Offensive Line - Getting to the Bottom of it

[glimmerman]

When you have more people than you can block coming at you every play it makes it hard. Teams stack the line and fire off blitzes every play and they know Dak won’t run with ball anymore. When he was running with it on roll outs they would have to pull players off to compensate. He had a chance to pick up big yards last night but held up on the LOS and threw to a covered guy.. Run and slide. Teams know he won’t do it so it takes a whole dimension to his game away.,

 

[visionary]

Good analysis but it’s not complicated

We need a new center
We need a real OL coach
The rest will sort itself out

 

[visionary]

When you have more people than you can block coming at you every play it makes it hard. Teams stack the line and fire off blitzes every play and they know Dak won’t run with ball anymore. When he was running with it on roll outs they would have to pull players off to compensate. He had a chance to pick up big yards last night but held up on the LOS and threw to a covered guy.. Run and slide. Teams know he won’t do it so it takes a whole dimension to his game away.,

While this may be true there are several teams where the QB does not run but they make it work

the problem lies in the QBs ability to read defenses and throw effectively and the OL ability to block when the defense stacks the box

 

[glimmerman]

While this may be true there are several teams where the QB does not run but they make it work

the problem lies in the QBs ability to read defenses and throw effectively and the OL ability to block when the defense stacks the box

I agree. I saw 3 or 4 times that Dak could have ran and gotten 7-10 yards and slid down and no one would have touched him. His ankle or calf is still bothering him or he is afraid to run and I know the staff is telling him not to. Those 3 or 4 times last night would have been a no brainer for Dak pre injury.

 

[phildadon86]

I really want to see Collins at Guard and Steele at Tackle.

That’s the lineup with the most upside.

Yup. Nailed it.

 

[J-man]

To me it seems a lot of the issues are stemming from a lack of interior strength. Our guys can't seem to generate much, if any, push inside. Is this a strength and conditioning issue? Or are these guys just more pass blocking types who are light a foot, rather than the maulers we need them to be at times?
Either way this needs to be addressed asap. If moving Collins inside can add some power than I say roll with it and take your chances with Steele at RT.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

I agree. I saw 3 or 4 times that Dak could have ran and gotten 7-10 yards and slid down and no one would have touched him. His ankle or calf is still bothering him or he is afraid to run and I know the staff is telling him not to. Those 3 or 4 times last night would have been a no brainer for Dak pre injury.

I think he is playing injured right now. His mechanics seem off and he seems significantly less mobile than he was pre-calf injury. I also think it is also preventing us from running bootlegs and getting him outside the pocket to beat the pressure.

When you have more people than you can block coming at you every play it makes it hard. Teams stack the line and fire off blitzes every play and they know Dak won’t run with ball anymore. When he was running with it on roll outs they would have to pull players off to compensate. He had a chance to pick up big yards last night but held up on the LOS and threw to a covered guy.. Run and slide. Teams know he won’t do it so it takes a whole dimension to his game away.,

The last 5 weeks we have actually faced the lowest blitz % in the league. Teams are getting pressure with only 4. When the Saints did blitz last night however, we had no answer which is strange since historically Dak is top 3 in the league passing against the blitz.

 

[J-man]

I agree. I saw 3 or 4 times that Dak could have ran and gotten 7-10 yards and slid down and no one would have touched him. His ankle or calf is still bothering him or he is afraid to run and I know the staff is telling him not to. Those 3 or 4 times last night would have been a no brainer for Dak pre injury.

Agreed, Dak is either being told do not do it, or he is holding back. But his ability to run, regardless if he uses it or not, has always been a big part of his game and our offense, and it just isn't there this year.

 

[aikemirv]

Isn't Martin making the line calls?

 

[Doomsdayblitz]

I was hoping for more from our O-line this year, so we could draft a D-lineman in April. Now, I believe we need to be drafting O-line early & often. I really like Ikem Ekwonwu from NC St. Dude loves to plant people in the ground, & is strong enough to handle NFL linemen right now. We need more mean on our line.

 

[glimmerman]

Agreed, Dak is either being told do not do it, or he is holding back. But his ability to run, regardless if he uses it or not, has always been a big part of his game and our offense, and it just isn't there this year.

And if the other teams know this then we have a major disadvantage. We think they are stacking the line for the run but it’s actually also to bring pressure to Dak and they know they won’t have to worry about him slipping out the back door.

 

[glimmerman]

I think he is playing injured right now. His mechanics seem off and he seems significantly less mobile than he was pre-calf injury. I also think it is also preventing us from running bootlegs and getting him outside the pocket to beat the pressure.



The last 5 weeks we have actually faced the lowest blitz % in the league. Teams are getting pressure with only 4. When the Saints did blitz last night however, we had no answer which is strange since historically Dak is top 3 in the league passing against the blitz.

