(15:00) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Dotson), right + H-back (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is power-O to the strongside (right) with Larsen (who starts in place of an injured Zuttah) lead-blocking on a pull. Blount takes the handoff and follows Larsen. Larsen attempts to force open a hole through the strongside C-gap (between Trueblood and Dotson) but there is none. Blount follows him but seeing that there is nothing open, bounces to the outside where there is open field. He cuts downfield tight to the outside of the line but there is a Saints DB unblocked to his outside. As Blount runs past, the DB wraps up Blount around the knees which brings him down for a gain of three.
What could Blount have done better?
This is a play where, no doubt, people will be accusing Blount of "dancing", but the fact is there was nothing open in front of him, so he had no option but to bounce outside. It looks like the DB who brought down Blount was covering Winslow, and as no-one blocked that DB, I would guess that he was Winslow's responsibility (Winslow doubled with Stocker on a linebacker instead). Even so, the failure of the play was down to the line not being able to get any holes open, forcing Blount outside. (For those wondering, had Blount stayed behind Larsen and just waited for a hole to open up, he would have definitely been at risk at being tackled for a loss by a safety who, worryingly, Larsen seemed unable to block without having to resort to holding).
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(14:24) 2nd & 7: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a drop-back pass. At the snap, Blount runs up to the strongside (right) A-gap, where there is a linebacker and a safety blitzing. Joseph picks up the linebacker, but as Blount approaches the safety, the safety changes direction and runs to the weakside of the field, as Freeman has already thrown the pass in that direction (which is incomplete to Williams). Williams is dinged in the leg on the play, and Tracy Porter is carted off. (Ironic, huh?)
What could Blount have done better?
His assignment appeared to be blitz-pickup in the strongside A-gap, and seeing two blitzers coming through, he runs towards them with determination. So, he knows his responsibility, and goes to execute it, so he did fine on the play - with the exception of my pet peeve: once the safety has changed direction, meaning he was no longer Blount's responsibility (as he never actually got through the A-gap), Blount did just stand and watch the play rather than chase down the safety. Yes, his assignment may well have been "Stay in the A-gap and don't chase down any potential blitzers", but in that case, he should have remained looking for a blitzer, rather than watching the play. Still, he was in position to execute his primary assignment.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down.
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(9:22) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is an FB-lead up the weakside (left) B-gap (sorta. Would have been B-gap except Penn got raped on his inside, so he chases the DE inside, meaning Blount sorta runs in up a hypothetical C-gap, I guess). At the snap, Lorig runs up the B-gap while Blount receives the handoff. Blount looks to follow Lorig but, at the snap, Penn took a step outside (rather than towards the DE like all good linemen should do), so the DE blew inside Penn and flew into the backfield completely untouched. Blount sees this so heads outside, while Penn does to some extent redeem himself by getting his hands on the DE and pushes him away from Blount. Blount continues running towards the left, while infront of him, Benn and Lorig are in position to block the WLB and MLB respectively. Blount continues to the lead, causing the WLB to overcommit, then cuts back inside, while Benn blocks the WLB away from Blount. Lorig gets his hands on the MLB and blocks him towards the outside, leaving wide open field for Blount inside. Blount heads upfield and sees a safety coming down to hit him low. As the safety dives for his knees, Blount hurdles him, but the other safety has chased Blount down from behind, and while he's in midair, this second safety wraps Blount up from behind. Blount lands but is unable to shake the safety off, and while he is able to drag him another yard or two, the safety slips down so his arms are around Blount's legs, which brings him to the ground. Gain of 15.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really. He did a great job adjusting & avoiding the DE who Penn completely whiffed on, then did a good job of reading Benn & Lorig's blocks, while his faking to the outside to get the WLB off balance definitely helped the WR out in blocking him. Perfect running from Blount, resulting in a great fifteen yard gain.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really. He did a great job adjusting & avoiding the DE who Penn completely whiffed on, then did a good job of reading Benn & Lorig's blocks, while his faking to the outside to get the WLB off balance definitely helped the WR out in blocking him. Perfect running from Blount, resulting in a great fifteen yard gain.
