OL coaches, OC and new changes (brainstorm)

[cruiz03]

So this is for the die hard football fan.... the facts are NOBODY will EVER be able to guess who will be the top RB's in the league that just not reality. Heck, if someone would have said AP was going to be the #1 Rb in the league (depending on scoring system) I would have though that you where a few years off. Heck, it was all about SJax, LT, Gore and LJ fighting for the top 4 and it turned out to be AP, LT, Westbrook, Parker and J. Lewis. Only LT lived up to his name.

My goal is to identify which teams have a Zone blocking system. I think it works and it makes it easier to find lineman due to the fact that they don't have to have the prototype 6-6 320 guys.

Does anyone know of a place where we can find informaiton about the OL coaches and the type of OL system they run?

Off the top of my head, these are some changes that might equal potential in the upcoming years:

- Houston: Gibbs is now the OL coach... give it a year or two and this system will be solid. (Zone)
- Arizona is now on its 2nd year with Grim as the OL coach... Edge is not the future and Grim/Wishenhunt will both be there for 3+ years. (Zone)
- Ravens now have an Off coordinator that has proven he can make RBs successful. R Brown before he went down was top 3 and before that LT
- Jets now have 2 new OL man that are perfect for the sytem however T. Jones is not the answer. Washing is NOT and all down back.
- Redskins will now go from the #1 attempts are RB to a system that enjoys to toss the ball around. Portis looks to pick up his rec yards (zone)
- Pit loses there best OL man and now follow the steps of KC. YOU CAN'T REPLACE STUD LINEMAN.

As we all know, the days of 1 RB running the show is being replaced by the RBBC sytem to ensure that your season doesn't go down the drain do to injuries at RB. I'm looking for someone to develop the way that J. Lewis did with the OL coach, or R. Brown did before he got injured, or how AP made a difference with a stud OL in Minny. Alot of these situations have simularities between OL coaches and sytems. I'd like to find out details about some of these new OL coaches, sytems and OC that have moved around and how they may impact there NEW teams.

Give me your 2 cents... but please talk with a strategy. Don't just say that Turner is going to be top 10 without an actual reason why. Is it the OL, OC, new blocking system... what type of success has that OL or OC had and would it fit in it's new location. Again, anyone can give names, but few can provide a strategy.

I'm looking forward to some good conversation.

[JasonSeahorn]

Raiders also run a zone-blocking scheme, so if any RB can manage to keep his starting job there they will have potential as we saw in some individual efforts last year by Lamont Jordan and Justin Fargas. And of course Denver still runs it.

Atlanta I believe also runs a zone-blocking scheme, at least they installed one a couple years ago...I don't know what Petrino did or what the new coach is going to do about it.

The worry I have for the Ravens is that they may be losing their top lineman (Jonathan Ogden) to retirement, so that will have a big impact on their running game (as you said, KC was affected the same way).

The thing is that zone-blocking is starting to become what the west coast offense and the cover 2 defense are....everyone wants to do it and say they are using it, but not everyone is successful with it.

[cruiz03]

Oakland is solid for RB's with there zone syte. They ended 6th in the league last year and L. Jordan and Fargas helped me out greatly. Kiffen has a good mind for offence and likes to throw the ball but until they get there QB situation under control, we will see 7-8 in the box. They will have plenty of opportunities with that Defence.

Atlanta used to have Gibbs as the OL coach and Petrino was an idiot to let him go because he wanted to bring in his SMASH mouth poinding offense that required a heck of a lot of change with the OL players. It failed badly as we all know, but now Gibbs lands at Houston. I like it! If C. Brown makes the team, he can do well in this 1 cut system. Then again, they did draft a RB in the 3rd, not a good one in my book, but we all know that Gibbs made Dunn and a lot of RB's in Denver look good and I don't expect that to change.

