Week 6 Trench Review - Carslile Gets an A+

[epicSocialism4tw]

I have been reviewing the Radiers game slowly this week, and I noticed some things that really surprised me. Cooper Carslile had an excellent game. His role at guard is often to get between his defender and the ball, no matter what the angle. The Broncos run alot between the tackle and the guard. Carslile was able to get turned and lay clean, stand-up blocks on the Raiders DT's consistently. He did a very good job. A+

Here are some other things I noticed:

George Foster - When he is matched up against smaller linemen or LB's, he's toast. Burgess roasted him on a blitz so bad that it was hard to watch. If he's matched up against power-rushing DE's, he does a good job of maintaining his footwork, leading them around the pocket, and holding his ground on the back side. His run blocking is literally hit-or-miss. C

Matt Lepsis - He had a bad game. He was pushed around in pass blocking and looked slow in the run game. C-

Nails - Crafty. That's his game. He gets where he needs to go and does so smoothly. He doesnt waste much space, and the Broncos use him to pull onto LB's. He misses his blocks badly sometimes though. He had a mediocre game overall. There were some plays where he had trouble with the bigger DT's. B-

Hamilton - He's a consistent player. There was very little difference between he and Carslile's performance. Good game. B+

[Florida_Bronco]

Good breakdown Llama. I think Carlisle is a very underrated player for us.

[ludo21]

CC definitely is stepping it up this year.

Foster has gotta play better vs those smaller guys tho, caz teams WILL take advantage of it.

[ScottXray]

So our INTERIOR line is doing good..
but the outside Line is very questionable....

That is not surprising and would be consistent with why we havent'been getting too much on edge rushes and . I've noticed that we have been going up the middle a lot, especially quick trap types of rushes, even FB rushes. Not exactly what the offensive scheme is supposed to be, (sealing the backside, and hitting the gaps.) Foster and Lepsis have done a better job pass blocking...

This would just be one MORE reason the Offense looks so sluggish.


Anyone else have thoughts?

[freak6]

Cool thread Llama. Good stuff. Olineman only get noticed when the fk up, so it's good to review the tape and get an idea on thier perfomance. Gracias.

[Kaylore]

It's actually better than he's making it out to be. You need to also look at the line as a team. We've held teams like the Ravens, who were averaging 3.5 sacks a game, to just one and that was on a keeper where they managed to stop Jake before he got back to the LOS. Our sacks are down and our yards per carry are up. We're converting a lot of third and short run plays and the holes are there. It's hard to ask for more than that.

We need to work on our screens. Carlisle doesn't have very much field awareness when it comes to screens. You can see him stuggling a bit to figure out who to block when he's in space, though sometimes Tatum doesn't know where to run either. Foster...well you all know how I feel about that. Nalen has been getting pushed in a bit. His footwork is good but he's not as powerful as he used to be.

Other than that, you can clearly see that our line is doing their job. They're keeping the sacks down and opening the run lanes. I give the whole line an A-.

[Blart]

Good thread, thanks.

[epicSocialism4tw]

It's actually better than he's making it out to be. You need to also look at the line as a team.

True, but individual review allows you to better discern which players are holding up their end of the bargain.

About it being better than I made it out to be, I was pretty gracious in my assessment of a couple of players. I dont think that they performed that well as a unit against what I considered a below average group of players. Nalen, Hamilton, and Carslile often had the difficult assignments because the Raiders DT's are the strength of their line. Those three players did well, and I graded them according to what I saw in that game alone.

We've held teams like the Ravens, who were averaging 3.5 sacks a game, to just one and that was on a keeper where they managed to stop Jake before he got back to the LOS.

We also let the jailbreak through against the Rams on several occasions.

Our sacks are down and our yards per carry are up. We're converting a lot of third and short run plays and the holes are there. It's hard to ask for more than that.

Most of those third and shorts are being converted off of guard. Nalen will release and rotate onto the hole side LB, Carslile and Hamilton will take the DT's. My grades were good for all three of those players.


Other than that, you can clearly see that our line is doing their job. They're keeping the sacks down and opening the run lanes. I give the whole line an A

I surely wouldnt have given them an A. You give an A to a unit that executes its assignments with consistency throughout the entire game. During the Raiders game, there were times when the line looked like it lost focus. They need to clean up the tackle execution in both the run and pass games, and to gain consistency to warrant an A.

