Sturm - Decoding Linehan - OL Let-Down

[Derinyar]

Not sure any of the linemen have been horrible consistently. They just seem to have been taking turns from play to play. When someone is making a mistake on more plays then not its hard to get any momentum to the offense. I still expect these guys will do better, because they've shown that they can and I presume that most of last year wasn't an entire fluke. Now I wouldn't be surprised if they don't get back to last year's level because that was bordering on special.

 

[AzorAhai]

Anybody who not what was going on knows Garett dumped Callahan because the GM stripped the HC of play calling duties.... Had little to do with play calling. Garrett had the opportunity to replace him an he did....with a JAG raiders OL coach.

Is Callahan calling plays in Washington nope. He is doing he same job he did in Dallas an turning a horrible OL into a pretty dam good one.

Step by step since you're having trouble here.

He was stripped of play calling.

He wanted to leave the offseason Linehan was hired.

They wouldn't let him out of his contract.

His contract was up, so then he left.

How exactly are they supposed to retain someone who didn't want to be retained?

 

[NEODOG]

Fred missing his reach is what blew the play up. The guards took out the second level. Fred couldn't stop the DT from squeezing the hole.

Design cut back.... Blown up by Free abysmal block
Coulda got away with all else.... But it ended there

 

[Hoofbite]

Look at that passing chart. What is that, 16 attempts of 5 yards or less?

 

[NextGenBoys]

http://beta.sportsdaydfw.com/dallas.../29/sturm-decoding-linehan-offensive-line-let

You are hands down the best football writer out there Bob. Great work sir.

 

[AzorAhai]

Look at that passing chart. What is that, 16 attempts of 5 yards or less?

Its a joke. Add in the tipping of what plays are coming in what formation and a high school defensive coordinator couldhave made those halftime adjustments.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Design cut back.... Blown up by Free abysmal block
Coulda got away with all else.... But it ended there

All of their zone plays have the option for a cutback. I'm not sure where you think he could have cutback to with the DT right in his face.

You can see Martin look to help Free hook the DE. Yeah Free would have optimally gotten more push and in mythical Parnell unicorn land where Jermy never made boneheaded mistakes HE would have have gotten said push. Nonetheless, Free's effort was good enough to create a crease had Fred slowed down the DT at all. Good play by Solial.

 

[Floatyworm]

Parnell would have made this play.

If Frederick makes his blocks.....supposed to be a cutoff reach block.....Then Randle isn't forced to bounce it outside. Randle would have gained 6 yards before even being touched if he cuts it up.. As bad as Free has been....Frederick sure hasn't been carrying his weight either. What is his excuse?....but to watch Doug Free get man handled by a guy 60lbs lighter than him is disgusting. He should be driving is *** 10 yards down field.

 

[AzorAhai]

If Frederick makes his blocks.....supposed to be a cutoff reach block.....Then Randle isn't forced to bounce it outside. Randle would have gained 6 yards before even being touched if he cuts it up.. As bad as Free has been....Frederick sure hasn't been carrying his weight either. What is his excuse?....but to watch Doug Free get man handled by a guy 60lbs lighter than him is disgusting. He should be driving is *** 10 yards down field.

The more I watch the play, the more it looks like it's designed to go inside of Free. If Fred seals that DT off, Martin has the LB sealed and There's a huge lane Randle can hit. If Fred makes that block I'm not sure Randle doesn't house that run. The blocking down field was pretty good.

If it was a designed cutback, Free was pushing the LB outside of where he thought the run would be and when Randle tried to bounce it, he was out of position. It's late and I've watched it too much. Maybe I'm way off base here.

 

[ConstantReboot]

Need more from the OL:

"And after sifting through a lot of the evidence, it seems that this Week 3 performance required the offensive line to be way better. If you add Jason Witten and Tyler Clutts to the offensive line as the run blocking unit, they are responsible for way too many penalties and blown blocks in the last few weeks. On top of that, Zack Martin might have played his worse game in Philadelphia and Travis Frederick might have played his worst game against the Falcons. Tyron Smith gave up a sack at the very worst time and Doug Free has been rather mediocre. "​

Well we don't need Tyler Clutts anymore because our runningbacks are not the type to run an I formation ground and pound type of attack.

The problem isn't the oline. The problem is with our runningbacks.

Its kinda ironic that Murray went to Philly and he's style doesn't fit their scheme. Well our runningbacks don't fit our scheme as well. If we sent anyone of our runningbacks to Philly right now they would probably thrive. Not here in Dallas. Our oline and our scheme just doesn't match the style of runningbacks we have.

 

[ConstantReboot]

If Frederick makes his blocks.....supposed to be a cutoff reach block.....Then Randle isn't forced to bounce it outside. Randle would have gained 6 yards before even being touched if he cuts it up.. As bad as Free has been....Frederick sure hasn't been carrying his weight either. What is his excuse?....but to watch Doug Free get man handled by a guy 60lbs lighter than him is disgusting. He should be driving is *** 10 yards down field.

Doug Free has been a major disappointment this year. He has played bad on all 3 games. I think the only reason why he played fairly well last year because he had competition with Parnell. Now his back to his lazy ways and doesn't seem to care.

Maybe were missing Callahan the most.

 

[TheFinisher]

Parnell would have made this play.

Martin needed to get a hand on that Nose before climbing to 2nd lvl. That's a tough reach block for Fred with no help

 

[xwalker]

The more I watch the play, the more it looks like it's designed to go inside of Free. If Fred seals that DT off, Martin has the LB sealed and There's a huge lane Randle can hit. If Fred makes that block I'm not sure Randle doesn't house that run. The blocking down field was pretty good.

