Isn’t the offensive line the biggest issue?

Don’t we need to win in the trenches?

  • Yes

    Votes: 42 82.4%

  • No

    Votes: 9 17.6%
  • Total voters
    51
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NotAFanOfBecky said:
He looked much faster to me last year and seemed to have that extra gear. Not so this year. Best extra gear I saw live was LoMo man he could shoot out of a cannon at times.
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I don’t remember the opponent, but I remember Maroney’s first long touchdown run when he was a freshman at the Metrodome. It was an unbelievable extra gear. Kinda took my breath away. Fun!!
 

I think the center is young and struggling a bit. He’ll be fine. I don’t think there’s much to be done this year. It is what it is.
 



tpbeight said:
Well, when the coaches completely give up on establishing the run it's very difficult to...establish the run. How does an o-line get better at run blocking and develop cohesion in the run game? By running the ball. Sometimes it takes a little time to gel. I don't think we've given the OL a chance in the run game because they're now pass blocking the majority of the time. First 11 plays on Saturday had 9 passes & 2 runs. This is MN. We need to run the ball first.
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1000% this...Taylor evidently was healthy...his first run was sometime after 11 plays.
Playcalling is the issue and has been all along...we do confounding things on a regular basis.

We absolutely needed to establish the run. Our O-line is fine.
 




I think the TE play has been awful in the run game. Also, if we're going to play with 2 TE all the time, even when we split out 4 receivers, shouldn't we maybe recruit better, more athletic TE? The personnel groups vs Iowa were baffling. 3rd and long, with 2 TE split out? Are the rest of our WR that bad?
 




I'm A Maroon 2! said:
Is this thread asking about weight specifically? Because then the o-line is definitely the biggest problem, as a whole.
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Don’t over thunk it🥸

Some things are exactly what they appear yo be😃
 
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MaxyJR1 said:
I think the center is young and struggling a bit. He’ll be fine. I don’t think there’s much to be done this year. It is what it is.
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Why not? We have 15 or more OL on the squad guys like Tony Nelson get them out there along with maybe some of these young guys who are supposed to be so good. Carrol In his fifth or sixth year with about a 50 rating on PFF it’s dumb to keep rolling him out there. The center is one of PJ’s guys so he’s not going anywhere. Carrol is too, but we can sacrifice him. There’s no upside.
 

tpbeight said:
I think the TE play has been awful in the run game. Also, if we're going to play with 2 TE all the time, even when we split out 4 receivers, shouldn't we maybe recruit better, more athletic TE? The personnel groups vs Iowa were baffling. 3rd and long, with 2 TE split out? Are the rest of our WR that bad?
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My only guess is they were trying to keep Iowa in their more base defense instead of having them bring in a 5th and even 6th DB. Otherwise I agree, it makes little sense.
 

tpbeight said:
I think the TE play has been awful in the run game. Also, if we're going to play with 2 TE all the time, even when we split out 4 receivers, shouldn't we maybe recruit better, more athletic TE? The personnel groups vs Iowa were baffling. 3rd and long, with 2 TE split out? Are the rest of our WR that bad?
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Agreed about TE play in the run game on blocking. Not very effective off motion or split out wide. This is why I kind of like putting Lecaptain back at RB(FB) if you put him at the tight end or H back spot at least he would likely hit somebody and block. He is athletic enough to catch a pass in the flat or on a wheel route to make a play. Besides Geers do not like the two tight end sets or the execution we have been seeing.
 
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As far as identifying a specific position group that is having the largest impact on our performance? Yes.

It's clear Brosmer can execute really well when he has time to progress through his reads. It's also clear that, unfortunately, when Brosmer is under pressure he doesn't have the athletic ability to scramble and still make a play. When he is forced to leave the pocket he has to either throw it away or try to run to gain a few yards.

Knowing that, the fact that our OL is getting pushed around and teams are able to force Brosmer into that situation where he can't perform is unacceptable. Honestly, I think it's down to the OL coaching. I saw the same thing happen in 2020, and I think it was a big part (though not the only contributing factor) of our huge drop off from 2019 to 2020. In 2019, Morgan had pretty great pass protection when we had pass plays that took longer to develop. He was able to execute in the pocket, and that was something he could do pretty well. In 2020, defenses were getting to him and pressuring him far more and so his performance as a QB dropped off. We are seeing the same trend here.

Similarly, we have the RB talent to have a great running game, and the play calling for rushing hasn't changed that much, so why can't we run the ball all of the sudden? The OL isn't opening up holes for the RBs nearly as well.

If PJ really wants to take accountability and do something, he should sit down with Coach Callahan and have a difficult conversation. "I'm sorry, but something isn't working anymore, and we need to part ways" and find someone else who can more consistently coach a cohesive OL.

One of PJ's major flaws is he is loyal to a fault. Both with his players and his coaches, he gives them too much leeway and it's effected the success of the team. Am I saying he should bench a player or fire a coach after a single bad play/game? No, absolutely not, but when a coach has shown a trend over an entire season or 2, or a player has multiple games where they aren't executing, he needs to give someone else a chance to step up and perform.
 

tpbeight said:
I think the TE play has been awful in the run game. Also, if we're going to play with 2 TE all the time, even when we split out 4 receivers, shouldn't we maybe recruit better, more athletic TE? The personnel groups vs Iowa were baffling. 3rd and long, with 2 TE split out? Are the rest of our WR that bad?
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We haven't seen the dominant tight end blocking as in the past few years but how many more games might we have won last year had AK been throwing to Jimmy Geers instead of BSF?
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
I’m not sure how this isn’t the biggest issue. It’s the historic identity of the team and if we can’t run then we become one dimensional and our run blocking has always been our strength, as a ball control team.

