(13:57) 1st & 10: Blount lines up as singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-Back (Winslow), right. Play is a dropback pass. At the snap, Blount runs up the middle, then runs an out route. Freeman completes to Williams.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing on this play. In this case, I believe Blount's assignment was to run a route straight away, with Stocker staying in as the extra blocker instead.
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(13:23) 2nd & 2: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a simple zone lead run. Trueblood pushes the DE outside and locks him up solidly, while Joseph, after chipping on the DT, releases downfield to block a linebacker. This creates a large hole in the right of the line. Lorig runs through the hole and meets an LB, originally trying to seal him to the outside. The LB gets off the block, but Lorig quickly reacts and puts his hands back on him, sealing him on the inside. Blount reads this block and cuts outside of Lorig. Meanwhile, Blount runs inside of Trueblood, then sees Faine trying to deal with a spinning DT. Blount reads the block very well, and noticing that Zuttah has sealed the other DT, sidesteps inside Faine, who washes his DT outside. He then see Lorig's LB in front of him, but notices Lorig coming back to block and seal him inside, and reading that block, cuts back outside Lorig. The LB that Joseph had gone block had gotten off of the guard, and came down to hit Blount, but he notices this and cut downfield, making the LB (Lofton) miss. He crosses the first down marker, and is hit in the gut by a safety, who had gotten off of Williams' block. Blount stops forward progress, but is doesn't go down. Several Falcons defenders come in and wrap him up for a gang tackle. Gain of 5.
What could Blount have done better?
You kidding me? The kid did fantastically on this play, not just dancing around and hoping for the best, but reading his blocks to understand where the opening were - and always moving downfield, never just laterally. Had Williams sustained his block on the safety, this could very well have been a touchdown.
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(12:44) 1st & Goal, from the 4: Blount lines up as singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right and H-Back (Stocker), right. Play is a rollout pass off of play-action. Blount fakes receiving the handoff, then runs through the line. Freeman rolls out and throws to Winslow but the ball is picked off.
What could Blount have done better?
Not a lot. He sold the play-action well, and it sucked in the defense. The problem is, because it's a goal-line scenario, that, unlike the previous Vikings' game, when the defense does get sucked in, as soon as it realises what's going on, it doesn't take long at all for them to drop back to their original assignments. The pass was out of Freeman hand's before Blount got past the O-line, so Blount just sort of jogs at that point, which I'm not a fan of, though he's far from the only Buc doing so.
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(9:52) 1st & 10: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a lead dive to the weakside. Blount takes the handoff. Lorig through a large hole between Faine and Zuttah, meeting an LB in the hole. Blount follows him, but a DT comes off of Joseph's block and hits him low behind the LOS. Blount rumbles forward But is wrapped up by the DE coming off of Winslow's block. LBs come free off of blocks by Lorig and Faine to gang tackle him for a gain of 1.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really. If Joseph kept on the block, Blount would have had a clear running lane between Lorig and Zuttah, but he was slowed down by the DT who Joseph was meant to block, in which time that running lane had closed, and by then he had three more defenders on him. This one is on a break down of blocking, not on Blount.
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(9:18) 2nd & 9: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a counter run. All of the line + Stocker (except for Zuttah) downblock to the left. Lorig is the first of the lead blockers to the LOS and blocks the LB lined up at the LOS (4-3 Over). Blount follows Zuttah. Zuttah doubleteams the LB with Lorig instead of leading for Blount. Grimes comes down unblocked and wraps up Blount low. Lofton, who went unblocked (should have been Zuttah's man if Zuttah had continued leading Blount), wraps up an air-borne (attempted hurdle) Blount high. Blount fight for another yard or two. Gain of 4.
What could Blount have done better?
Hmm. Despite the miscue in blocking between Lorig and Zuttah (I feel Zuttah picked the wrong man to block rather than Lorig, though), Blount had only the corner to beat. It's tricky because Grimes was low, so Blount decided to hurdle. However, Grimes was not so low that Blount would have been unable to run through him. Had Blount done so, he might not have gotten any more yards, with Lofton being free, but I think he would have had a better chance of getting more yards if he had tries to go through Grimes rather than hurdling over. So I blame Blount on this one.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on third down.
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(4:42) 1st & 10: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a pocket pass off-of play action. Blount fakes receiving the handoff, then runs updfield outside of Zuttah, where there is a large hole. Once he gets to teh LOS, he runs to the left flat. Freeman throws incomplete downfield. (Blount was tightly covered by Lofton)
What could Blount have done better?
Well, ostensibly we can say he should have not gotten covered by Lofton, but Blount doesn't have the speed to outpace Lofton. The answer is, I suppose, to have made a sharper cut to the flat, which could have gotten him separation from Lofton, instead of arcing gradually as he did.
