OL play - when is it going to bite us...

runtheoption22

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Jackson is better suited to play guard. He is a much better run blocker than pass blocker. Had Grant Hill not gone into the abyss, we would be looking at Jackson at RG and Hill at RT and much better overall.
 

Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
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The thing that bothers me is when we blotch the first down play we invariably go to "Henry up the middle" and they know this. Against Auburn this happened several time and I would say to my wife "don't run Henry up them middle ~ they are ready for it and they were. Henry would get stuffed or two yards at best. If I know what's coming I know the enemy does too.
 

Intl.Aperture

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Aug 12, 2015
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Guys - what defensive fronts will you see in the playoffs that are better than the ones that you have already faced? I get Iowa, but their offense is so bad that they might not even get past MSU.

I really don't get the angst here. They are not as good as you had hoped, but they continue to improve and occasionally play incredibly well (LSU).
I can tell you why the angst - There is an unreasonable standard being applied here, and it's called the 2012 Championship O-Line.

AJ Mcarron had hours to process most of his throws and Eddie Lacy had a garage doors worth of room to run through. Last season was more typical of a college line but Sims masked that with his athleticism as some have mentioned.

Coke is athletic but he's not juking people out of their shoes and then winning foot races to the end zone like Sims did against Texas A&M last year.

I agree there were a few games that were sub-par but on the whole, with health concerns taken into account I think it has improved. I also think some of it has to do with young receivers developing the speed and timing of their tree route and the processing speed of Coker on his reads. All combined we are seeing a need to simplify the game and for all 3 fronts.
 

B1GTide

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Apr 13, 2012
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The thing that bothers me is when we blotch the first down play we invariably go to "Henry up the middle" and they know this. Against Auburn this happened several time and I would say to my wife "don't run Henry up them middle ~ they are ready for it and they were. Henry would get stuffed or two yards at best. If I know what's coming I know the enemy does too.
I say run Henry up the middle on every play until they cheat so many players up to stop him that you have to pass - they hit Ridley over the top for a long TD!
 

CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
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My suggestion would be to keep OJ Howard at the end of the right side of the offensive line to help pass block and pick up blitzes. We hardly throw the ball to him anyways. It's almost a waste to have him go out on a route when he could help with the pass blocking..
 

TIDE-HSV

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Yeah I didn't get the blown up part.
I didn't either. On the TD play by Coker, our RT ignored Lawson, who came free. It wasn't a physical limitation. Now where does the responsibility lie? Is it a missed call by the center? Poor coaching by the OL coach? Bad/mixed-up call from the sideline? IDK the answer. However, when the defense has one dominant rusher in front of the right side of the line, we had better find answer fast. Most teams move their dominant rusher in various positions in obvious passing situations these days. Right now, I know where he'll be...
 

B1GTide

TideFans Legend
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I didn't either. On the TD play by Coker, our RT ignored Lawson, who came free. It wasn't a physical limitation. Now where does the responsibility lie? Is it a missed call by the center? Poor coaching by the OL coach? Bad/mixed-up call from the sideline? IDK the answer. However, when the defense has one dominant rusher in front of the right side of the line, we had better find answer fast. Most teams move their dominant rusher in various positions in obvious passing situations these days. Right now, I know where he'll be...
The shame - they moved Howard over a few times to help and Howard whiffed.
 
I didn't either. On the TD play by Coker, our RT ignored Lawson, who came free. It wasn't a physical limitation. Now where does the responsibility lie? Is it a missed call by the center? Poor coaching by the OL coach? Bad/mixed-up call from the sideline? IDK the answer. However, when the defense has one dominant rusher in front of the right side of the line, we had better find answer fast. Most teams move their dominant rusher in various positions in obvious passing situations these days. Right now, I know where he'll be...
Yeah I think it was a blown assignment myself. But it did result in a TD, so no harm no foul right?![emoji106]🏽

We do need to clear some things up though.


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GeorgiaTider

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Oct 30, 2005
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Good point. OSU is our greatest challenge. I am not saying the other teams are not capable of beating us, but OSU matches up with us very well. All the other teams are a matter of being patient, not panicking and playing out game. Run Henry till his tongue hangs out of his mouth. Then run the other 4\5 star backs we have. Every bowl season or playoff loss was going away from DH running. Our greatest threat is CLK getting pass happy at the wrong time.

The good news (assuming you beat Florida and Ohio State doesn't make the playoff) your o-line will not face the types of defensive linemen in the playoff that you have faced in SEC play. None of the teams has more than one of the type of player that has caused your o-line problems this season (speed and power off the edge).

If you can make it through the SEC, you can handle the defensive fronts that you will face in the playoff.
 

CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
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I didn't either. On the TD play by Coker, our RT ignored Lawson, who came free. It wasn't a physical limitation. Now where does the responsibility lie? Is it a missed call by the center? Poor coaching by the OL coach? Bad/mixed-up call from the sideline? IDK the answer. However, when the defense has one dominant rusher in front of the right side of the line, we had better find answer fast. Most teams move their dominant rusher in various positions in obvious passing situations these days. Right now, I know where he'll be...
This is a good point. To often when a play doesn't work folks are quick to blame it on one person. It is rare that the fault of one player causes the play to fail..
 

brutetough

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If we are facing OU, we may see some of our problems exposed. Some serious concern here.
Thinking about the game couple years ago, and how they played us, I'm not sure our OL is ready for handling them and sustain consistent long drives.
Can we bring Greene in every down?
 

uaintn

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Aug 2, 2000
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I didn't either. On the TD play by Coker, our RT ignored Lawson, who came free. It wasn't a physical limitation. Now where does the responsibility lie? Is it a missed call by the center? Poor coaching by the OL coach? Bad/mixed-up call from the sideline? IDK the answer. However, when the defense has one dominant rusher in front of the right side of the line, we had better find answer fast. Most teams move their dominant rusher in various positions in obvious passing situations these days. Right now, I know where he'll be...
I couldn't figure this out. OJ came over like he was going to at least chip block. I think the original read might have been to him but he was picked up well by a LB. But OJ didn't chip anyone and all of the sudden Coker is rolling to the side where we left the best player on their team (my opinion) unblocked with a clear lane to our quarterback. Gulp. I don't know if that is scheme or communication issues or what, but I cannot believe that is the way we drew it up. Maybe it was sort of a screen look if the LB came off of OJ.

Any way, I don't care if it did score a TD, I don't want to see that play ever again.
 

rolltide_21

Hall of Fame
Dec 9, 2007
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Good question. We have been good in the running game but pass blocking has been average at best. We also are giving up too much penetration on both run and pass plays. There could be a lot of factors from injuries (Robinson and Jackson) to lack of fundamentals. Another poster pointed to self-inflicted errors which also needs to be cleaned up. Either way, we need to work on this, and I am sure Cristobal and company will get it fixed. The time off (for injuries) and extra practice (correcting mistakes) will benefit us greatly from the end of the championship game to the playoffs. All of the issues are fixable.
 

92tide

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If we are facing OU, we may see some of our problems exposed. Some serious concern here.
Thinking about the game couple years ago, and how they played us, I'm not sure our OL is ready for handling them and sustain consistent long drives.
Can we bring Greene in every down?
im not that worried about oklahoma. i just dont think that the results of a consolation bowl game from two years ago tells us much about what to expect from this year's bama or ou teams
 

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