Chiefs vs Seahawks: Breaking Down The O-Line Tape

By Bewsaf Nov 29, 2010, 10:00am CST

Week #12

This past Sunday the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 42-24. KC picks up only it's second road win of the season to improve to 7-4 and first in the AFC West.

The Chiefs continued to tweak their running attack as they add a few new wrinkles to the running game this past week against Seattle. One of those factors that helped the running game was the success of Matt Cassel. When defenders have to defend against both the pass and run...the running game will flourish.

Let's take a look at those O-line grades.

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	00
Percent Scale

Please refer to the Chiefs Preseason: Breaking Down The O-Line Tape - Primer at the bottom of this article for any inquiries into the method used to grade the lineman.
Click on Bewsaf Past Posts at the bottom of this post for any past o-line articles you might have missed.

CHIEFS NEW BLOCKING WRINKLES:

The Chiefs had been having problems with teams dedicating a number of defenders to the run (article found here). One of the Chiefs change-ups for the Seattle game was to have a designed cut back run. The running back would start to the right and then bend it back to the backside guard. This started the flow of defenders thinking it was a zone stretch play.

To get a push off the line the Chiefs dedicated the center and backside guard to blocking the defensive tackle and brought both the fullback and tight end (Moeaki) as kick out blocks.

The Chiefs were very affective with this new blocking wrinkle in the second half.

Performance Perspective

60% or below		70%		80%		90% or above
60% is an indication the lineman was some defenders boy toy.		70% is a rough day in both the run or passing game. The lineman probably got notice a lot and won't hold a job scoring 70% every week.		80% is a solid day for run blocking but only an average day for pass blocking. Players strive to be above 80% every game.		Player had great game run or pass blocking if they score a 90%. All pro players are consistently in the 90%.

RUN BLOCKING

PASS BLOCKING

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100		10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Percent Scale											Percent Scale
Albert	N/A										Albert	N/A
Waters											Waters
Wiegmann											Wiegmann
Lilja											Lilja
Richardson											Richardson
O'Callaghan											O'Callaghan
Asamoah	N/A										Asamoah	1 for 2
Pope											Pope
Moeaki											Moeaki

Run & Pass Blocking Notes:

Brian Waters hasn't looked very good the last 3 weeks but he came out against the Seahawks and showed a burst of life as he started getting to blocks he had been making at the beginning of the season. Waters gets his run blocking grade up to a respectable 80%.
The tight ends had a bad day blocking, especially during the first half. Moeaki ends the day at 63% but around 25% in the first half. Defenders were able to create separation and get of the both the tight end blocks this past weekend.
Albert did not play and Richardson subbed in at left tackle. Barry had a rough day pass blocking against the better pass rushers on the left side, recording a 71%. Fortunately for the Chiefs, Matt Cassel was moving in the pocket well, throwing the ball away at the right times, and releasing the ball quickly.
O'Callaghan filled in at right tackle and did a decent job run blocking, however, in the pass blocking department Ryan did not fare as well, earning a 75% grade.
Ryan O'Callaghan does appear to miss a couple of line calls. Possibly due to his absence from first team reps.
The Chiefs do a better job of taking care of the defenders on the line of scrimmage.

SECOND LEVEL BLOCKING

POINT OF ATTACK BLOCK

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100		10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Percent Scale											Percent Scale
Albert	N/A										Albert
Waters											Waters
Wiegmann											Wiegmann
Lilja											Lilja
Richardson											Richardson
O'Callaghan											O'Callaghan
Asamoah	N/A										Asamoah	N/A
Pope											Pope
Moeaki											Moeoki

Graphic bars from draftboardinsiders.com

Second Level Blocking Notes:

Second level blocking was down due to the concentration on defenders at the line of scrimmage and the tendency for the defense to fly to the ball. Jamaal Charles had a nice cut back that hurt the Seahawks because of over pursuit.
Lilja had a harder time pulling this week as the defender that was to be kicked out often crashed hard and quick at Ryan's knees. After a couple of quarters however, the Chiefs started doing some nice kick out plays.
The tight ends have a bad day at the point of attack.
Waters gets under the defenders pads on Smith's goal line run. Nice to see a little surge from someone on short yardage from the Chiefs.
Richardson picks up two penalties and Pope commits one.

OTHER SEASON STATS