Road graders

The only missing element this team is an physically dominating o-line. I am OK with Ifedi and Britt. Glowinski needs to bulk up and Gilliam and Sowell are to finesse for my liking. I marvel at the cowboys and raiders o-line at how physical they are. We had that with Carpenter and Giacomini. Once they return to girth and power then the run game will be dominant again. I like Fants potential but we must return to mashing defenses. Your thoughts or suggestions?

bighawk":pcs8mse4 said:

The only missing element this team is an physically dominating o-line. I am OK with Ifedi and Britt. Glowinski needs to bulk up and Gilliam and Sowell are to finesse for my liking. I marvel at the cowboys and raiders o-line at how physical they are. We had that with Carpenter and Giacomini. Once they return to girth and power then the run game will be dominant again. I like Fants potential but we must return to mashing defenses. Your thoughts or suggestions?

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That prototype doesn't work well for the ZBS. There is a greater premium on movement and agility as the blocking tends to be much more fluid.

Obviously the results have been underwhelming for us with the ZBS. It's important to recognize that this scheme is often wildly successful where it's implemented. And it's value to a club is supposed to be that it doesn't require alpha talents to be a good unit.

It hasn't happened here. And worse, it's not happened here despite using draft capital that the scheme really shouldn't require.

To morph into a more power scheme (which actually it appears Seattle is starting down that road this year), will take some significant turnover on the roster. It's funny you mention Glow needing to bulk up considering to a man, the team will tell you he's the strongest player on this club on either side of the ball. On the interior, I think Seattle has the pieces to make that transition should they choose.

Oddly given the background and rawness, Fant actually looks like he has the tools to be a drive blocker on the outside. Watching him on run plays (where he's not falling into clipping penalties), his best individual performances are when he's drive blocking the end. He has quick feet and athleticism to really lock onto lighter ends and the physical strength to wash them backwards.

Really where the line struggles at this, is RT. Which in a power scheme needs to be a real mauler. Gilliam isn't that kind of player.

It's worth watching as the year unfolds. To see if the occasional dalliance with power runs becomes something more. It could signal a hint at a possible change in philosophy in the upcoming offseason. And could drive our relative draft grades in a different way.

Overall, I like where the line is right now in terms of talent. I do feel we have 4 guys on this line talented enough to warrant getting a second deal. But they are just so inexperienced. Last year we also had an inexperienced line to some degree. But this line is almost all brand new (lost Okung/Sweezy). And despite being wildly more inexperienced than last year, I feel better about this line now than this time last year.

Too much focus on raw physicality is exactly why J.R. Sweezy was bad for us. For every play he pancaked someone, he whiffed two more because he didn't have the technique. It got into Britt's head as well and caused a lot of problems.

I agree that Fant has a lot more physical upside than Sowell, anyone can see that. But he's got a lot to learn in terms of technique and decision-making. That stuff matters.

I can't believe how many on this board were all giddy with the prospect of Gilliam being LT in the offseason. Not only did he get beat out by the dump truck Sowell, but he can't even play RT.....He STINKS.

Maybe a power blocking scheme is what we need but athleticism helps. When guys are shooting gaps and stuffing guys in the backfield this why we should scrap the zone scheme as the primary and go to a more power system with guard pulling.

We had road graders, their names were JR Sweezy and James Carpenter. Didn't want to pay them.

IMO that's why we drafted Ifedi, more that type of nasty big physical player, just gonna take a couple years to develop him. Seems to be the catch phrase for this O-line the past 2-3 years.........."gonna take time to develop."

...so.. you are saying that we don't have enough talent to execute a system that requires very little talent? Our staff can't even identify marginal talent much less good players? Cable can not be the only ZBS coach out there. Either try some one else or at least hire him some help!

I don't consider Sweezy a road grader and I never really liked him. Carpenter, Giacomini were to me. A line like Okung, Carpenter, Britt, Ifedi, Giacomini. You can power block as well as zone block.