hawknation2015":3js2dceq said:DJrmb":3js2dceq said:hawknation2015":3js2dceq said:
Maybe I'm reading this blocking scheme wrong, I am by no means an O-line guru, but doesn't it seem that Nowak actually blocked the wrong man? It looks like Sweezy gets kind of taken out of the play for the initial push because Nowak takes his assignment rather than picking up the LB on the other side like he should have. Had Nowak went left and taken out the other LB, Sweezy had a clear shot to blow up the right side LB at full speed and we would have had a hat on a hat rather than one LB basically unblocked crashing into the middle.
Now all that said I don't know if it would have even mattered with the DT blowing up Gilliam on the play and coming right into the middle of the running lane before Marshawn would have had a chance to pass him... Ultimately that play falls on Gilliam I think, but maybe also we should have known to double that DT with Gilliam and Sweezy, had Nowak hit the linebacker like he did and giving Lynch a 1on1 against the crashing LB at the hole with a chance to simply fall forward for the 1st down?
That could be, as I just mused above (great minds think alike, LOL). Nowak may have been responsible for the LB on their left. It also could be that Sweezy was supposed to pull around Nowak as a lead blocker through the hole, but instead messed up his footwork and took the wrong angle. They do both end up blocking a linebacker; Nowak get to the one of their right much faster than Sweezy and pushes him out of the play; Sweezy follows the other LB to his right and knocks him back.
If the play design had allowed Sweezy to "help" Gilliam, then Marshawn may have had enough time to turn the play up to the outside. It still doesn't account for Britt getting beat, but I think it would have given Marshawn the fraction of a second he needed to read and react.
Britt falls down and looks awkward on that play, but his man wouldn't have touched Lynch until after the first down was made. I know nothing about who should be doing what, but what I see is a hole open up between Britt and Okung and if Gilliam doesn't get blown up Lynch gets the first easily.
EDIT: After watching it some more I can see Britt's guy gets Lynch up top. It's kind of hard to see from this angle, the broadcast angle was from the side and I do remember seeing two guys hit Lynch. Ouch. Hope they get better.