kearly
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- Mar 6, 2007
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1st unit:
Bailey-Carp-LMJ-Sweezy-Britt
Other than pass rushers cheating the snap count to beat him around the edge, Bailey looked comfortable and competent in pass protection. He showed some nasty in the run game too. His power seems to show up way more when blocking at the 2nd level. If I was a LB I would not want to be blocked by Bailey.
On the second play of the game, a 1-tech DT came straight through the line and contributed to a Wilson sack. Upon further review this sack is mostly on LMJ, who turned his head away from the DT and didn't see him. Carp thought he was getting some center help and was late reacting. Wilson did well to evade the rusher but ended up surrendering a sack despite having some room to run or to escape backwards, I think if that's a high leverage situation in the playoffs Wilson might escape, but since it's the preseason he went to the ground voluntarily to avoid the hit and make up for it on the next play, which he did.
That was the only glaring mistake Carp made that I saw.
Carp looks quicker on his feet than before, no longer is he a plodder. He made several quality blocks at the second level and not once did I see him fail to reach a LB. That's a huge change from last season, though SD's less than athletic LB group probably helped a little. I also noticed that Seattle almost never had pulling guards. Maybe that's something they are saving for the regular season, or maybe they are avoiding those plays since Carpenter struggled at pulls so much last year.
Something I've noticed with Cable is that he likes his lineman to display a lot of upper body strength in the run game. He likes lineman that shove with full arm extension rather than bury a shoulder and drive. Carpenter's upper body strength seemed more effective in this game than before, but that could be because his overall athleticism has improved so much.
LMJ had the aforementioned mental error that got Wilson sacked. He later forgot the snap count on 1st and goal from the 8 when Seattle was running hurry up. Otherwise, he looked decently strong in the run game and non-horrible in protection. There are games when LMJ looks like he could be starter material and a couple mental errors aside, this was one of them.
I would guess that nearly all the muscle JR Sweezy added this offseason went to his upper body. His punch in pass protection is much stronger than before, in fact it might be the strongest punch on the team with Breno gone now. Rarely did he allow a defender to come to him, Sweezy was very aggressive to attack the defender as if executing a run play, even in obvious passing situations.
The ability to attack with upper body strength as if run blocking seems to confuse pass rushers into a period of indecisiveness that lasts a short time. Two-gapping D-lineman are trained to not "guess" a gap on run plays because if they guess wrong and it's a run, it means giving up a big play in the run game. I think getting attacked by an OL, especially with a RB on the field triggers those 2-gapping instincts for D-linemen where they stop what they are doing for a second to assess the situation instead of going balls out for a gap to knife through. When put in these kinds of situations where the DT has to hesitate, Sweezy really shines in pass pro.
As a pure power situation blocker Sweezy has only marginally improved, but on a more typical zone run the upper body strength he's added has really helped him win battles in the run game. His combo blocks with Britt almost always produce impressive results, reminds me some of Unger with Gallery in 2011. "Sweezy + Britt = movement" made my notes over and over again.
Sweezy has probably lost a tiny bit of speed from the weight gain, but he's still a very effective 2nd level blocker and he can move down the line in a hurry. His ability to block down with speed will sometimes open up big cutback lanes like the one Turbin hit for a huge gain (though, that play was mostly on the defense for having the perfectly wrong run defense and Turbin for seeing the cutback.)
In fact, the entire OL looked especially impressive at 2nd level blocking.
The first play of the game was a quick screen pass to Harvin. When he caught it, Sweezy was already 8 yards downfield gunning for the safety. (Lineman are legally allowed to run downfield on passing plays if the pass is caught behind the LOS).
Britt looked a lot better than last week. Like the rest of the starting group his upper body strength really stands out in the run game.
He still had some rookie mistakes in protection. He actually reminds me slightly of 2012 JR Sweezy. There is a lot to like yet also a lot of room to grow. At least in this game, he was a more effective right tackle than Winston was.
Zach Miller was basically our 6th OL. I would guess that he was a dedicated blocker on 80% of his snaps, both in the run game and in pass pro. He had the same results you would expect. Occasionally brilliant, and occasionally he'd get beat in a way that would remind you that he's a mere mortal TE. What's interesting is that he generally lined up on Britt's side but only rarely double teamed an assignment with Britt. The team treated Zach Miller as if he was an extra tackle.
Coleman is an okay pass blocker and we know from last year that he's a good receiver. He's still a terrible lead blocker. I am not seeing development, and I think soon he might lose #1 reps to Kiero Small, who's having a good preseason.
Turbin got a lot of work with the first offense. I was really impressed with his improvement in regards to his ability to resist tackles and keep his balance. He showed a new trick in this game. Whereas before Turbin would always go 100%, now he'll sometimes start at 80% and boost up to 100% to make a defender miss a clean tackle.
