Free and the coaches film

[theogt]

I wonder why everyone who has taken the time to watch the all 22 focusing exclusively on Free have drawn one conclusion while those who haven't and let others "thiink" for them have another.

Anyone watching the All 22 (actually it's not the all 22, but the line POVs that are useful) should understand why he was getting benched toward the end of the season. He was one of the worst linemen in the entire league in 2012.

 

[jobberone]

Even if that play was to the left, it was a horrible block. That defender could easily chase a back down from behind. It was a pitiful, pitiful play that is wholly inexcusable and should not be swept under the rug in order to support some pollyanna point of view.

Ok, so maybe he took one play off out of 6 games or sand got in his eye or he swallowed a gnat. Give it a rest theogt. There's plenty of games coming up for you to complain about his play and I'm sure some of it will be quite justified. I concede I didn't report that play because I thought it wasn't that big a deal. Now you have degreed it is so we can all go and move forward from here.

Dig into the coaches film yourself and let's hear from you. And I don't have a point of view or agenda. If you haven't looked at any film and all you can do is spout off about a snip from one play then there's nothing constructive I can say to you specifically.

 

[theogt]

Ok, so maybe he took one play off out of 6 games or sand got in his eye or he swallowed a gnat. Give it a rest theogt. There's plenty of games coming up for you to complain about his play and I'm sure some of it will be quite justified. I concede I didn't report that play because I thought it wasn't that big a deal. Now you have degreed it is so we all go move forward from here.

Dig into the coaches film yourself and let's hear from you. And I don't have a point of view or agenda. If you haven't looked at any film and all you can do is spout off about a snip from one play then there's nothing constructive I can say to you specifically.

I have watched the coach's film. I don't have the time to write up reports, though.

 

[visionary]

I'm sure Free, or any other player one could mention, probably isn't really as bad as we all think. I kind of get the impression that we all tend to fixate on the really bad plays by any given player. We remember really horrendous plays and in our perception they were horrible the entire game. I think any time you go back and really study a player in any given game, you're going to see that they played pretty well for most of the game, with a few really bad plays that stick out. The problem is, at a pro level, even a few bad plays can sink the team that game, so if a player consistently has several bad plays a game it is not acceptable. That is where Free fits, imho. He consistently has a few bad plays per game, which is unacceptable. It's like if Tony threw 5 picks every game. The rest of his plays might be fantastic, but if he consistently threw 5 picks per game it would sink the team.

Great post and right on point IMO
Will go largely ignored
Giving Free 'B' grades is laughable for the horrible job he did
Love all the homer comments by the Internet scouts, sounds like Free is a bargain at 7 million, why oh why did he ever agree to take a paycut?

 

[Alexander]

If you're only judging him for where he (i) blocks terribly and (ii) his terrible block actually affects the out come of the play (rather than just judging him on when the blocks terribly, regardless of outcome), then you're doing it wrong.

People used to do the same exact thing when watching footage of Roy Williams and stating that the reason he looked bad was because "we don't know the coverages".

Certain things do not lie. Lack of strength when one on one, especially.

I do not know how anyone with functional eyesight can watch that game he played against Tampa and believe he was anything but awful. Bennett completely dominated him several times and nearly took Romo's head off.

 

[hra8700]

That doesn't excuse a remarkably pitiful performance.

If you're only judging him for where he (i) blocks terribly and (ii) his terrible block actually affects the out come of the play (rather than just judging him on when the blocks terribly, regardless of outcome), then you're doing it wrong.

Completely agree. I really appreciate the thread and all the effort you're putting in, but romo's play has no bearing at all on free's blocking. If he whiffs and romo gets the ball out, that's just as bad as if he whiffs and romo gets sacked.

In terms of pass blocking, what needs to be looked at i think in basic terms is:

1. How often is there a mental mistake
2. How often does he whiff completely physically and allow a direct release
3. When he sustains a block, how often does his man compress the pocket very quickly
4. How long is he able to sustain blocks before the pocket is compressed.
5. How often is the defender able to escape the block to get access to the quarterback
6. How quickly do defenders escape the block.
7. How is his performance in relation to the quality of competition and the rest of the league.

coaches and scouts can look at all the nuances and determine what problems are fixable, etc etc, but that's sort of the basic things an amateur scout should look at, I think.

