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O-line Grades: Week 10 @ CIN


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O-line Grades: Week 10 @ CIN

 

12 series including a couple of throwaways late in Q4 with 40 1st-half plays and 37 2nd-half plays... 77 total which may be a season high.

 

1st Half: S1 - 13:18; S2 - 6:10; S3 - 1:58; (Q2) S4 - 12:12; S5 - 9:55; S6 - 2:26

2nd Half: S7 - 15:00; S8 - 10:16; S9 - 3:24; (Q4) S10 - 11:34; S11 - 9:42; S12 6:58; S13 - 1:39

 

Revelation(s) of the week: Last week I talked about the possibility that Shanny's solution to our talent deficit at Center is a healthy does of classic, power blocking. We ran a total of only 10 wide zone tosses in the game for a total of 33 yards. The rest of our 52 total runs were between the tackles. I'm not going to claim confirmation just yet, but it looks promising for my notion.

 

When I have time I plan to do a little lane analysis. Stay tuned....

 

Rant of the week: No rant this week... but I do have a word of caution. Cinci's D was not itself a week ago Thursday. Expect a tougher version to show up in CLE on 14 December.

 

General Notes:

  • Shanny is still still adding plays. This week saw the debut of TE H-back action out of a Wing look and a 3WR empty set with our RB split wide.
  • Line discipline remained strong. Greco's false start was the only call against us.
  • Audible of the Week: Hoyer - "One Man! One Man!" Cinci ILB - "Run! One Man! Run!"... The play was a Play-action Pass... lol...
  • I said last week that the footsteps Ben Tate heard were those of Terrence West's gaining ground on the starting job. Well... he got it and does not look to be giving it back anytime soon.
  • Look for more swing pass receptions out of Tate this week... but minus the face-mask, stiff-arms at the end.
  • Tight end-zone shot of Crow caught him peeking to his right and right only... and that's right where the play went for only a short gain (S8P2). Kid needs a tinted visor if he's going to do that.
  • Benji stopped on a freakin' dime on the curl he ran for a 1st down early (S3P2). I love how Shanny is using him.
  • Had a Smith sighting late in the game... kid makes Benji look like a body builder...
  • Big Phil blew up a double team to end CIN's 2nd series.... really nice play.
  • Couple CIN notes: After series 1 Dalton was already bitchin' on the sideline. In their 2nd series they took a too many in the huddle... which is on the QB. After their 4th series came his "chill out" speech... lol...
Weekly Box Count... Now Sponsored by Stockboy...

1st : 8+ - 11; 7 - 21; 6 - 7; 5 or less - 1

2nd: 8+ - 18; 7 - 12; 6 - 7; 5 or less - 0

Ttl : 8+ - 29; 7 - 33; 6 - 14; 5 or less - 1

8+ Outcomes: Won (4+ yd) 12; Tied (1-3 yd) 11; Lost 6

Man... that line stacking is just killing us... lol

 

Weekly Special Request:

N/A

 

The Grades

 

Joe Thomas: 1st +9-2 net +7 w/ 2D+; 2nd +7-3 net +4 ; Game Totals: +16-5 net +11

 

Cinci did not even bother to test Joe in pass protection last week. By and large that was true of the rest of the line as well, but it was an absolute with Joe.

 

Joe's 2D+'s both came on tosses his way. For the first Joe drove the left OLB all the way to the sideline (S3P3) and the second was a really fine outside seal (S5P1) of the DE. To my eye Joe got away with no fewer than 3 holds on run plays. He seems to grasp the breast plate of his opposite's pads... nice and inside with no jersey pull to see. Late in the game I noticed a resurgence of Joe looking behind him. Not for the back this time, but more a whether the pile was getting too close to his legs. A couple times he lost his man due to this peeking.

 

Joe showed a little bit of nasty when he cut blocked Geno late (S9P7). Bito chipped and released and Joe cut. Clean play... but a bit nasty.

 

Joel Bitonio: 1st +15-2 net +13 w/ 2D+; 2nd +7-10 net -3; Game Totals: +22-12 net +10

 

Tale of two halves for Bito this week. Whereas last week he started slow, this he came out blazing. Second half? Not so much....

 

Bito's first D+ came on a gorgeous Chip+Drive Block at 2nd level (S1P5) paving the way for Tate's TD run. His 2nd D+ came when he drove his 2nd level assignment past Crow's eventually path (S5P1) and kept going...

 

Starting late in Q3 he simply did not look sharp... Lost focus? Lost interest? Lost points... He missed 2nd level blocks on not fewer than 3 Chip + "efforts". Unusual game for Bito.

 

Nick McDonald: 1st +10-17 net -7 w/ 5D-; 2nd +8-19 net -11 w/ 1D+ & 5D-; Game Totals: +18-36 net -18

 

And you though Nick looked bad last week... First, there were more "+" plays posted this week including his first D+. He earned it for a Mack-like "Chip+Seal" on West's long, 15-yd run late in Q3 (S9P5). But there was a lot more bad than good... including almost getting West killed late when he seemed to decide he'd blocked Still long enough and released him in favor of an LB. Still "decleated" West shortly thereafter.

 

This week McD got blown up three times, bulled a couple more, missed 2nd level blocks and, new to my notes, was "discarded" on one play.... literally he was tossed aside.

