry during the second half of the season. As an NFL assistant with Arizona, Tampa Bay and Chicago, he paved the way for seven offensive linemen to earn Pro Bowl berths. He also coached tight ends with the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals.

Before returning to the NFL in 2010, Wylie spent the 2009 season coaching the offensive line of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, helping lead them to a division title and a Grey Cup appearance. In his two year with Winnipeg (2007-08), the Bombers’ offensive line allowed the fewest QB sacks (27) in 2007 and the second-fewest (29) in 2008, and saw him coach in the 2007 Grey Cup. During those three seasons, Wylie had CFL all-stars at every position on the offensive line."

How would you grade his performance so far this year?

[IC Khari]

Our starting QB is hurt but in fairness it's not all the oline on that IMO. I am disappointed with the run game and with overall protection lately. Probably personel more so than coaching though ...

[MOBomberFan]

Our starting QB is hurt but in fairness it's not all the oline on that IMO. I am disappointed with the run game and with overall protection lately. Probably personel more so than coaching though ...

That was the refrain we've repeated since Wylie was hired. "Now we get to see if it's coaching or personnel that's the problem"

 

Wylie isn't a miracle worker no matter what his history might lead someone to believe. However, I think he gets credit for moving Morely to C, thereby addressing a need AND getting the most out of an aging vet that many didn't expect much from. Overall, we still have lots of room to improve... especially in the ground game.

[blitzmore]

I'd give him a C- which is disappointing. Just don't think we've improved much since last year, in some respects worse. For example worst in sacks allowed. Running game is not good, and this without too many injuries on the O line. Of course some of it is probably attributable to the lack of imagination by Marcel, and the type of plays he has designed and called.

[Mike]

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Other than that, I'm not impressed. The OL isn't the gong show some make it out to be but it's very inconsistent and very underwhelming.

[do or die]

Our inability to recruit import O-Linemen is a huge factor - we play 3....and yet we are terrible. 

[mbrg]

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Mmmhmm.  Not a single bad snap that I remember, and honestly I'd allow him a few considering he's learning the position.  No complaints about his blocking either, though as the center he's seldom on an island.

 

Big picture for the Bombers - what does this mean for Goossen?  Make him wait 2 or 3 more years?  Groom him to play right guard instead?  Move him to another team for a guard?  Move Morley for an asset in the offseason?  Repeat same situation next year?

[Floyd]

Can't hang it all on Wylie, Walters shares the blame... not as much NI competition as I hoped

 

It also feels like we overthought things this year... OL was almost 'decent' by end of last year - Jarvis Jones is still a great talent at RT but instead we tinkered with Knapp and then Howard

 

Thought Neufeld should have got more of a look at RT if its not Jones...  We replaced Morley with an RG that plays just like Morley.

 

Grigsby lost my support sliding off too many blocks and leaving Willy hanging... Willy hanging!!!  Yes!!!

 

Starting OL should have been January-Greaves-Morley-Knapp-Jones

[MOBomberFan]

To be fair to Walters and the Canadian depth, he did make the move for Neufeld and drafted OL with our top pick. It's not as though he ignored the Canadian content on the o-line, but perhaps more Canadian competition would have been a good idea.

[blitzmore]

Can't hang it all on Wylie, Walters shares the blame... not as much NI competition as I hoped

 

It also feels like we overthought things this year... OL was almost 'decent' by end of last year - Jarvis Jones is still a great talent at RT but instead we tinkered with Knapp and then Howard

 

Thought Neufeld should have got more of a look at RT if its not Jones...  We replaced Morley with an RG that plays just like Morley.

 

Grigsby lost my support sliding off too many blocks and leaving Willy hanging... Willy hanging!!!  Yes!!!

 

Starting OL should have been January-Greaves-Morley-Knapp-Jones

Walters shares the blame? What was he supposed to do get NI's from the NI factory?

 

Jarvis Jones is a GREAT talent at RT? Too bad Wylie who is supposed to be the guru doesn't agree with you.

 

Grigby has been grading out right around 100 percent in blocking last few games..you want more from him blocking?

[DR. CFL]

How is DelManaco grading out in Calgary? You can't make chicken salad out of chicken .....

[Mark H.]

Our inability to recruit import O-Linemen is a huge factor - we play 3....and yet we are terrible. 

 

Precisely this.  It doesn't even make sense to blame the inept drafting of past regimes.  With 3 starting Americans the OL should be better, plain and simple.

[BomberBall]

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Other than that, I'm not impressed. The OL isn't the gong show some make it out to be but it's very inconsistent and very underwhelming.