It also helps the defense, as we need to win the time of possession battle, to keep them off the field. Lastly we’re not an explosive offense either, at this point - I don’t see us winning many games by throwing almost 40 passes, we had 37.
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Nope, it's not the O line. It's the OC. I really don't see how people can't see this. Until Fleck finds an OC the caliber of Ciarrocca this team will continue to suck. Harbaugh is worse than Sanford, who was bad and isn't even coaching in college football anymore. Neither Harbaugh or Sanford had ever called plays before Fleck hired them. Sanford was a CO-OC at Notre Dame and by most accounts didn't do the game planning or the play calling. Harbaugh had no experience as an OC before his hire. In fact he had hardly any Power 4 experience. He probably couldn't coach at UMD.
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
Nope, it's not the O line. It's the OC. I really don't see how people can't see this. Until Fleck finds an OC the caliber of Ciarrocca this team will continue to suck. Harbaugh is worse than Sanford, who was bad.
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Agree to disagree. 32 others “can’t see it either.” Fo you need to borrow these 👓?

Currently we’re 17th in the conference in rushing for both avg per attempt 3.7 and yards per game 117.2 o

These were our ranks in yards per game since 2022.

2020 - 4
2021 - 3
2022 - 2
2023 - 7
 

Some Day...Maybe said:
Nope, it's not the O line. It's the OC. I really don't see how people can't see this. Until Fleck finds an OC the caliber of Ciarrocca this team will continue to suck. Harbaugh is worse than Sanford, who was bad and isn't even coaching in college football anymore. Neither Harbaugh or Sanford had ever called plays before Fleck hired them. Sanford was a CO-OC at Notre Dame and by most accounts didn't do the game planning or the play calling. Harbaugh had no experience as an OC before his hire. In fact he had hardly any Power 4 experience. He probably couldn't coach at UMD.
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Play calling doesn't matter when you can't run the ball. That's all on the O-line. Carroll is awful and Johnson is really struggling as a young guy at a new position.
 

"We run the ball too much and don't pass it enough." --Gopher Fan A

"We pass the ball too much and don't run it enough." --Gopher Fan B

We run and pass the ball the right amount." --no Gopher fan ever
 

60's Guy said:
1000% this...Taylor evidently was healthy...his first run was sometime after 11 plays.
Playcalling is the issue and has been all along...we do confounding things on a regular basis.

We absolutely needed to establish the run. Our O-line is fine.
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Ding ding, winner!
 

Gopher_In_NYC said:
Agree to disagree. 32 others “can’t see it either.” Fo you need to borrow these 👓?

Currently we’re 17th in the conference in rushing for both avg per attempt 3.7 and yards per game 117.2 o

These were our ranks in yards per game since 2022.

2020 - 4
2021 - 3
2022 - 2
2023 - 7
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Yep, our offense and offensive philosophy are the same this year as those past years. Plus, our OC is the same. You can keep the glasses. Game planning and play calling affect O line play. Just like it affects QB play etc etc. our O line has the talent, it’s just that our game planner and play caller is in way way over his head. In the 2nd half when this offense has to make a play or plays against like competition it is one of the worst in the country. Has been for a season and a third now.
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Play calling doesn't matter when you can't run the ball. That's all on the O-line. Carroll is awful and Johnson is really struggling as a young guy at a new position.
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Ah ya, play calling does matter when you want to run the ball. It matters when you want to pass the ball too. Coaching matters a lot. Matters more than the players you have, to a certain degree.
 


on Gopher Gridiron Podcast, after the Iowa game, former Gopher OL Derek Burns (2nd cousin to Ryan Burns) was on to analyze the game. He said that several members of the OL (didn't name who) have issues with foot speed.

according to Derek, with the Gophers' blocking schemes, the O-Linemen need to be able to move side-to-side to maintain blocks. if the foot speed is lacking, they can't get into position to stay on the defender, and/or can't get out to the second level to block a LB.

Burns said that a different blocking scheme might be able to compensate for what he sees as the issues with the current O-Line group.
 

Finally other people are seeing what I have seen for years, Callahan is not doing the job needed. In the B1G.
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Play calling doesn't matter when you can't run the ball. That's all on the O-line. Carroll is awful and Johnson is really struggling as a young guy at a new position.
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Carroll has actually been the highest PFF graded run blocker starting o-lineman so far at 72.9 (not great but decent). Passing blocking is a different issue.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
on Gopher Gridiron Podcast, after the Iowa game, former Gopher OL Derek Burns (2nd cousin to Ryan Burns) was on to analyze the game. He said that several members of the OL (didn't name who) have issues with foot speed.

according to Derek, with the Gophers' blocking schemes, the O-Linemen need to be able to move side-to-side to maintain blocks. if the foot speed is lacking, they can't get into position to stay on the defender, and/or can't get out to the second level to block a LB.

Burns said that a different blocking scheme might be able to compensate for what he sees as the issues with the current O-Line group.
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Yeah, footspeed can be an issue with huge college o-lineman (the small number of huge guys with footspeed go to the NFL), but it's all also pure execution. I've seen several sacks this year that happened on delayed stunts or twists where the defense got an o-lineman to commit in one direction and the defender shot that gap unabated. A huge no-no.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Carroll has actually been the highest PFF graded run blocker starting o-lineman so far at 72.9 (not great but decent). Passing blocking is a different issue.
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Overall? Quick look back shows he was just over 56 run blocking vs. UNC & 49 vs. iowa which was the lowest on the line. Zero reason to keep him in there.
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Overall? Quick look back shows he was just over 56 run blocking vs. UNC & 49 vs. iowa which was the lowest on the line. Zero reason to keep him in there.
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Yeah, overall. True, he did have poor games vs Iowa/UNC and good games vs lesser competition.
 

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