• Welcome to BGO! We know you will have questions as you become familiar with the software. Please take a moment to read our New BGO User Guide which will give you a great start. If you have questions, post them in the Feedback and Tech Support Forum, or feel free to message any available Staff Member.

Word of Muth: Stretch Slice (OL Play vs Colts)

Om

Burgundy & Gold Jacket
Staff member
BGO Ownership Group
Joined
Apr 11, 2009
Messages
10,107
Reaction score
1,348
Points
544
Location
Montclair, VA
Another installment from what is quickly becoming one of my favorite Skins-related recurring features. Former lineman Muth does a great job bringing the X's and O's to life, writes well ... "gets it."

This week he looks at the Skins OL play against the Colts and brings a perspective I think you'll appreciate.

Click the title link for the whole story ...

Word of Muth: Stretch Slice by Ben Muth

The Redskins had a simple game plan against the Colts: run the football effectively and use play action to create big plays. They were able to run the ball pretty effectively, but they didn't find any big plays in the passing game. As a result, the Redskins lost another close game to fall back to .500. Despite not coming away with a victory, the coaching staff has to be happy with the way the team ran the ball. A big part of that success was the emergence of a possible workhorse in Ryan Torain, who ended the game with 100 yards and two scores.

Of course, Torain wasn't blocking for himself out there: he had a lot of help from the fullback, tight ends, and offensive line. The offensive tackles were the focus of Cris Collinsworth's commentary (and the majority of this article), but the interior offensive linemen played better. Artis Hicks and Kory Lichtensteiger never jumped off the tape. That was actually a good thing.

The Redskins were running a lot of Zone Stretch. It's a play that doesn't lend itself to really impressive blocks, especially on the interior line, where a stalemate is often a win for the offense. Both guards did a nice job of staying engaged with their men and keeping them on the line of scrimmage. This allowed Torain to be deep into the line of scrimmage before he would make his first cut. The later a running back can make a cut, the harder it is for linebackers to flow over top of plays without getting caught up on their own defenders or opposing offensive linemen. Casey Rabach was solid as well, but he was a slight tick below the guards.


The Redskins' tackles didn't play as well as the interior line, but then again, they had a much tougher job. Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis may be the best defensive end combination in the National Football League (copyright: Ron Jaworski). In the running game, I think that Trent Williams and Jammal Brown brought the fight to the Colts. Ryan Torain was consistently able to get to the edge of the defense and chew up chunks of yardage at a time (let it be noted that the Colts secondary was a big part of this too -- they were MIA in run support). That being said, they were usually double-teaming with the tight ends on these plays, so they were rarely on their own. Still, they were effective double teams, and there's no such thing as style points for an offensive line...
 
Great explanation here. The running game looked the best it has looked all season last week. We need more of the same.
 
Great explanation here. The running game looked the best it has looked all season last week. We need more of the same.


Agreed, but I am concerned that we had a terrific gameplan for negating the Colt's lateral quickness, but will have to do something vastly different against the Bears strength up front. Muth did a nice job of explaining the cutbacks and the other things we did to free up Torain. Hopefully Kyle can come up with something new to keep the Bears off balance.
 
Hopefully, a few toss plays and a reverse or two will help keep the Bears honest and allow Torain to have another good game. I kinda like this Muth guy. :)
 
Hopefully, a few toss plays and a reverse or two will help keep the Bears honest and allow Torain to have another good game. I kinda like this Muth guy. :)

Just as long as there is no toss play on 3rd and one.
 

:claps: Goaldeje beat me to the twitch. Possibly one of the worst calls of the season. The toss just isn't a good 3rd and one play but it can be effective against teams who don't play press with their corners.

Wearing down the Bears defense by effectively mixing the run and pass will go a long way. Their offense moved the ball well against Dallas' 3-4 so I'd rather Cutler try to force the issue by playing catch-up rather than give him a lead and having Forte and Taylor grind it out.
 
:claps: Goaldeje beat me to the twitch. Possibly one of the worst calls of the season. The toss just isn't a good 3rd and one play but it can be effective against teams who don't play press with their corners.

Wearing down the Bears defense by effectively mixing the run and pass will go a long way. Their offense moved the ball well against Dallas' 3-4 so I'd rather Cutler try to force the issue by playing catch-up rather than give him a lead and having Forte and Taylor grind it out.


Not possibly, definitely. Turned a one yrd run into a 15 yd failing run. Stooopiddd!!!!
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Help Users
As we enjoy today's conversations, let's remember our dear friends 'Docsandy', Sandy Zier-Teitler, and 'Posse Lover', Michael Huffman, who would dearly love to be here with us today! We love and miss you guys ❤

You haven't joined any rooms.

    You haven't joined any rooms.
    Top