Breaking Down the Chiefs and Broncos Tape - O-Line
by Bewsaf on Jan 5, 2010 9:10 AM CST
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Greetings from south Florida...oh, I forgot...I'm back in Kansas City. There seems to be little temperature difference between south Florida and old KC...not.
I did not get to see the last two Kansas City games so I was interested to see how the offensive line was doing.
Kansas City really went out with a bang on the final 2009-2010 NFL season. Charles had a tremendous day rushing the ball. So did the line have a great day as well?
This post will again attempt to flush out the answers to all the questions about the offensive line. The film never lies.
Observations after reviewing the film:
- Cassel had a lot of time to throw the ball during the Denver game.
- The o-line continues to gel and looks more like one cohesive unit. All the lineman demonstrate better technique than when I first started evaluating them.
- The Chiefs continued to use additional blocking schemes. During the Denver game the chiefs used a lot of "dummy" run blocking looks when throwing the ball. This froze the Bronco defenders a little more so Chiefs receivers could get open.
- O'Connell is progressing as a TE. Looked solid.
- Albert has found his balance as a blocker, less lunging. His athleticism really shows when he run blocks in space. Has not reached the pinnacle yet...but nice.
- Waters shows his first signs of age, IMO. He has trouble with reach blocks and blocks in space more than in the middle of the season. The season might be wearing on him.
- Waters makes up for his lose of a step by veteran type blocking tricks. He leads the team in "throw downs". Which is the number of times he threw a defender to the ground by using their momentum against them.
- Cassel looks at his screen receiver way to early. The d-lineman pick up on that.
- Next week I will look over my notes and put out a review and observations of the o-line's progress this season.
Here are the grades from the first three quarters against the Denver Broncos:
DENVER BRONCOS |
| PLAYER | RB SOLO | Reach Block | Pull Block | SECOND LEVEL | PB SOLO | Driven |
| Albert | 87% | -- | -- | 66% | 98% |
-- |
| Waters | 87% | 33% | 60% | 53% | 90% | 3 |
| Niswanger | 87% | 50% | 57% | 57% |
98% | 1 |
| Smith | 80% | 66% | 50% | 50% | 95% | 1 |
| O'Callaghan | 91% | -- | -- | 60% | 85% | 1 |
| Pope | 78% | -- | -- | -- | 75% | -- |
| O'Connell | 90% | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 2 |
No lineman topped the 90% mark in both run blocking and pass blocking this week. That means no Top Lineman awards.
| TOP GRADE | TOP GRADE | |
 |
|
Is it age? Just one bad game? Waters was driven 3 times in three quarters this week. That means he gets the Driven by Miss Daisy Award.
| MISS DAISY | DRIVEN BY MISS DAISY AWARD | |
 |
 |
Previous grades for Broncos, Chargers 2nd game, Steelers game, Raiders game, Jaguars game, Chargers 1st game, Broncos 2nd game for those of you that would like to track progress.
| EIGHT GAMES OF STATS | |||
| GP | Player | Top Grade Award |
# of Drivens |
| 7 | Albert | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Waters | 4 | 8 |
| 8 | Niswanger | 0 | 15 |
| 5 | Smith | 0 | 9 |
| 8 | O'Callaghan | 3 | 9 |
| 5 | Pope | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | Cottom | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | Alleman | 0 | 4 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.
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I thought the O-Line had there best game against Denver
Albert has improved a lot as the season has progressed.
Great job
I’m going to miss these fanposts, I alwas look forward to them each week.
Check out my blog on software development:
http://www.turnleafdesign.com/
by Scaryclouds on Jan 5, 2010 9:30 AM CST via mobile reply actions 1 recs
Thanx Bewsaf have beeen looking forward to this post weekly since you started it.
Always a REC for knowledge.
I wish he could do a game by game breakdown on the sacks
to see if each player progressed (got better) in that area. I do appreciate guys who can do these type of posts.
Winning begins with Attitude - Haley and Pioli will be winners in KC!
I'll forever be a Chiefs fan! Only God himself could take that away from me, but when I get to my great reward, I'll rejoin two bigger fans, my Mom and Dad.
I started...
to do DE’s about 5 games back. But then my motivation went south.
I can say that I think T. Jackson is doing a lot better in the second half of the season.
Bewsaf
Great to read as always Bewsaf
I can’t wait to see how this line performs with a new Center next year.
I'm cautiously optimistic.
The o-line continues to gel and looks more like one cohesive unit. All the lineman demonstrate better technique than when I first started evaluating them.
Weren’t many people saying the exact same thing at the end of last year? I remember at the end of last year thinking the o-line started horrible and got better with the understanding that if we “plugged in a few vets” in some of the parts, we’d look a lot better. When we ended up doing that, it was almost like starting at square one again at the beginning of this season. There are few people saying that we don’t need more offensive talent up front, but what happens when we do that again this year? Will we be right back in the same place again?
I think they looked better last Sunday too, but I’m still enthusiastic with considerable reservation.