 

John Greco: 1st +20-9 net +11 w/ 7D+ & 2D-; 2nd +16-7 net+9 w/ 3D+ & 1D- ; Game Totals: +36-16 net +20

 

John replaces Bito as this week's valedictorian... and he did it by a wide margin. John is throwing more devastating blocks now than the rest of the line put together. D+'s read as follows: DRV (Drive) (S1P4); DRV+2nd (S1P5); QwikOut(side) Se(a)l (S3P1); DRV (S3P7); Blew Up LB (S3P8)... and more.... On S6P1 he put Geno on the ground. And he played to the final gun posting a +2-0 in out last series....

 

Obviously John was far from perfect, but who cares... he had an awesome game. Still can't pull (whiffed on his only pull), but who cares... Great week, Mr. Greco...

 

Mitchell Schwartz: 1st +7-5 net +2 w/ 1D+ & 1D-; 2nd +9-6 net -3 w/ 1D+ & 2D-; Game Totals: +16-11 net +5

 

Mitch's broke his string of two consecutive negative weeks. In large part this was no doubt due to Cinci's anemic pass rush, but he managed a positive grade and that's more than one O-lineman can say. Mitch racked up D+'s for a nice DRV block (S5P4) and even more impressively for pulling... yup pulling... around the TE on his way to annihilating a DB at the sideline in one of the week's new plays (S9P8). Who knew???

 

D-'s came for getting beaten inside early (S3P8), an inside whiff (S10P4) and for a new fail, getting stoned at the line on a run (S11P5). In fact all his D-'s came on runs this week and I'm really not sure how to feel about that.

 

Other Blockers:

 

TEs:

  • Dray: +5-10 net -5 w/ 1D- Bad game for Dray. I think the staff saw the same as his snaps seemed to go down late in the 2nd half.
  • Barn: +11-3 net +1 w/ 5D+ D+ comments included: X w/ MS (S3P7), Chp+2nd (S5P3), Chp+Seal2nd (S5P12), Pull&Lead (S9P5)... The last was one of the New Plays mentioned above. Awesome blocking day for Barn.
  • McQuistan: Dropped in for a goal-line encore...
RBs:
  • Small: +11-4 net +7 w/ 3D+ Nice farewell performance in my book. Easily the best by a FB this year... I do not understand the return to Agnew...
  • Tate: +2-0 net +2 Two nice, blitz pick ups...
  • West: +1-1 net 0 w/ 1D+ Quiet week for the kid.
  • Crow: No blocking credits for 2nd week in a row.
WRs:
  • Gabe: +1-0 net +1 Nice effort on one run...
  • Benji: +0-1 net -1 Came close to an offsetting +1 on one play...
  • Austin: +1-0 net +1 Watched a few down-field efforts early and gave it a whirl... actually "shouldered" a DB... not sure he like it tho.
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'Bout damn time.

 

Seriously though, count me among the appreciative weekly readers, if l post or not.

 

Was really hoping for a better grade for McD. I coulda swore l saw an inordinate amount of plays where they told him to just run forward, and hit whoever you can on the way.

 

Interesting notes on the FB Small. Why the axe if he's getting it done? Maybe some bad chemistry stuff there?

 

And good to see Greco getting it done.

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There was one reception by Hawkins where Austin was in prime position to throw a block and seemed to shy away from it. Did you notice it?

Hawk did not play. Gabe maybe? There's been a dozen plays or so this season where Austin has been in position but deferred...

 

Was really hoping for a better grade for McD. I coulda swore l saw an inordinate amount of plays where they told him to just run forward, and hit whoever you can on the way.

 

Interesting notes on the FB Small. Why the axe if he's getting it done? Maybe some bad chemistry stuff there?

 

And good to see Greco getting it done.

There was a lot more straight-ish ahead use of McD. The dude simply cannot run laterally and keep from getting mugged. But even running straight you have to hit something to score. Given his score I was amazed we were able to run on CIN as much as we did. Then I saw Greco's score...

 

As well as Greco has adapted to the ZBS, you can really see how much he loves to drive block in his play.

 

As for Small... I can only guess that some of the +'s I saw were missed assignments. To my eye he did everything better than Agnew. That said, I don't think either is our long-term FB. There are a couple decent, late-round Seniors in the 2015 Draft Class and 2016 looks even better stocked so a couple may come out early.

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Hawk did not play. Gabe maybe? There's been a dozen plays or so this season where Austin has been in position but deferred... There was a lot more straight-ish ahead use of McD. The dude simply cannot run laterally and keep from getting mugged. But even running straight you have to hit something to score. Given his score I was amazed we were able to run on CIN as much as we did. Then I saw Greco's score...As well as Greco has adapted to the ZBS, you can really see how much he loves to drive block in his play.As for Small... I can only guess that some of the +'s I saw were missed assignments. To my eye he did everything better than Agnew. That said, I don't think either is our long-term FB. There are a couple decent, late-round Seniors in the 2015 Draft Class and 2016 looks even better stocked so a couple may come out early.

Er yep I meant Gabriel. Even my friend a Pats fan was yelling at the TV for it.

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Thanks, CD...

Forgot the Box Count results. Here they are:

Weekly Box Count... Now Sponsored by Stockboy...
1st : 8+ - 11; 7 - 21; 6 - 7; 5 or less - 1
2nd: 8+ - 18; 7 - 12; 6 - 7; 5 or less - 0
Ttl : 8+ - 29; 7 - 33; 6 - 14; 5 or less - 1
8+ Outcomes: Won (4+ yd) 12; Tied (1-3 yd) 11; Lost (0 or less) 6

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