Seattle Seahawks’ offensive line coach Tom Cable: “When they get it they are going to be really good”

While offensive line coach Tom Cable termed the play of that position “really inconsistent” against Detroit on Monday, what hasn’t wavered is his belief that the line can still emerge as a really strong unit.

“This has always been kind of a work in progress,’’ Cable said when he talked to the media after practice Wednesday. “And I said when they get it they are going to be really good and that hasn’t changed.’’

So what happened Monday night?

As should be expected in a sport with as many moving parts, Cable said it was a little bit of everything.

Cable, in fact, said at times it was better than observers might have thought.

“I felt like there was some really good stuff and then some inconsistency,” he said.

Of the six sacks, Cable said “really only get one as a line. There are other issues in there. But we have to be better — that’s the bottom line. We have to be better.  All the dropback throws, a number of them clean. But then got four or five that aren’t and that’s where we have to be more consistent, so we are working toward that.”

Cable said there would be no changes to the offensive line. “Competition always, but (changes) no,” he said. That’s an answer that leaves the door open that there could be a change at any time. But with a short turnaround from Monday night’s game to a Sunday morning Seattle time game in Cincinnati, this probably isn’t the optimum week to make changes.

Asked what was inconsistent, Cable point to physical mistakes more than mental errors.

“We are really on the same page now,” Cable said. “It just gets down to winning your one-on-one battle now.”

Also an issue last week were the snaps of center Drew Nowak.

Nowak is in his first year as a center at any level of football. But Cable said he wouldn’t lean on that as a reason.

“It could be inexperience,” he said. “But you can’t make excuses. We’ve just got to get it right.”

What Cable also said was better than some may have thought was the pass blocking of tight end Jimmy Graham.

“There were some good things,” Cable said. “And then some things, like everything, have to keep getting better. I thought he was much better in terms of pass protection.”

As for the criticism the position is getting, Cable said it comes with the territory.

“When you are winning and you run it good and you protect, everybody thinks you are great even though as a coach you look and say ‘man we’ve got a lot of work to do,”’ Cable said. “So that hasn’t changed. That’s just part of it. It’s okay to have something for people to say ‘okay, that must be the problem.’  There are a lot of other things when you really know football. But right now that’s the one that’s glaring out there so we have to work on it.”