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(8:41) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Dotson), right + H-back (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a zone-run to the weakside (left). Blount receives the handoff and runs to the weakside. Penn does a decent job of blocking the weakside DE until Blount gets past him. Larsen & Faine initially double on the weakside DT, then Larsen peels off to pick up the WLB, who he blocks successfully throughout the entire play until he puts him on the ground downfield. Faine, meantime, appears to fall over, but in doing so, trips up the weakside DT and taking him out the play. The strongside DT, meanwhile appears to be bracing for a block from Joseph, but when Joseph shoots past him into the second level, he seems to become off-balance, bending over, and Trueblood falls on top of his back, and both of them fall to the ground. This then sets up the running lane for Blount, between the two DTs who Faine & Trueblood respectively have put on the ground. Blount runs up and has Joseph in front of him, blocking the MLB. With Joseph in front of him, Blount cuts back inside to the right behind Joseph, into an unblocked safety. The safety wraps his arms around Blount's chest from the side, but Blount keeps churning his legs and walking through the safety, dragging him for another couple of yards. However, the strongside DE, who Dotson failed to lock up, runs up from behind and hits Blount from behind, and his weight drags Blount down (landing on top of the WLB who Larsen had put on the ground). As Blount is going down, the other safety, Malcolm Jenkins, comes down and hits Blount up high. Gain of eight.
What could Blount have done better?
Despite the gain of eight, Blount could have done a LOT better on this play IMO. Blount did a great job initially of chasing the B-gap (which naturally moves during zone-blocking), seeing the cutback lane through the two DTs and going up field, and recognised just fine when he had to cut one way or the other due to the read presented by Joseph's block. My issue is the direction he chose to cut: he cut to the right and into an unblocked safety (who, to be fair, appears to have been obscured from Blount's view by Joseph). Still, with Joseph blocking the MLB and Larsen making the WLB his bitch, had Blount cut to the left, he would have had a LOT of open field in front of him, and it would have been at least a first down. Further, if we would have seen a repeat of the above play with Jenkins diving at Blount's knees allowing for a hurdle, there would have been no-one behind Jenkins, and the play could well have been a 53-yard touchdown. Even if Jenkins wouldn't have positioned himself to be hurdled, we would at least be seeing 1st & 10 on the next play, not 2 & 2nd. Still, a gain of eight isn't bad by any means.
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(8:00) 2nd & 2: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a simple FB-lead dive up the middle. Lorig runs up the weakside (left) A-gap, hitting the WLB hard as Blount crosses the LOS and, apparently, tripping the WLB up so that he can't get to Blount. Blount takes the handoff but peels off towards the strongside (right). Faine & Joseph doubleteam on the strongside DT, blocking him inside, while Trueblood engages the strongside DE, and these two blocks set the edges of a narrow running lane. Blount cuts up and through the running lane, emerging through the other side into a waiting safety, who basically leaps onto Blount and drags him down to the ground. Gain of seven.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he did a great job of seeing the running lane, which was very narrow, and got seven yards, which is a great gain. Special mention goes to the great blocking up front from most of the rest of the team - Faine & Joseph clearing the strongside DT out the way for Blount & Trueblood engaging the strongside DE to keep him off of Blount, Stocker doing a great job on the OLB, and Briscoe, at Z, completely manhandling the corner. Lorig & Williams did a fine job too on the WLB & CB - only bad blocks came from Penn & Larsen on the weakside DE & DT respectively. (For those wondering, the MLB tried to come down through the weakside A-gap, but Blount was past him by then, and Faine's backside was enough of a barrier that the MLB was never in position to get back into the play)
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(7:23) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is designed as a drop-back pass. At the snap, the Saints send seven rushers - the DL, the SLB, and the WLB & MLB on a Mike-Will cross - with a safety coming on a delayed blitz for an eighth rusher. At the snap, the Will cross and blitzes through the strongside (right) B-gap. Blount sees him coming up and runs up to him and meets him, standing him up and blocking him. However, Lorig whiffs on blocking the MLB, and that causes Freeman to scramble. Freeman scrambles but the blitzing safety wraps up Freeman's legs. He then gets wrapped up by the weakside DT, who gets off of Larsen's block, and the strongside DE, who gets off of Trueblood's block. The WLB chases Freeman down from behind, and though Blount runs with him, keeping his hands on him initially, the WLB runs out of Blount's grasp and is the fourth defender to wrap up Freeman; the weakside DE, who Penn has left to run off, is man number five in the gang tackle as Freeman goes down. Gain of one.
What could Blount have done better?
