May 05--Kyle Long, Bobby Massie and panel of other offensive lineman disparaged Pro Football Focus' grading system and chided other critics "who don't understand what an offensive lineman does" during a roundtable interview with CBS Sports' Pete Prisco.
Long decried the unrealistic expectations faced by fellow guards and other positions on the line during the panel discussion published Thursday.
"We're the Mushroom Club," he said. "They throw us in a closet, feed us (bleep) and expect us to come out a finished product."
He added, "The system is set up where we don't have a voice. All we are are robots. Robots that get graded."
Massie, who will play right tackle for the Bears this fall, questioned how sites like Pro Football Focus can grade players when they can't be entirely sure what their assignments are on each play.
"They don't know the play," he said. "They don't know what each lineman has to do."
Massie was even more direct in assailing the lack of teaching from most coaching staffs today.
"In practice you have to do what the coaches want to make them happy. Make them feel like they have the big (bleep) in the room," Massie said. "On game day, you have to do your own stuff. The coaches, they're not out there blocking. They're in a big, comfortable chair with the clicker. The O-line and D-line are the best athletes on the field. It's not the quarterback, the receivers or the corners. We're going against the biggest, strongest, fastest in the world."
Read the full roundtable interview, "In the line of fire," here.
.png?w=600)