But how his performance affects the outcome of an individual play is fairly meaningless.

Anyway, its awesome that you're spending the time doing all this, you're going to build a tremendous skill set if you keep doing it (a la Greg Cosell)

 

[AMERICAS_FAN]

Free played well a few years ago when the line ran a man blocking scheme that required linemen to accelerate off the ball and plow their assigned man on defense.

Free has been lost since last season when Dallas started running a zone blocking scheme, where linemen need to form up to protect their zone.

This zone scheme requires good technique which Free seemingly does not have, and so he often gets cought offsides trying to get a head start.

Free also tries to catch a lot of blocks - meaning he stands upright and let's the bull rush come to him - rather than accelerating into the defender from the zone stance. Again that's bad technique, even in the zone scheme where you still need to attack whoever comes into your zone.

 

[jobberone]

I have watched the coach's film. I don't have the time to write up reports, though.

First of all I don't believe you've looked at the first six weeks for one second much less the entire 16 games. And no one is asking you to report anything although you seem to have plenty of time to comment on plays you haven't even seen other than a snippet someone else put up. Anyone reasonable that had actually seen that play wouldn't use it as their fulcrum to disparage five entire games.

You're entitled to your opinion but saying Free sucked the entire season is a worthless statement at this point. I'm on the fifth game and sixth week counting the bye. I've drawn no conclusions for the season since there are ten games left to report. This is just your usual schtick of grousing and pretending if someone else has an opinion different from yours then they're obviously wrong because you say so. Your avatar is revealing of your attitude I've seen displayed all these years.

If you want to really disagree then give me the time frame for each play you want to debate and we'll both look at it. In the meantime you should consider not drawing conclusions for the entire year when we're only discussing the first five games; especially using several plays out of 300 or so.

You can criticize me, you can kill me.....just don't bore me. You can have the last word.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I'm sure Free, or any other player one could mention, probably isn't really as bad as we all think. I kind of get the impression that we all tend to fixate on the really bad plays by any given player. We remember really horrendous plays and in our perception they were horrible the entire game. I think any time you go back and really study a player in any given game, you're going to see that they played pretty well for most of the game, with a few really bad plays that stick out. The problem is, at a pro level, even a few bad plays can sink the team that game, so if a player consistently has several bad plays a game it is not acceptable. That is where Free fits, imho. He consistently has a few bad plays per game, which is unacceptable. It's like if Tony threw 5 picks every game. The rest of his plays might be fantastic, but if he consistently threw 5 picks per game it would sink the team.

Exactly. I used to love me some Free. He quickly became my favorite offensive lineman. After his first game, I called the Dallas Cowboys' Show with Larry Brown and I forget the other guys' name. But I was raving about Free. No one really mentioned it on that show before me, but they show hosts both agreed. After that, he really had some nice games and seasons. It's a shame he wasn't as great as he was before his first season or two. I blame this partly on playing him at RT, then LT, then RT again. Funny though, because he gave up less bad plays at LT then at RT. And he never really ever played as good as his first season at RT. I'm tempted to agree with other people when they want to keep Free on the cheap, mostly because you can't fault him for switching positions so many times. Going from RT to LT and then back to RT can't be an easy transition for anyone.

 

[jnday]

People used to do the same exact thing when watching footage of Roy Williams and stating that the reason he looked bad was because "we don't know the coverages".

Certain things do not lie. Lack of strength when one on one, especially.

I do not know how anyone with functional eyesight can watch that game he played against Tampa and believe he was anything but awful. Bennett completely dominated him several times and nearly took Romo's head off.

Fans are bias towards their team. You know how this works. If he has one great block out of 100 snaps, the 99 snaps will be overlooked and the one great block will be glorified.

 

[Sarge]

People used to do the same exact thing when watching footage of Roy Williams and stating that the reason he looked bad was because "we don't know the coverages".

