Credit where credit is due - Bernadeu

[xwalker]

You could be right. I don't see a lot of difference though. I don't think Fred is helping either one more than the other and I think both guards are helping him on some plays as well depending on the defensive lineup. Fred gets mauled at times and I seldom if ever hear about him on this site. He's just as responsible for the collapse of the pocket as the others are. None of them are going to the Pro Bowl this year although I have hopes for them all esp Fred.

I've posted about it in another thread, but they have altered the OL scheme to help hide the weak link, Doug Free. They have the RG keep a closer than normal spacing to Free. This allows Free to over-set to the outside giving him an advantage over the pass rusher. The Center has to look right to compensate. The Center might end up helping to the left based on the defensive alignment, but his initial step is usually right. It's the opposite on the left side. Leary has to maintain a closer than normal spacing to the Center and play a technique similar to an OT with a wide space between him and the LT.

Bernadeau is playing the best the last couple of games that he's played since he has been with the Cowboys. He is finally healthy. Even if Leary and Bernadeau are playing at a similar level, Bernadeau is in his 6th season and had 36 career starts coming into 2013; whereas, Leary is in his 2nd season and had zero snaps coming into 2013.

Physically, they both have good size and weight room strength; however, Bernadeau is a high-cut (long legs, short torso) type player as compared to Leary. This causes Bernadeau to have a more difficult time playing with leverage and on-field power due to a higher center of gravity.

I think they are both good enough to win with. Leary should continue to improve with experience and Bernadeau just needs to stay healthy. The biggest problem is that the Cowboys have zero depth at the position.

I would really like to see someone challenge Doug Free in the off-season. Parnell is physically superior but has minimal experience. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury prevented him from challenging Free in training camp. Despite what people think they see and some garbage PFF ratings, all 4 other players would benefit from improved play at RT because they are currently compensating to hide Free's weaknesses.

 

[visionary]

I've posted about it in another thread, but they have altered the OL scheme to help hide the weak link, Doug Free. They have the RG keep a closer than normal spacing to Free. This allows Free to over-set to the outside giving him an advantage over the pass rusher. The Center has to look right to compensate. The Center might end up helping to the left based on the defensive alignment, but his initial step is usually right. It's the opposite on the left side. Leary has to maintain a closer than normal spacing to the Center and play a technique similar to an OT with a wide space between him and the LT.

Bernadeau is playing the best the last couple of games that he's played since he has been with the Cowboys. He is finally healthy. Even if Leary and Bernadeau are playing at a similar level, Bernadeau is in his 6th season and had 36 career starts coming into 2013; whereas, Leary is in his 2nd season and had zero snaps coming into 2013.

Physically, they both have good size and weight room strength; however, Bernadeau is a high-cut (long legs, short torso) type player as compared to Leary. This causes Bernadeau to have a more difficult time playing with leverage and on-field power due to a higher center of gravity.

I think they are both good enough to win with. Leary should continue to improve with experience and Bernadeau just needs to stay healthy. The biggest problem is that the Cowboys have zero depth at the position.

I would really like to see someone challenge Doug Free in the off-season. Parnell is physically superior but has minimal experience. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury prevented him from challenging Free in training camp. Despite what people think they see and some garbage PFF ratings, all 4 other players would benefit from improved play at RT because they are currently compensating to hide Free's weaknesses.

great info XW

 

[jobberone]

I've posted about it in another thread, but they have altered the OL scheme to help hide the weak link, Doug Free. They have the RG keep a closer than normal spacing to Free. This allows Free to over-set to the outside giving him an advantage over the pass rusher. The Center has to look right to compensate. The Center might end up helping to the left based on the defensive alignment, but his initial step is usually right. It's the opposite on the left side. Leary has to maintain a closer than normal spacing to the Center and play a technique similar to an OT with a wide space between him and the LT.

Bernadeau is playing the best the last couple of games that he's played since he has been with the Cowboys. He is finally healthy. Even if Leary and Bernadeau are playing at a similar level, Bernadeau is in his 6th season and had 36 career starts coming into 2013; whereas, Leary is in his 2nd season and had zero snaps coming into 2013.