If it was a designed cutback, Free was pushing the LB outside of where he thought the run would be and when Randle tried to bounce it, he was out of position. It's late and I've watched it too much. Maybe I'm way off base here.

Yes, just inside Free appeared to be the primary hole by design; however, runs are intended to also have other options. That reach block only works when the DT does not get a jump towards that side or if Martin helps initially. If Free drives his man, then Randle has the option of going outside or cutting back behind Fred.

By design they know that reach block will not always work depending on how the DT reacts just before/after the snap. Sometimes the DL will take a step to the side before the snap making that block impossible; however, the block by Free should always be a win for the OLineman.

 

[xwalker]

If Frederick makes his blocks.....supposed to be a cutoff reach block.....Then Randle isn't forced to bounce it outside. Randle would have gained 6 yards before even being touched if he cuts it up.. As bad as Free has been....Frederick sure hasn't been carrying his weight either. What is his excuse?....but to watch Doug Free get man handled by a guy 60lbs lighter than him is disgusting. He should be driving is *** 10 yards down field.

Yes, but they know that reach block will not always work. If the DT lines up just six inches off from where they expected then the reach block before impossible. If the DT jumps in the direction off the snaps the reach block becomes very difficult. The block by Free should be a win for the OLineman 100% of the time and it would have giving Randle the option to either go outside or cut back behind Fred.

While just inside Free appeared to the the primary, those zone runs don't really have a set hole to run through. It depends on the actions of the defense as to where the hole will end up.

I agree that Fred has been slight off this season; however, I'm not concerned about this particular block. All OL can lose on those reach blocks at times.

I remember last season when Parnell would drive a LB like Kerrigan of the Skins out of the camera shot on plays like this one but Free can do anything with this LB that much smaller than Kerrigan. Sad, very sad.

 

[xwalker]

You do see Fred get walked across the formation right? It's a tough block to make granted but that failure is what blew up the poa.

Yes, inside Free was the primary hole but those zone run plays don't just have 1 option. They know that reach block won't always work. If the DT lines up 6 inches over from where they expected or gets a jump in that direction off the snap, the reach becomes impossible.

If Free just controls the LB, then Randle has the option to get a few yards outside or cut back behind Fred.

Yes, Parnell might have made some mistakes, but I know you know that on a simple block the guy in front of you play that he would have driven that LB completely out of the camera shot.

 

[xwalker]

@xwalker will catch the pheromone trail on this post in 3..2..1..

 

[xwalker]

The problem is you're doing everything in reverse when you switch from left to right and it's far harder than people think. It's one of the things that Parcells discussed when he was here...taking a guy from LG to RG isn't as simple as people thinking because you're doing everything in the opposite fashion.




YR

If Leary is healthy and Martin gets injured I'm fairly certain that Collins would play RG.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

If Leary is healthy and Martin gets injured I'm fairly certain that Collins would play RG.

Yeah, because it beats having Benardeau at RG. I still wouldn't want to move him if I could help it. That's why Collins pretty much played LG exclusively in camp.

Collins is like any O-Linemen making a switch. He's learning new movement patterns and if you rush things you're likely going to make it only worse for him in the end and he'll never learn. Especially since he's trying to learn new movement patters at the speed of an NFL game which is very fast. Much easier to learn at half speed in practice.

You move him around before he's ready and now he'll be sending more messages (and new messages) to his neural pathways and it can very well create a logjam and mess up all of the work he's done working on his technique (which is what the press has been saying that Collins and the coaching staff feel he needs work on).

The good news is that he's young. Much more neuroplasticity for somebody like Collins than say...Doug Free. So picking up new movement patterns should occur much more quickly for Collins. I just wouldn't be in any hurry to make a change right now unless absolutely necessary. It's very similar to why young QB's that go thru different O-Coordinators each year tend to struggle. Different playbooks call for different footwork and they are being given too much differing information. Brandon Weeden going from a Pat Shurmur West Coast Offense to a Robb Chudzinski style offense (like the one we have now) did a lot of damage to his ability and hurt his confidence which is actually a key part to learning and ingraining new motor skills.

That's probably what made Parcells such a great coach more than anything. For all of his motivation tactics, he understood the concepts of teaching and learning and what to avoid if at all possible. While other coaches tend to think you can just plug-n-play a player with talent and if they don't overcome then they aren't a good player. That's really an ignorant approach to developing players.




YR

 

[NEODOG]

All of their zone plays have the option for a cutback. I'm not sure where you think he could have cutback to with the DT right in his face.

You can see Martin look to help Free hook the DE. Yeah Free would have optimally gotten more push and in mythical Parnell unicorn land where Jermy never made boneheaded mistakes HE would have have gotten said push. Nonetheless, Free's effort was good enough to create a crease had Fred slowed down the DT at all. Good play by Solial.

Well we don't need Tyler Clutts anymore because our runningbacks are not the type to run an I formation ground and pound type of attack.

The problem isn't the oline. The problem is with our runningbacks.

Its kinda ironic that Murray went to Philly and he's style doesn't fit their scheme. Well our runningbacks don't fit our scheme as well. If we sent anyone of our runningbacks to Philly right now they would probably thrive. Not here in Dallas. Our oline and our scheme just doesn't match the style of runningbacks we have.

Once Tryon cut blocked... Gapping hole with Collins seal

Destroyed by Free

 

[CATCH17]

It really wasn't suggested often. There were a couple of mentions that Callahan could be missed, but those were generally met with hope that he was replaceable, but it was a legitimate concern.

It's definitely been the case that the vaunted OL has not been good enough so far this year.

Playcalling.

Teams are putting more guys in the box than we can account for and we are not exploiting it in the passing game.


IMO, besides the defense, first down playcalling cost us the game last week.