Thread: In the line of fire

This is a very interesting read. 4 lineman from different teams talk about their frustrations with the media and social networks. Especially all the crap sent their way from folks that don't know anything about line play. They also get into the lack of teaching fundamentals for lineman.

CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Steel clanks in one part of the gym, while the punching of bags is heard in another as the big-bodied men go through a variety of drills, their grunting and groaning creating a muscular symphonic soundtrack.

Inside the O-Line Performance Center here, owned and operated by former NFL lineman LeCharles Bentley, Tennessee Titans guard Chance Warmack has just finished up a grueling workout. With a handful of several of the league's linemen still working out nearby, under the watchful eye of Bentley, a sort of self-help guru who doesn't miss a thing in drills, Warmack talked about the state of offensive line play in the NFL.

"I call this place the Land of the Persecuted," I told Warmack. "You guys took a beating last year."

"Yep," he said, his shirt drenched in sweat. "We've become the NFL scapegoats."

Chicago Bears guard Kyle Long, also in the Bentley group, offered a better name for league's offensive linemen.

"We're the Mushroom Club," he said. "They throw us in a closet, feed us s--- and expect us to come out a finished product."

That's why they are here -- to get better. Mainly because they don't feel they get enough teaching from their own NFL coaches. The techniques taught by Bentley might be different than what these linemen are taught when they are with their teams, but the 30 guys who spend eight weeks here swear by the techniques. A lack of fundamental teaching is one reason for the poor state of line play, many of them say.

Limits on practice time have forced NFL coaches to spend most of their time installing the offense, rather than focusing on the tricks of the trade. That's led to sloppy play. There are other reasons for the deterioration of line play, such as the spread offense in college, free agency preventing cohesion, and little contact in practice, which limits growth together as a unit. Add it all up, and it's why the big guys up front have become the NFL players everybody loves to hate.

A lot more here: http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/featur...e-line-of-fire