Joel
10-26-2013, 04:15 PM
Having ranted about this for years, I may be guilty of confirmation bias here; judge for yourself:
I'll keep it simple, after rewatching each run 4-5 times, it was clear the offensive line was out coached and made consistent mistakes. To help look at this, I went and clipped each run for Moreno that went for less than 3 yards since that is the expected distance a back should be able to get with decent blocking in front of him....
It is pretty clear the offensive line was just not up to task across the board against the Colts, as well as the Jaguars, but in terms of the run game this is the 2nd week in a row they've struggled at even holding run blocks. In the MHR Stats: Running Backs (http://www.milehighreport.com/pages/broncos-running-back-breakdown) page under the Library tab at the top of the page we see that the running backs on average are getting hit at less than 3 yards past the line of scrimmage and actually Moreno and Montee are earning about half their yards after contact, Moreno actually averages 2.12 yards after contact. The past two games have proven the run blocking is a serious issue, especially Chris Clark, Julius Thomas and Manny Ramirez. Something needs to change or next week Moreno, Hillman, and Montee are going to continue to be swallowed up at the line of scrimmage.http://www.milehighreport.com/2013/10/25/5024040/replaying-the-broncos-run-game-against-colts
Again, we had the same issue even when McGahee was starting and led the league in yards after contact: Our run blockers were consistently beaten at the line, so he and Moreno had to break tackles and move piles just to avoid a loss, while fans complained about their injuries from getting multiple times per carry and criticized Moreno dancing around instead of just making one cut and going. As if he had a choice.
This year the line was surprisingly and relievingly better with a new center and right guard—then both 320+ lb. tackles went down; now we're right back where we started. Hope we find another answer soon.
I'll keep it simple, after rewatching each run 4-5 times, it was clear the offensive line was out coached and made consistent mistakes. To help look at this, I went and clipped each run for Moreno that went for less than 3 yards since that is the expected distance a back should be able to get with decent blocking in front of him....
It is pretty clear the offensive line was just not up to task across the board against the Colts, as well as the Jaguars, but in terms of the run game this is the 2nd week in a row they've struggled at even holding run blocks. In the MHR Stats: Running Backs (http://www.milehighreport.com/pages/broncos-running-back-breakdown) page under the Library tab at the top of the page we see that the running backs on average are getting hit at less than 3 yards past the line of scrimmage and actually Moreno and Montee are earning about half their yards after contact, Moreno actually averages 2.12 yards after contact. The past two games have proven the run blocking is a serious issue, especially Chris Clark, Julius Thomas and Manny Ramirez. Something needs to change or next week Moreno, Hillman, and Montee are going to continue to be swallowed up at the line of scrimmage.http://www.milehighreport.com/2013/10/25/5024040/replaying-the-broncos-run-game-against-colts
Again, we had the same issue even when McGahee was starting and led the league in yards after contact: Our run blockers were consistently beaten at the line, so he and Moreno had to break tackles and move piles just to avoid a loss, while fans complained about their injuries from getting multiple times per carry and criticized Moreno dancing around instead of just making one cut and going. As if he had a choice.
This year the line was surprisingly and relievingly better with a new center and right guard—then both 320+ lb. tackles went down; now we're right back where we started. Hope we find another answer soon.