Extra OLinemen?

Goaldeje · Nov 17, 2014

So I was reading this morning on Grantland a weekly NFL recap, and came across this nugget about the Pats/Colts game:

Just as he did in January’s 43-22 playoff win over these same Colts, Belichick relied heavily on his running game to keep Andrew Luck off the field and prevent Indianapolis from wearing down New England’s thin defensive lineup. That, though, was with Logan Mankins at guard and former offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia on the sideline. New England’s line has improved mightily since installing rookie Bryan Stork at center and Ryan Wendell at right guard after that disastrous loss to the Chiefs in Week 4, but they’re still hardly a dominant run-blocking unit.

The solution? Add an extra offensive lineman. As ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss counted during the game, the Patriots lined up Cameron Fleming as a sixth offensive lineman on a whopping 37 snaps Sunday night. That’s virtually unprecedented.1 Plenty of teams will line up with an extra offensive lineman in short-yardage situations, but virtually nobody uses it as a basic offensive strategy. The Bears have used swing tackle Eben Britton as an extra blocker at times, and the Ravens would use six-lineman sets pretty frequently during Joe Flacco’s rookie season in 2008, but I don’t recall any game when a team used a sixth lineman this frequently. The Patriots didn’t go with a sixth lineman even once during that playoff win.

And I wondered why we aren't trying something like this? Sub in a sixth OLineman for a TE or an extra WR. There are, of course, plenty of scenarios in a game that negate any benefit derived from this, but for a lot of situations, I could see a nice benefit. If Compton is getting abused, double his guy with an extra Lineman. Just seems like something worthy of consideration, though I could buy the argument that a mid-season switch like this might be difficult at best.

McD5 · Nov 17, 2014

I like it. Usually I would hate that idea, but it might work perfectly for our situation. It might also help our running game. It certainly helped Jonas Gray have an historic night.

Extra OLinemen?

Goaldeje

The Legend

McD5

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