Chop Blocks Banned

AtomicDawg said:

It was a big impact but would you say it was a bigger impact than the OL not performing or the team not getting to the redzone? I'm not sure. I think that's where we differ and that's fine.

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I am not saying it was the worst performance of the day. I am saying despite everything else it became the difference.
You could make the same argument re the OL. if they played well the pat wouldn't have mattered but the pat miss made their play be more costly.

AndyJohnson said:

I am not saying it was the worst performance of the day. I am saying despite everything else it became the difference.
You could make the same argument re the OL. if they played well the pat wouldn't have mattered but the pat miss made their play be more costly.

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And my whole thing is it was a big deal for us in one very important game. But for everyone else, it was a big deal in ALL their games. That's why in my OP I said it the rule itself was a win, and it was for the most part. Every team had to adjust and couldn't. The Pats didn't in their biggest game but it doesn't take away the fact that it wasn't as big a deal to them as it was for others.

AtomicDawg said:

And my whole thing is it was a big deal for us in one very important game. But for everyone else, it was a big deal in ALL their games. That's why in my OP I said it the rule itself was a win, and it was for the most part. Every team had to adjust and couldn't. The Pats didn't in their biggest game but it doesn't take away the fact that it wasn't as big a deal to them as it was for others.

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If you are saying in the long run the patriots will miss fewer PATS than most I would agree.
If you are saying in the first of the rule the rule change didn't end up hurting the patriots more than any other team I think that is wrong.

AndyJohnson said:

If you are saying in the long run the patriots will miss fewer PATS than most I would agree.
If you are saying in the first of the rule the rule change didn't end up hurting the patriots more than any other team I think that is wrong.

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Of course things are going to even themselves out over time so it's not 100% that things will stay the same. This seems as though it's a matter of one's perspective and that's fine. It hurt the Pats in their biggest game. That no doubt made a difference. But I'm more giving credit to Gostkowski than anything else for making 52/53, while other kickers had a more difficult time. Again, it's perspective and I respect that.

The New England Patriots Wham Schemes - Inside The Pylon

Interesting read. I think New England will be fine without the chop block. I don't think they were ever the abusers of it like Denver who has built themselves a proud reputation of it over the years.

Polian thinks the acquisition of Pot Roast was related to this rule change:


Anyone here able to explain his thinking further?

SlowGettingUp said:

Anyone here able to explain his thinking further?

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I started a separate thread on it :

DL Rule Change as it Affects our DL

SlowGettingUp said:

More a hybrid I think - we do run some outside zone, but mixed in with power runs.

Gibbs is the father of zone blocking, with cut blocks pretty central to the concept:

Alex Gibbs, the godfather of the modern zone blocking scheme

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Agree completely. The Pats are what ever they need to be that week. You can't really tag them with many labels other than versatile.

SlowGettingUp said:

Polian thinks the acquisition of Pot Roast was related to this rule change:

"Terrific, terrific offseason," Polian said. "Chris Hogan was just a great addition, stealing from Buffalo to help themselves. [Dante Scarnecchia] will get the offensive line straightened out. The addition of Terrance Knighton was a master stroke as soon as the rule passed outlawing chop blocks. As usual, they were all over it before most others were."​

Anyone here able to explain his thinking further?

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It's pretty hard for most guys to win a shoving match with a guy like Knighton. Going low was the best option.

Tuck said:

Going low was the best option.

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Well you can still legally cut-block, just not chop-block.

But the choice of Valentine suggests that Belichick really wants to go big on the DL. Now have four really big (and tall) guys that can rotate in (Branch, Valentine, Knighton and Brown).

Wonder if we are going back to more of a 2-gap plan.

Ivan said:

First they lose both QB's and now they lose the rest of their offense. Tough off-season in Denver.

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Their offense was pathetic last year but it didn't hold them back one bit.

This is going to help teams with good defenses and, in particular, those with good pass rushers. While Denver will probably struggle offensively again, their D might get s boost from this rule change.

TheFlyingWedge said:

This is going to help teams with good defenses and, in particular, those with good pass rushers.

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Could you explain your reasoning here? Seems to me it primarily helps run defense against some zone-blocking run schemes.

Here's a good discussion:

Here's what the NFL's new chop block rule really means

Now the Broncos are well and truly ****ed. Without the chop block, they've got no running game.

BradyFTW! said:

Now the Broncos are well and truly ****ed. Without the chop block, they've got no running game.

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They didn't have much of a running game to begin with.

BradyFTW! said:

Now the Broncos are well and truly ****ed. Without the chop block, they've got no running game.

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BradyFTW! said:

Now the Broncos are well and truly ****ed. Without the chop block, they've got no running game.

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Do you honestly think they will calll that with any kind of regularity against Denver especially home games?
I truly dont

SlowGettingUp said:

Could you explain your reasoning here? Seems to me it primarily helps run defense against some zone-blocking run schemes.

Here's a good discussion:

Here's what the NFL's new chop block rule really means

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Great article - very informative. Sure, my thought process here is that league- wide, the rule change should diminish the production of running plays, by some degree, resulting in more passing plays across the board.

Assuming that the rule change makes it easier for the defense to stop the run, this results in a higher likelihood of the offense being in passing formations. This is another step towards making the NFL a passing league, all in the name of player safety, where elite pass rushers will continue to rise in value as they get more snaps.

ChrisR2223 said:

Do you honestly think they will calll that with any kind of regularity against Denver especially home games?
I truly dont

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I think they might, if only because Peyton isn't there anymore so the league doesn't have any reason to be cheerleading for Denver quite as hard as it has been the past few years. They're just another team now.

If anything, I think the league office might want the Broncos to suck this year, so that in 20 years people can point to how Manning's teams fell apart when he left as some kind of evidence that he was better than Brady.

TheFlyingWedge said:

Great article - very informative. Sure, my thought process here is that league- wide, the rule change should diminish the production of running plays, by some degree, resulting in more passing plays across the board.

Assuming that the rule change makes it easier for the defense to stop the run, this results in a higher likelihood of the offense being in passing formations. This is another step towards making the NFL a passing league, all in the name of player safety, where elite pass rushers will continue to rise in value as they get more snaps.

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Dont know if i agree it will diminish running league-wide. It will definitely help the Pats, might not help many other teams. Why? The genius, once again,of BB(as polian pointed out-cant stand the guy, but hes right). Was it a coincidence the pats got rid of 2 shorter,smaller,interior pass-rush guys(easley and cjones)and added pot roast, valentine and kuhn? When they already had brown and branch? The pats now have a whole bunch of big,tall dts-the kind you stop on running plays with chop blocks. The key is, you cant just 2 or 3. You need a pile of em like the pats now have, so you can rotate fresh bodies in. meanwhile the opposing ol are now getting exhausted, worn down with wrestling big,tall(important need long arms)dl, who are fresh due to the Pats incredible depth,when they used to be able to just go low and chop em. So the Pats should have very strong run defense,since the next 2 levels are also great vs. run. I dont know how many other teams in the nfl did what BB did this offseason-load up on big, tall dts so they have a strong rotation of 4 or 5,but i suspect very few.