I'm actually going to say not much. Blount did everything he was meant to do - pick up a blitzer, and block him so that he never touches Freeman while Free is in the pocket. However, once Freeman scrambles, Blount does a poor job of drive-blocking (aka run-blocking). This is not at all surprising in the least - when does Blount ever need to drive-block? The play is called as a pass, and Blount's pass-protection was absolutely fine; it was only when Freeman scrambled that Blount needed to change from pass-protection to run-blocking, which is a very different beast all together (just ask Penn, who's perfectly serviceable as a pass-blocker, but is absolutely poo as a run-blocker). So in terms of what was asked of Blount, he did his job perfectly, so no complaints at all.
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(6:44) 2nd & 9: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right + H-back (Pianalto), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a zone-run to the weakside (left). Blount receives the handoff and runs to the weakside. As he reaches the LOS, Faine has locked in the weakside DT but has not be able to drive him back at all, so Blount looks for a cutback lane. He cuts back across the formation until he reaches near the end of the line, and then cuts downfield just past Stocker, right into the SLB who both Pianalto and Winslow failed to block (it appears as if Pianalto peeled off to his a safety, assuming Winslow would sustain the block, while Winslow, unable to contain the SLB, goes to block a corner instead of coming back to block the SLB). Meantime, the strongside DE spins out of Stocker's block and into Blount. The corner, meanwhile, gets off of Winslow's block with ease and joins into the gang tackle, as does the MLB, whom Joseph failed to block. After the pile is on the floor, three more Saints defenders pile on needlessly. Gain of three.
What could Blount have done better?
This is where I'm delighted that the NFL are releasing all 22 camera angles from next season, as it's not very easy to see exactly what is going on at the farside of the play. Specifically, it is impossible to see how good of a position the SLB was in to make the tackle of Blount, and accordingly, hard to judge whether there was another option of Blount. To elaborate: if the SLB was in a bad position to wrap up Blount as he went past, Blount would have been far, far better off continuing across the field and then turning up through the corner; on the other hand, the SLB might have been in good position to make a play on Blount had he tried to do that, in which case, he was better off trying to go through the SLB as he did. Without having access to the reverse camera angle, this one's a push.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount subbed back in on fourth down.
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(5:12) 4th & 1: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB offset strongside (right), Freeman under center. OL + TE (Dotson), right and H-back (Stocker), right. Play is a power-O to the strongside (right) with Lorig and Larsen on a pull as lead-blockers. Blount takes the handoff and follows Larsen, but Larsen seems to stop and look for someone to block. This leaves Blount to run into the back of him, and Blount has to push Larsen forward to make some running space. The WLB and MLB come thundering down, but Blount's push forces Larsen forward and into the MLB; however, the WLB has a free shot at Blount side-on. The safety, who had crept up to the line, gets off of Lorig's block and gets his arms around the ball, while a DT, who comes free off of Faine's block, jumps on top of Blount. The weight of the DT appears to pull Blount away from the ball, which is in the tight grip of the safety. This causes the ball to spill out, and thought Lorig recovers, as it is fourth down, the play results in a turnover on downs.
What could Blount have done better?
Well, there's the obvious - DON'T FUMBLE THE DAMN BALL. Yes, he had three people draped on him at the time, but that doesn't excuse him at all IMO - if the ball was locked in in the first place, it wouldn't have been torn out between the safety & the DT's weight. Still, that was Blount's only real mistake as far as I'm concerned - had he held onto the ball and gone down, the play would have gone for a significant loss, but I wouldn't put any of that on Blount's shoulder as much I would Larsen's needless hesitation on the pull across - the Saints also overloaded the box, as it was 4th & 1, there would have been two lead blockers for three defenders - the WLB, MLB and safety. On any other down & distance, that safety would not have been on the line nine times out of ten, so really it was a bad play call for the situation - though in my opinion, the actually play is Freeman's fault, he should have definitely audibled into a different play when the box was that stacked, IMO. Still, ultimately, Blount but the ball on the ground, which is pretty much the worst mistake a running back can make.
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(2:27) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right + H-back (Pianalto), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a run to the strongside (right) with Larsen lead-blocking on a pull. Blount takes the handoff and follows Larsen, who goes up the strongside D-gap (i.e. between Stocker and Pianalto), and appears to pickup the MLB. However, as Blount follows him, the strongside DE gets off of Stocker's block. The meets Blount just before the LOS, wrapping him up and driving him back. As Blount is being driven back, the SLB is chasing them down, but Pianalto is initially blocking him; eventually, however, the SLB gets away from Pianalto and also wraps up Blount. Meanwhile, the weakside DE, who was initially blocked by Penn, sidesteps outside Penn, and is now wide of him. Rather than going back to him, Penn gives up on the play and the DE chases down the play and also wraps up Blount. A CB, meanwhile, beats Benn's block and chases down Blount from the weakside of the field, but Freeman blocks him. The referees blow the play dead, and Blount lets the ball drop. The strongside DE picks up the ball and runs into the endzone but the play is already dead. Loss of one on the play.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he followed his leadblocker as he was meant to, but the moment he approached the play gap his leadblocker went up, the strongside DE was on him, and he was simply too strong for Blount to do anything. The failure of the play, therefore, is all on Stocker failing to lock up that DE.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he followed his leadblocker as he was meant to, but the moment he approached the play gap his leadblocker went up, the strongside DE was on him, and he was simply too strong for Blount to do anything. The failure of the play, therefore, is all on Stocker failing to lock up that DE.