I agree with all of this, except the 'stellar' part.  Morley is a much better center than guard, to be sure, but I've also seen him fall down virtually untouched on a few occasions.

[rebusrankin]

So if its Morley as C next year and Greaves at LG, do we keep Neufeld at RG or move him to RT? Does Gossen play C or RG?

[Mike]

 

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Other than that, I'm not impressed. The OL isn't the gong show some make it out to be but it's very inconsistent and very underwhelming.

I agree with all of this, except the 'stellar' part.  Morley is a much better center than guard, to be sure, but I've also seen him fall down virtually untouched on a few occasions.

 

 

Yet there are CFL executives who believe he deserves to be in the running for the Most Outstanding Lineman award.

[gbill2004]

Walters stated Morley was moving to centre before Wylie signed with the Bombers.

[Tracker]

Morley has been at the very least, solid at center. January has been very good but seems to be a good deal worse this year than last and is probably going to be worse next year. Greaves has been good and solid, and our other two imports have been sub-par. Neufeld has been hurt so often that its hard to judge him, and I keep getting the feeling he doesn't want to be here. Goossen is a mystery to me- is he that fragile or are they easing him in? The times I have seen him in action (which hasn't been very often) he was good when not confused. I can't help thinking Walters and Co. should be able to track down some better linemen than Knapp and Jones and Howard.

[Noeller]

For all the love we gave the Wylie signing (myself among the most vocal), I've been extremely underwhelmed. Not sure if it's injuries or lack of talent or both, but we finally get a decent QB and we're gonna kill him before his time... (see: Jones, Khari.)

[iso_55]

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Other than that, I'm not impressed. The OL isn't the gong show some make it out to be but it's very inconsistent and very underwhelming.

It all has to do with talent. A coach's IQ goes up when he has good players & down when he doesn't. Look at the OL coach in Calgary that coached here the past few seasons. He has great players right down that line there & Cornish to boot. Yet here he was mediocre. He didn't simply become a very good OL coach overnight. He's working with more talented players in calgary than he ever did with the Bombers. 

[baxter]

 

Whoever made the decision to move Morley to center extended his career by several years and turned a mediocre guard into a stellar center.

 

Other than that, I'm not impressed. The OL isn't the gong show some make it out to be but it's very inconsistent and very underwhelming.

It all has to do with talent. A coach's IQ goes up when he has good players & down when he doesn't. Look at the OL coach in Calgary that coached here the past few seasons. He has great players right down that line there & Cornish to boot. Yet here he was mediocre. He didn't simply become a very good OL coach overnight. He's working with more talented players in calgary than he ever did with the Bombers. 

 

I was going to comment, but this sums it up for me.  Give Wylie me, you and 3 other guys off this forum as his starters and i don't care how good a coach he is, we won't win.

[Jpan85]

Lack of continuity on the line Morely and January are the only ones to play all 12 games.

[SPuDS]

That is very true too... Continuity is arguably one of the most important pieces of building a successful o-line.. If your constantly swapping in pieces, how are you going to be able to rely on the guard or tackle beside you?

[iso_55]

Lack of continuity on the line Morely and January are the only ones to play all 12 games.

Not a good enough excuse. Look at the lack of continuity in Calgary's line. They keep shuffling guys in & out of their line up every game on their OL because of injury problems too yet they don't miss a beat offensively. The guys that back up the starters in Calgary & have been pressed into action could start all here & play well. We'd have a very good OL. 

[Fatty Liver]

I don't take Neufeld's injuries lightly, he has missed over 50% of the games this year so I'm not sure he is going to be part of a solution moving forward and suspect he is damaged goods.  If he can't stay in the lineup it depletes the Natl. talent along the line even further.  May well be that if Neufeld can't stay healthy he is moved to backup position and spot duty so that they can prolong his career another 3-4 years.

 

Next season Swiston and/or Hinse have to step up along with Goosen so that the Bombers have a core of Natl. O-linemen to build upon in the future.  If 2 of the 3 wash out or fail to improve the line won't look much different next year than it does now in regard to ratio.  Not holding my breath on free-agency and the acquisition of any staring quality Natl. O-liners falling into the Bombers lap either.  I can't recall a single decent O-lineman who was headed for free-agency last year that didn't re-sign with their club before they hit the open market.  It takes excess quantity of quality candidates for any movement to take place and that just has not been the case recently.

[bearpants]

IIRC Goossen played all five positions at some point in time at SFU.... if Morley can play a few more years at centre and Goossen can play RG... that solidifies the interior line for the foreseeable future.... January - Greaves - Morley - Goossen - new Imp tackle/Neufeld/Jones?