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RSP Boiler Room - Deejay Dallas

Liberty City El said:
I don't deny that it matters, I just never remembering blocking being the most important factor for a RB.

When I watch guys like Travis Etienne, JK Dobbins or Chuba Hubbard play, their blocking skills never seem to come up, it's usually more so their speed, balance, vision, ability to make defenders miss etc, that tend to matter more, but Idk maybe I'm missing something lol.
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Dobbins is a good blocker.

Matt Waldman overvalues positional skills and on-field intangibles. Guy loves to wax poetic about UDFA JAG RBs who have good receiving skills and nuanced understanding of blocking schemes and then gloats when 1/10 ends up getting a blip of action due to injuries ahead of them.

Most people undervalue that stuff and overvalue raw athleticism. But NFL teams are good at teaching RBs how to pass protect, and there are cases like Miles Sanders where an elite athlete is taught how to improve his decisionmaking very quickly. Sanders was awful to start the year and really came on once he stopped trying to bounce everything or run into blockers. Still RBs are mostly replaceable in the NFL so you can't play one who gets your QB killed.
 
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LCE is right there is a fixation with RB blocking on the board. OP is correct that our technique is poor and not just for RB. Looking at some of those examples of DJ, what was painfully evident is that our OL's technique was terrible. Hence, we end up discussing what will help keep our QB upright. But to LCE's point, I wish we could get back to the days where we were killing it on offense and our focus was on dissecting how hard our RBs tote the rock.

Someone mentioned Coach Don Soldinger who coached up the backs DMoney mentioned. Well, back in the day our offense was much more physical and our RBs certainly were. In blocking, DJ did what #28 and #5, etc. use to do in a couple of those examples. They literally met the defender in the hole and delivered a wallop. TV commentators use to mention their blitz pick up during our games because it was so physical. Most often it stopped the defender long enough for the QB to make a play. In OPs post it looked as if DJ let the defender get up on him before he initiated contact. As others have said, they'll fix that at the next level. DJ knew who to block and wasn't hesitant to make the block which to me would be a bigger issue.

I went searching for RB blocking videos of #28 and didn't find any. I did find an old Canefreak2001 video of him. He ran hard with excellent pad level.

 
Liberty City El said:
I don't deny that it matters, I just never remembering blocking being the most important factor for a RB.

When I watch guys like Travis Etienne, JK Dobbins or Chuba Hubbard play, their blocking skills never seem to come up, it's usually more so their speed, balance, vision, ability to make defenders miss etc, that tend to matter more, but Idk maybe I'm missing something lol.
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You nailed it again. Posts about a RB's blocking on this board are actually just a reflection of how that person feels about him as a player

If you like a guy - "he's a great blocker"
If you don't like a guy - "he's a terrible blocker"

But 95% of the time that person doesn't actually have any idea if that RB is or isn't a good blocker. But no one else does either, so no one's going to call you out. It's just a comment you can always add on to pump up a RB you like, or detract from a RB you don't.

It's not that blocking for a RB doesn't matter, it just matters so, so very little. How good a RB is in pass protection is about as important as how good a WR is in run blocking (which is never mentioned because it's not that important).
 
Bennubird said:
LCE is right there is a fixation with RB blocking on the board. OP is correct that our technique is poor and not just for RB. Looking at some of those examples of DJ, what was painfully evident is that our OL's technique was terrible. Hence, we end up discussing what will help keep our QB upright. But to LCE's point, I wish we could get back to the days where we were killing it on offense and our focus was on dissecting how hard our RBs tote the rock.

Someone mentioned Coach Don Soldinger who coached up the backs DMoney mentioned. Well, back in the day our offense was much more physical and our RBs certainly were. In blocking, DJ did what #28 and #5, etc. use to do in a couple of those examples. They literally met the defender in the hole and delivered a wallop. TV commentators use to mention their blitz pick up during our games because it was so physical. Most often it stopped the defender long enough for the QB to make a play. In OPs post it looked as if DJ let the defender get up on him before he initiated contact. As others have said, they'll fix that at the next level. DJ knew who to block and wasn't hesitant to make the block which to me would be a bigger issue.

I went searching for RB blocking videos of #28 and didn't find any. I did find an old Canefreak2001 video of him. He ran hard with excellent pad level.

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Here's clips of Portis blocking.

2 Things IMO

1) Portis was a great blocker was he was fearless & committed to blocking. Effort is more important than technique for a RB. It's different than OL blocking where technique is crucial.

2) Portis was great because he ran for 1,500 yds a season. His blocking was simply a nice bonus. Soldinger pounded the importance of blocking - but no f'ing way he was going to play Jarrett Payton over Clinton Portis if Portis had sucked at pass protection.

Edit - looks like the video is blocked but here's the URL - www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErX6oZG7Gvs

 
Thanks @bshaw28 I saw that video on Youtube. I was looking for one of CP meeting a blitzer as I described, but this does show him laying defenders out.
 
Dallas aggressively make contact with rusher and put hit on him -- no "watch out" blocks or get in the way girl moves. He spent years as smaller receiver and converted to RB a Miami as apposed to life at 200 plus back. His technique fits his size. Just getting up squared against rusher could result in getting throw to the side by power or left standing by move. He attacks and makes contact. NFL looks at him and goes, "nice, that guy cares about qbs health"
 
To add to this discussion, Pete Carroll spoke very highly about Travis Homer and his willingness to hit guys. Said they tell him to lighten up a bit but Homer only knows one way ; full speed He is a willing and able blocker and it helped get him on the field.
 
JgDaCane said:
DJ Dallas is very much todays type of back. Think he will excel at the next level. Somebody is going to get a steal with that kid, per usual with our players.
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I would love to see what DJ would have done behind Bamas or Ohio States or Wiskys o-line , kid has never had a decent blocking o-line to see just how good he could have been. Rooting for the young man he has a huge heart and gives everything he has each play.
 
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His conclusion may be correct, but cot**** if that wasn't a brutal way of backing it up.
 
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