Wednesday 27 June 2012

A study in LeGarrette Blount's 2011 season, part six: Week 9 @ Saints

1st Quarter

(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.

Friday 22 June 2012

A study in LeGarrette Blount's 2011 season, part five: Week 5 @ 49ers

1st Quarter

(15:00) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a drop-back pass off of play-action. Blount fakes receiving the hand-off, momentarily sucking in the two ILBs, then runs through the line and into the right flat. Freeman throws the dumpoff to him. Blount stops his feet as he turns downfield, sees the strongside ILB on him and tries to cut inside past him. The linebacker wraps him up and drags him down. Gain of two.

What could Blount have done better?


He sold the play-action well enough, caught the dump-off and tried to use his power to go for extra yards, even though, in the end, the LB was strong enough to not be dragged. However, I do not like Blount's technique of stopping his feet in order to change direction - he should have continued running to the sideline and turn up field, rather than stop dead to cut up - if he had done so, the momentum might have helped him try fight through the LB for extra yards. Bad technique like Blount, though for what it's worth, it looks to me like he's stopping his feet to turn downfield, not to try and out-dance the LB.

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(14:24) 2nd & 8: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Franklin), left and TE (Winslow), right. Play is a zone-stretch to the left with Zuttah lead-blocking on a pull. Blount takes the handoff and runs to the left of the line, aiming for the point where Zuttah is trying to force open a gap between Penn & Franklin. Blount sees a running lane open between Faine & Trueblood, thanks to Joseph going up to the second level, and cuts downfield through this lane. He then, however, sees a big gap to his right, outside of Trueblood, and looks to lean in that direction; but he continues running towards Trueblood rather than bounce outside. Trueblood leaves his DE alone as he continues zone blocking to the left, leaving the DE free to get a hand to Blount, slightly unsteadying him. The right ILB (from the Bucs' perspective) evades Trueblood's block and trips up Blount, bringing him down for a gain of six.

Thursday 21 June 2012

A study in LeGarrette Blount's 2011 season, part four: Week 4 vs. Colts

1st Quarter

(10:26) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right and H-back (Stocker), right. Pre-snap, Stocker motions into the backfield and sets up at FB, offset to the weakside (left). Play is a simple FB-lead run up the weakside B-gap. Blount takes the handoff and follows Stocker up the playhole, but Winslow cannot block his DE, who pushes Winslow all the way across the formation, then gets off the block and wraps up Blount as he runs past. The DE's arms drop down to the ground but he's able to trip up Blount by an ankle tap. Blount crashes into the WLB who Stocker is trying to block, while the SLB comes across the formation and joins in. Gain of three.

What could Blount have done better?


Not much. He followed his blocker, and had no real room to do anything else thanks to Winslow's abject failure to block the DE - if he had, then Blount would have been able to bounce outside of Stocker, and then might have been able to go a fair distance. As it stood, Blount didn't have much opportunity to do anything thanks to Winslow's blown block, and truth be told, he was lucky to get even those three yards.

Thursday 7 June 2012

A study in LeGarrette Blount's 2011 season, part three: Week 3 vs. Falcons

1st Quarter

(13:57) 1st & 10: Blount lines up as singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-Back (Winslow), right. Play is a dropback pass. At the snap, Blount runs up the middle, then runs an out route. Freeman completes to Williams.

What could Blount have done better?


Nothing on this play. In this case, I believe Blount's assignment was to run a route straight away, with Stocker staying in as the extra blocker instead.

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(13:23) 2nd & 2: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a simple zone lead run. Trueblood pushes the DE outside and locks him up solidly, while Joseph, after chipping on the DT, releases downfield to block a linebacker. This creates a large hole in the right of the line. Lorig runs through the hole and meets an LB, originally trying to seal him to the outside. The LB gets off the block, but Lorig quickly reacts and puts his hands back on him, sealing him on the inside. Blount reads this block and cuts outside of Lorig. Meanwhile, Blount runs inside of Trueblood, then sees Faine trying to deal with a spinning DT. Blount reads the block very well, and noticing that Zuttah has sealed the other DT, sidesteps inside Faine, who washes his DT outside. He then see Lorig's LB in front of him, but notices Lorig coming back to block and seal him inside, and reading that block, cuts back outside Lorig. The LB that Joseph had gone block had gotten off of the guard, and came down to hit Blount, but he notices this and cut downfield, making the LB (Lofton) miss. He crosses the first down marker, and is hit in the gut by a safety, who had gotten off of Williams' block. Blount stops forward progress, but is doesn't go down. Several Falcons defenders come in and wrap him up for a gang tackle. Gain of 5.