Observations on the OL

[CpuFan]

I watched the Tampa game again because I was curious to see where the breakdowns were occurring.

After repeatedly starting and stopping each play over and over I was able to come to some conclusions...

The whole right side of the OL is the major area of concern.
Specifically #63 B. Anderson and #72 V. Carey.

When the Fins were having their problems in the first half and even later. These two were repeatedly Being beaten off the ball. They cam run block but they are a step slow in their pass blocking. As a result they were repeatedly Being run past, and around during the game. Even on Miami’s first TD, when Culpepper wasn’t being pressured as much ,It wasn’t due to effective blocking but mainly due to the defender running himself out of the play.

Now I know there is time for them to fix it, but I have a feeling new OL will eventually be needed. And one more thing. Later when they played better as a team they were going up against Tampa's 2's and 3's so these two looked much better.

Well that's my 2 cents.

 

[FIN FAN IN OHIO]

I understand it was only Game 2 of the pre season but it did get a little scary in the first couple of series. Daunte had no time to throw the ball. But I am sure the boys will shape up. They better or Saban will be all over them.

 

[painnotpleasure]

The thing that really concerned me in that first couple series was that Derrick Brooks and Simeon Rice weren't even suited up... against just the 2nd game of preseason but our O-line seemed to struggle the first couple series. Bennie Anderson is a concern to me and have a new center is going to take some time and adjusting but I think Rex Hadnot is a talented player and one of our best O-linemen so I expect him to adjust well and be our future Center. But my biggest concern is definitely Bennie Anderson and I'm not convinced he will be starting for us week 1 (McKinney is obviously out for awhile but perhaps D-Mac or Pearson could be an option depending on which one of them or if either of them make the team.)

 

[FIN FAN IN OHIO]

When I found out Tampa was resting a few of their premiere players on D and then they still went through the O Line like that I thought it was going to be a long night for the offense. After a few series the O Line did settle down.

 

[Disnardo]

Thanks CPU, good analogy...

Yes Saban stated afterwards that our big linemen had trouble against the speedy and athletic Tampa line. Wether they were 1st, 2nd or 3rd stringers, Tampa's linemen are picked for their athletic abilities. That is the system they run, so what we had to do was change somthings in our scheme...

Maybe our adjustment to that scheme, was to make sure that these linemen would not have a straight line to our back field, make them go the long way, therfore getting some extra second or so...

 

[Austin Tatious]

Bennie Anderson looked like the biggest concern. He's raw, but maybe we give Berger a shot at right guard. He looks like the main backup at center though which may be a drawback there.

Toledo seems to be a year away, but Berger looks to be a keeper. If he is anything like Mark Dixon, that would be tremendous. I'd say that Dixon was the best O line-man the fins have had in the 2000's but he just couldn't stay healthy.

Frankly, LJ Shelton has been a concern too.

At some point, we are going to need to put a draft pick on a franchise left tackle.

 

[PhinGeneral]

That certainly does raise a concern, though, since our offensive line was purposefully put together for size and mauling and not for athleticism.

You might see a bit more max protection schemes against the more athletic defenses in the league in the future.

 

[Swantoon]

Anderson looked terribly in this game and I think his play may have made Carey look worse than he really is. I may have to watch the game again but I thought for the most part Carey looked pretty good. He definitely looks better to me this year than he did at the first of last year. And whenever you start thinking this line may not be very good just remember back to 2 years ago when Wade The Matador Smith was playing left tackle that may have been some of the worst o-line play I have ever seen. So compared to that we have it good now.

 

[Desides]

Anderson wasn't at fault for his penalties, bizarre as that sounds. Saban explained in his post-game press conference: they were using the silent count for the first time, and the center (Hadnot?) wasn't snapping when he was supposed to. Anderson had the count right. If you go back and look, Culpepper was in sync with Anderson, expecting the snap when it didn't come.

 

[Shamboubou]

Man I dont know, this O-Line has a long way to come to be prepared for the regular season. If our 1st string looks anything like this when we play Pitt its going to be a very long night for C-Pep. He didn't even have a chance to look downfield before he was getting killed. Anderson looked really weak, its seemed that he was beat a number of times. Hopefully it was just a bad game for him, he'll go back and look at the film and see how to correct what he was doing wrong. That is what preseason is for.

 

[MDFINFAN]

I understand it was only Game 2 of the pre season but it did get a little scary in the first couple of series. Daunte had no time to throw the ball. But I am sure the boys will shape up. They better or Saban will be all over them.

Well it's not like he can just replace them all, even if he wanted to. Somehow, someway, Houck has got to get them to another level period..This is the OL we're struck with this year. In situations like last night, sometimes I think you have to put in smaller OL to deal with faster DL..just a thought, not sure you can really do that, but????

 

[Morpheos]

Well in my mind I thought for sure we were gonna pound them into the ground running. I think if we would have approached the 1st quarter with this mind set it would have tired out these fast and athletic D-line from TB so they would be more manageable when it came to passing downs. Maybe the game plan was to put DC into these situations on purpose to see if he was ready?

 

[Aussiefinfan54]

they'll come around you will see

 

[feelthepain]

Lets give credit to the Bucs D, they were the best in the league last year for a reason. It's also common knowledge that it takes longer for the O to gel then the D. I'm concerned, but not overly.

 

[MDFINFAN]

Lets give credit to the Bucs D, they were the best in the league last year for a reason. It's also common knowledge that it takes longer for the O to gel then the D. I'm concerned, but not overly.

Tell that to the colts OL..jelling pretty fast I'd say..LOL...I already know your response..