Unless there is reason to believe that the offensive line wasn't giving adequate time or passing lanes to a QB that was already playing at a high level, then an improved offensive line isn't likely to make an impact on QB play. There are times, especially with quarterbacks that don't move around in the pocket well or whom don't throw outside the hashes well, when an offensive line giving up 2 seconds or less will have a direct impact on QB play. However, contrary to traditional thinking, many stats often attributed to lineman in that regard have a far better correlation with the QB himself. Sacks are the most common statistic in that regard. Even when QBs change teams, their sack rate tends to hold rather steady. Traditionally we place the blame on the offensive lineman for a sack, when in actuality the QB controls most of the factors that would lead to a sack.
If a QB showed high aptitude when given time, then the improvement of the offensive line would allow him to showcase that more consistently. However, most of our QB issues are independent of the offensive line. Our QBs are slow in the pocket. Their drops are too slow, their reads are too slow, and they tend to hold onto the ball too long (talking specifically Cody and Zac......Martinez has his own issues). I know a lot of people have changed opinion on Zac since the injury revelation, but I'm not one of them. My notes from the Florida Atlantic game are full of things that Zac really didn't do well. His stats look good because of the level of competition. The passing windows were huge and he often had 4 receivers open. He missed the proper window more times than not, often throwing players into zones and out of bounds. It is a classic example showcasing that completion percentage does not equal passing accuracy. His completion percentage may have been high, but he was not putting the ball where it needed to be put, when it needed to be put there.
That said, I'm of the opinion that despite the injuries, Zac improved as a QB as the season went on. He still has a lot of work to do, however.
None of that means the offensive line doesn't need to improve, because they do in a huge way. Where we should see improvement there and indirectly help the QB is in areas like not committing fouls and in the running game. So, so often last year we were a block away in the running game. Often poor technique just killed us. For example, I can think of at least two personal foul calls last year that were a result of poor cut blocking. One was against OU (iirc) where an interior lineman was attempting to block a LB, whiffed, and his moment rolled him into a blocked defender. The other I can't recall the game at the moment, but a missed cut block caused an inadvertent leg whip on a defender. We use a lot of cut blocks in this offense, particular on backside zone blocks and our execution of those blocks really needs to improve. That's just one example, of many. The plays were often there, though, but the execution did not always follow.
More experience, a deeper, healthier unit, and dare I say a potentially more talented offensive line should indeed help the offense as a whole. I expect a big turnaround in this offense this year, not the least of which being what should be an improved offensive line. There's really no reason that this offense can't get back to the 425-450 yards per game level.
. This eases some of my concern at WR, although I'd still love another gamebreaker-type.
