OL Performance - Facts and expert opinions

[FinHopeful]

The rankings (mix of facts and opinions) below show that we are 20th in run blocking and 31st in pass blocking. We average 60% passing plays. Is this good play calling by our Offensive Coordinator? Hmmm. Let see. If I were a player, I would be livid with Murlarky. In my opinion, we would be 3-1 now if we leveraged our strengths as an Offensive football team instead of leveraged our weakness.

Good Info: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php
Overall Ranking only: http://www.football-rankings.com/nfl-ol-rankings.html

 

[BennyVW]

The rankings (mix of facts and opinions) below show that we are 20th in run blocking and 31st in pass blocking. We average 60% passing plays. Is this good play calling by our Offensive Coordinator? Hmmm. Let see. If I were a player, I would be livid with Murlarky. In my opinion, we would be 3-1 now if we leveraged our strengths as an Offensive football team instead of leveraged our weakness.

Good Info: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php
Overall Ranking only: http://www.football-rankings.com/nfl-ol-rankings.html

If we are behind it forces us to pass so more pass plays will be called. See the Pitt 4th Qtr, the Bills 2nd half, and the Texans 4th qtr....

 

[Frank B]

Thanks for finding the rankings. I understand why fans are upset with Mularkey, but I don't think the run/pass ratio is the biggest problem. I think the run/pass ratio is a direct result of our poor performance on 1st down and 2nd down. With Culpepper and the O-line giving up sacks, and the poor run blocking on 1st down, we've put ourselves in 2nd and long or 3rd and long too many times. That leads to more passes being thrown. If we can put ourselves in more short yardage situations, the run/pass ratio will drastically improve.

 

[Tigers2003]

Thanks for finding the rankings. I understand why fans are upset with Mularkey, but I don't think the run/pass ratio is the biggest problem. I think the run/pass ratio is a direct result of our poor performance on 1st down and 2nd down. With Culpepper and the O-line giving up sacks, and the poor run blocking on 1st down, we've put ourselves in 2nd and long or 3rd and long too many times. That leads to more passes being thrown. If we can put ourselves in more short yardage situations, the run/pass ratio will drastically improve.

Well said. One thing that could be part of the solution is running more on 1st down instead of starting a drive off with a pass in spite of the OL woes. And if it doesn't work then go back to the drawing board and work on ways to improve the run blocking. With our poor pass protection and the problems we have in the passing game I rather get measley 2 or 3 yards on 1st down then an incompletion and start out in a hole at 2 and 10. An incompletion on 1st down is a wasted down. Its like choose your poison or the lesser of the two evils.

 

[emocomputerjock]

The rankings (mix of facts and opinions) below show that we are 20th in run blocking and 31st in pass blocking. We average 60% passing plays. Is this good play calling by our Offensive Coordinator? Hmmm. Let see. If I were a player, I would be livid with Murlarky. In my opinion, we would be 3-1 now if we leveraged our strengths as an Offensive football team instead of leveraged our weakness.

Good Info: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php
Overall Ranking only: http://www.football-rankings.com/nfl-ol-rankings.html

Since you're focusing solely on the OL...

The links you provided weight run blocking the highest, and say that we're only ahead of the Raiders at this point in terms of OL production, which is exactly right from my point of view. It's not as much of a playcalling issue as you'd like to think it is. The playcalling on first down is just about even at this point. It's starting to become ever more apparent that the issue is one of execution.

 

[emocomputerjock]

Well said. One thing that could be part of the solution is running more on 1st down instead of starting a drive off with a pass in spite of the OL woes. And if it doesn't work then go back to the drawing board and work on ways to improve the run blocking. With our poor pass protection and the problems we have in the passing game I rather get measley 2 or 3 yards on 1st down then an incompletion and start out in a hole at 2 and 10. An incompletion on 1st down is a wasted down. Its like choose your poison or the lesser of the two evils.

Again, our run/pass ratio on first down is pretty much equal at this point, and that's even factoring in the garbage time drives when we're almost exclusively passing. We've got balance, we just don't have players on the field getting it done.

 

[FinNasty]

The rankings (mix of facts and opinions) below show that we are 20th in run blocking and 31st in pass blocking. We average 60% passing plays. Is this good play calling by our Offensive Coordinator? Hmmm. Let see. If I were a player, I would be livid with Murlarky. In my opinion, we would be 3-1 now if we leveraged our strengths as an Offensive football team instead of leveraged our weakness.

Good Info: http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol.php
Overall Ranking only: http://www.football-rankings.com/nfl-ol-rankings.html

There is a team worse than us at pass blocking??

 

[emocomputerjock]

There is a team worse than us at pass blocking??

As amazing as it seems, the Raiders are still worse. We're doing our best to try to beat them though!

 

[Tigers2003]

Again, our run/pass ratio on first down is pretty much equal at this point, and that's even factoring in the garbage time drives when we're almost exclusively passing. We've got balance, we just don't have players on the field getting it done.

