Ground Game: In the Trenches

[Reverend]

Ground Game: In the Trenches
 

You know your offensive line has had a good day when the running backs churn up over 200 ground yards. New England’s very first run from scrimmage Sunday dictated not only the physical style of play the Patriots wanted to instill, but also where and how they wanted to attack the Bengals ‒ between the tackles.
 

 

 

[MainerInExile]

Stork is likely to miss the game with what I assume is a concussion.  So unfortunately, we're not going to get to see them with the continuity we were hoping for.

 

[mascho]

Great work BF.  

 

[Reverend]

Stork is likely to miss the game with what I assume is a concussion.  So unfortunately, we're not going to get to see them with the continuity we were hoping for.

 
I am so pissed off about this I can't even address it.

 

[dynomite]

I am so pissed off about this I can't even address it.

Yeah, not great, especially against that front.

Still, given the upcoming schedule (vs.NYJ, vs.CHI, vs.DEN) we can't really afford to be without him for any amount of time, so hopefully he can go through the protocol and be ready to go next Thursday.

 

[RetractableRoof]

Nice article.  My only disagreement is the last play assessment and the portion where you give Connolly credit for blocking one defender into another.  I watched that play broken down elsewhere and believe that person (sorry I can't remember who) credited Vereen with tucking in behind Connolly to force the outside defender to commit on the outside.  Then Vereen went back up inside the Connolly block causing the outside defender to have to travel through Connolly and his existing block.  Connolly may have at that point pushed his block into the second (outside) defender, but it was Vereen who set it up with his patience/vision.
 
Look forward to more writeups, thank you.

 

[nazz45]

Nice article.  My only disagreement is the last play assessment and the portion where you give Connolly credit for blocking one defender into another.  I watched that play broken down elsewhere and believe that person (sorry I can't remember who) credited Vereen with tucking in behind Connolly to force the outside defender to commit on the outside.  Then Vereen went back up inside the Connolly block causing the outside defender to have to travel through Connolly and his existing block.  Connolly may have at that point pushed his block into the second (outside) defender, but it was Vereen who set it up with his patience/vision.
 
Look forward to more writeups, thank you.

Good point. You can even see in the still shot that Nelson is shifting towards the sideline and caught flat-footed as Vereen makes a hard step towards the boundary. Connolly does a nice job of driving the defender back but Vereen also does his job to get the safety to commit.
 
I admit, the backs get almost no love in the article. On the first run, Ridley does a nice job of not just blindly following the fullback into the hole (B gap). Instead, he correctly reads both Develin and then Wendell's block and cuts through the A gap.
 
Thanks for reading.