2nd unit:
Gilliam-Smith-Schilling-LMJ-Winston
Brock Huard spent too much effort hyping Gilliam, who looked competent, not great. That said, Giliam's size and build are very tantalizing. Purely in terms of his physical appearance, he "looks the part" of an athletic left tackle who could be starting games some day. I can't confirm his arm length but by the eyeball test I would guess average length at worst. He also had a 35" vertical jump, which gives you an idea of the kind of athlete he is (he's a 306 pound former TE). This is not the kind of player you trim off the roster unless you absolutely have to.
Smith and Schilling looked competent in terms of skill but replacement level in terms of ability. Smith has been around a long time and brings experience, but he should probably be a pure backup at the stage of his career.
LMJ looks a lot better at center than he does at guard. It was painful watching him attempt to pull block.
Winston leans too much in pass pro, and lacks power in the run game. His ability to avoid mental mistakes is where I think his value will come from.
Like Smith, Winston is a crafty veteran who's competent but lacks starter level ability. Smith and Winston are good backups to have considering how young the starting OL is.
I am pretty sure the starting RT job is Britt's to lose at this point. And if Gilliam plays well the next two weeks I think Winston becomes expendable. Okung, Bailey, Britt, and Gilliam actually look like a pretty good tackle group at the moment.
Christine Michael, Kiero Small, and Terrell Pryor were featured with the 2nd team OL.
3rd unit:
Brandon-Hauptman-Van Roten-Schilling-Isles
Not really anything worth commenting on from this group. Van Roten had one savvy-vet type play that I remember, but like Smith and Winston he lacks starter ability.
A couple other random observations:
-Seattle appeared to switch to hurry up when reaching the red zone on offense. Or at least they did on their 4th scoring drive.
-On 2nd and goal from the 13, the very next play after Baldwin had "THE SHIT" knocked out of him, Seattle ran a stretch right to Michael which picked up 8 yards. He should have only gained one yard, but Michael has a special ability to disappear in a crowd, especially when that crowd is moving. He seems so perfectly suited for ZBS, I really look forward to the day when he's mastered Cable's system.
-Michael looks so impressive as a pass catcher in the backfield. Every time he catches a checkdown in the preseason it feels like an easy 7 yards. Even if Turbin remains the #2 RB I think the team needs to get Michael at least a few touches a game.
-I liked the way Kiero Small looked on that quick handoff he got on 4th and 1. He's not fast but he's quick. He's just a really good football player, I think I'll be upset if he gets cut in favor of Coleman at this point.
Bailey-Carp-LMJ-Sweezy-Britt
Other than pass rushers cheating the snap count to beat him around the edge, Bailey looked comfortable and competent in pass protection. He showed some nasty in the run game too. His power seems to show up way more when blocking at the 2nd level. If I was a LB I would not want to be blocked by Bailey.
On the second play of the game, a 1-tech DT came straight through the line and contributed to a Wilson sack. Upon further review this sack is mostly on LMJ, who turned his head away from the DT and didn't see him. Carp thought he was getting some center help and was late reacting. Wilson did well to evade the rusher but ended up surrendering a sack despite having some room to run or to escape backwards, I think if that's a high leverage situation in the playoffs Wilson might escape, but since it's the preseason he went to the ground voluntarily to avoid the hit and make up for it on the next play, which he did.
That was the only glaring mistake Carp made that I saw.
Carp looks quicker on his feet than before, no longer is he a plodder. He made several quality blocks at the second level and not once did I see him fail to reach a LB. That's a huge change from last season, though SD's less than athletic LB group probably helped a little. I also noticed that Seattle almost never had pulling guards. Maybe that's something they are saving for the regular season, or maybe they are avoiding those plays since Carpenter struggled at pulls so much last year.
Something I've noticed with Cable is that he likes his lineman to display a lot of upper body strength in the run game. He likes lineman that shove with full arm extension rather than bury a shoulder and drive. Carpenter's upper body strength seemed more effective in this game than before, but that could be because his overall athleticism has improved so much.
LMJ had the aforementioned mental error that got Wilson sacked. He later forgot the snap count on 1st and goal from the 8 when Seattle was running hurry up. Otherwise, he looked decently strong in the run game and non-horrible in protection. There are games when LMJ looks like he could be starter material and a couple mental errors aside, this was one of them.
I would guess that nearly all the muscle JR Sweezy added this offseason went to his upper body. His punch in pass protection is much stronger than before, in fact it might be the strongest punch on the team with Breno gone now. Rarely did he allow a defender to come to him, Sweezy was very aggressive to attack the defender as if executing a run play, even in obvious passing situations.
The ability to attack with upper body strength as if run blocking seems to confuse pass rushers into a period of indecisiveness that lasts a short time. Two-gapping D-lineman are trained to not "guess" a gap on run plays because if they guess wrong and it's a run, it means giving up a big play in the run game. I think getting attacked by an OL, especially with a RB on the field triggers those 2-gapping instincts for D-linemen where they stop what they are doing for a second to assess the situation instead of going balls out for a gap to knife through. When put in these kinds of situations where the DT has to hesitate, Sweezy really shines in pass pro.
