Shout out to John Benton

[JohnnyLV]

I have to say that for the first 6 weeks our OL was just horrific, beyond awful.

However over the last 12 weeks or so our OL has gotten progressively better especially in run blocking which is a function of team work and coordination in our "zone" scheme.

Even when we swap in different players our run blocking is pretty effective. We have gotten to the point we can run on almost everyone.

In pass blocking we still see breakdowns but that tends to be on the individual matchup. Edoga was sort of a turnstyle yesterday.

But as fans we should recognize that Benton is doing a fantastic job with the OL.

If you notice we are doing a lot more  of the wide zone runs because the OL finally gets it, and the blocking for that is super precise and technical.

Lots of really positive things going into 2022 and the coaching of both LaFleur and Benton should be recognized.

 

[JoJoTownsell1]

There were many here that wondered "why we are forcing this blocking scheme on players??" People wanted to abandon ship on zone scheme because it didn't click right away (I had my doubts as well). 

Turns out, you need more than 2 games to implement an entirely new blocking system. 

Lafleur/Benton are keepers. Hopefully we get some help on defense in the offseason and we can say the same thing about Saleh/Ulbrich on the defensive side of the ball next year

[Darnold's Forehead]

This team has been so dreadful to watch when it can’t run the ball.  I am beyond pleased at how they’ve been able to run recently.  With some quality WEAPONZ on the field things can really open up with this offense.

Ground n pound baby.

[bla bla bla]

Completely agree, we knew the OL would take time to gel especially with us playing musical chairs at OT to start. It seems like practice and the addition of LDT have been just what the doctor ordered.

 

Ba dum tiss... I'll see myself out

[BurnleyJet]

I think even with all the injuries when GVR was benched the play improved dramatically.

[peekskill68]

I would have liked to see what Benton could have done with Becton over the course of an entire season...

[jetswin]

1 hour ago, BurnleyJet said:

I think even with all the injuries when GVR was benched the play improved dramatically.

Bingo!

 

 

[derp]

Good OL coach is so huge. Benton’s been awesome. The functional run game takes pressure off the young QB too.

[BigRy56]

He's done a great job. The coaching overall has really shown through on the offensive side of the ball

[rldev]

7 hours ago, BurnleyJet said:

I think even with all the injuries when GVR was benched the play improved dramatically.

This.

[Waka Flocka Flacco]

10 hours ago, johnnysd said:

Edoga was sort of a turnstyle yesterday.

Turnstiles don't spin without getting touched.

Edoga is Nigerian for matador.

[JohnnyLV]

3 minutes ago, Waka Flocka Flacco said:

Turnstiles don't spin without getting touched.

Edoga is Nigerian for matador.

Oh that is pretty funny.

[Jet_Engine1]

7 hours ago, bla bla bla said:

Completely agree, we knew the OL would take time to gel especially with us playing musical chairs at OT to start. It seems like practice and the addition of LDT have been just what the doctor ordered.

 

Ba dum tiss... I'll see myself out

Dr. Pancake has played far above what I was told he was. Love it.

[doitny]

and to just think of how this board was after a few games..

" how does JD let Saleh hire all his friends with no experience" !!! they should all be fired!!!!

 

[Irish Jet]

They really weren’t all that great. A few times they let Vea come through untouched and Zach immediately had to bail. That doesn’t come up on the PFF hack stats though.

[Jetscode1]

Saleh's staff look like good teachers from my perspective.  JD needs to stack another good draft class and this team can better in a hurry.  

[68JET11]

19 minutes ago, Jetscode1 said:

Saleh's staff look like good teachers from my perspective.  JD needs to stack another good draft class and this team can better in a hurry.  

I think you can say that for the offense, but not the defense so far. with the exception of the CB's that were taken late, the defense keeps making the same mistakes game in and game out. I would expect more out of them by now. How do you line up the back 7 in this defense always behind the first down marker. Every time I watch a game, when the play starts all the LB's, CB's and safeties are moving backwards behind the 1st down markers. It's a wonder we can't stop 3rd and anything.

[Chrebetfan80]

19 hours ago, johnnysd said:

I have to say that for the first 6 weeks our OL was just horrific, beyond awful.

However over the last 12 weeks or so our OL has gotten progressively better especially in run blocking which is a function of team work and coordination in our "zone" scheme.

Even when we swap in different players our run blocking is pretty effective. We have gotten to the point we can run on almost everyone.

In pass blocking we still see breakdowns but that tends to be on the individual matchup. Edoga was sort of a turnstyle yesterday.

But as fans we should recognize that Benton is doing a fantastic job with the OL.

