I finished up my offensive line review this morning and wanted to share a few quick thoughts.
Thought Bates and Gonzo were excellent on the left side. Near perfect performances from both of them.
Thought Menet was better than has been suggested. Yes, he struggled with the bull rush on a couple occasions, and he needs to clean that up. But otherwise I loved the way he moved out there. After years of watching questionable second level blocking from our centers, it was nice to see someone do it well when the opportunity presented itself.
Thought McGovern got his act together as the game went on. First game back at guard so I’m not going to hammer him too hard for the early mistakes.
Wright/Fries. Wright looked like he did at the end of last year. If you’re going to pull your right tackle five times in the first half then Wright can’t be your guy there. He doesn’t move well and doesn’t maintain blocks well. Fries played the whole second half and was clearly an upgrade until a couple rough snaps on the last TD drive in regulation. I think they have to start Fries if this offense is going to reach its full potential.
Speaking of full potential. Still think there are a fair amount of yards being left on the field in our running game. The blocking and talent are there. RB’s missed a couple cut backs (though they were by and large quite good and I like what we have there). We can be a dangerous Zone Read team, still think Trace just doesn’t have a great feel for making those reads. We’ll give him a pass since he has a great feel for literally everything else.
Also, I’m sure we’re all loving the RR era thus far in terms of eliminating the delayed mesh point and thus not having an infuriating number of absolute shit running plays. I know I am. I’ll just throw a quick hold on a second in there. Both Washington and App State use three man fronts, and for whatever reason we have looked very comfortable identifying who to block and running against these teams. I’ll be a 100% believer when we do it against a four man front with aggressive linebacker play (Pittsburgh).
Thought Bates and Gonzo were excellent on the left side. Near perfect performances from both of them.
Thought Menet was better than has been suggested. Yes, he struggled with the bull rush on a couple occasions, and he needs to clean that up. But otherwise I loved the way he moved out there. After years of watching questionable second level blocking from our centers, it was nice to see someone do it well when the opportunity presented itself.
Thought McGovern got his act together as the game went on. First game back at guard so I’m not going to hammer him too hard for the early mistakes.
Wright/Fries. Wright looked like he did at the end of last year. If you’re going to pull your right tackle five times in the first half then Wright can’t be your guy there. He doesn’t move well and doesn’t maintain blocks well. Fries played the whole second half and was clearly an upgrade until a couple rough snaps on the last TD drive in regulation. I think they have to start Fries if this offense is going to reach its full potential.
Speaking of full potential. Still think there are a fair amount of yards being left on the field in our running game. The blocking and talent are there. RB’s missed a couple cut backs (though they were by and large quite good and I like what we have there). We can be a dangerous Zone Read team, still think Trace just doesn’t have a great feel for making those reads. We’ll give him a pass since he has a great feel for literally everything else.
Also, I’m sure we’re all loving the RR era thus far in terms of eliminating the delayed mesh point and thus not having an infuriating number of absolute shit running plays. I know I am. I’ll just throw a quick hold on a second in there. Both Washington and App State use three man fronts, and for whatever reason we have looked very comfortable identifying who to block and running against these teams. I’ll be a 100% believer when we do it against a four man front with aggressive linebacker play (Pittsburgh).
