The madness that is Leonard Davis.

[BACH]

You need to watch the play again.It's pretty obvious the pass was supposed to be quick stop pattern. Watch Leinart and it's pretty easy to see. He didn't egt worked over.He went for the cut block and ,i admit, that is his weakest blocking technique.

Cut Blocks are usually scripted on quick slants, so without seeing the play yet (family duties before football) I suspect that you're correct.

 

[Cardiac]

After reading the many astute posts on this topic and remembering what I saw of the play I have come to the following conclusion.

BIG's first responsibility on the play was to ensure that his man didn't get an inside rush on Matt. His man took an immediate quick outside move that left BIG already beaten, he simply doesn't have the quickest feet and is...well Big. Since the cut block was the technique he was going to use if the player went inside he went with that block anyway.. not the worst decision just poor execution. All of this still works out okay if Matt doesn't have to hang onto the ball because the play was a quick slant that was covered or a double move that didn't get the desired results.

 

[football karma]

I think that TV shows a good job of lineplay. The problem is that they suck 5 yards behind the line, or 15 yards in the secondary.

to be more specific-- my point was just a derivation of the "you only notice offensive line play when its bad".

With sacks or hits on the QB, you usually get a replay showing how it happened. On completed passes, the replay is usually the WR beating his man -- only occasionally will you get the "look at the protection" replay.

Do any of us really know how often Big is asked to make that block and how often he is successful?

Unless someone tapes games and grades o-line play, most of this is speculation.

 

[Duckjake]

Big has definitely tried to cutblock in the past, and I only recall it working a couple of times.

It actually worked earlier in the game.

think that's the first time I ever saw Leonard attempt that manouver and, on hindsight, perhaps maybe that wasn't the best time for Leonard and Loney to try something new.

It just shows the difference in how people watch the games. That cut block has been used numerous times and discussed on this board throughout the course of the season.

 

[Russ Smith]

That play was on the WR. If you watch the replay,the WR(couldn't tell who it was) was supposed to just do a quick stop route. It was 3rd and 1. You can see that Leinart was ready to throw it but the WR ran a pattern further up field and Leinart had to pump it instead of throwing it thus allowing the DE to get to him. Big did his job on that play.He could've done it better by getting the guy on the ground but he did get the rushers hands down to complete the play. Too bad the WR wasn't on the same page.

I thought that too but the more they showed the replay the harder it was to believe that was really a quick hitch. I think Matt pumped and the WR made a double move, but Big tried to cut Green because he didn't think he could get out to him quick enough.

 

[Shane]

I thought that too but the more they showed the replay the harder it was to believe that was really a quick hitch. I think Matt pumped and the WR made a double move, but Big tried to cut Green because he didn't think he could get out to him quick enough.

LD screwed up plain and simple. His lovers make excuses every time he does something wrong. Which is a lot.

 

[Stout]

LD screwed up plain and simple. His lovers make excuses every time he does something wrong. Which is a lot.

 

[Cbus cardsfan]

LD screwed up plain and simple. His lovers make excuses every time he does something wrong. Which is a lot.

And his bashers try to nit-pick and find something to criticize every play. THe fact is we really don't know who screwed up on the play. I think it was a hitch,as do alot of people, but you like to jump in when there is the first chance that someone thinks it may have been a different play and take that as the way it is.Typical, on your part.

 

[Duckjake]

LD screwed up plain and simple. His lovers make excuses every time he does something wrong. Which is a lot.

Not really. The problem I see with Davis is that he'll play really well for awhile and then just seem to forget he's playing football. It's like an intelligent kid who tends to daydream in class.

He just seems to lose focus for a few plays every game and then he'll go back to playing well again. Has to be frustrating for the coaches.

 

[Stout]

Not really. The problem I see with Davis is that he'll play really well for awhile and then just seem to forget he's playing football. It's like an intelligent kid who tends to daydream in class.

He just seems to lose focus for a few plays every game and then he'll go back to playing well again. Has to be frustrating for the coaches.

And frustrating for the fans. As for the fans who think so highly of him, I wonder what they think the ratio is on the amount of times a game Davis zones out vs. the amount of time the truly elite tackles zone out a game. They'll probably find, on honest thought, that he zones out far too often for such a lauded LT.

 

[KingofCards]

We need to keep him.

Losing him would be a step back for our o-line.

Who else is going to play LT?

 

[BACH]

And frustrating for the fans. As for the fans who think so highly of him, I wonder what they think the ratio is on the amount of times a game Davis zones out vs. the amount of time the truly elite tackles zone out a game. They'll probably find, on honest thought, that he zones out far too often for such a lauded LT.

For my part, you cannot make that comparison.

I think it's obvious that Big is simply too big, and therefore too slow to be an Elite blindside tackle. He's been playing blindside tackle until Leinart took over. As a blindside tackle, I believe he was average - One of the few players that was good enough to start, but not in the Elite Group. Big was arguably one of the best run-blocking blindside OTs, but everything is about pass-protection on the blindside, so that made him only average.

BUT Big isn't a blindside tackle anymore, so you need to compare him to the 31 frontside OTs (or RTs) in the league. His awesome run-blocking is a much bigger part of playing frontside than blindside, so he moves up to being among the best frontside tackles in the league.

Other quality RTs are IMO McKenzie from the Giants or Anderson from Cincy (Jansen, Diem and Maurice Williams are other candidates). Big is currently better than both of them.

I have no doubt that Big is the best frontside tackle in the NFL right now. I will not question that for a second. I do question paying 10+M for an offensive tackle, that isn't protectng the QBs blindside.

 

[D-Dogg]

Regardless, it's a must that we keep him. Tag him and extend him, or tag him and trade him...he should not walk for nothing.

 

[Stout]

Regardless, it's a must that we keep him. Tag him and extend him, or tag him and trade him...he should not walk for nothing.

That I have to grudgingly agree with.