Physically, they both have good size and weight room strength; however, Bernadeau is a high-cut (long legs, short torso) type player as compared to Leary. This causes Bernadeau to have a more difficult time playing with leverage and on-field power due to a higher center of gravity.

I think they are both good enough to win with. Leary should continue to improve with experience and Bernadeau just needs to stay healthy. The biggest problem is that the Cowboys have zero depth at the position.

I would really like to see someone challenge Doug Free in the off-season. Parnell is physically superior but has minimal experience. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury prevented him from challenging Free in training camp. Despite what people think they see and some garbage PFF ratings, all 4 other players would benefit from improved play at RT because they are currently compensating to hide Free's weaknesses.

I just haven't seen that. I looked at the NY film and they aren't doing anything special anywhere on the line. They are doing a better job picking up the stunts esp Mack though. Last year Free had to look inside too often to help Mack.

BTW, we've run the ball off RT and RE 32 times for 103 yds and LT and LE 44 times for 186 yds with Murray. That's 4.2 YPC on the left and 3.3 on the right. I'm not going to put the totals up because Murray runs better than the rest as the featured back. He has 142 arts for 697 yds for a 4.9 YPC. I'm not sure what to make of those stats because RG was more problematic early on. I'd say the general trend has to favor the left though but you'd have to look at the film as well. I don't know how many times they used a FB (LBer) or F back nor strong/jumbo packages that way either which of course would change the equation.

Generally Free doesn't have much issue with rushes to the outside except when he doesn't finish the play behind the QB so I see no reason to help him there anyway. But he does get beat to the inside and with bull rushes. Mack has enough on his plate to worry about than to help Free and that is the opposite from last year. But Mack seems to be working better with the C and the T. I'll have to look at the interior against a big 2 gap 3-4 NT and see how they work with that.

I have no problem with Parnell supplanting Free. In fact if Weems develops enough and Parnell beats Free out then you'd have Free to use at G or as a G/T swing man coming off the bench. Then you'd have a much better tackle situation as well as more interior depth.

 

[xwalker]

I just haven't seen that. I looked at the NY film and they aren't doing anything special anywhere on the line. They are doing a better job picking up the stunts esp Mack though. Last year Free had to look inside too often to help Mack.

BTW, we've run the ball off RT and RE 32 times for 103 yds and LT and LE 44 times for 186 yds with Murray. That's 4.2 YPC on the left and 3.3 on the right. I'm not going to put the totals up because Murray runs better than the rest as the featured back. He has 142 arts for 697 yds for a 4.9 YPC. I'm not sure what to make of those stats because RG was more problematic early on. I'd say the general trend has to favor the left though but you'd have to look at the film as well. I don't know how many times they used a FB (LBer) or F back nor strong/jumbo packages that way either which of course would change the equation.

Generally Free doesn't have much issue with rushes to the outside except when he doesn't finish the play behind the QB so I see no reason to help him there anyway. But he does get beat to the inside and with bull rushes. Mack has enough on his plate to worry about than to help Free and that is the opposite from last year. But Mack seems to be working better with the C and the T. I'll have to look at the interior against a big 2 gap 3-4 NT and see how they work with that.

I have no problem with Parnell supplanting Free. In fact if Weems develops enough and Parnell beats Free out then you'd have Free to use at G or as a G/T swing man coming off the bench. Then you'd have a much better tackle situation as well as more interior depth.

You can see in the following that Tyron Smith is on an island while the other blocking is shifted to the right.

In the Gif, you can see that Bernadeau was right there with Free to take the block when Free failed. Compare that to the gaps that you see between Leary and Smith on the other side.

