Back to Basics: Blocking Analysis - Week 1
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Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
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Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
Wow. That was some excellent analysis.
Were you ever a lineman, or is that just your "thing" when you watch football?
Helpful Hint though: If mentioned how some snazzy new uniforms would actually help these guys block better the thread would undoubtedly take off and not linger behind with you and me talking about actual blocking like old fuddy duddies.
Zombo
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Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
Nice analysis. I'm surprised about Greco, but then again I was so focused on the suckitude on the right side of the line..
-
Probably won't add a thing to the conversation, but my lilttle DVR and I put the work in over the past 48 hours so here goes...
Run Blocking
We had exactly one lineman who moved the man across from him off of the line of scrimmage with any consistancy.... Alex Mack. Alex thumps and drives and in the occasional case when he loses contact with his assigned target, he finds another. Everyone else "bumps", turns and screens off their assignment... which can be effective, but is not the hallmark of an intimidating, blue-collar, run-first offense many here envisioned when we drafted TR. I was shocked that Schwartz plays this way.... road grader my ass...
As for speed and agility to pull... again only one stood out.... This time it was Thomas. Mack was not too far behind, mostly due to tenacity. Greco and Schwartz showed some ability to run, but Joe showed agility others lacked. Joe T. is a physical specimen...
Pass Blocking
Only one lineman graded out as high as A-... no surprise it was Joe. His balanced hand and footwork are a thing of beauty in action.
Only one graded out as low as F-... no surprise it was Cousins. The dude cannot stand up to a bull rush... because he stands up too tall. Another poster commented on the sacks Wheezy could have avoided had he only stepped up into the pocket... due to Cousins there were no such opportunities that I saw.
On one sweep to the right with Schwartz and Cousins pulling, Schwartz nicely kicked out the CB, and the TE and WR sealed off the line pursuit well leaving no one on the line for Cous to block. So what did he do? He stopped... I shit you not... on a play when any HS lineman would turn upfield and looked to the inside to seal off pursuit.. our Cous stopped...
When our HC says he is "Confident Cous will improve", what he means is "he cannot get any worse".
Mack was a solid B... maybe B+. Very active feet and good knee flex kept him in control most of the time. He had one whiff on a poor choice of who to help and was bulled too close to Wheezy's lap once.
Surprisingly to me Greco was no better than a C-. Multiple bull rushes got the better of him, but he also looked to help JT too often vs Mack who in turn could have helped Cousins.
Which leaves us with Schwartz.... D+... He has the fatal flaw of not being able to handle the speed rush. Wake may be as fast as there is now, and once he got on Schwartz's hip, it was all over. Chipping a speed rusher on his side is mandatory. Squared up, he did very well... but cannot handle the speed.
Speaking of chipping... Barnidge, our best blocking TE, sucked at it... mostly because despite being in position to chip Wake twice he opted to just release... better angle to watch the sack I guess.
In another thread I ripped TR's lack of awareness in picking up blitzes... Ogbo was no better. Both ignored holes blitzers came thru free in favor of moving closer to engaged linemen (for a better view?). To end the opening series TR also picked the inside hole rather than reacting to the delayed blitzer's choice of going around an engaged Thomas.
Line Calls
When I watch other games, whether a pass or a run is called, I am used to the center on accomplished offenses gesturing and turning to bark calls essentially every single play. Often in concert with his QB... confirming what each is seeing. And I am used to his fellow linemen joining in much of the time... pointing, nodding...
Maybe half the time Mack did some pointing.
In the 2nd half Schwartz was flipping his left hand around on his hip. I think he was calling for (or off) chips on Wake... not to much benefit from what I saw.
Conditioning
Cousins and Greco showed some signs of fatigue. The other linemen looked good throughout.
==================================================================
Bottom Line
We have no chance with Chud's and Norv's scheme (or any other for that matter), if we do not master the basics... and we have a long way to go.
Nice analysis. I'm surprised about Greco, but then again I was so focused on the suckitude on the right side of the line..
Nice analysis. I'm surprised about Greco, but then again I was so focused on the suckitude on the right side of the line..
Same, the right side was such a glaring hole that I kind of ignored the left in venting my fury.
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Pretty much confirmed what I thought I saw on sunday, and last year throughout lol. Nice analysis.
I mentioned in another thread that I think it may be a good idea to switch Mack to RG. If were gonna have a hole lets put it beside Thomas. Move Greco to center (I believe he's the backup) and put Gilkey or Cousins at LG. Thoughts? It would almost certainly help the run game.
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F, C-, D...
That's not going to make Weeden OR Trich look very good. Those guys definitely let this offense down. As anybody who ever played football knows, offense all begins with the o-line. Now they got Suggs and Dumervil coming at them this weekend... need MAJOR improvement, especially by Schwartz.
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Pretty much confirmed what I thought I saw on sunday, and last year throughout lol. Nice analysis.
I mentioned in another thread that I think it may be a good idea to switch Mack to RG. If were gonna have a hole lets put it beside Thomas. Move Greco to center (I believe he's the backup) and put Gilkey or Cousins at LG. Thoughts? It would almost certainly help the run game.
XxDaBuckeyexX said:
Pretty much confirmed what I thought I saw on sunday, and last year throughout lol. Nice analysis.
I mentioned in another thread that I think it may be a good idea to switch Mack to RG. If were gonna have a hole lets put it beside Thomas. Move Greco to center (I believe he's the backup) and put Gilkey or Cousins at LG. Thoughts? It would almost certainly help the run game.
Good thought, but Mack is way too good of a center to put him at G. Plus, the WORST place to get pressure for a QB is up the middle, and I wouldn't want to watch Greco struggle at C when we have one of the best lining up next to him. Just my thoughts...
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What I think would help tons is if we picked up an actual fullback. In another thread someone was comparing Hillis' monster season to Trent and there are two distinct differences. We had an all-pro LG then, and we had the best run blocking FB in the game at the time in Vickers. Now were lining up barely backup quality guards (that won't change when our Luavou and Pinkston return) and a practice squad backup running back at FB. We also had better blocking TE's that season. I believe Vickers is a FA, anyone have his number?
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