Many of us are excited about the potential of massive offensive lineman Daniel Faalele, whose redshirt officially came off with his debut as a starter at OSU last week. And why not? It's not often you get to dust off a brand new, 6-foot-9, 400-lb tackle.
The consensus seemed to be that the OL looked considerably better against OSU than previous weeks, a sign that Faalele had an immediate impact. But is that true? And if so, how good was he?
So I sat down to re-watch the game, or at least our offensive snaps, with a pen and tablet. (Those are ancient tools used for writing, kids.) I used a simple system, where I assigned a number grade for Big Dan on every play from scrimmage he participated in. Here's the scale:
0 Failure. Did not appear to get the job done.
1 Adequate. Appeared to accomplish the task assigned.
2 Superb. Did something extremely well. A pancake block. Chipping someone at the line before sliding to the second level and delivering a devastating block on a 'backer. Pulling, getting to the point of attack on time and delivering a crushing block in space. The things offensive linemen dream of when they drop off to sleep at night.
So, under a system like this, a player who does his job on every play throughout the game would finish with an average grade of 1, or 100%. If he sprinkles in a couple outstanding plays, he can finish with a grade above 100%.
Before we get to the results, I need to point out that it's not always possible for an outsider to know what an offensive lineman is trying to accomplish on every single play. Sometimes it's obvious. Other times, less so. In those cases, all I can do is make my best guess.
In the first half, Big Dan participated in 20 running plays and earned 15 points for a 75% grade. That may not be a high grade, but his problems were relatively minor and appeared to be primarily due to his inexperience. Consider:
• On the first drive, there was a play where he got to the second level but appeared uncertain about who he should hit, and so hit no one.
• On the second possession, there was a run to his outside where he was required to get to the second level and seal any LB pursuing. He got into perfect position, but the pursuit was so slow in arriving that he turned around to see what was happening behind him, and while he did so a defender ran right by him. In a situation like that, you don't turn around and look for the ball, you attack the nearest defender.
• On the third possession, he earned two donuts on the first two runs. On the first one, he apparently whiffed on his block. (There is a chance he was simply supposed to get an inside release and get to the next level, but it looked like a whiff.)
• On our last offensive play of the half, he was flagged for lining up in the backfield. The penalty wasn't accepted, but he appeared to fail in delivering his required block anyway.
In pass blocking, he earned 11 points on 12 plays for a grade of 92%. There were two plays where he got 0s. On the first, he released his man to the outside even though there was no inside threat, and doing so negated what appeared to be a planned double-team on another outside rusher. On the other, he was simply badly beaten near the line of scrimmage.
I gave him a single 2, and it was likely generous. But I found it encouraging, and perhaps got some insight into why one of our early timeouts were burned.
On our second possession, the Buckeyes were obviously trying to take advantage of the new kid. Faalele had no outside help. OSU lined up an end to his outside, with a linebacker threatening the inside gap. Decision time! I got a little nervous, waiting to see what would unfold, and how Big Dan would react. The LB didn't blitz, and Faalele moved to decisively to lock up with the end.
A few plays later, on 3rd and 2 on OSU's 32, the same situation developed. This time, our running back was lined up on the other side of the formation, which meant if both LB and DE came, one of them was going to get a free shot at Annexstad. Coaches appeared to be trying to get an adjustment made, and when that wasn't forthcoming, a timeout was called. Next play went for 14 yards and a first down, and a short time later we had our first TD.
Timeout well-spent, I say.
Check back later for Faalele's second-half grade and a few other thoughts.
JTG
The consensus seemed to be that the OL looked considerably better against OSU than previous weeks, a sign that Faalele had an immediate impact. But is that true? And if so, how good was he?
So I sat down to re-watch the game, or at least our offensive snaps, with a pen and tablet. (Those are ancient tools used for writing, kids.) I used a simple system, where I assigned a number grade for Big Dan on every play from scrimmage he participated in. Here's the scale:
0 Failure. Did not appear to get the job done.
1 Adequate. Appeared to accomplish the task assigned.
2 Superb. Did something extremely well. A pancake block. Chipping someone at the line before sliding to the second level and delivering a devastating block on a 'backer. Pulling, getting to the point of attack on time and delivering a crushing block in space. The things offensive linemen dream of when they drop off to sleep at night.
So, under a system like this, a player who does his job on every play throughout the game would finish with an average grade of 1, or 100%. If he sprinkles in a couple outstanding plays, he can finish with a grade above 100%.
Before we get to the results, I need to point out that it's not always possible for an outsider to know what an offensive lineman is trying to accomplish on every single play. Sometimes it's obvious. Other times, less so. In those cases, all I can do is make my best guess.
In the first half, Big Dan participated in 20 running plays and earned 15 points for a 75% grade. That may not be a high grade, but his problems were relatively minor and appeared to be primarily due to his inexperience. Consider:
• On the first drive, there was a play where he got to the second level but appeared uncertain about who he should hit, and so hit no one.
• On the second possession, there was a run to his outside where he was required to get to the second level and seal any LB pursuing. He got into perfect position, but the pursuit was so slow in arriving that he turned around to see what was happening behind him, and while he did so a defender ran right by him. In a situation like that, you don't turn around and look for the ball, you attack the nearest defender.
• On the third possession, he earned two donuts on the first two runs. On the first one, he apparently whiffed on his block. (There is a chance he was simply supposed to get an inside release and get to the next level, but it looked like a whiff.)
• On our last offensive play of the half, he was flagged for lining up in the backfield. The penalty wasn't accepted, but he appeared to fail in delivering his required block anyway.
In pass blocking, he earned 11 points on 12 plays for a grade of 92%. There were two plays where he got 0s. On the first, he released his man to the outside even though there was no inside threat, and doing so negated what appeared to be a planned double-team on another outside rusher. On the other, he was simply badly beaten near the line of scrimmage.
I gave him a single 2, and it was likely generous. But I found it encouraging, and perhaps got some insight into why one of our early timeouts were burned.
On our second possession, the Buckeyes were obviously trying to take advantage of the new kid. Faalele had no outside help. OSU lined up an end to his outside, with a linebacker threatening the inside gap. Decision time! I got a little nervous, waiting to see what would unfold, and how Big Dan would react. The LB didn't blitz, and Faalele moved to decisively to lock up with the end.
A few plays later, on 3rd and 2 on OSU's 32, the same situation developed. This time, our running back was lined up on the other side of the formation, which meant if both LB and DE came, one of them was going to get a free shot at Annexstad. Coaches appeared to be trying to get an adjustment made, and when that wasn't forthcoming, a timeout was called. Next play went for 14 yards and a first down, and a short time later we had our first TD.
Timeout well-spent, I say.
Check back later for Faalele's second-half grade and a few other thoughts.
JTG