 

[jobberone]

You can't use gifs to look at that. You need to see the film. There is nothing in the last NY game to suggest anything other than ordinary alignments. OL are going to move at the snap to react to the defense esp with stunts, slants and blitzes according to the line calls and they aren't always going to get it right. If you're talking about another lineman looking out for another one then that's a different story than a player lining up differently. They'd not like to do that as its a tell for the defense. You have to watch not just a few plays or even a few games. You'd have to look at the entire season. There are possibly going to be games when they do try to help out a certain matchup esp when that player has trouble with another one historically. Or they may shift resources during the game to account for different situations. You can look at the pressures for the tackles and the interior but you have to look at the film over time. And you can't use the LT for almost any team as an example of being left on an island. It's not as different as it used to be as the defenses move their pass rushers around. So you can't count on the LT always being on the best pass rusher isolated or not.

 

[xwalker]

You can't use gifs to look at that. You need to see the film. There is nothing in the last NY game to suggest anything other than ordinary alignments. OL are going to move at the snap to react to the defense esp with stunts, slants and blitzes according to the line calls and they aren't always going to get it right. If you're talking about another lineman looking out for another one then that's a different story than a player lining up differently. They'd not like to do that as its a tell for the defense. You have to watch not just a few plays or even a few games. You'd have to look at the entire season. There are possibly going to be games when they do try to help out a certain matchup esp when that player has trouble with another one historically. Or they may shift resources during the game to account for different situations. You can look at the pressures for the tackles and the interior but you have to look at the film over time. And you can't use the LT for almost any team as an example of being left on an island. It's not as different as it used to be as the defenses move their pass rushers around. So you can't count on the LT always being on the best pass rusher isolated or not.

I spend a minimum of 5 hours per week reviewing the Cowboys game footage. I review both the Broadcast and the Coaches Film. My top focus is always the OLine. The images and Gif are just something that was convenient for a message board.

I first noticed it while Waters was playing RG. They've continued to do it for the remainder of the season. It's subtle and not something that a casual fan would recognize. They don't "line up differently". It's what they do after the snap that is significant. Many times Waters appeared more concerned at the snap with protecting Free than he was with his primary block. He would often hit Free's man first and then jump back to block the inside defender. Bernadeau doesn't quite have the ability to help Free as much as Waters did, but he does over-commit to Free's side intentionally on most pass protection snaps.

You would have to have studied the OLine last season to see the difference this season.

They also design the running game around Free being a sub-par run blocker. There were some runs against the Raiders that appeared to be off RT, but on review they have everybody sliding right and all Free has to do is let the outside defender take himself out of the play by letting him jump to the outside while Murray runs behind power blocks by Bernadeau and Frederick. On the TD by Murray that was called back, they tried to have Free make a more critical block and he was flagged for holding.

Most runs to the right end up being between the Center and RG or wide outside. They try to avoid running directly behind Free; although, on the zone stretch runs to the right, the RB oftens runs where Free originally was lined up but is now being blocked by Bernadeau or Frederick with Free having slid further to the outside. On runs to the left, they often go directly behind Tyron Smith either just inside or just outside of his block. The announcers have even commented on how difficult some of the blocks are that Smith makes. They often have him make an outside reach block that is very difficult to maintain and one which they rarely if ever ask Free to make.

Another thing that they will do (you can see it multiple times against the Raiders) is to line Murray up behind Bernadeau/Free as a blocker in pass protection. In these instances Bernadeau does not have to over-set in Free's direction because Murray clogs up that area protecting Free to the inside and allowing Free to over-set to the outside.

It's really brilliant coaching. I wonder how much of it comes from the new assistant OL coach Frank Pollack. With Callahan being the play-caller, it appears that Pollack is more of the primary OL coach than the assistant.

They reported last season that Callahan had to plead his case before being allowed to have Parnell rotate with Free. I have the feeling that if it was up to the OL coaches that Parnell would get a chance to challenge Free but that the front office is interfering. It could be that they told Free that if he agreed to the pay cut that he would be guaranteed the starting job. Why would Jerry know that Parnell had tested out with the strongest punch ever recorded by Woicik? Probably because someone was campaigning to get Parnell in the lineup over Free. This stuff does happen. Last year, the Jets OL coach made a direct statement that he was "sick" that the GM was forcing him to rotate the GM's draft pick and the veteran perferred by the OL coach at LG.