(2:13) 2nd & 8: Blount lines up in singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Pre-snap, Stocker motions to infield until he's behind the LG, then turns back and sets back up at H-back. Play is a drop-back pass. At the snap, Blount steps to the left of Freeman, appears to check Freeman's blindside, based on the movement of helmet (presumably checking for a blitzer from the blindside), then runs up between Zuttah and Faine until he's one or two yards past the LOS, then turns back to Freeman (presenting a check-down option). Freeman completes a pass to Winslow for a gain of 6.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He appeared to check for a blitz coming around the outside, and seeing no-one, ran a check-down route - had Freeman chosen to check down to him, he would have been wide open. Freeman remained completely untouched, so Blount didn't abandon his protection responsibilities in the way Lumpkin often appeared to.
What could Blount have done better?
Well, ostensibly we can say he should have not gotten covered by Lofton, but Blount doesn't have the speed to outpace Lofton. The answer is, I suppose, to have made a sharper cut to the flat, which could have gotten him separation from Lofton, instead of arcing gradually as he did.
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(4:30) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig in at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right - Winslow motions in field, but then returns to where he originally lined up before the snap (albeit just off the LOS). Play is a simple FB-lead zone run to the weakside. Lorig runs through the B-gap. Blount receives the handoff and looks like he's looking to run off-tackle. Penn is unable to land a solid block on the DE, and while he is not pushed back, is unable to push the DE back either, which causes Blount to cut inside of Penn. Zuttah and Faine attempt doubleteam on a DT, but while they move him laterally to the right, are unable to actually push him back at all. Lorig, meanwhile, has met the Willbacker in the hole, and is unable to push him back. As a result, the playside B-gap is completely plugged up. Blount pulls up behind Faine, then cuts back inside, looking initially to run between Trueblood blocking the other DT, and Winslow blocking the other DE (Joseph has gone up to block the Sambacker). Trueblood does a good job of sealing his DT inside, but Winslow cannot sustain the block on the DE, who uses a spin move to get inside Winslow and dives for Blount. Blount sees this and evades him, now running upfield around the backside of the line. The Sambacker gets off of Joseph's block and wraps Blount up low, while a safety has come down in run support and hits Blount up high. As Blount goes over, the Willbacker has worked his way around the back of the play and piles on the gang tackle. Gain of 4.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. There are a few people who I believe are to blame for this play breaking down, although at least Blount did get positive yardage out of it. We could point to Penn not driving blocking the DE, or Zuttah and Faine who, between them, couldn't overpower one DT, or Winslow's poor run blocking yet again, or Joseph for not sustaining the block on an LB, who ended up making first contact with Blount - had Blount's legs not been wrapped up, who's to say if Blount wouldn't have powered through the safety? After all, when he saw the linebacker coming towards him, he lowered his shoulders and tried to go into him. But of all the people, I think the person I blame most is Lorig. If all other points at which the blocking scheme broke down happened, as long as Lorig would have pushed that Willbacker out the way, the play would have still been able to continue as designed. Instead, Lorig's failure to get the LB out the hole forced Blount to look for other options - the fact that there was any extra yardage at all was purely down to Blount's attempting to make something out of a broken play.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount subbed back in after the conversion.
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(2:39) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a drop-back pass. Blount follows Lorig up the strongside B-gap, then cuts upfield, crosses the LOS, then turns inside to look back at Freeman, Freeman throws incomplete to a wide open Mike Williams.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. It was a very quick play - as soon as Freeman completed his three-step drop, he turned to the right sideline, then back in field, then throws the ball - in all, two seconds have elapsed since the snap. Blount had no time to even set up the checkdown option before the ball is thrown - though Blount had no defenders near him, so had Freeman decided to throw the checkdown (assuming it would have taken or two seconds longer to go through the rest of his reads), Blount should have caught it with plenty of room to run.
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(2:34) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a drop-back pass. Blount takes a very short sidestep, looking downfield (cannot see what he's looking for), then runs up the middle. Freeman's pass is away as soon as he's taken the three-step drop - it's a very quick throw to Williams in the slant, who catches the ball and makes the first down.
What could Blount have done better?
Impossible to say - the pass was away so quickly, even quicker than the previous play, that you cannot see what Blount was going to do. Based on the fact that he was running downfield, I'm guessing he was running into a route, as there were no LBs blitzing so he wasn't going up to meet them in pass-pro - but the pass was so quick, cannot tell what he was going to do.