As a pure power situation blocker Sweezy has only marginally improved, but on a more typical zone run the upper body strength he's added has really helped him win battles in the run game. His combo blocks with Britt almost always produce impressive results, reminds me some of Unger with Gallery in 2011. "Sweezy + Britt = movement" made my notes over and over again.
Sweezy has probably lost a tiny bit of speed from the weight gain, but he's still a very effective 2nd level blocker and he can move down the line in a hurry. His ability to block down with speed will sometimes open up big cutback lanes like the one Turbin hit for a huge gain (though, that play was mostly on the defense for having the perfectly wrong run defense and Turbin for seeing the cutback.)
In fact, the entire OL looked especially impressive at 2nd level blocking.
The first play of the game was a quick screen pass to Harvin. When he caught it, Sweezy was already 8 yards downfield gunning for the safety. (Lineman are legally allowed to run downfield on passing plays if the pass is caught behind the LOS).
Britt looked a lot better than last week. Like the rest of the starting group his upper body strength really stands out in the run game.
He still had some rookie mistakes in protection. He actually reminds me slightly of 2012 JR Sweezy. There is a lot to like yet also a lot of room to grow. At least in this game, he was a more effective right tackle than Winston was.
Zach Miller was basically our 6th OL. I would guess that he was a dedicated blocker on 80% of his snaps, both in the run game and in pass pro. He had the same results you would expect. Occasionally brilliant, and occasionally he'd get beat in a way that would remind you that he's a mere mortal TE. What's interesting is that he generally lined up on Britt's side but only rarely double teamed an assignment with Britt. The team treated Zach Miller as if he was an extra tackle.
Coleman is an okay pass blocker and we know from last year that he's a good receiver. He's still a terrible lead blocker. I am not seeing development, and I think soon he might lose #1 reps to Kiero Small, who's having a good preseason.
Turbin got a lot of work with the first offense. I was really impressed with his improvement in regards to his ability to resist tackles and keep his balance. He showed a new trick in this game. Whereas before Turbin would always go 100%, now he'll sometimes start at 80% and boost up to 100% to make a defender miss a clean tackle.
2nd unit:
Gilliam-Smith-Schilling-LMJ-Winston
Brock Huard spent too much effort hyping Gilliam, who looked competent, not great. That said, Giliam's size and build are very tantalizing. Purely in terms of his physical appearance, he "looks the part" of an athletic left tackle who could be starting games some day. I can't confirm his arm length but by the eyeball test I would guess average length at worst. He also had a 35" vertical jump, which gives you an idea of the kind of athlete he is (he's a 306 pound former TE). This is not the kind of player you trim off the roster unless you absolutely have to.
Smith and Schilling looked competent in terms of skill but replacement level in terms of ability. Smith has been around a long time and brings experience, but he should probably be a pure backup at the stage of his career.
LMJ looks a lot better at center than he does at guard. It was painful watching him attempt to pull block.
Winston leans too much in pass pro, and lacks power in the run game. His ability to avoid mental mistakes is where I think his value will come from.
Like Smith, Winston is a crafty veteran who's competent but lacks starter level ability. Smith and Winston are good backups to have considering how young the starting OL is.
I am pretty sure the starting RT job is Britt's to lose at this point. And if Gilliam plays well the next two weeks I think Winston becomes expendable. Okung, Bailey, Britt, and Gilliam actually look like a pretty good tackle group at the moment.
Christine Michael, Kiero Small, and Terrell Pryor were featured with the 2nd team OL.
3rd unit:
Brandon-Hauptman-Van Roten-Schilling-Isles
Not really anything worth commenting on from this group. Van Roten had one savvy-vet type play that I remember, but like Smith and Winston he lacks starter ability.
A couple other random observations:
-Seattle appeared to switch to hurry up when reaching the red zone on offense. Or at least they did on their 4th scoring drive.
-On 2nd and goal from the 13, the very next play after Baldwin had "THE SHIT" knocked out of him, Seattle ran a stretch right to Michael which picked up 8 yards. He should have only gained one yard, but Michael has a special ability to disappear in a crowd, especially when that crowd is moving. He seems so perfectly suited for ZBS, I really look forward to the day when he's mastered Cable's system.
-Michael looks so impressive as a pass catcher in the backfield. Every time he catches a checkdown in the preseason it feels like an easy 7 yards. Even if Turbin remains the #2 RB I think the team needs to get Michael at least a few touches a game.
-I liked the way Kiero Small looked on that quick handoff he got on 4th and 1. He's not fast but he's quick. He's just a really good football player, I think I'll be upset if he gets cut in favor of Coleman at this point.