 

[honyock]

I spend a minimum of 5 hours per week reviewing the Cowboys game footage. I review both the Broadcast and the Coaches Film. My top focus is always the OLine. The images and Gif are just something that was convenient for a message board.

I first noticed it while Waters was playing RG. They've continued to do it for the remainder of the season. It's subtle and not something that a casual fan would recognize. They don't "line up differently". It's what they do after the snap that is significant. Many times Waters appeared more concerned at the snap with protecting Free than he was with his primary block. He would often hit Free's man first and then jump back to block the inside defender. Bernadeau doesn't quite have the ability to help Free as much as Waters did, but he does over-commit to Free's side intentionally on most pass protection snaps.

You would have to have studied the OLine last season to see the difference this season.

They also design the running game around Free being a sub-par run blocker. There were some runs against the Raiders that appeared to be off RT, but on review they have everybody sliding right and all Free has to do is let the outside defender take himself out of the play by letting him jump to the outside while Murray runs behind power blocks by Bernadeau and Frederick. On the TD by Murray that was called back, they tried to have Free make a more critical block and he was flagged for holding.

Most runs to the right end up being between the Center and RG or wide outside. They try to avoid running directly behind Free; although, on the zone stretch runs to the right, the RB oftens runs where Free originally was lined up but is now being blocked by Bernadeau or Frederick with Free having slid further to the outside. On runs to the left, they often go directly behind Tyron Smith either just inside or just outside of his block. The announcers have even commented on how difficult some of the blocks are that Smith makes. They often have him make an outside reach block that is very difficult to maintain and one which they rarely if ever ask Free to make.

Another thing that they will do (you can see it multiple times against the Raiders) is to line Murray up behind Bernadeau/Free as a blocker in pass protection. In these instances Bernadeau does not have to over-set in Free's direction because Murray clogs up that area protecting Free to the inside and allowing Free to over-set to the outside.

It's really brilliant coaching. I wonder how much of it comes from the new assistant OL coach Frank Pollack. With Callahan being the play-caller, it appears that Pollack is more of the primary OL coach than the assistant.

They reported last season that Callahan had to plead his case before being allowed to have Parnell rotate with Free. I have the feeling that if it was up to the OL coaches that Parnell would get a chance to challenge Free but that the front office is interfering. It could be that they told Free that if he agreed to the pay cut that he would be guaranteed the starting job. Why would Jerry know that Parnell had tested out with the strongest punch ever recorded by Woicik? Probably because someone was campaigning to get Parnell in the lineup over Free. This stuff does happen. Last year, the Jets OL coach made a direct statement that he was "sick" that the GM was forcing him to rotate the GM's draft pick and the veteran perferred by the OL coach at LG.

Great stuff xwalker.

 

[jobberone]

I spend a minimum of 5 hours per week reviewing the Cowboys game footage. I review both the Broadcast and the Coaches Film. My top focus is always the OLine. The images and Gif are just something that was convenient for a message board.

I first noticed it while Waters was playing RG. They've continued to do it for the remainder of the season. It's subtle and not something that a casual fan would recognize. They don't "line up differently". It's what they do after the snap that is significant. Many times Waters appeared more concerned at the snap with protecting Free than he was with his primary block. He would often hit Free's man first and then jump back to block the inside defender. Bernadeau doesn't quite have the ability to help Free as much as Waters did, but he does over-commit to Free's side intentionally on most pass protection snaps.

You would have to have studied the OLine last season to see the difference this season.

They also design the running game around Free being a sub-par run blocker. There were some runs against the Raiders that appeared to be off RT, but on review they have everybody sliding right and all Free has to do is let the outside defender take himself out of the play by letting him jump to the outside while Murray runs behind power blocks by Bernadeau and Frederick. On the TD by Murray that was called back, they tried to have Free make a more critical block and he was flagged for holding.