My long, drawn-out predictions that no one cares about, nor will bother to remember:
1. Todd Haley will still be the Chiefs Head Coach up to the 2011 season.
2. Clancy Pendergast won't make it to the 2010 season and was never intended to. Last-minute hire for a position that needed to be filled.
3. Todd Haley will not be the OC at the start of the 2010 season.
Blocking Scheme
I’m not going to try and pretend I know what I’m talking about here but to me it seems like we ran quite a bit different blocking scheme than we did in in 2008. So were we basically starting from scratch again this season?
by groundedchevy on Jan 5, 2010 10:52 AM CST up reply actions
I don't know. I was just asking a question. No need to be catty.
My long, drawn-out predictions that no one cares about, nor will bother to remember:
1. Todd Haley will still be the Chiefs Head Coach up to the 2011 season.
2. Clancy Pendergast won't make it to the 2010 season and was never intended to. Last-minute hire for a position that needed to be filled.
3. Todd Haley will not be the OC at the start of the 2010 season.
whoops..sorry.
thought your quote said, “I’m not going to try and pretend I know what you’re talking about here…”
forget I just said anything. :p
/facepalm
My long, drawn-out predictions that no one cares about, nor will bother to remember:
1. Todd Haley will still be the Chiefs Head Coach up to the 2011 season.
2. Clancy Pendergast won't make it to the 2010 season and was never intended to. Last-minute hire for a position that needed to be filled.
3. Todd Haley will not be the OC at the start of the 2010 season.
Correct
We ran E-P in 2008 and switched to Zone Blocking this year.
This is my signature line. It is full of awesome and win.
by KCSatchmo on Jan 5, 2010 11:16 AM CST up reply actions
which is a HUGE change
and, the protections got much more complex, I think, when haley took over…
I kept noticing, early in the season, that the linemen often were looking around wondering whom to block. (this was more the problem than any lineman getting dominated… people were coming in untouched bc nobody seemed to know who’s responsibility it was)
Now, it seems that they have a much better handle on things, and the RB/TE protection has been MUCH better… TE blocking was the cause of 5-10 sacks at least… but in the last few games, O’Connell, Cottam and Pope were picking up blitzers and sealing on run blocks 100% better than Sean Ryan did in the first few games
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
Agree.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
From my viewpoint
the Chiefs have done better. Which means they are being coached up. It also means that we have quality backups if the Chiefs choose to upgrade (which I hope they do).
Bewsaf
exactly
they have a great OL coach… very well respected.
Hopefully the progress continues, and more talent is brought in EVERY YEAR
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
So Muir is the man?
With the changes about to occur in the coaches on the Chiefs, it is hard to determine who was a 1st choice or a settle from the 2009 staff. Have you found anything on Muir to suggest that he ran a ZB scheme previous to this year?
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
good question
Yes, I think Muir is the man…
NO, I dont’ think he’s been a ZB guy before… but he’s a more than capable OL coach
and I think he did a good job installing ZB and coaching those guys up this year
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
And with OC experience, there might be some pieces of that job that he can handle for Haley, without hiring an OC...
… who’ll have Haley at his throat all day long.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
Sounds like Waters has been playing on a bad wheel
That could explain his issues as opposed to age catching up with him.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up. There's no use in being a damn fool about it." ---W.C. Fields
Screens
We are really bad at screens. Which is unfortunate, as if we were good at them, they could really help the offense at times. I’ve got no problem with Cassel, but he needs to become more effective with the screens.
by Offense of the 70s on Jan 5, 2010 10:51 AM CST reply actions 2 recs
I would love to see what Charles could do with a good screen play
I don’t understand why we’ve been so bad at them. It can’t be just Cassel, he’s not in charge of blocking them. That’s one thing that did NOT get fixed this season. We’re as bad now as we were in week one in running screens. That’s got to be fixed during the offseason.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up. There's no use in being a damn fool about it." ---W.C. Fields
the wrost
this really was the worst team at running the screen I’ve seen in Chiefs history. Bewsaf’s comments about Cassel giving it away by looking at the RB too early, is something I hadn’t considered. I was thinking it was the line. If this is true, then Cassel really does seem to have an incredibly low football IQ which is something that bothered me and became more apparent as the season went on.
I've said the same thing, using basketball terms like "Pick 'n' Roll"
as in “There’s no pick ‘n’ roll in their game.”
I’m not quite prepared to throw Cassel under the bus on this, because I’ve seen him throw the ball a few times to where a smart pick ‘n’ roll (or “chip ‘n’ roll”) RB would be.
We see how much better Cassel is when there’s actually time in the pocket, but there are parts of the game that this offense needs to execute consistently before we can really evaluate Cassel on those parts. The screen game is part of that.
Despite a LOOOOOONG season, it’s easy to forget how new this group of players is to the offense and to each other. I think there were enough BASIC things that were works in progress, on which significant progress was made, that some of the finer points haven’t received the attention they might otherwise.
I think the screen game is something to be critical of, and it does raise “football IQ” questions that I’ve raised before, myself. But there’s so much going on on the field that, like our LBs, our QB has had little on which to rely. He’s more “digital” in going to the open guy, making sure he SEES it before lettin’ fly. How quickly he sees things and how quickly he trusts what he’s seeing should improve as the performance of those around him improves.
