I came into this thinking that McFadden has had injury problems since coming into the league and that robbed him of his athleticism and thus his poor performances. I watched the Texans, Pats, 1st Chargers, Cleveland, 1st KC Chiefs, and Buffalo.
Rookie QB who struggled on third down and had a penchant for bad interceptions early in the year. Struggled with ball security under pressure trying to make throws downfield with guys draped over him. When given time could make reads and throws with accuracy but made quite a few quetionable throws across the middle. Inconsistent as you expect with a rookie but godawful under pressure. Early in the year he would absolutely kill them with bad picks which would put them behind and snowball as he pressed.
the OL was bad. Penn the LT was a steady in pass protection but couldn't generate push or seal the edge on an island with any consistency.
The best was a good player in rookie LG Gabe Jackson. He was the sole power player and could get push at the poa. Asking him to move farther than a wham pull to the opposite B gap is an adventure though.
Wisniewski was the center and he was pretty decent space by contrast but absolutely needs to get stronger. Watt, Hughes, Wilfork, Luiget and Poe all had their way with him. He can pick up LB but could not handle DT well.
RG was problematic. At first it was manned by 3rd round pick Bergstrom but he was weak and ineffective much like our David Arkin and was replaced by Howard. Howard had poor hands and poor power but was better telling the state of the position. When they ran right inside 90% of the time it was a wham play because they could not generate power . Jackson would have to make a moving block and they would have to cutoff the gaping backside hole. That didn't succeed too often.
RT was a nightmare. Barnes was the starter beating out second year player Menalik Watson. Barnes had marginal feet but was steady. Watson had good feet but looked very poor with his hands and had trouble setting down in his stance. He got a lot of playing time because Barnes was hurt a lot though. He constantly let guys get inside his hands, couldn't hold onto blocks and would hold, and just plain whiff constantly. It was a parade of missed cut off blocks. With poor playside action runners were constatntly caught from behind.
Wilson was the only TE that played. He made plays in the passing game but had suspect hands dropping several passes over a couple of games. He could get open deep on the seam and post and even with Al gone that is a premium in Oaktown. Sealing the edge he was awful. He and Reese the FB had issues reaching blocks on the perimeter and could not hold them particularly early in the year. More on that later.
Jones and Holmes the starting wideouts are good downfield threats. Holmes likes to have rashes of dropped passes though. Vincent Jackson was hurt and came in late in the year to contribute but seemed to be more about making a paycheck than winning football games.
The other RB were MJD who was signed to start in the offseason. He continued to get hurt and so DMC started with Murray behind. He got healthy and they rotated DMC and him for the meat of the season until the end of the year and the focus became next season and player development when Murray got the start and DMC rotated down the stretch. MJD wore down REAL quick and seems just about done for the NFL.
Coach started off as Dennis Allen. He liked to use a lot of 31, wildcat, and tackle eligible on 1st down and running plays. They never trusted their 2nd TE all year long. Outside of that they ran a whole gamut of formations but primarily 11 and empty personnel. Lots and lots of shotgun that went nowhere. The team was very poorly coached as evidenced by illegal formations, false starts, delay of games, blown assignments, and the like. Allen was yanked and replaced by the second game I watched by Sparano.
Sparano simplified the offense. The empty set and 31 went away for the most part. Reese was used as a moving h-back and improved steadily over the season. Edge runs started to spring occasionally. the passing game and evolution of Carr was prioritized for obvious reasons. The team did get better.
the running game itself featured the same plays we are used to here. Inside zones and counters, zone stretches, offtackle, sweep/pitches. They did not pull there guards outside like we like to do though. Under Allen they called the draw but Sparano moved away from that. Seems to be a league trend. They weren't good at it. The backside blocking was bad all year killing the stretches, offtackles and sweeps. The tackles/TE could not seal the edges either. Jackson and to a lesser extent Wisniewski could get some movement inside so they ran between the tackles a lot. Second level blocking was spotty so guys like Cushing had a field day. They also did a poor job on the nose so the zone cut backs were seldom there with the likes of Poe Wilfork and Lissemore lying in wait.
Compounding all this was heavy boxes. Weddle, Whitner, and Swearingen lived on the los and the Raiders couldn't make them pay either due to poor pass pro or a bevy of drops by receivers. Between this and poor perimeter blocking outside runs were often received by a S and OLB on the edge.
