Buffalo: What Did We Learn?

lo country said:
Unless the OL suddenly finds itself or we scheme to hide the deficiencies, I don't see us getting 6...UNLESS the D can  continue to improve and start turning some of those TO's into points.  That Illinois loss hurts.....(capt obvious)
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Pretty much where I'm at. Objectively, the o-line is the weakest spot on this team and they're probably going to have the biggest impact on how far this team goes. AM would be the second most important factor, but I think he can be good enough with a solid o-line.

Based on how the o-line has played through three games though, in tandem with that fairly underwhelming running game... I don't see six at this point either. I think four-to-five would be generous.

 
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Enhance said:
Pretty much where I'm at. Objectively, the o-line is the weakest spot on this team and they're probably going to have the biggest impact on how far this team goes. AM would be the second most important factor, but I think he can be pretty good with a solid o-line.

Based on how the o-line has played through three games though, in tandem with that fairly underwhelming running game... I don't see six at this point either. I think four-to-five would be generous.
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Piper will be replaced this week.  I think the left side will get better eventually 

 
If you find kids with O-line size, are the rest of the position’s skills teachable with good coaching?

I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 

 
krc1995 said:
If you find kids with O-line size, are the rest of the position’s skills teachable with good coaching?

I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 
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To me if you can play tackle you should be able to play guard.  I don't think it goes the other way because you usually dont play tackle because you are probably too slow or not as athletic.  

 
TheSker said:
On defemse
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krc1995 said:
I understand that some things can’t be taught. Like speed, and there will always be intangibles that separate the average from the superior, but why with all of our resources is the oline a weekly disappointment? Can they be fixed/taught? Is because they are forced into starting before they are developed? Poor depth? 
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As a general rule of thumb, I think line play normally comes down to three things (not necessarily in this order): attitude, technique and strength.

I don't think strength is the problem. A lot of those guys look the part and I'd have no way of really knowing otherwise unless I looked at their weight room numbers.

As for attitude, that can be pretty nebulous. Apparently Frost has former linemen there all the time talking about the importance of attitude and asserting your will on the opponent. And I'm sure they talk about that stuff all the time. Frost's staff does not come off as weak-willed, so I don't think that's really the problem either.

So then you have to look at technique. Are you in the right spots, are you making the right reads, are you positioning yourself well. Zone blocking schemes aren't always easy. And then a HUGE and underrated part of technique is confidence. If you don't know what you're doing or if you do the wrong thing then you're not going to have a lot of confidence in getting the job done and going 100%. This is where I think the biggest problem is. I don't see a lot of guys who seem to be in the right spots and then making the play they need to. I'm not an o-line expert, but when defenders are brushing off blocks or coming clean entirely, or when your back is being forced to make his first cut in the back field... something doesn't seem right. That suggests people aren't where they're supposed to be or got beat.

 
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Enhance said:
As a general rule of thumb, I think line play normally comes down to three things (not necessarily in this order): attitude, technique and strength.

I don't think strength is the problem. A lot of those guys look the part and I'd have no way of really knowing otherwise unless I looked at their weight room numbers.

As for attitude, that can be pretty nebulous. Apparently Frost has former linemen there all the time talking about the importance of attitude and asserting your will on the opponent. And I'm sure they talk about that stuff all the time. Frost's staff does not come off as weak-willed, so I don't think that's really the problem either.

So then you have to look at technique. Are you in the right spots, are you making the right reads, are you positioning yourself well. Zone blocking schemes aren't always easy. And then a HUGE and underrated part of technique is confidence. If you don't know what you're doing or if you do the wrong thing then you're not going to have a lot of confidence in getting the job done and going 100%. This is where I think the biggest problem is. I don't see a lot of guys who seem to be in the right spots and then making the play they need to. I'm not an o-line expert, but when defenders are brushing off blocks or coming clean entirely, or when your back is being forced to make his first cut in the back field... something doesn't seem right. That suggests people aren't where they're supposed to be or got beat.
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That's a pretty good assessment from my perspective.  Watching the game on Saturday, I was thinking about, "what is wrong with this line?"  My conclusion was that they don't seem to have a nasty attitude of going out and kicking the a$$ of the guys on the other side.  They play timid.  That has to have something to do with confidence.  Not sure how you get that now.  I would hope that that would have been built in these first three games.  But, we don't have the ability to line up and run the ball down the field.  And, it doesn't seem like they are stopping our run with safety help, so, I'm not sure stretching the field with the passing game is going to help.

One other thing I thought about was, we don't seem to run the RBs outside the tackles very often.  It seems like all of our hand offs are up the middle.  Also, I don't remember ever running any type of screen play this year.

Maybe we will see those this week against OU?   :dunno   Both of those types of plays, I would think, would help open up run plays up the middle.  Screen plays would also help slow down the pass rush.

 
My takeaways (which have probably already been stated by others on here, too many comments to read)...I said it after Fordham,  the lack of chunk plays on the ground concerned me...that's directly on the o-line.  We definitely struggled again in that area, but those 4-5 yards against Fordham were 1-2 yards Saturday. 

We have had success all season running the ball on the option looks and had success in the counter game in the 2nd half.  Perhaps, we shouldn't have bread and butter runs until we see what we're actually good at?  We suck at power right now.

I don't really have an issue with our backs too much, it's hard to run effectively when there's a wall of defenders and no creases.  Ervin showed some wiggle in the 2nd half.  

Our lack of a pass rush is still an issue.   Oklahoma will torch us on the back end without one.  Our secondary, aside from Williams was average, at best in coverage.  

We play the run very well through the first 3 games.  AM has had back to back good games, here's a guy hoping it continues. 

Our WR room is deeper than it's been in a long while...athletes galore there.  Excited about that room.

Injuries bit us a bit Saturday,  hopefully the guys will be back sooner rather than later.

We had an opportunity for 58 points Saturday...9 on missed field goals,  21 on tds called back.  2 were BS calls.  Snake bitten again by bad timing, luck, technique,  whatever you want to call it.

CTB, shouldn't return punts anymore.  He's a good corner, but he's been nothing short of horrendous as a returner.  I think the experiment needs to be over.

 
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