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(2:34 - for some reason, Fox haven't changed the time on the game clock) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right (Winslow again motions infield but then back outside so that he is where he lined up originally when the ball is snapped). Play is an FB-lead run through the weakside B gap (line are man-blocking this time by the looks of it). Lorig runs up through the play hole, takes one of two linebackers coming through (Faine takes the other). Blount sees a massive hole open outside Zuttah thanks to Penn washing the DE upfield, and he cuts outside the line. Lorig fails to block his LB, who hits Blount in the legs. This doesn't bring Blount down, but is enough to slow him down and cause him to spin to maintain his balance. A corner comes free off of Mike Williams' block, and he stops Blount where he stands. The DE who Penn was meant to be blocking, and the DT who Joseph was meant to be blocking, wrap up Blount from behind and bring him down for a gain of 2.
What could Blount have done better?
Some will criticise Blount for bouncing outside of Zuttah, but I wouldn't. On the one hand, yes, Blount should have hit that hole if the blocking was sound, but the fact is, had he done so, he would almost definitely have been stopped at the LOS by at least two defenders who were closing up the play hole - namely the LB that Faine was meant to take, and the DT Joseph was meant to block. Lorig also failed to block his LB, but the LB was outside the play hole - although that might have been purely because he was reading Blount and had seen Blount bounce to the outisde; if that was the case, then it would have been three players plugging the gap. This one is on the blocking.
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What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He appeared to check for a blitz coming around the outside, and seeing no-one, ran a check-down route - had Freeman chosen to check down to him, he would have been wide open. Freeman remained completely untouched, so Blount didn't abandon his protection responsibilities in the way Lumpkin often appeared to.
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Speaking of which, Blount is subbed out for Lumpkin on third down. (Yes, Lumpkin does abandon his pass-pro responsibilities early, with Freeman having to throw the pass early due to pressure in his face)
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2nd Quarter
(11:10) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. Not much point describing the rest of this play, a Falcons DL jumps offside, gifting the Bucs 5 yards.
(11:10) 1st & 5: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a zone-stretch FB-lead run. Blount receives the handoff and runs towards the weakside (left) B-gap. Lorig is first through the hole, turning up just inside Zuttah (who is doubleteaming a DT with Faine) and meeting the Willbacker head-on. Penn, as usual, drops back rather than drive blocking, letting the DE try and go outside of him, then sealing putting his hands on the DE to try and seal him out of the play. Blount runs to the hole, but the Willbacker is able to bullrush Lorig, pushing him backwards into Blount to try plug the hole. Blount sees this and tries to cut outside of Lorig, inside Penn. However, the Willbacker is able to get around Lorig, putting him in Blount's path. Blount looks back inside and appears to see that all the Falcons defenders in that direction are blocked (as they appear to be). He tries to cut inside of Lorig, but Zuttah has peeled off of his doubleteam on the DT in order to pick up the Mikebacker (which is what he should have done according to inside zone blocking rules), and in the process gets in front of Blount trying to cut inside. Having been cut off by Zuttah, Faine is unable to maintain the block on the DT on his own, and the DT wraps Blount up high, while the Mikebacker, who Zuttah failed to pick up, wraps up Blount low, bringing him down for no gain.
What could Blount have done better?
While the poor execution of blocking is most to blame for this play not getting any yards, nonetheless, Blount was still potentially in position to make something out of the play. Firstly, the reason the play didn't go as it was (most likely) drawn up was down to Lorig being completely manhandled by the Willbacker. If Lorig is able to drive that linebacker, Blount has a large running lane in front of him. As it stood, I'd argue Blount was correct in making his cut to the outside when he saw Lorig being pushed back into the play hole. The criticism I have for Blount is what he did after that cut - namely, on seeing the linebacker starting to come free, in my opinion he should have definitely attempted to run through the defender, rather than cutting back inside. Even if Lorig had failed to do a great job, he still had his hands on the man. If Blount lowers his shoulders and tries to go through the guy, then Lorig is still in position to exert some pressure on the LB and could therefore have the opportunity to drive the LB backwards, or at least knock him off of Blount. Now, Penn's DE is able to get off of his block relatively easily, so I have no doubt that he the DE would have been able to bring Blount down from behind - but I still think Blount would have been able to make some positive yardage on the play. Nonetheless, the lion's share of the blame for the play's failure is Lorig's - though Faine and Zuttah both deserve criticism as well for not being able to block the DT & MLB respectively. Had they done so, Blount might still have made something (again, I don't blame Zuttah for peeling off the DT, even if it did shut off Blount's running lane, but for god's sake man, if you're going to do that, you better make sure to lock in your block on the linebacker you were trying to pick up!).
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(10:25) 2nd & 5: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left. Play is a drop-back pass. Blount runs forward until he's about three yards behind the LOS, then looks outside to look for a a blitz coming through the strongside (left) C-gap (i.e. between Penn & Stocker, who has stayed in to block). After waiting for two seconds, looking at Stocker blocking the DE, he runs to the left flat, looking for the ball. Freeman throws the ball incomplete to Parker. After the play, Stocker is called for holding.