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(1:58) 2nd & 11: With the Bucs still in the huddle, a penalty flag is thrown. Illegal substitution by Tampa Bay. Loss of five. (A handy graphic on the screen says this is the Bucs' 59th penalty of the season, which ranks them 28th in the NFL. Just in case you wanted to know.)
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Blount subbed out on second-and-long. Blount subbed back in two plays later after a third-down conversion.
---(0:18) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right + H-back (Pianalto), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Pre-snap, Winslow motions across formation and sets up H-back, left. Play is a drop-back pass. At the snap, Blount looks to the strongside (right) of the field. He sees the SLB coming on a wide blitz. As the SLB approaches, Blount attempts to cutblock him, but the SLB sidesteps upfield to avoid it. Nonetheless, the sidestep, which puts the SLB on the otherside of Blount from Freeman, means that Freeman gets the throw off before the SLB can get to him. Freeman completes to Winslow. After the play, penalty flags. Offensive pass interference by Benn.
What could Blount have done better?
Technically, Blount executed his assignment of stopping the SLB getting to Freeman, so he did his job, but I'm not thrilled about the way he did it. Stylistically, of course, it doesn't look great that he failed to connect on the cutblock, but it goes deeper than just that - if Blount keeps mis-timing his cutblocking, it will only be a matter of time before that mis-timed cutblock will allow the blitzer to get to Freeman in time. Again, this is an example where Blount clearly has the knowledge of the protection scheme down, and has the willingness to execute the assignment, but where the technique lets him down. Of course, poor technique was rife throughout the entire roster last seven, and the technique Blount shows in his mis-timed cutblock is far, far more a damning incitement of the inability of the coaching staff than anything it says about Blount. With Blount now receiving decent coaching, I imagine Blount will be just fine as a pass-protector in 2012.
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2nd Quarter
(15:00) 1st & 20: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a running back screen off of play-action. At the snap, Blount fakes the handoff (although it doesn't suck in any of the defense, unsurprising when there's 20 yards to go for a first down) then runs up through the line and into the right flat. Freeman completes the throw to Blount, but the very second he turns upfield, a corner dives right through Blount's legs, throwing Blount's legs in the air from under him and landing him on his belly for a loss of three.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing at all, obviously Blount's priority was to run to the flat to catch the screen pass, and he literally had no time to react to the corner before he had scythed his legs from under him. Based on pre-snap formation, the areas of the field the defense dropped back to cover, and the direction he was heading when he went off-field, I am 99% sure that Lorig was the man responsible for blocking that corner, and it's clear that Lorig was too far infield to make a block on the corner. Either Lorig ran a poor route, or the person who drew up the play made a very bad decision in which play Lorig should have been running on the screen. Either way, Blount never had a chance.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing at all, obviously Blount's priority was to run to the flat to catch the screen pass, and he literally had no time to react to the corner before he had scythed his legs from under him. Based on pre-snap formation, the areas of the field the defense dropped back to cover, and the direction he was heading when he went off-field, I am 99% sure that Lorig was the man responsible for blocking that corner, and it's clear that Lorig was too far infield to make a block on the corner. Either Lorig ran a poor route, or the person who drew up the play made a very bad decision in which play Lorig should have been running on the screen. Either way, Blount never had a chance.
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(14:19) 2nd & 23: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right and H-back (Stocker), right. Play is a drop-back pass. At the snap, Blount runs up through the middle of the line, then turns back at the LOS to present a check-down option. Freeman completes to Benn. (Blount was open)
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really. He ran his route and was open.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down.
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(8:26) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Pre-snap, Stocker motions across the formation and sets up H-back, right. Play is a rollout pass off of play-action. Blount fakes receiving the handoff, sucking in eight defenders momentarily, following Lorig to the left of the field and up and around the outside of the line. Once he gets to the line, however, he stands to watch the play develop. Freeman scrambles but is brought down at the LOS.
