Incognito the Center

And yet, we call can see Joe Berger kinda..is not good..and Sparano sticks with him anyway..Berger really should not be out on the field in the first place..there are reasons for being 7-8 bro.

 

You know this pulling guard stuff drives me insane. While I agree Incognito is really built as a proto type Center, I have watched time again and again this season this pulling crap people talk about.

In the Lions game when they did the Chinese fire drill I watched Incognito pull two times and both times he ran smack into McQuistan. For whatever reason McQuistan was being pushed backwards and by who, I do not know. The second time, McQ was pushed back so hard, he was facing the oppostie side of the Oline, right in Incognitos path.

I know there are Carey homers here and Jerry homers but man, I watched all season, time and time again, our LG pulls to the right and know what ? There iether was no hole for him to pull thru on the right side or the hole was so friggin small, Danny Woodhead could not pull thru it.

I disagree on all of this stuff. For a pull to be successful to the right side, the RG and RT have to OPEN a friggin hole for the LG to pull thru to get to the LBers, thats fact and the pure fact is and many can watch the film themselves. 90% of the time, there is no dam hole for even a chipmunk to pull thru and yeah, Incognito still hits it and then the back hits it and then there is a log jamb for no gain. I do not blame that on Incognito whatsoever. I am been dealing with Oline for years. I am retired now but coached HS football for 20 years, Jr. College for about 6 years and pulling is a basic technique and there is no magic involved in it. What is involved is the guard and tackle on the side the guard is pulling to MUST, IMPERATIVE, OPEN A DAM HOLE FOR THE OPPOSITE GUARD TO PULL THRU. Thats basic football 101 folks and if you set aside your allegiances to several players, you would plainly see the fact, Most of the time, the dam opportunity for the LG to pull thru the hole is not there because our RG, whoever, pick one, Jerry or McQuistan and our RT, Carey mostly, did not open up squat for the LG to pull thru.

Add to that, loud mouth moaner Ronnie Brown cannot even make a cut when there is no hole, he just runs into the back of the log jame like a first year pop warner player. Honestly, I have no clue what is going on with Ronnie Brown at all. I do know he has like ZERO speed ability. I mentioned to someone else here a few examples at the Jets away game. The holes where there, dam sure they were, its on film and Brown did one of two things, cut away right before he hit the open hole into traffic or just did not even attempt to go thru the hole.

I have watched Incognito pull, MANY MANYMAAAAAAAAAAANY times to pick up the blitzing DE or LBer on our Right side and know what ? He was successful 100% of the time, did not miss one block on that pull. He had plenty of speed and power, know why ? Again, football basic 101, because there was no need for a hole to be made. Our RG and RT are not even in the way. I watched Incognito several times get our on apull so fast he almost runs into Henne. Kid really does pull good. All this fantasy crap about him not being able to pull good is complete BS and believe me, I am no homer either. I just state fact on what the F&^k is really going on here. Problem we have is there is no RG or RT better then what we had on the field all year to replace them. Carey better drop some weight and get his head screwed on to play football or IMO, can his asss. Kid is a good footballl player, when he wants to be. Ask Carey to pull at the guard position, it would be stupid sillysad to watch. He cannot get out of his own way. Screw his knee boo boo, each Olineman on every team has owies that are hurting bad this time of year.

For the naysayers ? Watch New England game Sunday and watch closely when they show the New England offensive line from the backside. Or if you have DVR, DVR it. I will bet you hot dogs and beers for an entire season that when Logan Mankins pulls to his right, there is a hole for him already made by his RG and RT for him to lead to the second level. Then watch the same thing on ours, I am willing to bet an extra entire season of hot dogs and beer that when our LG pulls, he runs into a pile of humanity because Jerry and McQuistan or whoever is at RT did squatolo to make a hole for him. Watch it, learn what the hell is really happening this season, you will be amazed.

I am no smarter then anyone here but I do have a little experience, even at the lower levels of the sport, of watching this stuff.. Making a portal for a pulling guard is no different then good blocking for your QB. No hole, no successful pull, no blocking, you QB is on the ground most of the time.

