Trading Portis? Jesus have we Skins fans learned absolutely anything since 2000? Let's get some continuity.

[QUOTE=Beemnseven]
Randy Thomas has done just enough to escape from being called a free agent bust. He has not proven to be worth the kind of money we paid him, nor has he lived up to the reputation of being one of the top offensive guards in the league as was once said.[/QUOTE]
I really have to disagree with you on Thomas.

He's been a rock at the RG spot since he came over. He's a great pulling RG and he fits in nicely in this offense. When was the last time you heard him whistled for a penalty? I don't recall hearing his name very often if at all the past two years. When we were having all the false start problems last year Thomas never flinched.

Maybe we did overpay for him a bit, but that's the name of the game when you're stealing away FA's. Thomas has easily been our most consistent lineman the last two years. He's the least of our worries up front.

If there's anything to worry about on the O-line, it's going to be finding a quality center and maybe looking for someone to take over Dockery's spot. I'm not really sold on Derrick and I really expected him to be getting it this year, but he still doesn't seem to. I think the only player on the line to be whistled down more than Dockery was Ray Brown.

yeah, I see a healthy Jansen giving a nice impact to the running game. We can stretch to the right, or we can pull thomas and use Samuels on the other side!

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]I really have to disagree with you on Thomas.

He's been a rock at the RG spot since he came over. He's a great pulling RG and he fits in nicely in this offense. When was the last time you heard him whistled for a penalty? I don't recall hearing his name very often if at all the past two years. When we were having all the false start problems last year Thomas never flinched.

Maybe we did overpay for him a bit, but that's the name of the game when you're stealing away FA's. Thomas has easily been our most consistent lineman the last two years. He's the least of our worries up front.[/QUOTE]

I'll concur with you that outside of Jansen, Thomas is the last of our worries up front, but he's still part of a line that generates around 3.8 yards per rush, and a player of a team that's 5-11 and 6-10 the last two seasons. We should expect much more.

I'm just saying he's far from being a bust, he's not even close.

Betts had a great game vs. the Vikings with 118 yards and a TD, but with the way the O-line was playing (finally), I think a healthy Portis would have gotten close to 200 yards...or the two off them combined would have.
It was enough though, and it is nice to see that we have two good backs at the very least. Feeling good about 2005!

Oh, and as for the line, IMO, all they need is more time with Bugel....along with maybe an upgrade at center, and a little better depth just in case something like Jansen's injury happens again.