3-game review: offensive line

[BradyFTW!]

Looked like a promising thread. Turns out the point of the thread is that you feel good about yourself.
I feel better about Cannon though.

1. Stats are always deceiving. Plus partial - one tends to take the stat that goes with his thoughts.
2. Cannon is not standing alone. He's part of the group. That group is not only OL.
He did well and much better than expected here.
3. OL is the best surprise in my book. But its not only credit to OL men and Dante. Credit should also go to BB, McD, gameplan and two guys that were not there last year: Bennett and Develin.

Some people actually look into stuff to try to draw informed conclusions. I'm not surprised that this concept is so foreign to you that you mistake it for "feeling good about yourself".

 

[supafly]

Thanks for the thread and analysis/stats. Good idea for a topic.

 

[Tom meets Kaepernick]

Appreciate the effort BradyFTW. Must have taken you quite a bit of time to gather all of that info. Not sure what the point of long distance's post was. All he had to do was look at the info you provided. I'm not really one to be down on a member of the team as long as I see them making an effort. However, it is nice to try and look at things somewhat objectively.

 

[RobertWeathers]

One development that I've liked a lot is that Blount has made some really good plays in pass protection, as well. It's getting to the point that his presence on the field doesn't declare the offense's intentions nearly as much as it did a couple years ago.

Exactly. Hes decent in pass protection but has been more noticeable this year. Not sure why. More opportunities?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Check out @jeffphowe's Tweet:

I came up with slightly different numbers, FWIW. Cannon blocked Watt on 29 plays by my count, and was one on one with him on 13 of them. Of those 13, 9 were runs or quick passes that went the other way, where Cannon's job was essentially to momentarily get in the way. That's not to diminish Cannon, Watt is notorious for moving around the line to always fine the most favorable matchup, and if I was McDaniels I'd do the exact same thing. I would be very hesitant to ask anyone to contain Watt one on one for more than a second or two.

Based on that, I think it's overstating it to say that Cannon kicked Watt's ass or anything, but he did hold up very well. I'd say he outplayed Watt, even. Here's the 4 plays where he was put on an island against Watt and was asked to make a play:



Great job here, doesn't give up the edge.



Watt tries to bull rush him, but Cannon handles it well.



This is the one play that Watt made on Cannon - shed the block and made the tackle.



Cannon does a nice job steering Watt outside here.

Also, he wasn't one on one here, but I do want to highlight this since it was Cannon's best play of the day, and either this or Blount's 9 yard TD run against the Dolphins is his best of the season:



All in all, I'd say Cannon got the better of Watt. The Pats' gameplan was clearly centered around stopping Watt at all costs, and that meant a lot of double teams, some triple teams, and a lot of runs / quick passes to the other side. But when they did ask him to make a on one one play he was mostly up to the task. Weirdly enough, his negative plays in this game were mostly given up to other defenders: 2 to Reader, 1 to Clowney, 1 to Bullough. Makes sense, since these plays occurred when Watt shifted over to the left side of the formation, and naturally the offense's attention shifted that way too.

 

[long distance]

Some people actually look into stuff to try to draw informed conclusions. I'm not surprised that this concept is so foreign to you that you mistake it for "feeling good about yourself".

You're right. I do prefer a more complex & complementary reading of the game and the players.
EDIT: I do appreciate your last post.

This quick take from Doug Kyed can help understanding the big picture
— The Patriots ran away from Watt 21 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns and toward him just five times for 23 yards — and only two of those runs were traditional handoffs, totaling 3 yards.
— Watt was handled by a single blocker in the passing game eight times, double-teamed eight times and triple-teamed once. When a single blocker was responsible for Watt, rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett got rid of the ball in an average of just 1.77 seconds. When Watt was double- or triple-teamed, Brissett was able to take his time by getting rid of it in 2.77 seconds.
— Watt primarily lines up on the defensive left, so Marcus Cannon blocked him most frequently, taking him on 24 times total, 15 by himself, eight in the passing game and three by himself in the passing game. Shaq Mason, Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Fleming, David Andrews, Joe Thuney, Martellus Bennett, James Develin and Nate Solder also took their turns blocking Watt and all did a great job. Belichick and McDaniels’ game plan can only go as far as player production can take it. Watt’s lone hurry can barely even be considered a pressure because of how long Brissett held the ball on the play. Watt rushed from the inside, was blocked by Mason, then looped around to the defensive right when Patriots running back James White went into the flat to run a route. Watt forced Brissett to leave the pocket, by which time Cannon had looped around and knocked Watt to the ground.

