| FTBL Why does the offensive line suck so much this year?

[TideatMileHigh]

Serious question for our insiders. What explanations are there as to why this offensive line plays so poorly? What was the strategic plan for how this unit would be utilized this season? I get the feeling that these guys were developed to become a bunch of maulers akin to some Dan Reeves Washington Redskins team or early 2010s Wisconsin team, and I guess that plan went south. It's easy to say Eric Wolford sucks; which to be honest is very warranted, but why has his unit performed so badly this year?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't follow the team as closely as I used to because of life and whatnot I don't remember what the expectations were for this unit going into this year, but good lord, I've never seen an offensive line as bad as this one at Alabama under Saban.

 

[Justneedme81]

They failed the blocking 101, zone blocking 101 and snapping 101 and is having to take remedial courses again to relearn the basic concepts again.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I think it is several things...

-There was a lot of attention over the size of the guys, but some of the guys are probably playing a little too heavy.

-Proctor has struggled, learning on the job as a TF. But the good news is, the experience is going to make him better.

-Injuries have absolutely hurt them. They've had to shuffle some guys, play backups, and guys are also playing through some stuff. That isn't a good excuse for the overall performance, but it has absolutely had an impact.

-The protections and calls from the QB spot have been spotty at best, but have also improved here lately.

-They've been blamed for some things not their fault (see above, but also things like RB's doing a poor job on blocking and Milroe doing a poor job of awareness and taking unnecessary sacks in several situations.

-In the run game, teams are loading up and trying to stop the rush offense first to force the game into Milroe's hands. Hard to run against that in the SEC and against teams like Texas.

-That said, they've still had some issues moving folks up front. I haven't been a huge fan of some of the run plays, would like to see a little more off tackle stuff, but it isn't like that stuff has been extremely successful either.

-The false start stuff has been really aggravating for sure. Personally, I wish they'd incorporate more crowd noise simulations throughout the week of these loud away game weeks, and not just on Thursdays which is a less intense practice.

-Lastly, they've played some damn good defensive fronts thus far (in both talent and/or scheme). Again, not an excuse for their performance, but it should be taken into account... especially considering the Bama OL is a notoriously slow starting unit.

 

[Scrape&Search1032]

-Lastly, they've played some damn good defensive fronts thus far (in both talent and/or scheme). Again, not an excuse for their performance, but it should be taken into account... especially considering the Bama OL is a notoriously slow starting unit.

A&M might be the best defensive front we see for the rest of the year. They are outstanding, they're all fast, active hands, can bend and move quickly, their pass rush is outstanding, and they have an abundance of depth. A guy on that team I wish we landed is Walter Nolan, that dude is a monster. But I'm extremely pleased with how our front played yesterday.

 

[252BAMA]

They weren't really expected to be REAL good. Phil Steele had them ranked #22 in his Unit Rankings. #21? Northern Illinois.

 

[bamafan9201]

I think it is several things...

-There was a lot of attention over the size of the guys, but some of the guys are probably playing a little too heavy.

-Proctor has struggled, learning on the job as a TF. But the good news is, the experience is going to make him better.

-Injuries have absolutely hurt them. They've had to shuffle some guys, play backups, and guys are also playing through some stuff. That isn't a good excuse for the overall performance, but it has absolutely had an impact.

-The protections and calls from the QB spot have been spotty at best, but have also improved here lately.

-They've been blamed for some things not their fault (see above, but also things like RB's doing a poor job on blocking and Milroe doing a poor job of awareness and taking unnecessary sacks in several situations.

-In the run game, teams are loading up and trying to stop the rush offense first to force the game into Milroe's hands. Hard to run against that in the SEC and against teams like Texas.

-That said, they've still had some issues moving folks up front. I haven't been a huge fan of some of the run plays, would like to see a little more off tackle stuff, but it isn't like that stuff has been extremely successful either.

-The false start stuff has been really aggravating for sure. Personally, I wish they'd incorporate more crowd noise simulations throughout the week of these loud away game weeks, and not just on Thursdays which is a less intense practice.

-Lastly, they've played some damn good defensive fronts thus far (in both talent and/or scheme). Again, not an excuse for their performance, but it should be taken into account... especially considering the Bama OL is a notoriously slow starting unit.

