Oline Analysis: Steelers Game #1

[Ibleedbrown]

I started on this pretty soon after the game but ran outta steam. Only got through almost the first half, and here it is the next game day and just now writing it. Better late than never l suppose. 

All plays graded from right to left. 

The key is the key: H = Hubbard, Te = Teller, Tr = Tretter, B = Bitonio, R = Robinson. Other players show up with numbers. 86 = Brown,   88 = Harris, 25 = Hilliard, 24 = Chubb, 27 = Hunt, 80 = Landry, 89 = Carlson, 67 = McCray, OBJ = himself. There may be others.

Grading system

 - means l felt the player did ok that play. They did what they were asked to do on the play and were effective

 + means l felt the player did above and beyond just good on the play. Maybe blocked a couple dudes, maybe laid an exceptional block. Maybe made an athletic move to pick up a delayed blitzer. Things like that. 

£ means the player did a poor job at doing what was expected during the play and they were a weight on the team. 

Plays will be noted much like Tour used to. S = series, P = plays. So S1P3 is series one play 3. Notes and side bars are included.

S1P1: Pass batted down at the line: H - held his guy back long enough to get the throw off but his man was the man who batted it down, Te -, Tr -, B -, R -, 86 - helped Robinson double an edge rusher.

S1P2: OBJ reception: H £ looked like he barely got his hand on his man speed rushing to his outside, but luckily Baker got the ball out quickly, Te - pushed his man right down the line, Tr - started doubling withTeller but wasn’t needed there so he turned upfield, B -, R -.

S1P3: Hunt 1st down reception: H £ beat outside again and then borderline blocked the guy in the back, Te - spent most of the play shadowing Hubbard in case Hubbard could turn his guy in (but he didn’t) or looking for a delayed blitzer (who never came), he did well finding someone to block when the play broke down, Tr - bent but didn’t break, B + did his part to pick up a stunt as he and Robinson effectively exchanged blocking assignments mid play and Bito handled it smoothly, R - barely a passing grade, he started off well blocking one guy and handed him off to Bito well, but he allowed the guy Bito started off with to get outside of him to apply pressure to the QB and borderline blocked him in the back. Note: Baker made some magic happen to get this pass off, and Hunt made a nice snag on the other end.

S1P4: OBJ almost TD reception: H - bent but didn’t break on another outside speed rush, Te -, Tr -, B-, R -, 88 -.

S1P5: Baker TD sneak: 27 - looked like a sorry block attempt, but from where he was on the end of the line it was effective enough, H -, Te -, Tr -, B + drove his man back with authority, Baker was smart to follow him, R -, 67 -, 88 -, 86 -, 24 - gets an assist on the TD for giving Baker a shove in the right direction.  

S2P1: Chubb 1st down run: H -, Te - looked like he may have gotten away with a hold, Tr - helped create the hole for Chubb and did a nice job keeping his man’s arms down so he couldn’t tackle Chubb, B + also helped create the hole and then handed his man off to Robinson and executed a key second level block to spring Chubb further, R - did well driving his man backwards, 88 - started doubling with Robinson and then disengaged to double another guy with Bito, 80 -, 89 - made a key block to prevent a backfield tackle, OBJ - he didn’t really significantly block anyone but somehow managed to get the attention of a would be tackler with his magnificent aura of OBJness long enough for Chubb to scoot past him.

S2P2: Chubb run for a loss: H - did well here, Te - looked like he took a wrong first step but recovered well enough, Tr + doubled a guy with Bito at first but then disengaged to find a next level block, B -, R -, 27 £ pretty weak block in a fullback role, basically bounced off his man and his man made the TFL, 80 - maybe got away with a hold.

S2P3: OBJ no gain reception: 89 - it looked like he blocked Hubbard’s guy for him, H - spent the play watching Carlson block his guy, Te -, Tr - chip and release for a next level block, B - same as Tretter, R - also tried to chip and release but got held up on the chip part and couldn’t make it to OBJs tackler in time to prevent the tackle, but sold effort. 

S2P4: Hunt 1st down reception: 88 - chip and release, H - barely sorta held up on another outside speed rush, Te £ got bull rushed and his man effectively side stepped him when he stiffened up against the bull and allowed his man to create pressure, Tr + fended off his first man and then hustled his butt upfield to provide another key block to spring Hunt for 1st down yardage, B -, R -, 27 + he crashed into the guy Robinson was blocking and jolted all involved, then had the wherewithal to right himself and catch Baker’s pass and hustle for the first. The block was nothing special, but great individual effort and execution here.

S2P5: Pass OOB: 88 - did about as well as Hubbard on the outside speed rush, which means he barely got the job done, H - did ok here but l think HE thought he had Teller helping inside, Te -, Tr - seemed to struggle with a bull rush but held up long enough, B -, R - fended off an outside speed rush pretty well. 

S2P6: Screen pass to Hunt: 80 £ tried to take out a defender’s legs but executed badly, H - released to make a second level block and Landry lucky he didn’t get stepped on here, Te - chip and release, Tr - released to second level block, B -, R -, 89 - poorly executed second level block but no effect on the play.