Another thing to watch. Watch when our RG pulls to his left. If Incognito is at LG and Long at LT I am willing to bet 2 more seasons of hot dogs and beer that 99% of the time, there is a gaping hole for the RG to go thru to get to the next level,

Wow, just realized, thats mucho Hot Dogs and beer. Meh, its worth it because its all true and fact. Even the local press down here does not know what the hell they are looking at sometimes. Both Armando and boy wonder from the Sentinel that loves his Air Jordans, have not clue of what they are looking at sometimes. Our LG cannot go thru a hole that does not exist, for the LG to be successful, he needs a hole to pull thru. Watch Mankins Sunday, part of what makes him so good is his RG and RT making the necessary hole for him.

 

Great video and not to correct you but that is a sweep play and its far different then what we run when we pull our LG. The majority of the plays we use on pulling our LG are supposed to go thru the B Gap, or the space between the RG and RT. Thats where the clog up happens. On occasion we run a pull thru the C gap, or the space in between our RT and TE lined up on the Right side of the Oline.

Not sure of what they use as terminology for the A gap plays but thats what is run on most wildcats and most plays we use our LG. Again, thats the majority of the plays in Hennings play book on the area it goes to. Thats where we have a problem, The A gap is almost always clogged up due to the inefficiency of the blocking by our RG and RT. On the C gap pulls, or the space between the RT and TE lined up on the RS, again, its rare we run this but we do on occasion, Incognito usually has some space in that scenario and does a good job of getting downefield.

I honestly wish we ran the sweep plays where we literally pull the entire Left side or right side of the Oline and go mowing people downfield. Problem is this, No way Carey and or Jerry can do that succesfully and no way Long has the speed to sweep to the right. This is why Henning uses mainly, the A gap pull. It fails because of the blocking on our right side. Our TEs are piss poor blockers too and that does not help out the situation whatsoever. Last year Carey was in far better shape and played a hell of a lot better football. Thomas was on par with Jerry but Jerry is making HUGE HUGE rookie mistakes that Thomas did not make last year. What you saw last year was the right side opening holes for Smiley to go thru to the next level, thats simply not and has not happened this year and stupid Henning keeps running the crap into the ground.

You also have to remember, last year we had Pat White to throw things off a little. The first contest in NE in Nov, White gained 45 yards rushing on about 9-10 carries. Take his efforts away and between Ronnie, Rikcy and Polite, we only gained 75 yards rushing. Big difference with the added distraction of White in the lineup. Not waiving the flag for him, just stating a fact on one game.

Like I said, NE runs the A gap pull for the LG, Mankins too, not as much as we do but still, they do it. Watch the HUGE hole his RG and RT provide for him to go thru, its like day and night on what we have on the right side in regards to making room for the LG pull.

Add to that, Hennings play book is friggin ancient my friend. When these plays were created guards weight,at most, 250 lbs. Guards these days go about 320 lbs, HUGE difference.

Watch most of the NFL, I mean the majority of the teams. None of them use the LG pull as much as the Miami Dolphins do. Know why ? Its easy for the defense to pick up on, especially on a team like ours where the RG and RT cannot open that A gap space up for more then 1 second, thats too short a time even for a running back to get thru there.

Watche where NE stacks their guys, yep, our right side of the Oline, they know whats going on. Problem is our own OC hasn't a clue of what is going on. Add to that, Henning uses a runing play about 3 times, if they do not get yardage, he dumps it. This is in itself dumb. You gotta keep poiunding and pounding and sooner or later, it will work. Lions have a decent to very good Dline and all we did was basic straight ahead blocking and WOW it worked. Amazing, simply amazing how this organization thought process works.

Incognito proved a few things last Sunday. He has power, he gets to the second level when there is no one blocking his hole because at center, he did not have to worry about a hole being clogged, he moved people off the LOS, he can handle bigger NTs with no problem. In 3 quarters he had a job interview so to speak and he blew the current guy away that currently holds that job down.

Thats why Sunday I am almost positve we will see Berger back at center for his last and final appearance just so the organization can see what he can or cannot do successfully and for more then one or two plays a game. I know as soon as he came in last Sunday the Lions sent the troops right at him.

 

Rep..

 

Amazing to me this year that a professional football league offensive line literally couldn't get out of their own way..I didn't want to crown them in the preseason, had a feeling they were gonna struggle, based on a lack of athleticism thru the interior, and Vernon Carey not progressing as a player.

 

Dammit we missed Nate Garner on the OL this season....