8 guys standing up at the line of scrimmage? Why not wedge block

[RonnieT24]

You’ll have to help me out on what you mean by wedge block, I’m assuming that means run up the gut and form a wedge around the ball carrier?

you have 2 issues here. first is our interior olinmen are barely 300lbs and more finesse players, no Larry Allen in this bunch. Second is dlines play more side to side than straight up field anymore. Heavy amounts of angle calls, stunts, And blitzes. Dlines in the nfl are too athletic and just firing off the ball can get you in trouble as they most often play half man techniques.

I guess one thing you could do is go super small splits, but then you get the dline all bottled up inside too. I guess I don’t have a great answer to the question, but I’m not sure the solution is as simple as it sounds at this level either.

Yes wedge blocking assumes you tighten up your splits.. I don't care how athletic defenders are.. if I am able to get my shoulder into the gut of a guy who is reasonably close to my size and drive they absolutely are going backward. I'm sure we all seen the new craze of offensive linemen coming up behind a ballcarrier who has been stood up and pushing him another 5-10 yards.. You know why that works? Because the defense is standing up.. Give me 5 300 pound guys in tight splits, shift into wildcat and snap it to Zeke or Pollard and go at the idiots standing up at the line of scrimmage and let's see what happens. I bet it's good for 5-6 yards a pop and I bet they stop doing that crap immediately..

 

[Ken]

I'm supposed to blame the QB when the line can't block? How does that work? And what am I blaming him for?

I can't even believe their responses...it is like they are bots...lol

 

[Ken]

Moore and Dak need to get a handle on what to do against that look and quickly. Dak needs to quit playing cat and mouse with the defense and start playing pimp vs ho and just *****slap the defense every time they do it. Get up under center.. tell the line to knock them into next week and have Zeke hit it into the line at 100 mph.. See how that works.

That would be 13 1/2 mph for Zeke...but I get your point!

 

[RonnieT24]

That would be 13 1/2 mph for Zeke...but I get your point!

Hey man Zeke hit over 20 mph on his 47 yard run against the Panthers.. then he got hurt.. probably hasn't gotten over 15-16 mph since.. Whatever is bothering that knee though is real. I have seen him routinely go down when somebody gets hold of that leg when pre-injury he would have stepped out of that tackle or just dragged the defender for 3-4 yards.. The current version of him is clearly affected by it.. I feel bad for him. I admire his spirit but his body is betraying him right now.

 

[Ken]

Hey man Zeke hit over 20 mph on his 47 yard run against the Panthers.. then he got hurt.. probably hasn't gotten over 15-16 mph since.. Whatever is bothering that knee though is real. I have seen him routinely go down when somebody gets hold of that leg when pre-injury he would have stepped out of that tackle or just dragged the defender for 3-4 yards.. The current version of him is clearly affected by it.. I feel bad for him. I admire his spirit but his body is betraying him right now.

I wish he would have sat down about a month ago and got ready for the playoffs. He has hurt us..

 

[RonnieT24]

I wish he would have sat down about a month ago and got ready for the playoffs. He has hurt us..

I wish he would have sat as well but he's not the only one involved in that decision. If the trainers and coaching staff thought he needed to sit they would have sat him down.. but I think the bottom line is they saw enough of Pollard and Clement in pass protection to determine that a gimpy Zeke is still a better bet to keep the 40 million dollar a year investment from being broken in half. So in that sense he has actually helped... It has been a trade off for sure..

 

[tunahelper]

I'm supposed to blame the QB when the line can't block? How does that work? And what am I blaming him for?

Bet the OL doesn't have sleep number 360 smart beds. Let's blame the beds.

 

[noshame]

Well, many of todays 330lb OLs cant fire off at anybody. Some are still in their stance a half count late.
You have to be able to attack the areas that the defenders vacated.
FOR SOME REASON WE CANNOT!

 

[Hadenough]

You have to have a run game in order to be successful in this league.

I agree! But when the run game is struggling you have to be able to throw to the RBs out of the backfield where they dont have to stop and can keep stride. It seems that every time Dak is throwing to Zeke its when he is standing there or he has to slow down and turn to catch a ball behind him. And than when Dak finally does make a good throw Zeke drops the ball. These top teir QBs hit the RB in stride like its a routine throw. Even those WR flanker screens the ball is either high or behind.