It may not, in which case, we throw the poor guy under the bus. But we’ve only JUST gotten to the point where he’s had time for routes to develop the way they’re drawn up (and seen near-miraculous improvement in TE and some flashes from a couple erstwhile disappointing WRs). The NEXT level is the “street ball” part of it, where the receivers and QB have insight and mutual confidence in what to do on broken plays and in the screen game. These are the sorts of things we’ve seen from Big Ben and his journeyman WR, Hines Ward – no breakaway speed, but tough and smart, and knowing what to do when Big Ben extends plays.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
the bottom line
ZERO sacks, ZERO QB hurries
300 yds rushing
That means the whole line get an “A+” for the Denver game
period.
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
Thx Bewsaf! Now for the grain of salt...
Denver was a team that didn’t get the 1st-round D-Lineman many of us thought they needed. They made up for it with blitz and singling-up on the edges quite a bit. I think their talented but aging secondary started showing a few cracks. To some extent those cracks were hidden just by reputation alone, for instance, you just don’t throw in Champ Bailey’s direction. Or do you?
I think they added a potentially dominant DB in Alfonso Smith, who will be a fixture for years to come, and that Goodman kid shows some good stuff, too. But after that 6-game run in the early part of the season, the 4- or 5-man pass rush wasn’t getting it done before the coverages started breaking down. Ty Law gave them a boost, especially against Hines Ward, whose journeyman speed and all-pro brains were nicely countered by Law. But there again, Law isn’t as fast as he used to be, as we learned when he was a Chief a year or three ago.
Anyhoo, nice showing by the Chiefs O-Line, but Denver hasn’t had a dominant d-line since their championship seasons, and therein lies the real problem with that team that cost Shanahan his job, and gave McDaniels a yo-yo season as a rookie.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
Yes
Denver’s front 3 are not as good. No cup cakes…but not great. They do have some quickness though. Only Waters had problems with the Denver quickness in this game (reach blocking).
Bewsaf
I'd discount for the reaches, on account of the recent hamstring injury.
Not sure about the ankle, which some say was an issue all season.
Having discounted, now I’m counting: Are the minor injuries that have him reaching a sign of things to come?
One thing I’ll say about the last few games down the stretch is that they seemed to me to be most improved on the right side, and overloading the weak side was no longer sufficient for blowing up KC’s offense.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
Now that it's over...
Do you think we draft o-line as a priority? I think we stick with building the D myself. Three players on D make this a different team, although, there is always FA’s to consider.
again, I think you do both
Draft 1-2 interior linemen, none earlier than the 2nd round.
consider drafting an OT in the 2nd, if a good one falls
but, focus on S, NT, OLB, ILB to keep building the defense, too
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
Does the one new guy need to start the season or upgrade it over the season?
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
I'll horn in on this one:
I’d like to see a new starting C. I don’t want the Kool-Aid to blind me to what’s likely to happen against the league’s better defensive tackles, with the C we’re currently starting. Rudy’d be better-than-average depth, but I’d feel better with a different guy starting at that one spot.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
Okay
With Wilfork/Pickett eating the Newbie up in practice he should be ready to go:)
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
I think that strength of opposing position groups (or lack thereof) set the Chiefs back, somewhat.
I think they knew they were in trouble in the middle/right of the o-line, judging by all the head-shaking when Old Man Haley visited camp. Struggles there set the DL development back a little. So did the relative lack of quality in WR-vs-DB battles, imo. Significant upgrades to WR and fair upgrades to DB took place rather late in the game, also. I won’t even go into what happened with RB…
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
It is a Process
of evaluations with ever-changing circumstances :)
Whew, that was a load of letters.
Maybe fewer riddles to solve this next in-season would be great.
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
to answer your question Steve...
I could see it going either way
IFthey are lucky to draft iupati or another top guard… I’d want them starting from day ONE
IF they draft one of the top centers on the board… I’d want that guy to have a SHOT at starting from day ONE
IF they draft an OT in the 2nd round… I’d want that guy to have a SHOT at starting from day ONE
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
* Stats are for losers
On-the-money, stagdsp.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
On that first big Charles run...
I saw Albert down the field and he was blocking very well. I do believe he made two great blocks that run.
Hali, Johnson, Vrable, Mays, Williams, Studebaker, Belcher
-Come Get Some-
Thx, Bewsaf!
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
? Too stupid to catch the reference.
Prediction for '09: Chiefs are looking like a .500 team, especially considering Denver's inattention to D-Line, Chokeland's disarray, and a San Diego team that looks like it's on the decline. With a weak schedule, Chiefs steal a few and win between 7 and 9 games, and if .500 or better, will contend for supremacy in a weak division.
Good stuff all season, Thanks Bewsaf :)
I posted this somewhere else but It would be great if someone, Hint, had the time, to explain for dummies like me what Haley is trying to do offensively :) Sometime this off-season
Rule 49. " Think and talk positive football off the field." Hank Stram
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