No OL Run Blocking

[GORICO]

Definitely need to draft a good Tackle and maybe even sign one to upgrade Steele. He's been beyond bad..

he needs another off season because it takes 2 years to fully recover from ACL....watch tape on just him as he sets and moves and you can tell that knee is not

at full strength....but i agree wholeheartedly we must upgrade our O line...i dont know if Bass can become good replacement for Martin but he is tough...and Tyler

Smith it appears has full tear of that tendon in foot but it can be taped and some have said and he thinks he can play starting wild card?...i dont know but he is

our best O lineman....man if we had the O line of 2014-2016...but we dont and we have to play with what we got....we should have won that game much easier

against Lions if Fat Mike had just adequate clock managment....3 straight runs would have ran clock down and burned all their timeouts...we kick FG and win

20-13...and our DC using soft shell prevent was nearly our doom...all the chunk plays and finally a TD...it was correct call to nulify their 2 pt...2 fouls by Lions

but campbell should have chosen to tie and go into OT....but we should have won easier....sorry i know i went on and on

 

[GORICO]

You realize he got at least one off Tyron, right?

Tyron is playing with tape and clips holding himself up.....let him be the 3rd OT coming off bench if he can heal next year we must invest a lot in O line

by draft and free agency or trade whatever.....Dak is playing pretty good with what he has....leads league in TD's and 3rd in passer rating....not a slouch some

make him out to be

 

[EPL0c0]

I have seen this 2023 OL all year and it is embarrassing to call it a Cowboys' OL. They cannot run block. It is a season long problem. Pollard is not getting any holes. Is our center even 25% as good as TFred? Is Zach on his last legs? Is Steele anything better than a turnstyle? We need road graders and guys who push the defenders backwards. This team is now struggling to score points in three straight games. The skilled position players are fine, but the OL has been piss poor!

I just can't wrap my head around the idea that TE-Smith-Smith can't open up lanes to run through

This OL can pass protect fairly well, so how are they SO WEAK in run blocking? I mean, ARI put up 221yds against PHI

HOW is ARI a better run blocking O than DAL?

 

[America's Cowboy]

I told y'all so.

Been telling y'all so for years now.

I can see clearly what the problem is and how to fix it.

Jerry needs to get serious and do whatever it takes to find the correct Oline coach who will hard-core train and mold whichever Oline players are willing to get turned into way better blockers. The ones who refuse because it's too hard or demanding, get rid of them. This Oline is not pushed.

 

[GORICO]

They are pass blocking better than run blocking but I am worried Steele is going to get Dak subdivided

mr 1942---- i have watched tape on just Steele....and when he sets and moves you can tell his ACL leg is not yet at full strength cause it takes 2 years to fully

recover from ACL unless your name is Jerry Rice....another off season...by next year....he will be his old self

 

[AlienBoy]

Too many good players on our oline for this line to be this bad at running the ball. Ol coach coached under Landry. Maybe the game has passed him by. Seattle’s ol seems better this year, just one season after Solari left to join the Boys.

 

[GMO415]

MM offense, it's all about the QB and passing game. It's the only thing that is going to work this season.

Yes Sur, because it's too late for this leopard to change it's spots.

 

[Chasing6]

61 total rushing yards? Can't win many playoff games that way.

We are going to have to get creative. I liked the run CD had. May need to use him like the Niners use Deebo 3 to 5 times a game. Dak is going to have to run the ball as well.

 

[StuckMojo]

Should not have hired this OL coach

 

[noshame]

That's what happens when you have a grandfather coaching, your OL with a scheme from the past millennium

 

[John813]

So, was reading more on Solari and his time in Seattle.

He goes back with Brian Schott. when both were in Seattle and Brian was the O.C. and Solari the line coach.
Schott gets fired a year prior to Solari firing. Their new OC wanted to go to a primarily zone blocking scheme where Solari was implementing a more downhill run scheme.
I've seen multiple articles that Solari is very detailed oriented when it comes to technique.
Some of the criticism of Philbin by McGovern IIRC was the lack of detail

Now, even with Philbin the Cowboys weren't only a ZBS(outside/inside) blocking scheme. I don't think there's any team that is purely man or zone, but they do have tendencies to run more than the others.

In 2014, at the peak of the run game, they ran Outside zone blocking plays 44% of the run downs.

From 2020-22, the Cowboys have run Outside zone run plays at 31%, 23% and 25%. Inside Zone at 23%, 25%, 19%. Man blocking plays @ 17%, 17% and 18%.
This year I haven't seen any breakdowns, but it feels like the outside zone have been cut down more.

The question of why the run game is struggling is something that would need a deeper dive at the end of the year. End of year quotes by offensive linemen could leak some info. Firing could make it obvious.
2 of the 5 linemen are 33+ years old. 1 is coming off a torn ACL who rehabbed the injury right up to TC.
Or is it the run game going away from the zone based blocking and more man on man, or going heavily for interior runs(with no read for the RB to stay outside or cut back inside) when the offensive line thrived on Outside ZBS?
Outside ZBS is about getting the defense to move laterally and specializes in an one cut back that could see that opening with the defense going E-W and cut in N-S or just keep the play to the sidelines and attack the corner.

Is it Pollard struggling to read a different blocking scheme and either not seeing that hole open up or is he not given that option to find the opening and instead attack a certain gap regardless of how it looks on an initial read?


We know the linemen rejected Paul alexander's hand/foot placement which is why he was canned halfway through the year. Players in TC had encouraging quotes about Solari IIRC.