FanPost

The Offensive Line vs the Panthers

It's a cliche, but a true one: a step back to take in the larger view always helps one gain perspective. Or is that a tautology? Whatever. The point is that I have reviewed and graded each of the KC offensive linemen in their work vs the Panthers on August 17 (preseason game #2), and the results definitely helped me to temper my dismay over LT Eric Fisher's performance. I'm now of the opinion that he played better than LG Jeff Allen, RG Zach Fulton, and RT Stephenson and about as well as C Rodney Hudson. The blockers whose work really stood out were the TEs, Travis Kelce and Anthony Fasano.

Maybe this means only that we need to worry about the entire offensive line rather than just the one guy. Instead, I'm going to believe that all of these guys displayed talent and grit and that continued practice will help them pull it together. Some of the team's early games could be rough, however, especially those against the Broncos and 49ers.

For this post, I used the same process as my previous work on Fisher, Fulton, and Stephenson. I assigned a score of +1, 0, or -1 to each play. I'm a tough grader. If the blocker just does his job and I don't think that the assignment is all that challenging, he gets a 0. If he misses a block or loses a matchup, even though it has no effect on the play, he gets a -1. Only if he really nails an assignment does the player get a +1.

I'm only going to publish the results in this post, along with some random observations. You can read my detailed notes on this Google Spreadsheet.

Player: Fisher Allen Hudson Fulton Stephenson Kelce Fasano
Plus: 3 2 4 2 0 2 3
Zero: 31 32 32 30 34 8 33
Minus: 5 5 3 7 5 1 2

  • Fisher's pluses all came on running plays. I think Matt Verderame said it best on Monday: "Fisher is excellent when he gets his hands on the defender first with a clear purpose in his mind....The problem is when offensive linemen are in pass protection, they step back, not forward, at the beginning of the play....Fisher has yet to understand that he needs to go backwards but still beat the defender to the punch with his hands." I'll add that he just didn't have an answer for Hardy's hand play. He's got to figure out how to keep these guys from getting their hands on him.
  • Fans of Missouri football might agree that Panther DE Kony Ealy showed well against the Chiefs. He drew a holding call against Fisher, and gave Stephenson some trouble with his hands. Keep an eye on him this year.
  • C Rodney Hudson impressed me. He consistently gave timely help where needed to both Allen and Fulton. See play number 9, for example, where I write: "Hudson starts w/dbl-tm on LDT with Fulton and then *quickly* switches to block a filling LB. This play really loses yards without that block."
  • It's already been discussed, but my film review agrees: the Chiefs' screen plays yielded little but misery in this game. The only one that got real yards came on 3d and 29 with the DBs playing deep.
  • Greg Hardy is a beast. He brought the moves like he was showing off at the Senior Bowl. I kept thinking he should be saving that stuff for the real games. I think that Carolina's defense will continue to shine this year and that the team will win at least 9 games (i.e., take the OVER if you are betting on win totals).
  • As well as Fasano is playing, and he played very well in Carolina, Travis Kelce will take over the starting TE job by mid-season. Kelce is just the better athlete, he doesn't make mistakes, and he's a dominant blocker. I wonder, though, if he's on a snap count so that he can build up his football stamina while minimizing injury risk.
  • Zach Fulton had more difficult assignments this week, and he needs work. He's especially weak, IMO, at second-level blocking. He might not have the agility needed to lock onto the faster, smaller defenders.
  • Stephenson looked really good against the Bengals but struggled at times against the Panthers. It could be that the Chiefs put the strong side on Fisher's left more this week, so Steph was on his own more. He also had a few more double-teams with Fulton than last week.
  • I apologize for not charting FB Anthony Sherman this week. He played well, on the whole.

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.