 

[lqmac1]

I agree! But when the run game is struggling you have to be able to throw to the RBs out of the backfield where they dont have to stop and can keep stride. It seems that every time Dak is throwing to Zeke its when he is standing there or he has to slow down and turn to catch a ball behind him. And than when Dak finally does make a good throw Zeke drops the ball. These top teir QBs hit the RB in stride like its a routine throw. Even those WR flanker screens the ball is either high or behind.

Yeah but it’s not necessarily his fault that the play isn’t a wheel route for the back. It’s usually designed with go routes or slants for receivers to clear up some space, but due to the lack of running game, linebackers can sit back and play the underneath stuff without worrying about which gaps to hit.

 

[Creeper]

And run right at them. I have never understood why teams are able to get away with this nonsense. When I was coaching and teams would try it against my offense to try and confuse my blocking schemes and my QB I had automatics built in to fire off into the upstanding idiots and knock their ***** off the ball. I cannot for the life of me figure out why in the NFL, when you have 330 pound guys poised to pounce and explode into people you don't just do it in these situations. If someone has a good explanation for why more teams don't go ham on defenses doing that crap I'd like to hear it.

Did the Cards use this in situations that were not 3rd and long? I like the idea and was wondering why they didn't run at that setup as well, but to be honest I am not sure what downs and distances they saw this defense. The thing is, if you can catch the middle guys backing off into coverage and run a draw play, you might get a big gain, even a first down on 3rd and 10. But you also get 1 on 1 coverage on both outside guys. If the OL can block it up there is a chance for a big play.

 

[RonnieT24]

Did the Cards use this in situations that were not 3rd and long? I like the idea and was wondering why they didn't run at that setup as well, but to be honest I am not sure what downs and distances they saw this defense. The thing is, if you can catch the middle guys backing off into coverage and run a draw play, you might get a big gain, even a first down on 3rd and 10. But you also get 1 on 1 coverage on both outside guys. If the OL can block it up there is a chance for a big play.

I just rewatched the first quarter and the Cards only did it twice in that quarter.. Ironically both times it was 3rd and 4.. and both times we passed.. and both times we got a penalty.. Go figure.. Maybe our guys CAN'T just line up and play football against that look.. Geez..

 

[Creeper]

I just rewatched the first quarter and the Cards only did it twice in that quarter.. Ironically both times it was 3rd and 4.. and both times we passed.. and both times we got a penalty.. Go figure.. Maybe our guys CAN'T just line up and play football against that look.. Geez..

On 3rd and 4 I would have run against that. Offensive linemen against LBs? I'll take that matchup.

 

[RonnieT24]

On 3rd and 4 I would have run against that. Offensive linemen against LBs? I'll take that matchup.

Yeah again.. if the LB is walked up to the line he is giving up his advantage in athleticism and making it that much easier for the lineman to fire off into him and knock him on his arse. I'm running at that every single time they do it. Especially in plus territory and I'm mostly likely going for it on 4th if I don't make the first down anyway.. They did it again to start the 2nd quarter on 3rd and 11 at our own 33. We kept Schultz and Pollard in to block and ran a three man route against a 7 man drop.. Good luck with that. The play ended up with Baker sacking Dak after throwing Pollard around like a little kid. They only rushed three linemen and Baker. The second level guys all bailed at the snap.. A draw play to Pollard likely gets at least 10 yards before anybody touches him. It's maddening..

 

[Chuck 54]

And run right at them. I have never understood why teams are able to get away with this nonsense. When I was coaching and teams would try it against my offense to try and confuse my blocking schemes and my QB I had automatics built in to fire off into the upstanding idiots and knock their ***** off the ball. I cannot for the life of me figure out why in the NFL, when you have 330 pound guys poised to pounce and explode into people you don't just do it in these situations. If someone has a good explanation for why more teams don't go ham on defenses doing that crap I'd like to hear it.

I agree with your point, but I like to point out that we don’t have a single lineman over 220, if that. Our OT’s are exactly 320 (if they were able to keep their weight up during the season). Others are around 315 or less with Connor Williams barely hitting the 300 mark. We do not have a powerful OL, yet they block for a power back.