For McFadden is was tough sledding early. The Penn Jackson Wisniewsi Bergstron Watson line was clown car bad with missed blocks and guys going backwards of skates. Think bad Costa. Jackson was good for springing an inside run or two but that was about it. DMC and MJD both were hit early and often in the backfield. Outside runs were stacked at the line and pursuit caught up. when the play would seem to work for a big gain the yellow laundry came. By the middle of the season they had all but abandoned the outside attempts.
DMC is a willing runner between the tackles. His issue is that he tries to compensate for his upright running style by crouching and leaning to get low. This effects his stride and balance. He is not as steady on his feet even if he doesn't match the hyperbole of falling down at first contact. Once he is out of the hole he returns to his stride.
He does not try to fight through 2 or more tackles and will get down. He does not get stood up and pummeled ever. in the games I watched the ball came out twice. first was the ground causing a fumble thus no fumble the other saw him pop past the second level against the Browns and the FS got a helmet right on the ball. It was a good hit and the ball came loose. while that is not good. It was his only fumble all year long in 155 carries.
As the season progressed, Reese got better and Barnes got healthy taking Watson off the field. Howard also settled in and was a bit more consistent if not overpowering. This is when MJD was put out to pasture and Murray started to be featured. DMC was not benched but continued to get carries and passing snaps. In particular runs off left end started getting sealed and both Murray and McFadden took advantage.
Physically McFadden does not look cooked. I studied him back in the draft and he doesn't appear to have lost a step. He still has speed to beat pursuit to the edge when the poa is blocked up and he still has burst getting to the hole. He also does a good job planting his foot and cutting backside without losing speed even if there were people there too more often than not.
He is also a physical runner. While he won't try to fight through two defenders often, he seeks to lay a lick on individual defenders trying to fill the hole. He ran over a couple of guys and does not shy from contact. He either gets down or pounds downhill. He doesn't *****foot it as they say. Some of our ball carriers would try to dance and get stood up leading to fumbles. it will be interesting to see what the coaches here have him doing.
He is a complete back. He did give up on sack on pass protection that I saw though. He made the right read to slide over to stop a weakside blitz but didn't get square for the hit. The defender was able to maintain his rush which forced Carr to step up. That would have been that but Watson failed to block Kruger at all so Carr stepped up into his arms. For the most part though he was square and when he hits, he hits hard. Very physical player that stones DB and LB consistently and has a chance against DE. He is also very attentive to help in pass protection and is aware of who needs help. Some of the pass protection would look like a sieve but DMC would step up to the middle rush and Carr would be able to get the ball out. this happened time and again on their 6 man protections.
He was somewhat featured in the passing game early in the year under Allen. The 5 man protections that empty sets demand were a bad idea with a rookie QB but when they would trot them out they split DMC out wide and had him run routes. It was mostly hitches slants and fades. He gets separation fairly easily but Carr only threw him the ball once. It was a well placed ball over the shoulder on a fade that he clanged off his hands. that was disappointing but I would like to see more with better oline play not leaving the QB out to dry.
Sparano phased that out quickly and for the most part DMC played the conventional checkdown role. He has excellent hands on those passes even when throws are slightly behind. Sparano would also motion him out wide much like Payton and Reid like to do and that did have success either on bubble screens or quick slants which he executed well.
After watching the tape the guy that needs to worry about his role is Dunbar. DMC can do all the things that he could in the passing and outside game, is bigger, stronger and just a fast. He is a much superior blocker.
I am interested to see what he can do behind a competent Oline running the ball though. Leary is comparable to Jackson in skillset but while Jackson is their best Leary is #4. Hanna, Witten, Free and of course Smith are all significantly better blockers that can seal the edges consistently. Fred is one of the most powerful blockers on the nose in the NFL and DMC will see more cutback lanes. In general our guys get push while Oakland does not.
As it stands now, I am very comfortable with McFadden coming in on the third down role. i imagine he will have that locked down as Randle and co are either unreliable or green in pass protection while DMC is ready willing and capable.
As a runner I have significant hopes for him with better blocking but I cannot be sure until it is actually seen. Projections are what they are but I saw his poor running had more to do with poor blocking up front than anything DMC did or did not do.
