Cowboys' Offensive Line Tops NFC East

They play the least glamorous positions in football. Minus their helmets and jerseys, few fans would recognize even the perennial Pro Bowl picks. But there's no questioning the importance of a good offensive line to an NFL's team success.

Remember that the Redskins, who hadn't won even a playoff game during the previous nine years, surged to three Lombardi Trophies and four NFC titles from 1982-91, had three starting quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien) and three No. 1 backs (John Riggins, Timmy Smith and Earnest Byner). However, half of their forward wall (Joe Jacoby, Jeff Bostic and Don Warren) remained intact for Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs throughout the decade.

Or look at last year's Redskins. By Week 5, four fifths of the line that had helped produce a 7-4 start in 2008 was gone. Left guard Pete Kendall hadn't been re-signed. Right tackle Jon Jansen had been cut. And left tackle Chris Samuels and right guard Randy Thomas had suffered season-ending injuries. Washington, which went to Carolina 2-2, won just two of its remaining 12 games, costing coach Jim Zorn and the entire offensive staff their jobs.

And how about the current Cowboys? Only Super Bowl champion New Orleans had a better offense than Dallas in 2009. Not coincidentally, four of the five offensive linemen started all 16 games. Only right tackle Marc Colombo missed time. But left tackle Flozell Adams was cut during the offseason and Colombo and left guard Kyle Kosier have been hurt this summer. So with the same skill position players, Dallas' starters have managed just one touchdown and two field goals in four possessions this preseason. Quarterback Tony Romo and running backs Marion Barber and Felix Jones must cry when they look at their statistics.
All of this is a precursor to ranking the lines of the four NFC East teams.

1. Dallas -- Doug Free, who filled in respectably for Colombo for seven games last year, has taken the critical left tackle spot that Adams had held for 11 seasons. Free is no five-time Pro Bowl pick like Adams, but if and the gritty Kosier can protect Romo, the powerful trio of center Andre Gurode (a Pro Bowl players four years running) , right guard Leonard Davis (three consecutive Pro Bowls) and Colombo should open up plenty of holes for Barber and Jones. The acquisition of former first-round draft choice Alex Barron from St. Louis gives the Cowboys a reserve who has started at both tackle spots. Backup guard Montrae Holland has 48 NFL starts. Hudson Houck, the line coach for Dallas' 1993 and 1995 Super Bowl champions, returned to the Cowboys in 2008. Losing Gurode would be a problem, but he has been a near-ironman during his eight seasons. And four of the five starters are at least 30.

2. New York -- When the Giants stunned the world by capping a remarkable postseason run with an unforgettable upset of unbeaten New England in Super Bowl XLII, their offensive line lost only one start to injury (center Shaun O'Hara missed the wild card victory at Tampa Bay).. Three years later, tackles David Diehl and Kareem McKenzie, guards Rich Seubert and Chris Snee and O'Hara are still together. And while New York crashed from a 5-0 start to an 8-8 finish in 2009, don't blame the line of the offense, which ranked eighth in the league. When Diehl turns 30 three days after the opener, the Giants will join the Cowboys in having all but one regular in their 30s. And O'Hara, Snee and Seubert all missed time with injuries this summer. Former Eagles Pro Bowl tackle Shawn Andrews, who's trying to make a comeback after basically missing the past two seasons, would be the only proven reserve if he wins a job.

3. Washington -- The Redskins get the nod over the Eagles because their line has been healthier this summer and because of the potential of the tackle tandem of rookie Trent Williams, the fourth overall selection in April's draft, and Jammal Brown, a two-time Pro Bowl pick for New Orleans who missed all of 2009 following hip surgery. Left guard Derrick Dockery has good size and center Casey Rabach, the other holdover, is a heady sort. Right guard Arts Hicks, signed from Minnesota, is versatile enough to have started at left tackle for Philadelphia's 2004 NFC champions. If Williams plays as well as he did this summer (with the exception of his lost duel with Baltimore pass rusher Terrell Suggs) and Brown can recover his old form and make a smooth transition to the right side where he last played in 2005, the Redskins' line will be a major upgrade from 2009, something that incumbent No. 1 back Clinton Portis and new quarterback Donovan McNabb will truly appreciate.

4. Philadelphia -- The Eagles do have Jason Peters, a Pro Bowl left tackle three years running. However, right tackle Winston Justice has had his ups and downs, center Jamaal Jackson is coming off a major knee injury that may prevent him from playing a snap in preseason, left guard Todd Herremans missed five games in 2009 and much of the offseason with a foot injury that required surgery and right guard Nick Cole was sidelined for most of training camp with a knee injury. If they're all healthy, this could be a solid group as it was in 2009. However, since coach Andy Reid doesn't know which, if any, of his three interior regulars will be ready for the opener with Green Bay, Philadelphia comes in last.