The OL- overrated or undercoached?

[Canesfan1899]

I realize there is an entire thread dedicated to corch Kehoe, but thought this question was worth asking. Were we all seeing the talent of our OL through orange and green glasses or is this unit just not being coached up?

I have been very disappointed with what I have seen out of these guys, Linder and Washington specifically. I understand Washington has been playing out of position, but he has been inconsistent and not as good in the running game as I thought he would have been. Linder has been inconsistent as well and I really was expecting a lot from him this season.

I am not going to get into S. Henderson because he was just getting back and Feliciano has been better than I thought he would be, but has struggled with bad penalties of late.

I hope that Golden sees these as issues with coaching and makes a change away from Kehoe.

 

[LuCane]

Overrated, "undercoached" and improperly utilized.

We have a bunch of phenomenal drive blockers often being asked to play out of their comfort zone.

 

[Canesfan1899]

Overrated, "undercoached" and improperly utilized.

We have a bunch of phenomenal drive blockers often being asked to play out of their comfort zone.

How would utlize this group more effectively.

 

[rok]

Things would have been much different had Seantrel been 100% going into fall camp. Washington could have remained at guard and there wouldn't have been so much shuffling.

Guys like Gunn, Horn, and Linder were overrated by the fans before the season. The production hasn't really been any better or worse than it has been the last 7 or 8 years.

 

[LuCane]

Overrated, "undercoached" and improperly utilized.

We have a bunch of phenomenal drive blockers often being asked to play out of their comfort zone.

How would utlize this group more effectively.

In very, very general terms...

Less of this:http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2441/366/1600/1.1.jpg



More of this:

 

[Canesfan1899]

Thanks Lu, may seem simple, but it does make sense.

 

[LuCane]

Thanks Lu, may seem simple, but it does make sense.

It'll be difficult to reconcile Fisch's apparent style with some of our guys' strengths, but I guess I just feel awkward watching some of our drive-blocking maulers take initial lateral steps. I'm not an OL guy, so I'm giving you the view from 12 yards back on the opposite side of the ball. If I were playing Safety for an opponent, I'd prefer to see a guy like Bunche, Seantrel or Feliciano go horizontally and try to create a cutback crease for our RB than to see them smash my DL and LBs in the face.

Maybe GoGeta, BigCountry or some of the OL guys can chime in here.

 

[sfcane2]

So is this a Fisch problem or a Kehoe issue?

Thanks Lu, may seem simple, but it does make sense.

It'll be difficult to reconcile Fisch's apparent style with some of our guys' strengths, but I guess I just feel awkward watching some of our drive-blocking maulers take initial lateral steps. I'm not an OL guy, so I'm giving you the view from 12 yards back on the opposite side of the ball. If I were playing Safety for an opponent, I'd prefer to see a guy like Bunche, Seantrel or Feliciano go horizontally and try to create a cutback crease for our RB than to see them smash my DL and LBs in the face.

Maybe GoGeta, BigCountry or some of the OL guys can chime in here.

 

[Larry]

D) All of the Above.

However, I think the main issue is you have a group of players built on north-south drive blockers, now in an offense that wants them go east-west, pulling and sliding.

 

[Miami82]

Short yardage is straight up blocking. When you see guys like Gunn and Horn getting knocked back on their asses, that is technique and not getting there pad level lower than the guy in front of them. IMO that falls on Kehoe, and to some extent Stoutland, because short yardage was a problem when he was here as well.

 

[Canesfan1899]

Short yardage is straight up blocking. When you see guys like Gunn and Horn getting knocked back on their asses, that is technique and not getting there pad level lower than the guy in front of them. IMO that falls on Kehoe, and to some extent Stoutland, because short yardage was a problem when he was here as well.

Agreed that we have looked terrible in short yardage situations for years now.

 

[LuCane]

Short yardage is straight up blocking. When you see guys like Gunn and Horn getting knocked back on their asses, that is technique and not getting there pad level lower than the guy in front of them. IMO that falls on Kehoe, and to some extent Stoutland, because short yardage was a problem when he was here as well.

Agreed that we have looked terrible in short yardage situations for years now.

It's a good point, but there are so many pieces. Do you think our OLine suddenly learned to block when Clements ran those last few conversions? It had more to do with timing and steps. We have had a QB who is awful in his steps and ball-handling. He's gotten slightly better this year. We have a "superstar" RB/athlete who I've never considered a natural runner. We have OL adept at downblocks and driveblocks, but are sometimes asked to go horizontally.

Personally, I place the onus on Fisch 1st and Kehoe 2nd. This is coming from someone who went on a tirade when we hired Kehoe. Kehoe's job is to have his unit execute a broader plan. Some of the issues stem from the broader plan. Some of the issues stem from motivation (Kehoe), technique (Kehoe + Stout) and strength (Swasey). To me, the beauty of football is that someone (Golden) is responsible for an entire puzzle of interrelated pieces. It's basically like business.

 

[TheSwagger1]

We have had a QB who is awful in his steps and ball-handling. He's gotten slightly better this year. We have a "superstar" RB/athlete who I've never considered a natural runner. We have OL adept at downblocks and driveblocks, but are sometimes asked to go horizontally.

Lu summed it up pretty well. There are a lot of things that go into a consistently successful run game, and your last 2 points are the biggies to me. It's easy to see how an OL can make a RB look good/bad, but sometimes folks forget that a RB's style can have a lot to do with how the OL looks. Our OL has certainly underachieved regardless of all of these things being discussed though.... there's enough talent that we should be better than this. Very disappointing year in this regard.

 

[Canesfan1899]

We have had a QB who is awful in his steps and ball-handling. He's gotten slightly better this year. We have a "superstar" RB/athlete who I've never considered a natural runner. We have OL adept at downblocks and driveblocks, but are sometimes asked to go horizontally.

Lu summed it up pretty well. There are a lot of things that go into a consistently successful run game, and your last 2 points are the biggies to me. It's easy to see how an OL can make a RB look good/bad, but sometimes folks forget that a RB's style can have a lot to do with how the OL looks. Our OL has certainly underachieved regardless of all of these things being discussed though.... there's enough talent that we should be better than this. Very disappointing year in this regard.

So how do we fix things? Is Duke a better option at RB for us than L. Miller?

I was expecting to have one of the better OL's in the entire country not a middle of the pack unit in the ACC.