Most runs to the right end up being between the Center and RG or wide outside. They try to avoid running directly behind Free; although, on the zone stretch runs to the right, the RB oftens runs where Free originally was lined up but is now being blocked by Bernadeau or Frederick with Free having slid further to the outside. On runs to the left, they often go directly behind Tyron Smith either just inside or just outside of his block. The announcers have even commented on how difficult some of the blocks are that Smith makes. They often have him make an outside reach block that is very difficult to maintain and one which they rarely if ever ask Free to make.

Another thing that they will do (you can see it multiple times against the Raiders) is to line Murray up behind Bernadeau/Free as a blocker in pass protection. In these instances Bernadeau does not have to over-set in Free's direction because Murray clogs up that area protecting Free to the inside and allowing Free to over-set to the outside.

It's really brilliant coaching. I wonder how much of it comes from the new assistant OL coach Frank Pollack. With Callahan being the play-caller, it appears that Pollack is more of the primary OL coach than the assistant.

They reported last season that Callahan had to plead his case before being allowed to have Parnell rotate with Free. I have the feeling that if it was up to the OL coaches that Parnell would get a chance to challenge Free but that the front office is interfering. It could be that they told Free that if he agreed to the pay cut that he would be guaranteed the starting job. Why would Jerry know that Parnell had tested out with the strongest punch ever recorded by Woicik? Probably because someone was campaigning to get Parnell in the lineup over Free. This stuff does happen. Last year, the Jets OL coach made a direct statement that he was "sick" that the GM was forcing him to rotate the GM's draft pick and the veteran perferred by the OL coach at LG.

I went back to the last NY game as for some reason I don't have the coaches film for the Oakland game. At no point did Dallas afford Free any extraordinary help. Maybe you're seeing them pass off to each other or switch to pick up blitz etc but at no time did Mack cheat towards Free yada. NY always throws a lot of stunts and blitzes at us esp since in the past we've had difficulty picking it up. In general they picked it up well. They got confused once when they stacked the rush over Free and the RB who tried to get over and pick up the extra guy.

I wrote down 17 plays of interest but the mistakes were spread out pretty evenly. Smith contributed to the first sack of the game although they probably gave it to Leary (13:35 first). They lined up Hanna as the F back just outside Free with Witten flanked just outside Hanna at 9:46. Hanna briefly helped Free. I mention it only as it was an interesting formation. Leary gave up another sack at 3:38 2nd and 12:35 3rd each time to 99 who gave him some trouble. Either Murray or Free had a sack at 0:42 2nd I put mostly on Murray who failed to come across and pick up the second guy. They did stack on Free a few times but I didn't watch the LT much. Free gave up a hurry at 11:30 and 9:55 3rd. At 9:15 3rd Smith blocked player to Leary who gave up hit that was roughing. Fred did an over the head at 13:03 4th first time I remember that...inc pass. Smith and Murray gave up a hurry at 9:16 4th but Romo held too long also.

The OL picked up the blitz (6 a few times) pretty well esp in the 2nd half as well as passing off guys on a good number of stunts.

On the jpegs above you are seeing the RT on one guy with no one for the RG so he helps Free. You see two guys on the DT and Smith on his one guy. That's just normal OL play. Free didn't need the help but Mack was fine coming over as long as his lane stays intact. And the gif is old and completely irrelevant to the discussion. Free had a pretty good game against NY. Leary had his hands full.

 

[XxTDxX]

Yes, Bernadeau is finally healthy. He was never healthy last season and had some type of injury coming out of training camp this season. Also, it helps that he has a quality Center next to him now.

I agree that Leary is the most aggressive of the 5. He makes some mistakes, but he has really good physical ability.

Speaking of mean, I was really disappointed that Parnell couldn't challenge Free in the preseason due to an injury. He definitely plays with an aggressive, play-through-the-whistle attitude and is much stronger than Doug Free. I really believe that if Parnell could start about 8 games, that he would become a much better player than Free. Despite a noticeable limp, Parnell played the preseason game against the Bengals and physically dominated their defenders on many plays. That included their 2nd round DE and Pro Bowl DT Geno Atkins.