I agree with a lot of these sentiments. regarding the O-line. I would like to add a few things.

The hype was there earlier on because of the size and strength. Teams like Texas and A&M used speed edge rushers to get around the edges more. When we tried to use backs to chip on those, they whiffed quite a bit or were ineffective in helping. We constantly are leaving Proctor to solo block usually the best pass rusher. Until about the 2nd half of this game, he'd struggled at finding his aggressiveness from setting them up with skill and locking in an destroying them in the pass rush. Too often he'd try to beat them with footwork, only to realize he's a step behind and watch the guy run around him.

Watching some of the 2nd half, a lot of the lineman took their back steps and then engaged with hands to slow the speed of the rush instead of continuing to give ground. This eliminates the bull rush and pushes the speed rush to the outside more, where you can push him past the QB.

Also, they did an excellent job in the 2nd half passing off stunts. A&M started stunting when they weren't getting home from the bull rush anymore and the O-line and backs did an excellent job of adjusting to those.

I think the guys are just young, they're trying to find the sweet spot of aggressive but not out of control. I saw Proctor on one of the big plays stonewall his man on the pass rush, then the guy tried to use speed to go around him and he just effortlessly shoved him to the ground behind Milroe like it was nothing.

These guys are good, they just need time to gel together and find their edge.

False starts aside, that plays more to just anxiousness/nervousness that plagues a lot of lineman who haven't had a lot of snaps in those kind of environments.

 

[JoshB]

Milroe holding the ball way too long doesn't help matters.

 

[Tidestalker]

The pre snap stuff is super frustrating. Some of my confusion comes from all of the in-game shuffling.... Because if you're having problems with pre snap penalties, more guys rotating would seem to aggravate it. Same with general chemistry when it comes to pass and run blocking... The more subbing, there's likely to be less rhythm. 6 games in now, so you'd hope the sample size is enough to pick your best guys and move forward (injuries obviously an exception).

 

[ElephantStomp]

I think it is several things...

-There was a lot of attention over the size of the guys, but some of the guys are probably playing a little too heavy.

-Proctor has struggled, learning on the job as a TF. But the good news is, the experience is going to make him better.

-Injuries have absolutely hurt them. They've had to shuffle some guys, play backups, and guys are also playing through some stuff. That isn't a good excuse for the overall performance, but it has absolutely had an impact.

-The protections and calls from the QB spot have been spotty at best, but have also improved here lately.

-They've been blamed for some things not their fault (see above, but also things like RB's doing a poor job on blocking and Milroe doing a poor job of awareness and taking unnecessary sacks in several situations.

-In the run game, teams are loading up and trying to stop the rush offense first to force the game into Milroe's hands. Hard to run against that in the SEC and against teams like Texas.

-That said, they've still had some issues moving folks up front. I haven't been a huge fan of some of the run plays, would like to see a little more off tackle stuff, but it isn't like that stuff has been extremely successful either.

-The false start stuff has been really aggravating for sure. Personally, I wish they'd incorporate more crowd noise simulations throughout the week of these loud away game weeks, and not just on Thursdays which is a less intense practice.

-Lastly, they've played some damn good defensive fronts thus far (in both talent and/or scheme). Again, not an excuse for their performance, but it should be taken into account... especially considering the Bama OL is a notoriously slow starting unit.

I agree with all of this. Yesterday two sacks were because of Milroe.

Question- does Milroe have the autonomy to audible at the line?

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

I agree with all of this. Yesterday two sacks were because of Milroe.

Question- does Milroe have the autonomy to audible at the line?

He has the ability when they send in multiple calls, he doesn't have full autonomy like Bryce did.

 

[ElephantStomp]

He has the ability when they send in multiple calls, he doesn't have full autonomy like Bryce did.

Thanks. There was once yesterday that everybody saw the blitz coming, but he didn’t check it, so I was wondering

 

[Justneedme81]

Thanks. There was once yesterday that everybody saw the blitz coming, but he didn’t check it, so I was wondering

On that play, Milroe looked at him and he knew it was coming, it just that he couldnt' check to change it at that time.