For those who might know the technical nuances of O line play.

Tideflyer

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Are we seeing technical progression? Would appear so the uneducated and inexperienced. IMHO if the answer to that is " Yes" , we`ll be hard to handle moving forward.
 

B1GTide

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Watching the game again now - part of it is just great execution by everyone. I mean, everyone. Your RBs and TEs blocked really, really well in this game to seal the edges. Your o-linemen didn't miss many blocks, and held their blocks until the play was whistled dead. To me, it just looks like a group of guys who wanted to prove something, so they stayed focused when they have not in other games.
 

westide

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It is a good sign when your # 2 center knocks the starting nose tackle into the ground. The same nose tackle that said, "Alabama you're next."
 

RT27

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The holes our running backs had at vandy were huge, lets see if that happens against ole sis. If so I will be impressed, vandy had stats at #1 but against smaller weak teams. Lets see if we can run on ole sis then we may know a little more. Game 5 and on, at this point they should be in sync so now is the time to really start grading our progress.
 

cbi1972

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I'm not sure how much of a test Ole Miss will be, but I will be disappointed if we don't push them around, given what they have allowed to other teams.
 

rolltide_21

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Vandy’s fronts on both side of the ball are quite atrocious. Their running game before they played us was struggling against weak competition. Their DL had no push and is undersized especially when compared against us. That said- we played a near perfect game fundamentally. Thus, Vandy stood no chance.

Cole Cubelic offered some analysis of our oline this week. His work is usually solid. Here’s what he said:
1) Matt Womack is improving every game. Still gets his feet too close together which causes him problems in pass pro. He’s a good run blocker. Has pretty good pad level for someone so tall.
2) Lester Cotton has the making of a great interior OL. He’s becoming better each week. Very powerful first step and at the point of attack.
3) The unit as a whole is starting to gel. Takes time and reps.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dadleyblane5

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Watching the game I noticed not only did the O Line block really well but, they did so "technique wise". I said earlier in a past thread that our O-Line would be fine. Did it take a challenge from Vandy to bring out the best in them? Could have. But, it shows me also what they are capable of when they work together as a sound unit. Definitely more focus on assignment blocking was practiced on this week. I said they would gell sooner or later. I hope they can remember this performance against the Commodores and have the same consistency throughout the year.
 

theballguy

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Watching the game I noticed not only did the O Line block really well but, they did so "technique wise".
Agreed. I know our guys were bigger but you don't get those kinds of results without good technique. I don't want to say the OL has arrived from just one game against Vandy but they have improved and shown some of their potential.
 

CrimsonForce

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Dec 20, 2012
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I think this could be our best run blocking offensive line since the 2012 unit. We've had some decent o-lines since then but even the year Henry won the Heisman we had way to many tackles for loss and penalties. Those issues seemed to have been resolved and I think we're going to have a dominant run blocking o-line and above average pass blocking..
 

JustNeedMe81

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Great question to ask in this thread. I've noticed that LT and RT plus TE are sealing their edge little better. They "finish" the play. That was the breakthrough they needed in allowing the play to develop. I'm confident that Daboll will feel little better and if we block better this weekend, we might see little more passing game develop enough to carry over to next week.
 

Tideflyer

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Watching the game I noticed not only did the O Line block really well but, they did so "technique wise". I said earlier in a past thread that our O-Line would be fine. Did it take a challenge from Vandy to bring out the best in them? Could have. But, it shows me also what they are capable of when they work together as a sound unit. Definitely more focus on assignment blocking was practiced on this week. I said they would gell sooner or later. I hope they can remember this performance against the Commodores and have the same consistency throughout the year.
That`s coaching, and that`s very encouraging for when they go up against better D lines later.
 

CoolBreeze

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I love O Line threads! Relating the question to the Vandy game I just don't think any of us can make a determination quite yet. My gut feeling is that, because the dores have not played us in a while, they did not take on the personality of a true underdog against a decidedly much more powerful opponent and neither did their coaching staff. They were undefeated coming off a win against a historically good team out of conference and felt they were head an shoulders better than the Colorado State team that just played us tough to the end. Well, they just weren't ready for prime time and frankly I don't think they are a very good team.

We will know much more this weekend. All these games coming up consider us their number 1 rival. They will be ready. Let's see how our O Line fares against these teams that have been preparing for us since we beat them last year.
 
I love O Line threads! Relating the question to the Vandy game I just don't think any of us can make a determination quite yet. My gut feeling is that, because the dores have not played us in a while, they did not take on the personality of a true underdog against a decidedly much more powerful opponent and neither did their coaching staff. They were undefeated coming off a win against a historically good team out of conference and felt they were head an shoulders better than the Colorado State team that just played us tough to the end. Well, they just weren't ready for prime time and frankly I don't think they are a very good team.

We will know much more this weekend. All these games coming up consider us their number 1 rival. They will be ready. Let's see how our O Line fares against these teams that have been preparing for us since we beat them last year.
I like what you said here. A couple of things though:

1)Colorado State playing us tough - That was Bama sleep walking. We get up 17-0 in a hurry and it's almost understandable how they lost focus.

2) Vanderbilt, though up and coming, had veterans everywhere on that field. I think they are pretty good. They still beat the number 18 team in the nation at that time.

I am anxious to see what the defense does this weekend.
 

Padreruf

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Vandy was good...but not that good. If our OL continues to improve then the sky's the limit. We can keep the ball and play defense with our offense. They hold the key to the castle...
 

JessN

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Great question to ask in this thread. I've noticed that LT and RT plus TE are sealing their edge little better. They "finish" the play. That was the breakthrough they needed in allowing the play to develop. I'm confident that Daboll will feel little better and if we block better this weekend, we might see little more passing game develop enough to carry over to next week.
Part of this is from having Irv Smith Jr. playing tight end more this year. O.J. Howard got a lot better at blocking from his junior to his senior years but Howard was not and never will be a true road-grader. Smith reminds me of Travis McCall, but with much more natural ability in regards to running and catching. He's about McCall's size and he is cut from the same cloth relative to his ability to lock up with someone and leverage them out of the play.

Hale Hentges has improved as well, although not to the degree Smith did between his freshman and sophomore seasons. Also, the two new guys who played last week, Tennison and James, are at least as good as Hentges, and James is going to be a lot better before he's done. You've basically got a situation where we transitioned from having a big receiver who could also play Y decently (Howard) to having a guy with H-level athletic ability who can walk up to the line and still snuff people (Smith), and there's another one pretty much just like him (James) sitting on the bench.
 

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