The offensive line mentality is to do what will help the team.
The team of David Diehl, Shaun O'Hara, Kareem McKenzie, Rich Seubert and Chris Snee started all 16 regular season games for the New York Giants on the offensive line and the team won the Super Bowl.
All five players are back.
"We've been together now for a few years,"
said Seubert before practice on Monday. "We know each other and we know what we're thinking. It does make a difference and every day we get better."
The offensive line continuity is also one of the keys to the start of a prospering offense.
"You're offensive line is always important and having those five guys back, they know the offense very well and they know protections,"
quarterback Eli Manning said. "When we switch things up or we're checking play, they're always on the same page and they communicate well with each other. That's important. You don't have the mental mistakes that can hurt a play. Those guys work well together and they have a great connection together."
The offense starts will the guys up front and they know their jobs are very important.
"I think it's everybody, but there are five of us,"
Seubert said. "Five out of 11 are offensive lineman. We have to do our job, they have to do their jobs and when we all do it right together - it's special to watch. That's why we're hoping we start clicking right away."
Training camp is hard for all of the players, practices coming twice a day and being away from your family, but the offensive linemen have to particularly focus with the excessive heat and managing their diets.
"Everything about training camp is difficult,"
McKenzie said. "You're away from your family, you're in a unfamiliar setting and you're here to work."
The linemen can lose up to 10 pounds or more through one work out because of the heat and the physical demand.
"I'm out there drinking water and Gatorade constantly during practice, that's key,"
says Seubert, who will routinely drop six or seven pounds during a two-hour workout.
The experience of playing together is something that is vital as the five players have to play as one during games.
"It takes a while for the guys to learn how to play with each other,"
McKenzie said. "We all know how we've played with each other for the past three of four years. We know each other's tendencies. We know how each other sees a different defense or a different a scheme and we're familiar with each other and how we play."
The offensive linemen also do a lot of things together off of the field, which helps them bond and grow as a unit.
"We play games, watch television and we just hang out,"
Seubert said. "When we're up in Albany, we just hang out; we'll go out and get a steak or something."
Rightly or wrongly, they also get more blame than praise when it comes down to it.
"Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the way it develops,"
McKenzie said. "We just have to do our job better."
Snee was out on Monday, replaced by Kevin Boothe in what Giants coach Tom Coughlin says is injured shoulder, which is not serious.
Still, the starters feel like even if they have to come out, there are plenty of players who can fill right in.
"We've got guys that we can plug in and I don't think we're going to miss a beat,"
Seubert said. "We're a tight group and we have fun together."
Seubert isn't satisfied with last year's success and would rather not even really thing about the Super Bowl victory.
"All I care about is this year,"
Seubert said. "This is a new team, it's a new season, so what happened last year, happened last year and obviously everyone starting off this year wants to win it again."
While most of the practices have been without tackling or contact from the skill positions, the offensive and defensive linemen are really in the trenches every play.
"We hit every practice,"
Seubert said. "Running backs don't get tackled, but we're still doing our jobs. We're blocking, pulling and hitting each other."
"Some times in a given series of plays, we know that we're tired and we just pick each other up and push through,"
McKenzie said.
The lineman are looking to Thursday's preseason game against Detroit, when they can stop hitting each other, and start hitting another team, but as McKenzie said through all the season's "blood, sweat and tears, they are with each other."