Certain things do not lie. Lack of strength when one on one, especially.

I do not know how anyone with functional eyesight can watch that game he played against Tampa and believe he was anything but awful. Bennett completely dominated him several times and nearly took Romo's head off.

:signmast:

 

[Macnalty]

First of all I don't believe you've looked at the first six weeks for one second much less the entire 16 games. And no one is asking you to report anything although you seem to have plenty of time to comment on plays you haven't even seen other than a snippet someone else put up. Anyone reasonable that had actually seen that play wouldn't use it as their fulcrum to disparage five entire games.

You're entitled to your opinion but saying Free sucked the entire season is a worthless statement at this point. I'm on the fifth game and sixth week counting the bye. I've drawn no conclusions for the season since there are ten games left to report. This is just your usual schtick of grousing and pretending if someone else has an opinion different from yours then they're obviously wrong because you say so. Your avatar is revealing of your attitude I've seen displayed all these years.

If you want to really disagree then give me the time frame for each play you want to debate and we'll both look at it. In the meantime you should consider not drawing conclusions for the entire year when we're only discussing the first five games; especially using several plays out of 300 or so.

You can criticize me, you can kill me.....just don't bore me. You can have the last word.

Appreciate what you are doing, Theo was doing the same for the first couple of months last year when the package was released and I could see his frustration building. Theo is one of the good guys and refuses to put a pretty package on his comments.

 

[burmafrd]

you can toss all the lipstick you want on that pick jobberone but it will not matter


for whatever reason Free has spit the bit

 

[theogt]

First of all I don't believe you've looked at the first six weeks for one second much less the entire 16 games. And no one is asking you to report anything although you seem to have plenty of time to comment on plays you haven't even seen other than a snippet someone else put up. Anyone reasonable that had actually seen that play wouldn't use it as their fulcrum to disparage five entire games.

You're entitled to your opinion but saying Free sucked the entire season is a worthless statement at this point. I'm on the fifth game and sixth week counting the bye. I've drawn no conclusions for the season since there are ten games left to report. This is just your usual schtick of grousing and pretending if someone else has an opinion different from yours then they're obviously wrong because you say so. Your avatar is revealing of your attitude I've seen displayed all these years.

If you want to really disagree then give me the time frame for each play you want to debate and we'll both look at it. In the meantime you should consider not drawing conclusions for the entire year when we're only discussing the first five games; especially using several plays out of 300 or so.

You can criticize me, you can kill me.....just don't bore me. You can have the last word.

I usually watch every game at least 3 times. Once live and twice through on the all 22. Of course, when I watch the all 22, I usually watch every play 2-3 times, so you could say that I watch every play 5+ times. Sometimes I don't get around to it, because I typically work 60+ hours a week too.

 

[jobberone]

you can toss all the lipstick you want on that pick jobberone but it will not matter


for whatever reason Free has spit the bit

I suspect you may be right as I went into this thinking he was finished. But so far he's played fairly well; even the TB game where he had the most problems. People need to remember I'm only posting on what I see for each game not the entire season. And he's just not been that bad yet, esp compared to some others. No one is talking about Smith and I've seen him have some whoppers but he's not the point of discussion. Same for the rest of the line.

Coaches and players are going to see the film, too (rather they did). And they're going to see what he's having problems with. At some point in my viewing (if my memory serves me correctly) then he'll be exposed more so than the TB game. At that point I'll report it but I'm not going to discuss what I haven't reviewed so far because I don't have an agenda and I've dismissed my own feelings about the guy until the end.

You can't dismiss all the good plays and other things a player does because he has a few bad plays out of the 60 plus snaps each game. However, I agree if one (or more) part(s) of his game is bad enough frequently enough then you may have a problem you can't cover up, assist and eventually live with. At the end of the review that may be where we are. I'm just going to take one game at a time then review the entire season when I'm done. Is that reasonable enough for you and others?

All OL give up sacks (well they say Rayfield Wright never did but that was before sacks were recorded).

