49ers-Vikings: How will you track the offensive line?

Now enough cameras or angles used to detail each lineman. Exceptions, of course. Too often you’d see lack of coordination. Ex: Bass gives half-hearted attempt to double NT & leaves a huge gap to his left which is easily exploited by LB for sack.

I find myself having to rewind it to see how the guy got beat or whatever. From what I saw Davis did not look too impressive, but Iupati looked strong. I expect them to develop and thrive as unit in the reg season. It’s tough to judge in preseason though.

I can’t wait to see how the rooks hold up against the Viking’s front line. I’m expecting a couple sacks early on, but I would be pleasantly surprised if we provided good pass pro.

I record every 49ers game on DVR.

During the pre-season my biggest interest is player development and assessing rookies. Thus, when watching pre-season games I watch in real time just for pleasure but also make notes of those plays and/or players that I want to rewatch later.

From my notes I go back and rewatch different portions of the pre-season games — focusing of noted plays or players (particularly rookies and competitors for key cuts) — several times, a lot in slow motion.

During the regular season my rewatching focuses on key plays during the game and reasons (key players) involved in the success or failure of the play.

I like to think I’m average when it comes to actual football knowledge, and unfortunately for me, analyzing the play of the O-line is a weak point of mine. Much of my analysis comes from the support of in-game replays, sportscenter/nfl.com highlights, and the 49ers beatwriters. I don’t have the benefit of that DVR thingy. Usually, though, when I’m not relying on these other forms of “support”, my vision of the O-line’s play is “peripheral” in relation to the QB. At best, I’m able to tell who’s being effective at containing the rush (on an individual basis) by looking at the frequency at which the QB is being pressured from all directions, and that is, straight ahead, to the right, or to the left. For instance, if Shaun Hill is constantly being rushed by the Saints Will Smith throughout the entire game, than it’s safe to say that Barry Sims is the one responsible for the breakdown in protection. In this case, I really do end up simplifying things, but I think it works out well for my evaluation of the O-line from an individual standpoint. That’s pretty obvious, right? If a consistent rush is coming from one direction, you can usually identify the weak link.

As far as the team effort is concerned, here, it’s hard for me to evaluate the o-line. My reason? I think much of the success of the protection has as much to do with the QB’s abilities as it does with the individual players on the o-line (hope that made sense). In other words, is the QB able to “use” his offensive linemen by moving around in the pocket (classic example: edge rushers attack from the outside, so as the QB, you need to have the presence of mind to slide up in the pocket to “buy more time”)? Also, is the QB decisive in his throws and does he get rid of the ball quickly? Just my opinion, but I recall the 49ers o-line being very bad during Jeff Garcia’s tenure, and yet, there were times when I thoughht the o-line looked pro-bowl"ish" because of Garcia’s stellar play. You can certainly make the argument that the o-line simply sucks if the QB has to 1) “use” his o-line in that manner, and 2) get rid of the ball that quickly, but that wouldn’t be fair. What the heck is my point here? I suppose my point is that, at least from a team effort perspective, I evaluate the o-line’s play based partly on the play of the QB. I say the O-line is doing a good job if he has sufficient time to get off a throw to both his check down receiver, and a streaking Vernon Davis who reaches 20-25 yards down field (at the point of the throw). If this amount of time is not afforded (3-4 seconds), then I’ll say that they did poorly. (I’d like to keep going on the QB, but I’m afraid I’m losing some folks here and not making much sense.)

The running game, like the passing game and the QB, has a lot to do with the play of the RB as well. How fast does he hit the whole, and/or how patient is he in waiting for the hole to open up? Remember Kevan Barlow? it was said that the o-line sucked when he was the starter. In comes Frank Gore, and all of a sudden, the o-line improves. Strange… Anyway, runs to the edges are pretty simple for me to analyze since the live camera angle shifts, allowing you to see everything unfold. It’ll be pretty obvious, say, if a guy like Kwame Harris completely misses a block, and allows the outside linebacker to crush Frank. Runs up the gap are a bit more difficult, but the replays usually help me track the line’s play.

Wow that was long. Sorry…

- Waiting4JoshMorgan