The OLine Committee analyzing our sacks - Darnold vs OLine

Equally putrid = my analysis… :P

Kentis wrote:
Equally putrid = my analysis… :P

Yeah, the OLine was bad on every single one of the plays, but the ones on Darnold were ones he could have done something about it.

This seems more valid. I'd say the first sack wasn't necessarily on the OL. It was a clear hands to the face penalty on the defender going against O'Neill. Hard to block a guy when he's jamming your facemask up to your eyeballs.

Too many time Darnold holds onto the ball looking for that deep pass when he should just take the check down and move the line of scrimmage forward. Whether it's just five yards, keep moving forwards.
It's like he's always looking for the home run ball and usually he gets sacked.

Very interesting. I'd put the culprits in this order. 

1. Brandel - The experiment is over. He'll be back as a backup. I think. 
2. Robinson - Darrisaw come back. Robby gone.
3. Darnold - Throw the damn ball. In my entire life, I'll never make as much money as Sam lost in 3 hours on Monday night.  
4. Risner - Mid is right. I doubt he's back.  
5. Bradbury - Not great, but actually one of his better games in pass pro. 50/50 he's back.
6. O'Neill - Solid. Does he get bull rushed for that sack if there weren't a hand in his face? 
7. KOC - Feel free to adjust when your QB is struggling to run your offense. I like rollouts.

As time goes I on, I’m settling on the Lions and Rams mostly figuring out how to exploit our blocking schemes to make them look bad. For most of the season our OLine looked remarkably competent, and in the last two games they looked like bottom of the barrel. They looked like they forgot basic things like how to block a stunt and who’s responsible for the free rusher and whatnot.

I think this is mostly on KOC and Flores not self-scouting enough and not having enough correct options for countering what the Lions and Rams eventually did.

I think we’ll be strong players in the free agent market for interior OLine. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us make a splash and bring in the top 2 IOL on the market. I think Brandel or Risner would still be in the mix for backup OL.

I think Darnold dropped from a top option to Kirk Cousins level. He’s still going to be a starter level, a guy you can win with if your roster is good, but you can’t really make him your long term plan. You need to be seeking out the guy who becomes the guy while they start.

medaille wrote:
As time goes I on, I’m settling on the Lions and Rams mostly figuring out how to exploit our blocking schemes to make them look bad.  For most of the season our OLine looked remarkably competent, and in the last two games they looked like bottom of the barrel.  They looked like they forgot basic things like how to block a stunt and who’s responsible for the free rusher and whatnot.

I think this is mostly on KOC and Flores not self-scouting enough and not having enough correct options for countering what the Lions and Rams eventually did.

I think we’ll be strong players in the free agent market for interior OLine.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see us make a splash and bring in the top 2 IOL on the market.  I think Brandel or Risner would still be in the mix for backup OL.

I think Darnold dropped from a top option to Kirk Cousins level.  He’s still going to be a starter level, a guy you can win with if your roster is good, but you can’t really make him your long term plan.  You need to be seeking out the guy who becomes the guy while they start.

I'd love Risner back as a backup (assuming we sign some quality guards), but he's a free agent and might be able to swing a starter's deal somewhere else. The Vikings have never had much of an appetite for giving him money.

MaroonBells wrote:

I'd love Risner back as a backup (assuming we sign some quality guards), but he's a free agent and might be able to swing a starter's deal somewhere else. The Vikings have never had much of an appetite for giving him money.

I’m not sure he has that much interest.  Last couple years he took backup spots here hoping to outcompete the starter.  He might want to go somewhere with less competition if we brought in some studs to start.

medaille wrote:

Yeah, the OLine was bad on every single one of the plays, but the ones on Darnold were ones he could have done something about it.

as they said there, a completion hurts the defense.  If they had a medium gain on the 5 that were on darnold, they could have sustained drives.  Or even a throwaway for a 3rd and 7 instead of 3rd and 15

The IOL got beat bad with the twists.  But turtling is never the solution.

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl during the 2019 season. A year later, their offensive line was humiliated in a 31-9 Super Bowl loss to Tampa Bay.
What happened a year after that?

Kansas City used a second-round pick on center Creed Humphrey, a sixth-round pick on 6-6, 321-pound right guard Trey Smith and turned to free agency to sign left guard Joe Thuney, who had helped the Patriots win two Super Bowls.

Four seasons later, Humphrey and Thuney are first-team All-Pro on a No. 1-seeded Chiefs team that’s going for an unprecedented third Super Bowl win. As for Smith, well, he’s started every game since Day 3 of that ’21 draft.

So go ahead and argue that sacks are the quarterback’s fault. Or that the tackles are to blame (the Chiefs played that Super Bowl with backup tackles). Or that a different scheme might help the current players who are struggling.

In Kansas City, Andy Reid knew that even Patrick Mahomes, the Houdini of quarterbacks, can’t overcome pressure up the middle. When faced with tough questions about their offensive line in 2021, Reid and his GM, Brett Veach, chose the answers that included different players.