Will the offensive line hold back the 49ers offense this season?

Originally posted by BrianGO:
I'm not interested in arguing about word semantics.


The O-line played VERY well. There is a lot of criticism right now of our offensive line, and I am trying to argue that their should not be. The Iupati play was their only glaring hiccup. Again, if someone wants to point out another play where they didn't play well, then feel free. Otherwise, don't criticize the line play unless you can back it up with evidence.

The sacks are evidence enough.

Originally posted by THEB:

Originally posted by BrianGO:
I'm not interested in arguing about word semantics.


The O-line played VERY well. There is a lot of criticism right now of our offensive line, and I am trying to argue that their should not be. The Iupati play was their only glaring hiccup. Again, if someone wants to point out another play where they didn't play well, then feel free. Otherwise, don't criticize the line play unless you can back it up with evidence.

The sacks are evidence enough.

The sacks by themselves are enough for some. Others require evidence more solid than a simple five words of rhetoric.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Stunts and late blitzes were the main problem with Snyder and Rachal last year as well. It is a timing, as well as cohesion thing. It takes a lineman a while to read his team mates and react with confidence, but I think Boone will get there. A concern with Boone is quickness, which may impact his ability to pull effectively. I haven't seen enough to say that but...could be. That will not be as serious a problem though as not maintaining control of their area against the aforementioned blitz or stunt.

Sadly, I believe the run game will be fine but Smith will once again be pummeled and will need to get the ball out very quickly. They need to play-call to prevent that from happening and with the new receivers perhaps that will be possible. As the season progresses they should be better...but I said that last year and it was still very inconsistent at the end of the year. My fingers and toes are crossed this year!

Still limited looks, dtg, but I feel sure that I have seen enough of Boone's pull blocks to have NO concerns about that. He's got the quickness to do this effectively. Now, the issues for him will be recovering and awareness.. which can go hand in hand. The awareness, you mentioned.. as he needs to have his eyes scanning all over and be focused and prepared for any delay/late stunts and blitzes.The recovery is where he will need to be able to stop his momentum and be able to turn and set his feet in the other direction quickly enough. Now those two things are a concern at this time. (for me, anyway)

There were a couple miscues from ONE preseason game in the pass pro. Not worried let's see how they do the next two games. Also Vanilla offense is vanilla. Damn Texans decided to blitz all day.

Originally posted by NCommand:
Great post and good point about the quickness...will watch for that more if we see any RG pulls.

Thanks NCommand!

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Still limited looks, dtg, but I feel sure that I have seen enough of Boone's pull blocks to have NO concerns about that. He's got the quickness to do this effectively. Now, the issues for him will be recovering and awareness.. which can go hand in hand. The awareness, you mentioned.. as he needs to have his eyes scanning all over and be focused and prepared for any delay/late stunts and blitzes.The recovery is where he will need to be able to stop his momentum and be able to turn and set his feet in the other direction quickly enough. Now those two things are a concern at this time. (for me, anyway)

Glad to hear your assessment regarding quickness! I recall learning to pull and it was a matter of technique and balance--and a heck of a lot of practice! Boone's a hard worker and so should be able to master it but at the NFL level...? Hope so. If he can't pull it won't ruin the offense though. They just eliminate those plays and rely on other blocking schemes.

You mention the eyes scanning and that is what I was trying to get at in my post! Rachal and Snyder often locked into a direction and turned too much (probably because they were late) and DL or LBs ran right past their butts. Can't turn so much on pass blocking...have to stay facing forward to catch those late guys. In their defense, they were trying to help A Davis and Goodwin, but wound up spreading the pocket. Play calling should help with this though, with WRs who can read and react with Smith. They have to punish teams for stacking the box and they did toward the end of the year using VD most often.

One method Harbaugh used at Stanford and last year that I do not care for is the jumbo blocking package. Puts too many men in a tight space and submarining by the DL can cut the whole thing down too easily. I really like Walsh's idea of spacing the offense out so every inch of the field is attacked. His emphasis was on the first twenty yards with occasional down field throws, but defenses had to account for the entire width of the field just about every play.

Originally posted by Ajanke:
There were a couple miscues from ONE preseason game in the pass pro. Not worried let's see how they do the next two games. Also Vanilla offense is vanilla. Damn Texans decided to blitz all day.

Just like the Sainst in pre season last season, but it could be a good thing, our O-Line will have been exposed to a first string blitz attack and be ready by the opener for the pass rush the Packers will throw at us ...I'm glad Jim is keeping things plain and simple in the pre-season, we cant look too deep into one game, we have the talent on the O-Line to get it done, it's just a matter of everyone on the offense getting in synch with the system

Originally posted by dtg_9er:
Thanks NCommand!


Glad to hear your assessment regarding quickness! I recall learning to pull and it was a matter of technique and balance--and a heck of a lot of practice! Boone's a hard worker and so should be able to master it but at the NFL level...? Hope so. If he can't pull it won't ruin the offense though. They just eliminate those plays and rely on other blocking schemes.

