Line is just that -- offensive
posted by David Cloninger, 10/19/2008 10:55:00 PM
Not the line’s. Not the tight ends’. Not the running backs’.
His.
I went back and checked my tape recorder. Yep, Steve Spurrier said the same thing. Those six sacks were more on the quarterback than the line.
I’ve said it before. I’ve never coached one down of football and wouldn’t dream of ever questioning any coach’s decision, much less one who’s won one more Heisman Trophy and national championship than I’ll ever see.
But I feel compelled.
Coach, and Stephen, with all due respect, no way.
I just finished watching the replay with a trusted football associate of mine (the check’s in the mail), one who’s logged several hours in the trenches with the O-linemen. I explained to him what the Ball Coach and Garcia (does he still go by “Achilles?”) said and told him I may have missed what they were talking about.
So we watched every one of the six sacks again.
Here’s what we saw.
Sack 1 – Line allows jailbreak. Sack 2 – Line allows jailbreak (to the same defender as Sack 1). Sack 3 – Garcia had time to read the blitz and should have thrown it away.
Sack 4 – Weird one. Terrence Campbell knocked himself and his man down, but the guy jumped back up and finished the sack. Don’t know who to blame there.
Sack 5 – LSU has adjusted and blitzes with several. Sack 6 – LSU has adjusted and blitzes with several. On each play, Garcia was surrounded by white jerseys before he could blink.
I understand that when LSU brought several guys up the line of scrimmage just before the snap, there were only so many linemen to block so many defenders. Can’t ask one guy to block two people – Garcia pointed that out, saying, “They just brought more people than we could block. Simple as that. I should have checked.”
That seemed to be Spurrier’s sticking point, too. He pointed out – correctly, too – that everybody saw LSU bringing more defenders into the box before the snap and USC had timeouts to burn. Garcia could have called for a timeout, gotten a better play that moved more tailbacks, fullbacks or tight ends behind the line, and proceeded.
But these others, the ones where the line basically sees the snap, stands up and motions “Right this way, sir” while holding their hands out for a tip, there is simply no way that could be a quarterback’s fault.
That’s all the line, and I know it was thin with Heath Batchelor suspended and Jamon Meredith suffering a slightly sprained ankle.
Still, last night’s six sacks pushed USC’s total to 30 allowed this year, which is dead last among 119 teams in the country. It’s four sacks worse than Hawaii, another belt to the chops (they’ve been to a BCS bowl).
It’s real hard to run a passing game – and with USC’s rushing “offense” lately, there’s no other choice – when the guy throwing the ball is being bulldozed from the moment he breaks the huddle.
Spurrier reiterated his comments during his Sunday teleconference. “Stephen had a chance to get off a couple of those blitzes,” he said. “We got to get him better at throwing the ball away right now. The protection wasn’t all that good at times, but at times it was OK.
“All of them are not attributed to the offensive line,” he continued. “Obviously a bunch of them are, a bunch to the tight ends, maybe. Sometimes quarterback, sometimes the line, sometimes the tight end.”
In my view, it’s a lot of the line. This is a season- and Spurrier Era-long problem and it’s not getting any better.
USC lost to the Tigers because of two things – defensive injuries and awful QB protection. The Gamecocks couldn’t do anything about the injuries – key players went out and LSU began picking on the replacements, which is what smart teams do.
But these linemen – crikey.
It’s not all of them. Center Garrett Anderson has played a fine season and left tackle Jarriel King, while still learning the position, is developing into a future star.
The rest need a check up from the neck up.
I can understand why Garcia wants to toe that company line and take the blame. He’s a freshman, the linemen are veterans, he doesn’t want to dress them down in the public eye and come off like a whiner. Really, I get that – mouth off about how your linemen won’t give you any room to throw and you WILL be a permanent part of the field next time out.
But if he doesn’t get any better protection, he’s going to end up taking his meals through a straw by halftime of the Tennessee game in two weeks. Part of what earned Garcia the starting nod was his fearlessness running the offense – if he keeps getting plowed two seconds after the snap, will he lose that attitude and become gun-shy, whether or not he realizes he’s doing it?
Obviously, there’s no minor leagues to send USC’s offensive linemen down to. The Gamecocks are stuck with what they’ve got.
But something has got to be done. There’s 13 days left until the Volunteers come calling, and if there’s anybody out there who doesn’t think UT’s defensive coaches will be requesting tape of the USC-LSU game, call me – I’ve got some stock to sell you.
Spurrier has often said his coaching strategy is simple – play the guys who deserve it week-to-week in practice and if they start flubbing in the game, pull them and let the next guy go in.
There’s not that many options to go to on the line, but perhaps there needs to be a re-visit to that style.
The Gamecocks can’t afford to wait until the starters get their acts together.
The season’s being decided now.
