In many of the discussions here I read about the negative run plays and how frustrating that is and where the blame needs to go.

It is important to understand that this system is a little different than a straight up and more conventional blocking scheme where the RB knows which gap he is headed to before the snap.

In that scenario the RB goes full blast from the snap to the hole. Hopefully the Linemen have created a crease or gap between the DLinemen and there's room to run.

In the case of the ZBS the RB is asked to read and react to a crease and often requires a cutback to the crease caused by cutting the DL on the backside of the play.

This system WILL result in more negative plays than other systems because of the slight delay of the RB in the backfield BUT will also reward a team with more upside for bigger gains when the RB does find that crease.

Now I believe as the season goes on and DL are slowed by injury or tired legs and the footing gets tougher with colder weather there is a definate advantage with this system. In otherwords I believe it's more than coincidence Grant had a big second half last year.

Yes, it's frustrating to see Grant get caught from behind before he gets started but there will be times the defense calls for the DL to crash down and it's very difficult then to put your body in front of them and get those backside guys on the ground.

It is a risk to delay the back from getting up a head of steam off his first step and probably will result in more negative plays than we like to see but the reward for using the speed of these defensive players against them can definately pay off.

I guess what I am trying to say is its not always that this "O" lineman can't block or Grant can't run. There's a lot more than that going on out there.

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Want my honest opinion.. that is the second most disappointing thing about our running game.. the communication and mental reads. At times, it seems that the reads are a beat slow. Example was Wells getting hammered back by Albert in I believe the third.. it was either poor design or a missed assignment by the left guard on a double.. Wells setup like he was expecting double team.. instead, he lost leverage and got driven back. Wells straight up on a guy with that talent.. that is expected.. a guy using poor leverage and positioning makes the offense even worse if it wasn't a missed assignment.. but regardless.. Haynesworth lined up on Wells run side shoulder.. there should have been some recognition that he was out of position to make that block solo or he needed to "cut" him down.. poor line adjustments.

I am glad we are not a "chop" block type of ZBS team.. but at times.. the scheme without it is strategically poor.. that play was a prime example..

The most disappointing aspect of the run game is the poor technique used far to often along the line.. mostly inside but some on the edges as well.. but I have beaten that horse to death..

Lack of growth and consistency in year 3 of this same group of players... regardless of the system that is sad.

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I definitely prefer a simpler solution than fancy-schmantzy ZBS, cross-block technique, cut blocks, etc. I want interior linemen that knock people square on their ass. That means big and mean. Many say "well it will take two years to transition to the more traditional system" I say, so what? Worst case scenario- we suck at it as bad as we suck at our ZBS hybrid system that we run now. Whenever the draft gurus start talking about a guy who is a "good fit for the ZBS", what they are saying is he is too light for my tastes. I want some of those good corn-fed linemen again. If the d-lineman is on his keester, there is no real need for ensuring the "chip" or whatever.

I'm with you. What good are lighter, more athletic offensive linemen if they're not getting the job done? How much more athletic can they be when we can't even run a decent screen? I would much, much prefer a return to the road-grader offensive line we had before. And that "two years" nonsense is just that - nonsense. What we do now isn't so far removed that we couldn't make the old way work by the end of the season. And until then - like you said - what's the downside? Our running game will look bad? What's it look like now?

And what really gets me is the fact that we're still drafting maulers! Spitz, Sitton, Giacomini, even Colledge. These are guys who were known in college for being big, strong and nasty. ("Good finisher" is the draft guru's codeword for nasty, BTW.) I think the scheme we use now is just too... I dunno... complicated, maybe. I know there's more to the old way than just cutting them loose and telling them to pick a guy and knock him on his ass, but it seems to me that that's what they'd be best suited for.

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Good comments and they are amplified because we play in a cold climate on grass.

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One of the reasons the Giants kicked us around in the NFC Championship game.

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you have some good points i think bigger guys with guts hanging over their belts though would tier alot quicker what they need to do is when the d-line is in your face keep pushing grant needs to step back and see where there is a gap not just run where the guys are shoving look at other r.b that do that they seem to get better yardage grant is getting better though

I don't want to start another thread, but would just like to point out it would be really nice if we also had the capacity to STOP a running game against any team that actually has one.

...bad mood I guess.

We CAN stop the run.
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