S2P7: Pass OOB to Hodge: H - sorta barely held up on another outside speed rush, Te - spent the play chipping Tretter’s guy and then Hubbard’s guy, Tr - was a one man shield to Baker’s front side during part of this play, B -, R - decent job fending off an outside speed rush. Note: only a 3 man rush so woulda been nice to see them get less pressure than they did. Punt...

S3P1: Chubb run: H - blocking scheme moved left, Te - drove his man down with Hubbard’s help, Tr -, B -, R + chip and release with very effective next level block, 88 -, 89 -, 80 - effectively kept his man out of the play, Note: where is Pharoah Brown?

S3P2: Deflected pass intended for Hunt: H -, Te -, Tr -, B -, R + athletic play with a powerful initial block on a guy who he then handed off to Bito to pick up a stunting blitzer to his outside, 80 -, 89 - both he and Landry were in position to make downfield blocks had the pass been completed.

S3P3: Incomplete to OBJ: H - his best job so far fending off Watt, Te - held up on a stout bull rush, Tr - doubled a guy with Bito, B -, R - did well here and looks like he took a hands to the face. Punt...

S4P1: Chubb run no gain: H -, Te - l had a hard time reading what Teller was trying to do here as he immediately turned in like he was going to double a guy with Tretter instead of block the guy in front of him, but then turned back out to indeed block the guy in front of him and got the job done with (l think) Brown’s help, Tr -, B - chip and next level block, R £ best l can tell the defender used Robinson’s power block against him and Robinson fell down and it screwed up the play causing Chubb to change direction and get tackled, 88 - very solid block, kept his man at bay, 86 £ lined up as a full back and made a very sorry block attempt patty caking a guy and then running into the fray with little authority.

S4P2: Hodge 1st down reception: H - line blocking scheme moved left, Te -, Tr -, B -, R -. Note: nice pump fake to Hunt causing a rusher to over pursue and jump with his hands in the air like he just don’t care.

S4P3: Chubb run short gain: 89 - did a fine job keeping Watt out of the play, but mostly because Watt hung back looking to see if it was a pass or run play, H - he and the rest of the line blocked left, Te - ended up blocking the guy Tretter started off blocking, Tr £ chip and release play but he whiffed on his second level block, B - maybe could have done a better job occupying his man, but with the angle Chubb took past him there wasn’t much Bito could do, R - fine job.

S4P4: Landry 1st down reception: H - way to handle that speed rush, Te - bent but didn’t break, Tr -, B -, R -.

S4P5: Chubb run TFL or no gain: H - blocking scheme moved left, Te £ looked like he fell down before he could block anyone, Tr - he and Bito started doubling a guy, Tretter stayed with that guy and..., B - disengaged to find a next level block, R £ didn’t do well staying with his man and he got shed and his man made the tackle, 88 - started doubling a guy with P. Brown and then released to find a next level block, 86 - stuck with the guy. Note: how did Pittsburgh avoid an offsides penalty there?

S4P6: Chubb run: 86 + helped create a lane, gets a plus here because Watt really made him work for it, but he held his block even after Chubb was past the LOS, H - released to find a second level block but could’ve done a better job on said second level block, Te - did his part to create s lane for Chubb, Tr - chip and release but never found a worthwhile second level block, B - got a little discombobulated during the play trying to slow down a couple guys but stayed on his feet, R - looked like he stumbled trying to shoot through the line to find a next level block but never found one, 80 - good effort and l hope no one stepped on him when he got sandwiched between Chubb and a defender.

S4P7: DPI call pass intended for Hodge: H £ beat by another speed rush but benefitted from an uncalled block in the back, or more specifically a push to the back shoulder of the defender effectively pushing him into the turf, Te - interestingly his eyes were on Hubbard most of the play as though his primary objective was to wait for Hubbard to turn his man inside so that he could help (this was seen on sn earlier play too), he also provided a one handed chuck block on Tretter’s man but spent most of the play watching Hubbard suck at blocking, Tr -, B - nice pick up of a stunting blitzer, R - nice work picking up a rusher who went real wide.

S4P8: Landry TD reception: 27 - admirable block attempt, H -, Te -, Tr -, B -, R -. 

Notes: As much crap as l’ve given Robinson when doing these break downs l gotta give him props for the part of the game l dissected. He did quite well. I don’t know what kind of carrot the coaching staff put on that stick to get him to play so good, but l hope they got more of those carrots lying around.

Hubbard on the other hand, yeesh. 

Gotta lay some love on Jarvis Landry. I love seeing how involved he is in damn near every facet of the offense. Sure, he lays some crappy blocks sometimes, but on running plays it’s very evident that he takes blocking very, very seriously and does well more often than not.

I’m still on the fence on Teller vs. Kush. There are times l’m not sure Teller knows exactly what is expected of him on some plays. I don’t recall ever thinking that about Kush. But both guys seem to be about equal in effectiveness, and l get that Teller is the younger guy and viewed as having a higher ceiling, so l guess keep giving him shots. It’s a shame this whole “getting the Oline right” experiment is taking the whole season to sort out, but it’s hard for me to assign blame. I feel like resources and effort were expended from the top down to get it right, but it just hasn’t gone as smoothly as we hoped. 

Full back: l don’t think we have anyone on the roster who plays a convincing full back. Hunt, Carlson, Brown and l think Harris have given it a shot, but none of them have looked so great doing it. 

[Tour2ma]

Good stuff...

Keep on keepin' on....