If you notice we are doing a lot more  of the wide zone runs because the OL finally gets it, and the blocking for that is super precise and technical.

Lots of really positive things going into 2022 and the coaching of both LaFleur and Benton should be recognized.

 

wide zone has come along which was going to take time, but also we've incorporated more power and trap the last few weeks.  Especially against the bucs we ran a good deal of trap which I love to see. 

Next year watch out when we get a real FB and can become counter heavy.  Great answer to teams that overplay the outside zone. Something Shanahan loves. 

[Sperm Edwards]

5 hours ago, Jetscode1 said:

Saleh's staff look like good teachers from my perspective.  JD needs to stack another good draft class and this team can better in a hurry.  

There are definitely areas they've looked bad, though.

The tackling is really weak & sloppy overall.

The DL went from team strength to a team weakness overnight despite no major personnel loss.

Coleman is the only reliable one of the three RBs when staying in to block on pass plays, and it's been one of the other two out there doing it over 80% of the time. Carter and Johnson - the two younger guys in need of more coaching than the veteran - have left much to be desired in that area.

The pass catching overall has been just bad/inconsistent this year. That includes guys who were previously sure-handed like Davis who then drops a pass every week (and it's not like that came amid anything like a 10+ target/wk average). I don't know what else he could or should have done with Mims, but whatever he did wasn't the answer. Moore had a really slow start, which was unexpected even for a rookie given he's supposed to be such an individual overtime work and film study junkie. Miles Austin was a fantastic WR on the field himself for a while, but as a position coach I'm pretty unimpressed with his results this year.

Strength and conditioning. The injuries -- covid aside, since every team has dealt with that, there are too many injuries. Maybe it's no more than any other teams and this is just the one I pay the most attention to, and I'm inadvertently mixing in covid with actual injuries, but it sure seems like our guys get hurt more than they should.

The QBC situation got rectified eventuality, but the first half of the season was inexcusable with a rookie starter. No, Wilson isn't great still, but the improvement is easy to see. I think it's more than just experience to account for the difference since being able to lean on the combo of a veteran QB plus his own QBC, without handicapping the whole offense by having LaFleur stand on the sideline in his first play calling stint. There was the obvious unexpected bike accident but that was back in July & they were way too slow to address it.

[Sperm Edwards]

I'm very pleased with OL improvement.

McGovern went from outright liability to reliable this year (on the field; not counting his injury).

Mulletman looked solid enough given the assignment.

Fant went from a forgettable RT in need of a camp competition to a very solid pass blocking LT starter.

It's easy/lazy to bypass coaching credit for AVT looking good as a rookie. 

Ditto Moses, who was supposed to be such a scheme mismatch.

I can't fault coaching for Edoga and GVR being terrible when time has shown them to be such outliers.

Big shame about Big Ticket. All this improvement is in his absence. With his talent and size he should/should be crushing it out there.

The OL improvement was faster than any of us expected overall, especially when there was an earlier claim by Shanahan that it takes 2+ years together for their zbl to "get it" (and he had superior personnel on paper to do it). So yeah, it's hard to no be very pleased with the OL coaching.

[rangerous]

20 hours ago, johnnysd said:

I have to say that for the first 6 weeks our OL was just horrific, beyond awful.

However over the last 12 weeks or so our OL has gotten progressively better especially in run blocking which is a function of team work and coordination in our "zone" scheme.

Even when we swap in different players our run blocking is pretty effective. We have gotten to the point we can run on almost everyone.

In pass blocking we still see breakdowns but that tends to be on the individual matchup. Edoga was sort of a turnstyle yesterday.

But as fans we should recognize that Benton is doing a fantastic job with the OL.

If you notice we are doing a lot more  of the wide zone runs because the OL finally gets it, and the blocking for that is super precise and technical.

Lots of really positive things going into 2022 and the coaching of both LaFleur and Benton should be recognized.

 

yep.  but what's just as important is that the back ups came in and the oline still functioned pretty well.  sure mcdermott isn't as good at lt as fant but he was okay for a time.  and fant replaced becton.  even gvr came in for tardiff and did okay.  all it took was practice and playing together.

[Jetscode1]

10 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

There are definitely areas they've looked bad, though.

The tackling is really weak & sloppy overall.

The DL went from team strength to a team weakness overnight despite no major personnel loss.

Coleman is the only reliable one of the three RBs when staying in to block on pass plays, and it's been one of the other two out there doing it over 80% of the time. Carter and Johnson - the two younger guys in need of more coaching than the veteran - have left much to be desired in that area.