What could Blount have done better?
Up until he crossed the LOS, he did everything fine, but again, I don't like players standing around after their part of a play is finished. However, there wasn't anything necessarily for Blount to do at that point, e.g. no blitzers coming free or anything, but you'd imagine that there would have been some route for Blount to run, which is most likely indicative of Greg Olson's very debatable offensive coordinating.
What could Blount have done better?
Up until he crossed the LOS, he did everything fine, but again, I don't like players standing around after their part of a play is finished. However, there wasn't anything necessarily for Blount to do at that point, e.g. no blitzers coming free or anything, but you'd imagine that there would have been some route for Blount to run, which is most likely indicative of Greg Olson's very debatable offensive coordinating.
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(7:57) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right + H-back (Pianalto), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Pre-snap, Winslow motions across formation and sets up H-back, left. Play is a zone-stretch run to the weakside (left). Blount takes the handoff and runs to the weakside of the line. Larsen is pushed into the backfield, but slows the WLB down enough that he doesn't get at Blount, but Blount cuts downfield outside of Larsen & the WLB. In a very surprising display by two weak run-blockers, Penn actually manages to seal the weakside DE inside, and then hands him off to Winslow, who remarkably is able to block the DE long enough for Blount to get past. Penn runs downfield and cut blocks a corner coming down, opening up the field for Blount. Blount runs downfield, stepping over Penn, but the MLB has come across the field and wraps up Blount, bringing him down for a gain of 6. (By standard zone-blocking rules, the MLB should have been Joseph's man, but Joseph did not peel off the doubleteam with Trueblood in time to pick him up)
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he got a good gain on the back off good blocks from Penn & Winslow, which makes a nice change.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down.
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Punt team on. Defensive delay of game penalty on New Orleans gives Bucs a first down.
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(7:06) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left. Play is a dropback pass. Blount initially looks for a blitzer coming from the strongside (left), but seeing no-one, runs downfield and into the middle of the field, looking back to Freeman as a check-down option. Freeman is sacked. Penalty flags. False start by Trueblood.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing he really, he appeared to be waiting for a delayed blitz, and, seeing none, went to run his route, on which he was open. Nothing more you could really ask for.
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(7:06) 1st & 15: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Dotson), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Pre-snap, Winslow, who was lined up at flanker wide left, motions across the formation and sets up H-back, right. Play is a dropback pass off of play-action. Blount fakes the handoff, sucking briefly in a DB (the front seven are all blitzing anyway), then runs into the right flat. Freeman, flushed from the pocket, attempts to pass to Blount, but the WLB is covering him closely and bats the ball away.
What could Blount have done better?
He did well-enough selling the hand-off, but the WLB was simply covering him too tightly; Blount never has had the breakaway speed to burn covering defenders - it's simply not who he is - so there was nothing Blount could have realistically done better.
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(7:00) 2nd & 15: As the Bucs break the huddle and walk up to the line, Freeman calls a time out to prevent a delay-of-game penalty.
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(7:00) 2nd & 15: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Pre-snap, Stocker motions across the formation and sets up H-back, right. Play is a dropback pass. At the snap, Blount runs to the left of the line. As Larsen gets overpowered by his DT, Blount runs up and doubleteams with Larsen, allowing Freeman to complete to Benn.
What could Blount have done better?
Great pass protection by Blount, helping Larsen deal with the DT.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down.
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Blount remains on the sideline throughout the next series.
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3rd Quarter
(12:32) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is run to the weakside (left). Lorig runs up the weakside B-gap. Blount takes the handoff but the weakside DE has completely abused Penn's inside and has burst into the backfield. This cuts Blount off from being able to follow Lorig, and so bounces around the outside. The WLB comes down to try and tackle Blount but Benn does a great job of sealing him inside. Unfortunately, Lorig, who had gone up the weakside B-gap, completely whiffs on the MLB, who makes a beeline for Blount, wrapping him up high as a corner flies down and hits Blount low. Blount is brought down, getting hit by a safety in the process, for a gain of 2.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, Blount did a good job recognising the DE was bursting through (had he continued up the B-gap, he would have likely been brought down in the backfield), but once Lorig whiffed on the MLB, there was nothing Blount could have really done more.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, Blount did a good job recognising the DE was bursting through (had he continued up the B-gap, he would have likely been brought down in the backfield), but once Lorig whiffed on the MLB, there was nothing Blount could have really done more.
