Kind of saw this one coming, short week, on the road, Rodgers first home game, depleted offensive line. One hope was they could just run, run, run. I was going to skip this and say they all sucked, bad week, will tape review next week and skip this, but I'm a glutton for punishment.
What has been evident to me since the exhibition game:
The best 5 OL play they have a solid enough offensive line.
Depth is not good and made worse when Chuks left the team.
Robinson is raw and not ready to start
Wallace can probably start at RT but not LT but needs work on his mechanics, especially bull rushes.
This game just proved much of that. I broke down each play and series, broke down which player was responsible for results that were bad, or could have been bad, in a couple cases. I factored in play design, if it was a screen, the fact a guy was let go is not a negative for example, if was a quick pass and not hit, even if you lost the rep not a negative. There is context to what each play requires of a blocker and I consider that.
Pass Plays breakdown: Foot is when Andrews stepped on Robinsons foot and fell down, I could not decide if that was Robinson or Andrews fault. If there was 1 play where 2 guys failed, I gave each a half credit for bad rep
You might notice a trend, the 2 rookies, who should not be starting until next year (though maybe Wallace could start at RT but not LT) are the biggest issues.
On the first drive the LB blitzes right by Onwenu who blocks nobody, the LB with the 5 on the jersey just runs to Onwenu's left untouched, 93 goes left and picked up by Rhamondre, Rhamondre then releases the guy for Onwenu to block and goes out for outlet pass, but by that time free rusher is on the QB. Jacoby can dump to Rhamondre but throws away downfield. I put this on Onwenu, clearly the play call is Rhamondre block and then go out but usually play is over by then so Onwenu should be looking at the blitzer but he only looks at the end Rhamondre is blocking. Complete mental error. Dumb play call? Jacoby not accounting for blitz, not throwing the dump off? All plausible but got to be on Onwenu,
Lowe, Sow, Andrews, Jordan and Onwenu is the starting 5 that should be playing. Eventually Wallace at RT and Onwenu in place of Jordan might be fine. Help Lowe with a chip here and there and you have a line that can play together and function as an average NFL line. The problem is no depth and injuries. You could then bring in Robinson as the extra lineman. They have something with that group, As long as Robinson plays they are screwed on pass plays, as long as Wallace is at LT and Robinson both play they will be in big trouble.
Wallace: His issue in pre-season is the same now, very upright in pass protection, defenders jam the shoulder pads and he gets off balance. For some reason at RT he's slightly better at that and more likely to recover, probably because he's trained his body leverage and weight transfer and hands on the right side, on the left he doesn't have that same ability to recover. He also got beat bad on a spin move. He's your future Right Tackle and IMO he will be good, but he needs lots of work to be a LT. Bad call on the first holding call, he did not hold, guy stumbled, he threw him down. 2nd holding was declined but was legitimate. Run blocking is fine.
Robinson: Is it rude to say he might be the dumbest lineman in the NFL? probably exaggerating but stunts, blitzes are a complete mystery. Physically he's an NFL starter, physically an all-pro mentally he's a college backup. He needs a full off-season to study defenses, understand what he needs to look for. If he gets that right he's an all-pro caliber guard, if he does not he's a 6th lineman because he can run block. 4th and 8 on the Maye scramble, Robinson blocks his guy, then lets him go to double team the guy next to him who is already being blocked fine by Andrews, Maye then had to scramble for the first because Robinsons guy was a free rusher. WTF was a common theme when watching Robinson pass block. Maybe he bet on the Jets?
The Others: Jacoby had 1 play he blew the hot read on a blitz. Firsts series of second half I gave 1/2 to Jacoby and 1/2 to Onwenu. Onwenu got beat slightly wide but pushed guy behind Jacoby, who could have just stood there and threw to DD, instead he stepped up a bit, into Andrews guy that got by him on a stunt. I did not negative Andrews for this because Jacoby had enough time to throw, did not get ball out on time due to Onwenu, but he also did not need to step up because Onwenu pushed his guy behind him. Also, Jacoby should have seen how wide the rusher was before the play and realized his angle would have been tough for Onwenu to get to him, other than to push him wide. You could go 1/2 Onwenu, 1/2 Andrews, but Onwenu's guy never touched Jacoby and Andrews guy had to loop around, which took a while so should not have had time to get there. I went half and half Jacoby and Onwenu. Andrews had a hold, tripped on Robinsons feet and got beat on a stunt but did not affect play.
Otherwise, the others mostly held up solidly in run and pass protection, but 2 weak links is going to kill you. Jordan beat on one play but him and Onwenu played well overall other than that 1 bizarre play he let the blitzer go.
Coaching: The biggest issue was the run/pass mix. I get that they were behind but they can run on the Jets. They had 10 run plays I reviewed, 8 of them were excellent blocking and good play, 1 the play design was bad and caused a run stuff, the other bad one was the TE Hooper getting beat to stuff the run. They also had the fumble. When they see Jets again I'd run, run, run until the 4th quarter and you have no choice. They really could not stop the run, unfortunately the Patriots stopped themselves with Fumbles and play calls. There were 2 pass plays I thought the play calling set them up for failure. They need to stop with the naked bootleg until Maye plays, Jacoby can't outrun the free rusher, the ends are not being suckered in because they know it is a staple of the offense and waiting for it. Stop Calling that play, please. Overall, AVP is OK, you watch, Dolphins, Lions, Chiefs and you see what great play designers do. He's not that but there are not many of them. He's fine enough but like to see a younger, more innovative play caller at some point in the future, AVP won't hurt you, just not going to wow you either.
Summary: This is a very good run blocking team. Robinson is a very bad pass blocker, and Wallace is overmatched at LT as a pass blocker. 2 rookies that should not be playing but pushed into service by injuries. On a short week they had no chance. If we can see Lowe, Sow, Andrews, Jordan and Onwenu for several weeks in a row things will look much better. Lowe is not great but get him some help chipping, double team with RB or TE. Until that group is together not going to be good. You put Leverett in for Robinson you lose the run blocking superiority though you gain some on pass protection. No other options. They need to build chemistry with a healthy Lowe, Sow, Andrews, Jordan and Onwenu. Until then they just need to run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, occasional play action and screens
I'll get to QB and WR's when the all-22 comes out.
One note, the play where Maye tried to run, and ended up slammed to the ground. I think was 3rd down, Maye had time, could have tried TE on a short out, so was not on the line for this hit, was on Maye.
However it was man to man with 5 rushers, he had a lane, if he got by the guy Jacobs (in at LT) was blocking he gets 10 yards minimum, depending on all-22 maybe more. I think the TE throw was probably there and he should have taken it, but the lane opened, looked like he could get thru and with 5 rushers and man to man, its a running QB dream and a defense nightmare, I get the decision though I mark it down as wrong because he got slowed by Jacobs guy allowing LB to slam him down. However, the big play thought process was there, so though I put a negative on him for the play I get his whole thought process, with that defense and a lane to run, big play available. He wanted the possible 20-yard run vs the 4 yard out for the first. His processing was good that based on defense that a big run was possible, just didn't get by that 1st guy.
