The "I apologize to Steve" thread

[KNSD]

Looks like the Chargers were able to move the ball and score through the air yesterday. Gordon's portion of the running game sucked too. AND Rivers wasn't carted off the field in a coffin. So +1 Steve. Good call for yesterday's game.

[TTK]

Hard to get a run game going when you don't even try. And when they do it's the same shotgun draw up the middle. :cuss:

The couple times I saw out of the pistol, MG looked good.

[MakoShark]

Hard to get a run game going when you don't even try. And when they do it's the same shotgun draw up the middle. :cuss:

The couple times I saw out of the pistol, MG looked good.

I think I counted Rivers taking 3 snaps from center. 2 of the 3 were runs.

[KNSD]

Still, the Chargers were successful with a largely passing game which I didn't think would work. So +1 Steve.

[richpjr]

Having Gates back should force more attention on our TE and perhaps give our RB a bit more space to run.

[TTK]

Still, the Chargers were successful with a largely passing game which I didn't think would work. So +1 Steve.

I agree, the pass blocking was a pleasant surprise. However, I think they could run the ball more effectively if they changed things up and not do the same predictable draw up the middle over and over.

[Steve]

It's not much consolation being right. We couldn't run the ball against the worst run D in football. Danny Shelton was playing like a fat kid on a skateboard (getting knocked back out of his gap, or off the ball), and it didn't net us many yards.

We were able to spread them out and once they did that, our OL were able to identify the blitzers and we could pick it up. The pass protection was still not that great. It was a good game plan to spread out their guys out of the box. Some team is just going to pull a Bengal and not let them be spread out, and if they keep rushing/blitzing, I am not sure we can pick up the blitz.

You guys can call it the same draw play up the middle, but most of those runs are inside zones, not draws. Watch the footwork and you can tell. Again, not much consolation, since they are knocking our OL off the ball and making those plays look alike, but Reich is calling several different plays that all end up looking alike. But there are only so many ways to block people without bringing in extra blockers, and that just brings more defenders into the box with it. At some point, our OL has to block someone. Smoke and mirrors won't do everything. At some point you have to get your hands dirty.

[Millionaire Wussy]

It's not much consolation being right. We couldn't run the ball against the worst run D in football. Danny Shelton was playing like a fat kid on a skateboard (getting knocked back out of his gap, or off the ball), and it didn't net us many yards.

We were able to spread them out and once they did that, our OL were able to identify the blitzers and we could pick it up. The pass protection was still not that great. It was a good game plan to spread out their guys out of the box. Some team is just going to pull a Bengal and not let them be spread out, and if they keep rushing/blitzing, I am not sure we can pick up the blitz.

You guys can call it the same draw play up the middle, but most of those runs are inside zones, not draws. Watch the footwork and you can tell. Again, not much consolation, since they are knocking our OL off the ball and making those plays look alike, but Reich is calling several different plays that all end up looking alike. But there are only so many ways to block people without bringing in extra blockers, and that just brings more defenders into the box with it. At some point, our OL has to block someone. Smoke and mirrors won't do everything. At some point you have to get your hands dirty.

I was very glad the Browns didn't blitz very much after having early success with it. I kept waiting for them to blitz again but glad they didn't.

[Steve]

They couldn't. All their blitzers were outside covering our receivers. They only thing they could have done was to bring up a S, and when they did we got a couple of long plays from Woodhead and Green.

[Millionaire Wussy]

They couldn't. All their blitzers were outside covering our receivers. They only thing they could have done was to bring up a S, and when they did we got a couple of long plays from Woodhead and Green.

What about their inside LB Kirksey. Why didn't they have him blitz more?

[richpjr]

Hank Bauer was on the radio tonight and commented how the Browns blitzed on every play when we lined up in a certain formation and Reich noticed it and changed up the formation and calls after the first 2 series and things stabilized a lot.

[Steve]

What about their inside LB Kirksey. Why didn't they have him blitz more?

I haven't re-watched the game, but it was my impression that we got him away from blitzing because they needed him in coverage. All those short crossing routes behind the LB are there for a reason. Throw where the blitzer came from is a very low risk place to throw in terms of an int, since there is a lot of space, plus the big play potential.