Rewatched AZ/OAK game, focused on the O-Line (LONG)

[Duckjake]

2nd down here. The Raiders bring a blitz up the middle.

Sendlein not only gets beat, but the MLB has a full speed sprint to the QB, barely touched.

Boyd does whatever can he can do to not get sacked, including throwing the ball to the ground near the line of scrimmage. The INT for TD was reviewed and overturned. Not a good start for Sendlein as he nearly cost the team dearly.

It appears that play was actually designed to be a screen to the H back. The H back floats out to the left flat out of the picture and the C,LG,and LT all release downfield after making their initial blocks. (Edit: The LT didn't release and its hard to tell if Sendlein was heading downfield but our #61 did and was blocking a DB downfield when the pass was "intercepted".)

If you watch this play again you will see Lyle Sendlein exactly where he was supposed to be. Blocking #77, the DT, then releasing downfield . It was Arrington, who whiffed on the block on the LB. I don't know if JJ was supposed to be in blitz protection on that play but it looks as if he had the opportunity to block the guy and missed.

Like I said it is not easy to tell who did what when watching these replays.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

I watched the entire second half tonight and I will say it is very difficult even going frame by frame on each play to really tell exactly who did what.

I do however have to disagree with your take on Sendlein. I believe the plays where you say he "fell" to the ground were plays where he was asked to cut the DT to the outside so the RB runs right by the DT. The Cards ran that play at least 3 times and each time Sendlein got better at it. Because the C is asked to leave his feet to make the block he naturally ends up on the ground.

The last time they ran that play the DT was already in the neutral zone at the snap and Sendlein was still able to brush him enough to get him out of the play.

The blitz/sack you blame on Sendlein's line calls really resulted from #46 leaving to help Levi Brown on the right side instead of staying put and looking for the blitz.

Over all considering it was Sendlein's first NFL game he did very well. He made a lot of solid blocks especially solo on DT's in pass protection getting pushed back into the pocket only once and got better the more he played.

I told you two people could watch the same replay and get two different opinions.

Here is a perfect example: on a sweep by Arrington with Levi Brown leading the way there are 3 Raiders defenders closing on the play and Brown doesn't appear to block anybody.

However, if you look closely you'll see that the middle defender, a Raider DB, sees Levi coming, turns his head, and runs away!

Levi lets his man down the field, and looks to block someone. Same with Nick Leckey. Levi connects with the OLB and his feet leave the air. He regains his balance but is 10 yards away from the play now. It looks like Gorin gets away with a block in the back. JJ makes a pretty good move and gains 2. Adequate job here as well.

I'd say we saw the play pretty similar there.

 

[JeffGollin]

Yeah But...

Before I get to specifics, breaking down O-line performance on every play was an awesome undertaking - one which has made this thread one of the most interesting and useful in ASFN history.

I think the disconnect - between glowing reports on Levi in the Oakland game vs. less positive comments about Levi struggling in pass pro in practice - has to do with whom he was going up against. It's one thing to shut down second and third stringers but totally different when you have to ward off the Freeney's (and yes, the Berry''s and Docketts) of the world.

The Sendlein commentary was also interesting (especially since I'm pulling for him to succeed here). Consider that he's an UDFA getting his first dose of NFL action (albeit against second and third units). It seems evident that he still has a lot to learn and techniques to get down, but I wouldn't rule him out. Questions must be: (a) is he a quick study? and (b) does he have enough size and pure physical ability to succeed once he learns what he has to learn?

Final OT observation - there was an interesting statement by Wiz about Shane Boyd. He said that he probably wouldn't have considered calling the QB draw play (that went for a TD) with Leinart or Warner in there. Which suggests that, despite Boyd's inexperience and deficiencies, he does bring something to the table that neither of the other 2 QB's can execute and, therefore, might be valuable in certain roles, down & distance situations and matchups calling for a more mobile QB.

 

[Duckjake]

I'd say we saw the play pretty similar there.

Actually I saw pretty much the same things you did on most plays in the second half.

I didn't bother with the first half because the poor quality of the Raiders broadcast made it too difficult to isolate players.

breaking down O-line performance on every play was an awesome undertaking -

It is especially difficult to analyze the play when you don't know exactly what the play was originally designed to accomplish. You do start to identify certain plays though and can sometimes tell when the team runs a variation of it as well which is cool.

Watching slo-mo/stop action of Cardinals v Raiders beat the heck out of sitting with the kids watching High School Musical 2.