Cannon did his job (well). Solid part of great team effort. I have no doubt BB and Dante saw it that way.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Exactly. Hes decent in pass protection but has been more noticeable this year. Not sure why. More opportunities?

I don't really know either, I'm guessing opportunity has a lot to do with it. There was one play in the 2nd quarter of week 1 where he made a huge block that prevented a sack and probably a fumble too. He was either cleaning up after Cannon or the play was drawn up that way, can't be sure which:



That's not to say that he wouldn't have made that play a couple years ago, but I'm not sure the Pats would have put him in that position at all, at least with any kind of frequency. But he looked really confident and methodical there in stepping up, and putting him on the ground.

 

[AzPatsFan]

As you say Tony, I can't figure out how anyone could be anything but ecstatic about the play of the OL this year compared to last year. Let's compare: at LT Soldier is back and playing great (IMHO if he hadn't been injured last year the Pats would have a 5th ring); Thuney has stabilized the LG position and is a revelation; Andrews has made a second year jump and is bigger and stronger; Mason/Karras are at least stabilizing run blocking; and Cannon is IMHO clearly playing better than last year for whatever reason. They have played well against three of the best DL's in the NFL. What is not to like?

Moreover, and this is an important point, they have done well without Brady at QB. Beyond being the GOAT (which I think is now generally accepted) and still the best QB in the game (which I think is clear, some don't agree), I have always been of the mind that the best offensive lineman the Patriots have is Brady. That is, his ability to read the defense, make the calls, and get the ball out fast makes the OL look better than it is. However, the OL has looked really good with JimmyG and Brisket. Is the improvement 100% due to improvements in personnel and the return of Scar? Or, is having a QB who is a running threat a factor in this improvement also? It will be really, really interesting to see how the OL performs when Brady returns.

Cannon is healthy now and not playing out of position on one leg...

 

[Mack Herron]

Cannon is healthy now and not playing out of position on one leg...

BB said that Canon lost a lot of weight and in the best condition since he's been here. Will be intetesting to see how he handles speed rushers.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I just wanted to point out that Mason's been playing with that bum hand, so anything but the broadest evaluation of him is a waste of time.

I agree when Trying to judge his pass protection improvement. But measuring his ability to pull and move people when he does pull and block, does not require any adjustment. He is better in pass blocking, but I dot know how much. But he is already a star when pulling.

 

[Canuck]

There were a couple of nice GIFs in this NESN article.

Mostly I liked this one GIF because it showed not just JJ Watt getting shut down, as the article points out, but also Andrews handling Big Vince by himself:

Big Vince pushed Andrews 5 yards back but Andrews maintained his block.

I think the OL is much improved this year. I also thought that the success of the tackles has alot to do with the guards. Can the tackles trust them to do their job. Solder and Flemming have done a good job because Thuney has been a stud at LG. I am very happy with the way Cannon is performing this year. I think people forget that Patriots drafted Cannon as a guard in the 5th round. Cannon is a back-up. He has been ineffective at guard and left tackle but has done an adequate job at RT. He is only in there because Vollmer is hurt, otherwise he would be riding the bench. I think some people expect Cannon to perform like a first round pick that is all-pro caliber. Since Vollmer is hurt we are really getting good production out of Cannon.
Cannon is not as talented as Solder and Volmer but come on people, Cannon is doing a pretty good job this year.

 

[zydecochris]

Big Vince pushed Andrews 5 yards back but Andrews maintained his block.

I think the OL is much improved this year. I also thought that the success of the tackles has alot to do with the guards. Can the tackles trust them to do their job. Solder and Flemming have done a good job because Thuney has been a stud at LG. I am very happy with the way Cannon is performing this year. I think people forget that Patriots drafted Cannon as a guard in the 5th round. Cannon is a back-up. He has been ineffective at guard and left tackle but has done an adequate job at RT. He is only in there because Vollmer is hurt, otherwise he would be riding the bench. I think some people expect Cannon to perform like a first round pick that is all-pro caliber. Since Vollmer is hurt we are really getting good production out of Cannon.
Cannon is not as talented as Solder and Volmer but come on people, Cannon is doing a pretty good job this year.

I am looking over the game a second time today. The other thing that stood out for me a bit was that Fleming really played pretty well. I guess I had kind of written him off (I was surprised when they cut Stork instead of Fleming), maybe he has taken an important step forward in his play.

.....I hope so, I always liked having a team with rocket scientists on the OL (see: Rocket Science) as well as on the coaching staff (http://heavy.com/sports/2015/02/matt-patricia-patriots-defensive-coordinator-salary-wife-bio-college-engineer/).