Quote:
Originally Posted by Chiefshrink
It is a lack of "road grading ability" when needed regardless of who we have in there. We do not have physical o-linemen who can throw d-lines aside when needed like Dallas' o-line did us especially at the end of the game.
We haven't had a "mauling o-line" since 05. The beauty of our o-lines in the early to mid 90's and from 02-05 was that regardless of defenses stacking the box against us we still ran at will successfully while chewing up the clock to win. We can't do that now.
Once KH's talent was legitimized after the first few games, very physical talented defenses like PITT,DENVER and DALLAS keyed in on KH knowing they would not have to stack the box because our o-line cannot "smash mouth run block" at will. Thus can afford to set back in zone and throw us around like a rag doll keying on KH. However, if we had "road grading capability" in our o-line then it would force these talented defenses to stack the box and play more man to man that would play into our offense's hands.
And please spare me the argument of finesse vs brute strength because you can have both if you build it that way because we had that from 02-05, very athletic but very physical as well.
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Like I have been parroting in other threads just game plan to be pass heavy and spread the action out to beyond 15 yards past the LoS. What does Brady do to Pittsburgh every time? His OL is not exactly smashmouth.
But like some others have pointed out here it looks like Pitt's coverage schemes confuse Smith, he overthinks the play. In the 4th quarter when the OL was pass blocking well it looked like Robinson would score on every play. He needs to play with that mindset from snap #1 and it is upto Reid to ensure that with preparation and scheming.