OK you say we are balanced. IMHO it appears that we are not and the fact that we are actually passing more on 1st down than not. Not trying to be a smart alleck whatsoever and in all seriousness we need to get a percentage of pass vs run data brought up to prove this point beyond perception and what we think we saw?

As far as execution absolutely an issue. A combination of execution, focus, and ineffective play calling to be blamed.

 

[Pocoloco]

Well we have to throw more. We're either behind in the 2nd half, or we shoot ourselves in the foot by committing a false start or giving up a sack on 1st down. Teams that don't win tend to pass more, not less.
In the absence of a penalty or sack, I think the pass/run playcalling is close to 50/50. That's about right where you might want it.

 

[Shamboubou]

I agree that we need to come out and establish the run, but early in the game its hard to run against people. The Defense for the other team comes out pumped up and flying around. So how many 3 and outs will you accept trying to establish a run game? I think our biggest problem is that we are predictable. You know what we are going to do before we even get up to the ball.

What I think its going to take for our offense to get something going is this. When Daunte reads the blitz he's going to have to audible to another play. He's going to have to find the reciever that is going to be single covered and that reciever is going to just streak down the field. Then Daunte has to trust the reciever enough to let it go and hope the reciever makes a play. If we can make a few plays like that its going to get the other teams to quit putting so much pressure on the QB and open both the running and passing game up.

 

[themole]

Well said. One thing that could be part of the solution is running more on 1st down instead of starting a drive off with a pass in spite of the OL woes. And if it doesn't work then go back to the drawing board and work on ways to improve the run blocking. With our poor pass protection and the problems we have in the passing game I rather get measley 2 or 3 yards on 1st down then an incompletion and start out in a hole at 2 and 10. An incompletion on 1st down is a wasted down. Its like choose your poison or the lesser of the two evils.

I agree, the odds are more in favor with the run. Many years ago coach Daryl Royal was being hammered because he was so intent on making the running game work first. His philosophy was: Only three things can happen when you pass the ball and two of them are bad. I agree. I'm not against throwing the football but I do believe you set the pass up with the run.

 

[adamprez2003]

There is a team worse than us at pass blocking??

several. the raiders probably the worst of the lot

 

[ckparrothead]

I agree that we need to come out and establish the run, but early in the game its hard to run against people. The Defense for the other team comes out pumped up and flying around. So how many 3 and outs will you accept trying to establish a run game? I think our biggest problem is that we are predictable. You know what we are going to do before we even get up to the ball.

What I think its going to take for our offense to get something going is this. When Daunte reads the blitz he's going to have to audible to another play. He's going to have to find the reciever that is going to be single covered and that reciever is going to just streak down the field. Then Daunte has to trust the reciever enough to let it go and hope the reciever makes a play. If we can make a few plays like that its going to get the other teams to quit putting so much pressure on the QB and open both the running and passing game up.

The problem with this, and we have seen this many times so far this year (and indeed we've done it ourselves) is that when we notice the blitz and we audible at the line of scrimmage, the defense audibles out of their blitz or changes their blitz direction. This basically nullifies the audibled call. This happened on that one blitz by the Titans where Daunte saw a DB blitz coming from the left side, audibled at the line of scrimmage and directed Ronnie to look for it and pick it up, and the D subsequently audibled out of that blitz and snuck a DB up to the line coming from the right side. Daunte looked out left trying to get Ronnie to turn around to see the ball coming at him, and didn't even see the DB that sacked him.

The thing that makes Peyton Manning so tough to defend is that he audibles at the line on like, every play...and roughly 2/3rds of the audibles are completely fake.

 

[Shamboubou]

The problem with this, and we have seen this many times so far this year (and indeed we've done it ourselves) is that when we notice the blitz and we audible at the line of scrimmage, the defense audibles out of their blitz or changes their blitz direction. This basically nullifies the audibled call. This happened on that one blitz by the Titans where Daunte saw a DB blitz coming from the left side, audibled at the line of scrimmage and directed Ronnie to look for it and pick it up, and the D subsequently audibled out of that blitz and snuck a DB up to the line coming from the right side. Daunte looked out left trying to get Ronnie to turn around to see the ball coming at him, and didn't even see the DB that sacked him.

The thing that makes Peyton Manning so tough to defend is that he audibles at the line on like, every play...and roughly 2/3rds of the audibles are completely fake.

Yeah I see what you are saying, maybe there is a way that we can have a silent audible. An action that DC does that lets the recievers and RB know to run a different play. A foot or hand motion that tells the recievers that the blitz is coming and to run this play. Then call the audible to the O-Line behind center. I dont know, that is kinda out there I guess. It represents a problem, I know this offense isn't good enough right now to start calling fake audibles. I just know that we have to do something to get these teams to quit sending pressure all the time. We need to throw in some HB screens and stuff like that to get these guys to quit coming at us all the time.