Back to Guard, they must add another one in the off-season. They have zero depth. The primary interior backup is Costa and he is really just a Center.

The wildcard is the fact that OT Weems has practiced at Guard to some extent. He is a big, powerful and athletic player. His play in the preseason reminded my of Leary from the 2012 preseason. You could see that he has NFL type physical ability (something that David Arkin never showed) but was raw from a technique/awareness perspective. Practice squad player Ray Dominguez is big (6-4, 328) but has borderline athleticism. He would probably be wise to come to camp next season closer to 320 than 330.

It appears that the late-1st and 2nd round will be loaded at Guard in the 2014 draft.

These are some of the reasons I don't think we draft a OT or OG in any of the first 3 rounds in the upcoming draft.. I think the organization still has a lot of hope for Parnell and there is optimism about Weems as well.. With Bernadeau coming along nicely and Brian Waters possibly staying for another year I don't see why they would need to address it early on which is a good thing because It means unlike last year I don't think we have more than 1 position group (DL) that MUST be addressed in the first 2 or 3 rounds which allows us to take BPA hopefully early on in the draft..

I think CB, S, WR, RB, LB, and obviously DL are all in play early in the draft for the Cowboys this upcoming year

 

[xwalker]

Free didn't need the help but Mack was fine coming over as long as his lane stays intact. And the gif is old and completely irrelevant to the discussion. Free had a pretty good game against NY. Leary had his hands full.

The Gif is from the last game. It occurred with 9:43 remaining in the 3rd quarter of the game against the Raiders.

It's not a great example because it's a 3 man rush; however, you see that Bernadeau was very close to Free AND Murray was helping Free. You rarely, if ever see Tyron Smith getting help like that.

Even on a 4 man rush, Bernadeau often takes a similar drop with the close split with Free. The biggest difference is that Leary would have had his own guy to block if there were 4 rushers. The spacing would still be similar with the close spacing all the way from Leary over to Free. Smith playing on the island causes Leary to have to play his left side as if he is an OT instead of an OG. They try to minimize Free responsibility to protect the inside gap which allows him to over-set to the outside. As evidenced in the Gif, even that is not enough on some occasions to overcome his physical limitations.

 

[xwalker]

This is good example of the run blocking.

Leary is dominating his guy, Fred/Bern eliminate another DL, Smith quickly gets over to make a difficult cut block and Free's man, #58 shucks Free (see Free flailing around on the ground) and almost gets back around to make the play.

 

[xwalker]

These are some of the reasons I don't think we draft a OT or OG in any of the first 3 rounds in the upcoming draft.. I think the organization still has a lot of hope for Parnell and there is optimism about Weems as well.. With Bernadeau coming along nicely and Brian Waters possibly staying for another year I don't see why they would need to address it early on which is a good thing because It means unlike last year I don't think we have more than 1 position group (DL) that MUST be addressed in the first 2 or 3 rounds which allows us to take BPA hopefully early on in the draft..

I think CB, S, WR, RB, LB, and obviously DL are all in play early in the draft for the Cowboys this upcoming year

Agree on OT, but they're screwed if either Guard gets injured. We don't want to see Costa starting.

There are a few guys in the draft that I think could play both Guard and OT.

Guards that could play RT:
David Yankey - Played LT and Guard in college.
Cyril Richardson - Played LT and Guard in college.

Tackles that could play Guard or RT:
Antonio Richardson - LT in college but looks like a RT or tall Guard in the NFL.
La'el Collins - LT and Guard in college. Look like a RT or Guard in the NFL.

LT that could play anywhere:
Cameron Erving - LT in college. Could probably play LT, RT or Guard in the NFL.

 

[bark]

This is good example of the run blocking.

Leary is dominating his guy, Fred/Bern eliminate another DL, Smith quickly gets over to make a difficult cut block and Free's man, #58 shucks Free (see Free flailing around on the ground) and almost gets back around to make the play.