The pass catching overall has been just bad/inconsistent this year. That includes guys who were previously sure-handed like Davis who then drops a pass every week (and it's not like that came amid anything like a 10+ target/wk average). I don't know what else he could or should have done with Mims, but whatever he did wasn't the answer. Moore had a really slow start, which was unexpected even for a rookie given he's supposed to be such an individual overtime work and film study junkie. Miles Austin was a fantastic WR on the field himself for a while, but as a position coach I'm pretty unimpressed with his results this year.

Strength and conditioning. The injuries -- covid aside, since every team has dealt with that, there are too many injuries. Maybe it's no more than any other teams and this is just the one I pay the most attention to, and I'm inadvertently mixing in covid with actual injuries, but it sure seems like our guys get hurt more than they should.

The QBC situation got rectified eventuality, but the first half of the season was inexcusable with a rookie starter. No, Wilson isn't great still, but the improvement is easy to see. I think it's more than just experience to account for the difference since being able to lean on the combo of a veteran QB plus his own QBC, without handicapping the whole offense by having LaFleur stand on the sideline in his first play calling stint. There was the obvious unexpected bike accident but that was back in July & they were way too slow to address it.

Rome wasn't built in a day.  They are definitely issues with certain areas but I love the fact we have a coach trying to teach his way to depth.  A matter of approach as I view it.  The OL and the running game looks better than anything we've seen here since Rex's ground and pound.  The defense has struggled mightily.  Is Ulbrich the answer?  I'm not convinced but again I appreciate the fact Saleh is playing youth on both sides of the ball and hope the lessons learned will pay off in the future.  

[RedBeardedSavage]

10 hours ago, Sperm Edwards said:

The DL went from team strength to a team weakness overnight despite no major personnel loss.

Agree with everything else you said in this post - but ehh, Carl Lawson?

Sure that doesn't excuse the rest of the play by this defensive line - which has been miserable.

But I mean, Carl was having an excellent camp was seemingly our most dangerous disruptor on defense. 

That injury was devastating. 

[sirlancemehlot]

On 1/3/2022 at 4:36 PM, bla bla bla said:

Completely agree, we knew the OL would take time to gel especially with us playing musical chairs at OT to start. It seems like practice and the addition of LDT have been just what the doctor ordered.

 

Ba dum tiss... I'll see myself out

[Sperm Edwards]

14 hours ago, RedBeardedSavage said:

Agree with everything else you said in this post - but ehh, Carl Lawson?

Sure that doesn't excuse the rest of the play by this defensive line - which has been miserable.

But I mean, Carl was having an excellent camp was seemingly our most dangerous disruptor on defense. 

That injury was devastating. 

I'm well aware of Lawson's absence, but he wasn't on the team last year either.

[RedBeardedSavage]

Just now, Sperm Edwards said:

I'm well aware of Lawson's absence, but he wasn't on the team last year either.

But doesn't the decline represent more of a difference in scheme?

Occupying blocks/controlling gaps versus penetration/disruption?

The latter requires more talent, no?

I think it's like we're spending one significant starter contract and one first round pick to bolster that unit this offseason. 

[Sperm Edwards]

1 minute ago, RedBeardedSavage said:

But doesn't the decline represent more of a difference in scheme?

Occupying blocks/controlling gaps versus penetration/disruption?

The latter requires more talent, no?

I think it's like we're spending one significant starter contract and one first round pick to bolster that unit this offseason. 

On obvious running downs they're not trying to slip through tackles to get to the QB by any means necessary. 27 rushing TDs isn't because of scheme, and they aren't lacking talent in terms of run stoppers among Quinnen W, FF, and JFM alone. None have looked particularly good on balance, and honestly if it can fully get pegged on scheme misfit that's on the coaching anyway. You have the players you have, not the players you hope to acquire over the next couple offseasons. jmo.

[RedBeardedSavage]

17 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

On obvious running downs they're not trying to slip through tackles to get to the QB by any means necessary. 27 rushing TDs isn't because of scheme, and they aren't lacking talent in terms of run stoppers among Quinnen W, FF, and JFM alone. None have looked particularly good on balance, and honestly if it can fully get pegged on scheme misfit that's on the coaching anyway. You have the players you have, not the players you hope to acquire over the next couple offseasons. jmo.

I understand that - but in a 'redshirt year' for the team with a rookie quarterback, coaching staff in full rebuild mode, maybe the plan was to teach the scheme as opposed to adjust it based on players? 

That's just me be incredibly generous to everyone involved. Saleh/Ulbrich need to get better, but so does the talent on that defensive line. 

[PavlovsDogs]

On 1/3/2022 at 7:10 PM, Jet_Engine1 said:

Dr. Pancake has played far above what I was told he was. Love it.

Dr. Pancake - Jets please resign him so I can scream that at my TV next year ?