Good point about the Ravens.... I'm a big fan of there OC... he sucked as a head coach in Miami, but he pushes RB's. R Brown had not OL and he did well. We'll see what Mcgahee can do and Rice will do well there considering how well he catches the ball out of the backfield.

[aaawall91]

All the ones that came to mind have been mentioned. That being said...Does Tenneesse run it?

[Amazinz]

Denver and Green Bay.

The situation in GB is why I am extremely wary of Ryan Grant. ZB puts a lot of extra pressure on the QB and I believe this is why GB was considering the transition to a power running game. I foresee a lot of problems for GB unless Rodgers has immediate success with the quick passes.

ZB is definitely "in" right now in the NFL but it's not exactly new and it's not a guarantee for success. Most teams recently haven't had as much success as Denver and GB really struggled running until they plucked Grant off of the Giants practice squad.

The system definitely allows you to get away with a smaller line and a RB that might normally be considered one-dimensional in a traditional system. However this has a dark side to. The Giants-GB playoff game is a great example of this.

[Kensat30]

I think blocking schemes are a lot less important than who is running the offense and calling the plays. Here are most the changes at OC this offseason.

Detroit - Colletto
Washington - Smith
Atlanta - Mularkey
Buffalo - Schonert
San Francisco - Martz
St. Louis - Saunders
Tennessee - Heimerdinger
Baltimore - Cameron
Dolphins - Henning
Houston - Gibbs (Assistant)/Shannahan
Kansas City - Gailey

I think that most of these teams helped themselves, but the clear winners to me are San Francisco, St. Louis, Tennessee, Baltimore, and Houston. The only teams that clearly hurt themselves are Detroit and Washington.

[beanoX3]

I think SF and Martz should automatically disqualify themselves from any talk about an increase in the running game.


Anyways, is this discussion not including teams with strong o-lines? Just focusing on zone blocking schemes? Because teams like Minnesota and SD should produce good RB numbers due to the quality of their o-line no matter what scheme they use. Plus those two teams have LT/2 and ADP.

[cruiz03]

It's about all OLines.... my point is change. It happens with positive or negative impact. Martz will make Gore a better impact in rec leagues. Great for me as we get a bonus at 50 yrds rec.

BTW.. Tenn was 5th in the league in rushing last year. Much like the Raiders, they will be overlooked. How much of an impact this Rookie gonna have will be dependent on wheather or not they are playing from behind. If they are, consider the new 4.3 rb with great hands as dark horse. Funny thing is, after getting Justice in the 2nd round was a steal. This OL is not as bad as people make it out to be. Come one White was actually in the starting line up for some last year. (Wow!!)


Grant will be interesting but remember, he does have a few years under his belt. Only time will tell. Regarding the other changes at the OC position, this could change everything.

Washington - Smith
They will be throwing the ball alot, but to play both sides of the fence, he did have Alexander as the top RB at one point.

Atlanta - Mularkey
This place is a mess. Turner wil see more 8-9 in the box than anyone else.

Buffalo - Schonert
I don't know a thing about this guy.

San Francisco - Martz
Martz... enough said.

St. Louis - Saunders
If Jackson stays healthy this could be an amazing season regardless of who else gets injured in this team.

Tennessee - Heimerdinger
They will run the stretch play alot more and the new RB has the speed to get to the end. This is going to be very interesting to watch.

Baltimore - Cameron
The guy gets his rb to produce... it's all about how many times the RB position can get the ball. Likes to attach the middle of the field so the TE has an opportinity to get a great deal of production.

Dolphins - Henning
I don't like the fact that he believes in using multiple RB's. This could hurt R. Brown even though he can play all downs with solid pass blocking ability.

Houston - Gibbs (Assistant)/Shannahan
Dropping down the 1st round in my mind was crazy but after looking at his system in greater detail, this line is not bad at all. They now have the ability to pull there Guards and stretch the RB lanes very well. I don't know much about their FB, but they be closer to a solid RB game than many think.

Kansas City - Gailey