Very nice x walker... I think you are correct in your analysis of the line adjustments.

 

[XxTDxX]

Agree on OT, but they're screwed if either Guard gets injured. We don't want to see Costa starting.

There are a few guys in the draft that I think could play both Guard and OT.

Guards that could play RT:
David Yankey - Played LT and Guard in college.
Cyril Richardson - Played LT and Guard in college.

Tackles that could play Guard or RT:
Antonio Richardson - LT in college but looks like a RT or tall Guard in the NFL.
La'el Collins - LT and Guard in college. Look like a RT or Guard in the NFL.

LT that could play anywhere:
Cameron Erving - LT in college. Could probably play LT, RT or Guard in the NFL.

Richardson is my favorite of the bunch.. I think they think that Weems can move around a little bit too in case of injury.. And don't count out Waters coming back either in case Mack B or Leary gets hurt.. Honestly if we cut Miles I am worried about where we stand at WR.. TWill does not consistently win 1-1 and allows teams to take Dez AND Witten away which is ridiculous.. He will improve of course but I would like to get another weapon in one of the first 3 rounds.

 

[jobberone]

The Gif is from the last game. It occurred with 9:43 remaining in the 3rd quarter of the game against the Raiders.

It's not a great example because it's a 3 man rush; however, you see that Bernadeau was very close to Free AND Murray was helping Free. You rarely, if ever see Tyron Smith getting help like that.

Even on a 4 man rush, Bernadeau often takes a similar drop with the close split with Free. The biggest difference is that Leary would have had his own guy to block if there were 4 rushers. The spacing would still be similar with the close spacing all the way from Leary over to Free. Smith playing on the island causes Leary to have to play his left side as if he is an OT instead of an OG. They try to minimize Free responsibility to protect the inside gap which allows him to over-set to the outside. As evidenced in the Gif, even that is not enough on some occasions to overcome his physical limitations.

I don't care WHICH game it's from. You throw up one gif where he looks like a bum to help make your case. Even if he's not been tripped 99.9% of his plays don't look anything like this. If you're saying this is even a poor example of them helping Free out then you mistaken.

And I can see clearly now you are taking in play adjustments to blocking the defense as characterizing the team helping Free out. Well, it happens from time to time as the situation dictates. Sometimes players need help in certain match ups for various reasons and they often come and go during the game. But the team did nothing special in the NY game and I'll go look at the condensed film of the Raiders game again IF I get a chance. You were making a case they were doing this regularly. In the gif above there is no one for Mack to block so he's looking to help as necessary where he can which happens to be in this case the RT. There are two OL on the NT already so they are helping each other. This is standard practice for the OL to maintain pocket integrity.

We'll just have to disagree. I looked at an entire game and they are not setting up or in any other way scheming in an extraordinary way to help Free. You are going to have formations during a game where someone is lined up (generally a TE) near the tackle and they will often chip and/or help out. So will a back esp when the defense stunts and/or stacks the tackle with an end and a blitzing LB.

Additionally you're making this case for Free needing help and not blocking well. The avg run by Murray over LT is 2.7 yds and over RT is 2.3 yds. We're running the ball up the middle better. Runs around the LT is better than the RT. Smith has given up 28 pressures and Free 33. So there is not a great deal of difference between the two. I realize Free is under the microscope and Smith can do no wrong but that's perception and not reality.

 

[jobberone]

This is good example of the run blocking.

Leary is dominating his guy, Fred/Bern eliminate another DL, Smith quickly gets over to make a difficult cut block and Free's man, #58 shucks Free (see Free flailing around on the ground) and almost gets back around to make the play.

You're really going to cherry pick one play? There are plays every game where one of our OL gets dominated or fails to make or maintain a block; or commits a penalty. If you want to make the case Smith is more consistent game to game as well as play to play and is overall somewhat better than Free I'm right there with you. But we have NO dominating offensive lineman....yet. You can have the last word.