 

[jobberone]

I usually watch every game at least 3 times. Once live and twice through on the all 22. Of course, when I watch the all 22, I usually watch every play 2-3 times, so you could say that I watch every play 5+ times. Sometimes I don't get around to it, because I typically work 60+ hours a week too.

Ok, if you say so then I'll accept that. However, to this point Free has not had that many bad plays out of all his snaps thru the first six weeks. I stand by that.

 

[Eskimo]

Ok, if you say so then I'll accept that. However, to this point Free has not had that many bad plays out of all his snaps thru the first six weeks. I stand by that.

I know coaches often grade a player's performance based not on the success of the play but based on how well he carried out his assignment. The one thing I wonder about when you say Free isn't as bad as you originally believed because he carries out his assignment most of the time is what is considered an average performance by an OT. Is a 10% failure rate good or bad? How about a 5% versus 7% failure rate?

I guess what I am getting at is how do you judge how well he is doing - what is the metric you are using to grade him? I know PFF has a metric they are using and they put it up as + and - plays and then add them all up for each game based on pass blocking, run blocking and penalties. So while their methodology is perhaps flawed in a few ways it is at least a consistent methodology on which to compare different players at the same position.

So could you say put up numbers split run versus pass where you think Free did a good job, neutral job and bad job in his blocking assignments? Unfortunately, we still won't know as fans what is typical for an average OL in the league it will at least be easy to see how his blocking was each game. I wouldn't bother re-doing any of the games you have already done but it'd be interesting to at least compare say his worst game versus his best game to see what numbers might look like in each instance. I realize this is a lot of work so feel free to blow my request off but I'd find it quite informative to see such a breakdown.

Thanks for all the effort you're putting in Jobber. It is quite interesting for myself as the layman fan.

 

[jobberone]

I know coaches often grade a player's performance based not on the success of the play but based on how well he carried out his assignment. The one thing I wonder about when you say Free isn't as bad as you originally believed because he carries out his assignment most of the time is what is considered an average performance by an OT. Is a 10% failure rate good or bad? How about a 5% versus 7% failure rate?

I guess what I am getting at is how do you judge how well he is doing - what is the metric you are using to grade him? I know PFF has a metric they are using and they put it up as + and - plays and then add them all up for each game based on pass blocking, run blocking and penalties. So while their methodology is perhaps flawed in a few ways it is at least a consistent methodology on which to compare different players at the same position.

So could you say put up numbers split run versus pass where you think Free did a good job, neutral job and bad job in his blocking assignments? Unfortunately, we still won't know as fans what is typical for an average OL in the league it will at least be easy to see how his blocking was each game. I wouldn't bother re-doing any of the games you have already done but it'd be interesting to at least compare say his worst game versus his best game to see what numbers might look like in each instance. I realize this is a lot of work so feel free to blow my request off but I'd find it quite informative to see such a breakdown.

Thanks for all the effort you're putting in Jobber. It is quite interesting for myself as the layman fan.

Eskimo, I'm not an offensive lineman expert and I never played the OL (consistently that is) nor coached it as a position coach. So I don't have the expertise to break down the subtleties of that position. I can tell you just the things I've reported so far. And I don't know how to compare him with other tackles in the league either. I will say there are definitely tackles that are more dominant than he is or likely ever will be.

I'm just eyeballing it. I don't have the time nor the system to grade him comparatively with all current NFL tackles nor would I expect it to mean much if I were to attempt that. I'm comfortable saying what I've said so far though. But it's a great idea. Maybe someone else can do it.

 

[StanleySpadowski]

you can toss all the lipstick you want on that pick jobberone but it will not matter


for whatever reason Free has spit the bit

Why don't you share your insights on grading with us. You did such an amazing job grading Warmack in the draft zone, we could all learn from your immense knowledge.












On second thought, maybe that didn't happen.

bwak bwak bagwack.....

 

[burmafrd]

Why don't you share your insights on grading with us. You did such an amazing job grading Warmack in the draft zone, we could all learn from your immense knowledge.












On second thought, maybe that didn't happen.

bwak bwak bagwack.....

I am still waiting for a post from you that is worth reading