The win streak we had was because he was able to run around and he took off a few times so teams had to watch out for it. He was in a dog fight against the pats and he flushed out of the pocket and made a great pass and came down funny. He has not played the same since. Listening to him talk he said something didn’t feel right. I think it scared him. He ran one in for a TD against the falcons and I thought he was back to normal. It’s apparently not. Hoping this 10 day vacation does him and Elliot good..

 

[JoeKing]

When the O-line breaks down, the offense isn't effective. We usually lose those games.

 

[nate dizzle]

Or just reset to when OL was dominating.

With CW at LG and McGovern at FB.

All the OL movement for the sake of movement has been a disaster.

I have no stat to back it up because I can't find it, but it feels like the majority of our running plays with Zeke come out of shotgun. To me, with a power back like Zeke, this delay in the handoff and not being able to get at least a few steps to build momentum going into the line, is a major part of the problem with the production in the run game. Zeke's days of beating LB's to the edge are over, he doesn't have that kind of speed anymore, but he still has solid burst and can hit the hole hard and move piles backwards. The problem I see, is he is almost always waiting that extra half a second to get the ball out of shotgun, which in the NFL is all the time it takes for a hole to close. Maybe I'm wrong here and completely off base, and if someone has the data please post it and prove me right or wrong, but I think we could re-establish the running game by simply handing off more from under center, ideally with either McGovern or one of our TE's working as a FB.

 

[Creeper]

You are right. There is no fix during this season. It will have to wait until the offseason. Next year we may see Farniok compete with Biadasz for the starting Center role. They tried Farniok in the preseason and he showed some promise, but he needs a lot of work.

I think the Cowboys need to draft OL next year. I am not counting on Josh Ball hype. They need guys who are maulers in college and the size to play in the NFL. Biadasz has been a disappointment but so has Connor Williams. If Connor McGovern was really any good, he would have replaced Williams a long time ago.

I thought Lael Collins played a better game last night. He was facing Cam Jordan who is a really good player.

 

[DuncanIso]

Good analysis but it’s not complicated

We need a new center
We need a real OL coach
The rest will sort itself out

don’t agree about Biadasz. He’s only going to get better.

He was a Rimington trophy winner. We were lucky to draft him in the 4th.

 

[Jarv]

It was going bad with Connor Williams. At least now our left guard isn’t committing 5 penalties a game.

I get that the penalties sucked, but I think our line was better when he was starting. Not saying he is the reason they were better, just that they were. Maybe Steele at RT too?

Seems like our best games was...TS, CW, TB, ZM and Steele at RT.

 

[leicafan]

I appreciate the analysis but why did it used to work earlier this season and now doesn't?

I like to think it is because multiple injuries and suspend make the whole Oline can't work together for the last 5 or 6 games. Ever since Tyron got hurt and Collins came back, the line doesn't have time to gel. Hopfully, if the Oline can stay intact for next few games, they can turn around and back to normal.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

When the O-line breaks down, the offense isn't effective. We usually lose those games.

It's actually nice to be able to win on the defensive side of the ball now too. I understand being frustrated with the offense, but a football team is both sides of the ball.

don’t agree about Biadasz. He’s only going to get better.

He was a Rimington trophy winner. We were lucky to draft him in the 4th.

There was a reason he was there in the 4th. He also was not necessarily a steal there, he was graded out a 4th rounder by nearly every predraft analysis. He underwent a pretty serious hip surgery in 2019 and was still able to win the Rimington which is very impressive, but injuries like he dealt with do have lasting impacts. Here is a direct quote from his draft network profile: " While the awards stacked up during his final season, there is a widely speculated belief that he took a bit of a step back following hip surgery. His functional strength and balance were average and he didn’t look nearly as crisp as his pre-injury form". I have to say I do not disagree. I watched the kid in college since I am a Nebraska fan and watch quite a few Wisconsin games as well and the guy did seem less dominant post injury.

He is also somewhat undersized for an NFL offensive lineman and I think his athletic ceiling has been lowered quite a bit by his injury.

Do I still think he is a decent player? Yeah I do. Do I think our line has struggled enough this year to warrant a look at all the places where it could go wrong? Yeah I also believe that. Realistically if we had a shot at a good Center or Right Tackle in the late first round I would take the tackle, stick him on the right and move Collins to guard (unless the coaches know something we do not and Collins is not good inside). If the tackle isn't there I would also consider the Center. We need an infusion of top tier talent on the offensive line.

 

[BleedSilverandBlue]

The win streak we had was because he was able to run around and he took off a few times so teams had to watch out for it. He was in a dog fight against the pats and he flushed out of the pocket and made a great pass and came down funny. He has not played the same since. Listening to him talk he said something didn’t feel right. I think it scared him. He ran one in for a TD against the falcons and I thought he was back to normal. It’s apparently not. Hoping this 10 day vacation does him and Elliot good..

I believe the rest will help. Unfortunately the injuries to Dak and Zeke led into the most grueling part of our season. We weathered the storm and took a few losses but the season is still afloat. Everything is in front of us. Hopefully Dak can use the 10 days to rest/study how we can get this offense going again and Moore can get back to the drawing board with big Mike.