You mention the eyes scanning and that is what I was trying to get at in my post! Rachal and Snyder often locked into a direction and turned too much (probably because they were late) and DL or LBs ran right past their butts. Can't turn so much on pass blocking...have to stay facing forward to catch those late guys. In their defense, they were trying to help A Davis and Goodwin, but wound up spreading the pocket. Play calling should help with this though, with WRs who can read and react with Smith. They have to punish teams for stacking the box and they did toward the end of the year using VD most often.

One method Harbaugh used at Stanford and last year that I do not care for is the jumbo blocking package. Puts too many men in a tight space and submarining by the DL can cut the whole thing down too easily. I really like Walsh's idea of spacing the offense out so every inch of the field is attacked. His emphasis was on the first twenty yards with occasional down field throws, but defenses had to account for the entire width of the field just about every play.

Enjoyed your whole post. To the bolded? I wouldn't worry about it being the case, but no. If Boone is teh suxxorz at pulling? He probably won't make it long as a starting RG. This offense pulls too frequently to be held back by sloppy, ineffective pull blocks.

Much like Mike Iupati STILL has to improve on... Boone just needs to be focused and better at zone blocking. That's where both can get into big trouble in pass pro.

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Enjoyed your whole post. To the bolded? I wouldn't worry about it being the case, but no. If Boone is teh suxxorz at pulling? He probably won't make it long as a starting RG. This offense pulls too frequently to be held back by sloppy, ineffective pull blocks.

Much like Mike Iupati STILL has to improve on... Boone just needs to be focused and better at zone blocking. That's where both can get into big trouble in pass pro.

Thanks! They have options at RG but I would guess they know whether Boone can pull and wouldn't have him with the first team if they thought it was beyond him, so agree with you. From what I have seen he seldom turns his body as Rachal use to...looked like run blocking to move a guy out of a hole. Boone stays more focused in front of him and slides rather than turns. I still scratch my head at Rachal...all that physical talent but unable to learn zone blocking? What do they teach at USC?

Originally posted by WeAreLegend:

I think this line is as talented as New England but there is something going on there that isn't here which causes them to give Brady like ten years to throw each snap but Smith is running for his life half the time.

I wonder if its coaching, or scheme?

Neither. Talent alone doesn't win games. Execution on the field does.

As figured, not a single person who says the OL is fine or who blames Alex has anything to add other than a blanket statement.

Still waiting for some objective film review. Anyone?

Originally posted by THEB:

Originally posted by BrianGO:

Aside from Iupati's blown play, the line was nearly flawless (literally "flawless" is impossible). And I stand by that, until someone can show a play that refutes it.

aside from?

Aside from all the mass murders and torture, the holocaust was nearly innocent.

You cant have an aside when talking about flawlessness.

Lol. This one made me chuckle.

Originally posted by NCommand:
As figured, not a single person who says the OL is fine or who blames Alex has anything to add other than a blanket statement.

Still waiting for some objective film review. Anyone?

I know this is not what you were asking for NC but just wanted to say i am in your corner when it comes to the OL. i go by sacks allowed. we were in the top tier in the nfl in that last year. from what i can tell they have done nothing but sign davis and draft a rookie with a broken foot to fix things. i am very concerned. now sorry and i hope someone answers you

I thought FINALLY after last year people would stop putting any stock whatsoever in preseason performance. Otherwise Thomas Clayton would be the next Jim Brown. Remember our OL in last year's preseason opener vs. New Orleans? It looked like we couldn't block a pop warner team. Yet when the regular season rolled around, Staley was a pro bowl starter and All Pro, our youngsters in Iupati/Davis took a nice step forward and should again this year with their first real offseason. Goodwin is rock solid and our RG play can't possibly be worse than last year.

Originally posted by niners420:
I thought FINALLY after last year people would stop putting any stock whatsoever in preseason performance. Otherwise Thomas Clayton would be the next Jim Brown. Remember our OL in last year's preseason opener vs. New Orleans? It looked like we couldn't block a pop warner team. Yet when the regular season rolled around, Staley was a pro bowl starter and All Pro, our youngsters in Iupati/Davis took a nice step forward and should again this year with their first real offseason. Goodwin is rock solid and our RG play can't possibly be worse than last year.

Er... Not at all saying you can tell from preseason to regular season, but our OL was not at all as wonderful as you described it to be.. at least not in most of the away games and about a half to a third of the overall games. Now some weeks, they were solid... but others, far less so. Goodwin was pretty awful for the first quarter of the season... and for the whole season, was graded as a bottom 5 C in the league... right next to a bottom 3 RG in Snyder.

I do think they will be better this season though... and that they were not awesome or awful in these two prior preseason games.

Originally posted by niners420:
I thought FINALLY after last year people would stop putting any stock whatsoever in preseason performance. Otherwise Thomas Clayton would be the next Jim Brown. Remember our OL in last year's preseason opener vs. New Orleans? It looked like we couldn't block a pop warner team. Yet when the regular season rolled around, Staley was a pro bowl starter and All Pro, our youngsters in Iupati/Davis took a nice step forward and should again this year with their first real offseason. Goodwin is rock solid and our RG play can't possibly be worse than last year.

they were terrible for 3/4 of the year last year