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I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Stephen Garcia looked me right in the eye and said that every one of the six sacks he took during Saturday’s 24-17 loss to LSU was his fault.
Not the line’s. Not the tight ends’. Not the running backs’.
His.
I went back and checked my tape recorder. Yep, Steve Spurrier said the same thing. Those six sacks were more on the quarterback than the line.
I’ve said it before. I’ve never coached one down of football and wouldn’t dream of ever questioning any coach’s decision, much less one who’s won one more Heisman Trophy and national championship than I’ll ever see.
But I feel compelled.
Coach, and Stephen, with all due respect, no way.
I just finished watching the replay with a trusted football associate of mine (the check’s in the mail), one who’s logged several hours in the trenches with the O-linemen. I explained to him what the Ball Coach and Garcia (does he still go by “Achilles?”) said and told him I may have missed what they were talking about.
So we watched every one of the six sacks again.
Here’s what we saw.
Sack 1 – Line allows jailbreak. Sack 2 – Line allows jailbreak (to the same defender as Sack 1). Sack 3 – Garcia had time to read the blitz and should have thrown it away.
Sack 4 – Weird one. Terrence Campbell knocked himself and his man down, but the guy jumped back up and finished the sack. Don’t know who to blame there.
Sack 5 – LSU has adjusted and blitzes with several. Sack 6 – LSU has adjusted and blitzes with several. On each play, Garcia was surrounded by white jerseys before he could blink.
I understand that when LSU brought several guys up the line of scrimmage just before the snap, there were only so many linemen to block so many defenders. Can’t ask one guy to block two people – Garcia pointed that out, saying, “They just brought more people than we could block. Simple as that. I should have checked.”
That seemed to be Spurrier’s sticking point, too. He pointed out – correctly, too – that everybody saw LSU bringing more defenders into the box before the snap and USC had timeouts to burn. Garcia could have called for a timeout, gotten a better play that moved more tailbacks, fullbacks or tight ends behind the line, and proceeded.
But these others, the ones where the line basically sees the snap, stands up and motions “Right this way, sir” while holding their hands out for a tip, there is simply no way that could be a quarterback’s fault.
That’s all the line, and I know it was thin with Heath Batchelor suspended and Jamon Meredith suffering a slightly sprained ankle.
Still, last night’s six sacks pushed USC’s total to 30 allowed this year, which is dead last among 119 teams in the country. It’s four sacks worse than Hawaii, another belt to the chops (they’ve been to a BCS bowl).
It’s real hard to run a passing game – and with USC’s rushing “offense” lately, there’s no other choice – when the guy throwing the ball is being bulldozed from the moment he breaks the huddle.
Spurrier reiterated his comments during his Sunday teleconference. “Stephen had a chance to get off a couple of those blitzes,” he said. “We got to get him better at throwing the ball away right now. The protection wasn’t all that good at times, but at times it was OK.
“All of them are not attributed to the offensive line,” he continued. “Obviously a bunch of them are, a bunch to the tight ends, maybe. Sometimes quarterback, sometimes the line, sometimes the tight end.”
In my view, it’s a lot of the line. This is a season- and Spurrier Era-long problem and it’s not getting any better.
USC lost to the Tigers because of two things – defensive injuries and awful QB protection. The Gamecocks couldn’t do anything about the injuries – key players went out and LSU began picking on the replacements, which is what smart teams do.
But these linemen – crikey.
It’s not all of them. Center Garrett Anderson has played a fine season and left tackle Jarriel King, while still learning the position, is developing into a future star.
The rest need a check up from the neck up.
I can understand why Garcia wants to toe that company line and take the blame. He’s a freshman, the linemen are veterans, he doesn’t want to dress them down in the public eye and come off like a whiner. Really, I get that – mouth off about how your linemen won’t give you any room to throw and you WILL be a permanent part of the field next time out.
But if he doesn’t get any better protection, he’s going to end up taking his meals through a straw by halftime of the Tennessee game in two weeks. Part of what earned Garcia the starting nod was his fearlessness running the offense – if he keeps getting plowed two seconds after the snap, will he lose that attitude and become gun-shy, whether or not he realizes he’s doing it?
Obviously, there’s no minor leagues to send USC’s offensive linemen down to. The Gamecocks are stuck with what they’ve got.
But something has got to be done. There’s 13 days left until the Volunteers come calling, and if there’s anybody out there who doesn’t think UT’s defensive coaches will be requesting tape of the USC-LSU game, call me – I’ve got some stock to sell you.
Spurrier has often said his coaching strategy is simple – play the guys who deserve it week-to-week in practice and if they start flubbing in the game, pull them and let the next guy go in.
There’s not that many options to go to on the line, but perhaps there needs to be a re-visit to that style.
The Gamecocks can’t afford to wait until the starters get their acts together.
The season’s being decided now.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.