Originally posted by NYniner85:
Originally posted by Giedi:
Heh, I kind of look at Kyle's system as a kind of super charger with nitrous oxide. You put nitrous oxide in your gasoline, and you will have to repair the engine after each race, pretty much. But the system itself is a very powerful and explosive system, but it eats up players to a certain extent, as illustrated by that one example of Staley being injured and the WR's also blocking on outside runs. But boy can it score from anywhere on the field. I think the fact that they got *two* OLine coaches (Benton and Foerster) on the team -- helps a lot in finding and developing OLine talent because having two of them allows them to spend more time with the scouts as the scouts meet with various prospects throughout the country and can help the scouts in looking for what Kyle and the OLine coaches want or are looking for in an offensive lineman.
As we draft later and later, finding talent from small schools like James Madison, Mississippi Valley state, or Portland State, for example, are going to become really important next year as the film of the current crop of OLine players are limited because of cancellation of the2020 college football season.
That play had little to do with the scheme...that's a freak accident that could have happened to literally any team in the NFL. That's a routine block that every team asks their OT to make. He also wasn't downfield 10 yards or anything like that.
SF doesn't just run OZ and THL has a whole thread showing all the different runs plays Kyle used last yr.
This offense simply doesn't require top end guards. There's decades of proof to back that up. is what it is. I will agree that I'm not a fan of some rando playing center week one. I do expect Kyle to adjust if Garland can't play.
Agree that it was a freak accident, if there is such a thing in a violent sport like football.
Just my view of it, but it's about angles. Off tackle plays - the runner and the OLinemen's knees are generally pointing forward, and so any impact will be from the back to front. Also it's towards a specific Gap, and so the OLine kind of knows where the play and the RB is going - and can anticipate and prepare for contact. Outside zone plays, the RB has three options, and the OLine *cannot prepare* for which cut the RB takes - inside cut, straight up, or sprint to the outside. The have to block their man as best they can and let the RB decide. But its a sideways run vs a downhill run, and Brunskill's patella tendon and Staley's fibula injury are the kinds of injuries lend themselves in my opinion, to more sideways runs, vs downhill runs. If the OLineman and the DLineman are engaged and the DLineman suddenly changes direction, because the runner changes direction, that could stress the OLineman's knees/lower legs unexpectedly to a certain extent, and he can't really anticipate or prepare himself for it because of the kind of run called.
Agree with you that football is a contact sport and you are going to get injured. No question about it. I've been advocating for knee braces for the OLine and DLine, but I think the current generic knee braces available to the NFL pros, take away the mobility that Kyle needs for his Olineman's outside zone matchups. I remember Roger Craig on a dive play and nailed Randy Cross on the back of the knee, but because Randy was wearing a knee brace all Randy got was a bruised knee. I think Kyle and his OLinemen need to redesign those generic knee braces to one that is better suited for the outside zone, in my opinion.