Breaking Down the Chiefs and Bills Tape - O-Line

The Kansas City Chiefs start out the fourth quarter of the season 0-1.  At first blush it appeared the Chiefs moved the ball better than they had at he beginning of the season.  Was that due to better offensive line play?  Is the line starting to gel?

This post will again attempt to flush out the answers to all the question about the offensive line.  The film never lies.

Observations after reviewing the film:

1. Each week the offensive line is attempting to "cut block" more.  Denver, notorious for zone blocking, has been well known for using the cut block.  Are we going to a Denver type blocking scheme?
2. O'Callaghan and Smith for the second week in a row did not cut block very well.  Albert improved his cut blocking from last week and performed 4 successful cut blocks.
3. The Chiefs used two-tight-end sets more against the Buffalo Bills.  Cottom appears to be developing more as a TE.
4. It is noticeable that the Chiefs are using more and more types of protections during games.  This tells me the coaches are at a point that they feel more comfortable with how the players are performing on the field.
   
5. In the game against Buffalo, Brian Waters helped Albert more than past games.
6. The Chiefs did not attempt as many reach blocks against Buffalo.
7. On the 70 yard run by Charles, two LBs for Buffalo blitzed.  Brian Waters picked the blitz up and block one LB into the other LB.  Essentially blocking two players at the same time.  After Albert got a second level block on the other LB...well...six points.
8. Pass blocking grades have stayed consistently high over the past 3 games.
9. Albert did a good job on all his second level blocks against Buffalo. 
   

Here are the grades from the first three quarters against the Buffalo Bills :

This week O'Callaghan topped the 90% mark in both run blocking and pass blocking, congratulations.  He receives the top grade award.

TOP GRADE AWARD		TOP GRADE AWARD
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I don't think I can give out the Driven by Miss Daisy Award when the most any offensive lineman was driven was 2 times.  So, no one gets this award this week.  Good Job.

MISS DAISY		DRIVEN BY MISS DAISY AWARD
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Previous grades for Broncos, Chargers 2nd game, Steelers game, Raiders game, Jaguars game, Chargers 1st game for those of you that would like to track progress.

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Here's how the grading works:

• Each offensive lineman was given a "+" for doing their job or a "-" for failing to do their job on each play.
• These pluses and minuses were grouped into the type of block they were asked to do, e.g., a run block solo (RB Solo), a run block double team (RB Double), or a pass block solo (PB Solo), etc.
• A "D", for "driven", was assigned every time a player was manhandled during a pass or run play.
• The quality of the lineman's play is represented as a percentage above.  The higher the percentage the better the lineman did.
• I tried to be very strict...I think Haley would want it that way.
• One important note, some plays were unclear as to who exactly did not do their job, e.g., a defensive tackle going unblocked at the line of scrimmage.  Was it the centers fault?  The guards fault?  In these cases it was clear that a mistake was made and the player that looked to be most at fault was assigned the blame.