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, the blocking let him down again, but he showed good vision in spotting the DT beating Faine, and bouncing inside accordingly, but there's only so much he could do with the blocking unfolding as it did.
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What could Blount have done better?
Play-wise, not a lot, thanks to Lorig being pushed back and stopping Blount's progress, but there is no question that losing your head like Blount does at the conclusion of the play is unacceptable in a professional football player. Inexcusable mental lapse by Blount.
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(3:11) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Dotson), right + H-back (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Pre-snap, Winslow motions across formation and sets up H-back, left. Play is a dropback pass off of play-action. Blount fakes the hand-off, sucking in the SLB and a safety and freezing the other two linebackers. Blount runs downfield through the weakside B-gap and runs to the left flat. Freeman completes to Blount, who then turns downfield. Blount sets his foot to cut outside when a corner comes down, but then cuts back inside, causing the CB to completely miss. However, the WLB, who was covering Winslow, comes down and hits Blount just short of the first down, wrapping him up. Blount, however, uses his power and goes throw the LB, dragging him past the first down marker. The MLB and the strongside DT wrap up Blount and, as the CB who Blount made miss jumps on top of the pile, they all bring him down for a gain of 11.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He sold the play-action, ran his route, caught the ball, and took it for 11 yards, making one defender miss, then lowering his shoulder when going into another, and using his power to drag defenders for extra yards.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He sold the play-action, ran his route, caught the ball, and took it for 11 yards, making one defender miss, then lowering his shoulder when going into another, and using his power to drag defenders for extra yards.
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, it was a great play by pretty much all involved. Blount displayed great vision in seeing the line sealing in a cutback lane down their backs, as it were, while, of course, I loved Freeman getting involved with the blocking.
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What could Blount have done better?
He was disciplined in waiting to look for a blitzer, rather than flying immediately downfield, but I am confused about him giving Stocker a slight nudge at the top of his route.
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What could Blount have done better?
Not a lot. At first, I was confused as to why he bounced around the outside of Larsen rather than cut up inside of him, and was getting ready to criticise Blount for a rare occurrence of reading his blocks badly. However, watching again, it's clear that the weakside DT was coming free off of Faine's block, and that had Blount attempted to cut inside, he was have gone right into the arms of the DT, so he actually made the right choice.
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What could Blount have done better?
Blount sold that handoff fine, and it looks like Lorig was always the #1 read on the play, but still, if Blount had sprinted to the flat, you can't help but wonder if he would have been in position to catch the check-down, which would have gotten a first down. Seemingly lazy route running by Blount, a rarity.
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(14:25) 2nd & 15: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a drop-back pass. At the snap, Blount follows Lorig to the strongside (right) of the line, but then immediately peels back. He sees the MLB coming through the weakside A-gap untouched (whiff by Faine), and he lowers his shoulder and pops it up into the MLB, stopping him in his tracks. Freeman completes to Winslow.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing - not only did Blount show again his knowledge of his responsibilities in pass protection, but he successfully picked up the blitz, and, to my personal delight, did so by staying on his feet and getting his hands on the guy rather than relying on the more-risky cut block, which is a definite bonus in my eyes.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing - not only did Blount show again his knowledge of his responsibilities in pass protection, but he successfully picked up the blitz, and, to my personal delight, did so by staying on his feet and getting his hands on the guy rather than relying on the more-risky cut block, which is a definite bonus in my eyes.
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, he did a great job. Even without the penalty, I would have been criticising Penn for this play - Penn is meant to be one of the better tackles in the league, there is no question he should be drive blocking the linebacker, going for a cut block, in my opinion, is a sign either of laziness or a sheer lack of stamina, both of which are unacceptable in a professional athlete. Penn also does a great job of highlighting why else cut blocking can backfire in a huge way - namely, tripping up his own teammate, Larsen. All that said, I do think it was a BS call - it was a cut block, not a trip as far as I'm concerned. The only possible way that anything Penn did on the play could have been flagged as "tripping" is if it was in relation to him tripping up Larsen, which, if the referees flagged, is surely a bit contrary to common sense, no?
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he was disciplined in checking for the delayed blitz rather than just running his route straight off, so a fine job by Blount.
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What could Blount have done better?
Besides another complaint of standing around watching the play once his role was over, Blount was pretty much irrelevant to this play so the question is moot.
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, really.
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Lumpkin stays in for Blount for the rest of the game.
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