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Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
Yup; unrelated issues.
The OL can pass block. Again, you can win pass-blocking with technique and timing. But run-blocking requires strength and attitude and our OL simply lacks that. It has all season.
I hadn't thought about how it leads to all those damn bubble screens but there's some truth to that. Reid runs a lot of those misdirections, etc... because that's what his OL does well. He can run those screens to get his smart, athletic lineman into space where they can use leverage and positioning to beat guys.
But when they have to win in a phonebooth, they just aren't. It's not blaming the OL, it's acknowledging what they don't do well.
If anyone wants to actually try to argue that this OL simply isn't a very physical OL, I don't know what season they've been watching. These guys are completely unable to line up and physically win matchups against a good DL. And it's frustrating because I feel like the opposition has been able to do that to us all season. The contrast there is pretty stark.
NOBODY played well yesterday, but some of the guys that struggled yesterday have played well in the last 4 weeks and have been a big part of some key victories. The run-blocking, OTOH, has been shit for a very very long time now. It's not 'ballwashing' Smith to point out a pretty obvious truth there.
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I agree with most of this. That said, I've felt that our perimeter rushing has been decent for most of the season. Specific to this game, we did well on the edges when the guards would pull left/right. Kind of reminded me of the early 00 running attacks. But, yes, this OL's strength is not blowing someone up right in front of them. I was pretty shocked when it didn't work on 3rd and goal from the 1 foot line, that Reid tried it again. I was thinking a sweep to the left would have been better because the Titans had everyone lined up in the middle.
I also would like to see our QB line up under center and run a nice, hard play action pass at some point. But, that's an argument for another time.