[GonzoLays]

George Foster - When he is matched up against smaller linemen or LB's, he's toast. Burgess roasted him on a blitz so bad that it was hard to watch. If he's matched up against power-rushing DE's, he does a good job of maintaining his footwork, leading them around the pocket, and holding his ground on the back side. His run blocking is literally hit-or-miss. C



Just another case of George Foster playing down to his competition. Haven't you heard, some poster here thinks he only comes to play against all-pros and likely hall of famers. George got a theory. He says, "If they ain't the best, I gets me some rest."

[Kaylore]

I surely wouldnt have given them an A. You give an A to a unit that executes its assignments with consistency throughout the entire game. During the Raiders game, there were times when the line looked like it lost focus. They need to clean up the tackle execution in both the run and pass games, and to gain consistency to warrant an A.
I don't know what you expect. There isn't a line in the NFL that wins every single snap or perfectly executes every single play. You get beat and things go wrong - that's football.

The question is can you do well enough to generate some consistancy, and the answer is yes. Lepsis is doing well enough to neutralize sacks from his side. We're getting good holes in the run game. I know Foster gets blown up a lot but having only one regularly weak area on the line is something a lot of franchises dream about. I'd like to see some upgrades but I still give them an A-.

[Drek]

Just another case of George Foster playing down to his competition. Haven't you heard, some poster here thinks he only comes to play against all-pros and likely hall of famers. George got a theory. He says, "If they ain't the best, I gets me some rest."

Its got nothing to do with playing down to the competition any everything to do with why he's an NFL RT instead of a LT like he played in college. He just can't handle the speed rushers. He's just TOO SLOW. What else can you expect from a 330 pounder? I know he's supposed to be agile as hell for his size, but that doesn't mean he move around like a 290-310 pounder, just that he doesn't wriggle about like Jabba the Hutt.

I've been saying it for over a year now. Foster is good as a run blocker and solid as a pass blocker as long as he's not matched up on a speed end or linebacker. He can't handle those guys, never has been able to, and hasn't even shown the slightest improvement at it. Teams who pick up on it exploit him and beat him like a drum, thankfully though most teams either don't pick up on it or don't have the personel to exploit it.

I'm pretty worried about what's going to happen when we play the Chargers and Foster is charged with picking up Merriman on a consistant basis. All I can hope is that we see a lot more Chad Mustard in that game than we have been, as he and George would team for an effective wall against Merriman.

Foster is the #1 reason we have bad recent history against the 3-4 defense.

[Mile High Shack]

some of those sacks Plummer took against Oakland, from my perspective at the game, looked like he could have gotten rid of the ball or stepped up in the pocket or thrown to an open receiver

[epicSocialism4tw]

I don't know what you expect. There isn't a line in the NFL that wins every single snap or perfectly executes every single play. You get beat and things go wrong - that's football.

Sure, but A's are rare. B's are above average. C's are average. F is for Foster.

A execution should be reserved for the 98th percentile. The 1997-1998 Denver line was an A+ line. The Seahawks had an A line last season. Im reluctant to hand out an A. Thus the surpise at a solid performance from Carslile.

[Florida_Bronco]

some of those sacks Plummer took against Oakland, from my perspective at the game, looked like he could have gotten rid of the ball or stepped up in the pocket or thrown to an open receiver

Jake only got sacked twice in that game.

[Kaylore]

Sure, but A's are rare. B's are above average. C's are average. F is for Foster.

A execution should be reserved for the 98th percentile. The 1997-1998 Denver line was an A+ line. The Seahawks had an A line last season. Im reluctant to hand out an A. Thus the surpise at a solid performance from Carslile.

Well obviously you're rating standards are different than mine. Mine is relative to how a team is expected to perform given the circumstances.

[~Crash~]

I was about the only guy on here giving cooper his dues last year . When we realy need a Yard and got it, it usaly is cooper leading the way !!! He won one game for us we ran behind him on 2 huge runs in one game last year I think it was bills not sure...

[watermock]

I'm willing to cut Nails some slack...he's long in the tooth and undersized. Coop seems to have nailed down the RG spot. Foster is Foster. I think that Llama summed it up pretty concisely. Hamilton is adequate, nothing more, nothing less. He's a bit undersized for a RG. Might make a C or we have a couple more in Kuper and Myers in the wings.

Same thing with Lepsis. You get what you see. Undersized but tenacious like Nalen. Old School from back in the glory days. Something that needs to be looked at next year for sure, but he's not a major liability.

[~Crash~]

and Kaylore try B Running b Passing I belive we might be B+ in running if our passing game picked up ! also I dont mind were the team is now I like that they have not found a groove you need to be pushed to the brink to get that killer instencts . I hope the coaches let loose the game plan this week to see what we got...

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

I would be intrested to see how the coaches' ratings compare to this.