What could Blount have done better?
This time, I am going to criticise Blount's pass-protection. Blount appears to be in the right place for his blocking assignment, despite all the negative press you hear about "not understanding blocking schemes", then goes to run his route. Now, I don't know how the blocking scheme was drawn up, but I'm guessing that Blount's only responsibility was to check for a blitzing linebacker coming through the C-gap, since, as soon as it's clear that there's no LB coming, he runs his route. However, Stocker fails to maintain a block on the DE, and I feel that, even as Blount stares at Stocker, he can see the DE is coming free, and still goes to run his route. Without a copy of the restaurant napkin that made up Greg Olson's playbook, I can't be sure that it said in huge writing "STRICTLY NO HELPING OUT ANYONE ELSE IN PROTECTION, JUST CHECK FOR THE LB THEN RUN TO THE FLAT", but unless it said those words, or something to that effect, I really feel Blount should have helped out Stocker in blocking the DE rather than run a route - had Freeman held on to the ball for another two seconds, the play would have resulted in a sack for the Falcon.
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(10:19) 2nd & 15: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and H-back (Winslow), left. Play is a play-action pass. Blount, running to the weakside (right) of the line, fakes receiving the handoff, then runs through a huge hole that's opened up between Trueblood and Joseph. Blount runs to the right flat along the LOS, looking back for the ball. Freeman pass to Blount, who catches the ball and turns downfield, drifting towards the right sideline. Seeing the Willbacker commit to heading him off towards the outside of the field, Blount turns his hips and heads inside the linebacker, who can't turn round fast enough, leaving Blount to run past him. A DT gets off a doubleteam by Faine & Joseph and catches Blount up from behind as he runs past the WLB, and while he doesn't bring him down, he does get a hand to Blount's ankle, slowing him down. A safety comes down and hits Blount, bringing him down just two yards shy of the first down.
What could Blount have done better?
Well, for an RB who allegedly is beyond useless in the passing game, getting 13 yard reception - pretty much all the yardage coming after the catch, too - is pretty damn good. If Blount hadn't been slowed down by the DT, he might have been in a position to either avoid or, more likely, hurdle the Falcons' safety, but with a 300 pound due haning off his ankle, there's nothing he could have really done better. If Faine & Joseph had sustained the block on the DT, there's every chance Blount would have gotten the first down.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount subbed back in after the third-down conversion.
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(8:58) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a zone-misdirection. The OL, Stocker and Benn, who runs infield at the snap, all zoneblock to the weakside (left). Lorig runs towards the left of the line as if the play is an off-tackle run to the weakside. Blount initially follows, and Freeman holds the ball out to the left as if he's expecting to handoff to Blount on that side. He then continues twisting round, handing the ball to Blount as Blount cuts back to the right of the line. When the DL realise the play is a misdirection, they react relatively quickly, with the the strongside DE threatening to break free from Stocker's block. While the block is not pretty, it's effective enough to seal in the DE until Blount is past him. Benn has, in my opinion, gone too far infield, as he could have been in good position to make a block on a corner; but, as it stands, Blount is left with only the corner unblocked in front of him. Blount cuts upfield just outside Stocker, meaning he is inside the corner, instead of running directly at the CB. Blount runs past the corner, who dives at Blount's legs, managing to hold on tight to one his legs (the corner is Grimes, one of the most underrated CBs in the league in my opinion - I hate the fact he's in our division). Blount lands on Benn's back, who's been knocked to the floor by Grimes rolling into his legs. Blount doesn't actually touch the ground until he's slid off of Benn's back, upfield of Benn. Gain of 8.
What could Blount have done better?
Not much. I suppose some might have preferred him to lower his shoulder and try go through Grimes rather than cut inside him, but I sincerely doubt that he would have gotten as many yards as he did on the play. Very hard to fault Blount.
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(8:19) 2nd & 2: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (hard to tell from the jersey numbers, but based on their stances [is it sad that I can now differentiate between Stocker's & Winslow's three-point stances?], Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a one-step (!) dropback pass (potentially a pre-snap smoke route adjustment between Freeman and Williams). Blount runs up to the right of Freeman, looking to the right side of the line, but the ball is out of Freeman's hands before Blount even gets to him. The pass is complete for a first down.
What could Blount have done better?
There wasn't time for Blount to do anything on the play, good or bad.
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(7:40) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and H-back (Winslow), left. Play is a dropback pass. At the snap, Blount runs to the left of Freeman, visibly pauses for two seconds (looks as if he's checking for a blitz in the B-gap between Penn & Zuttah), then, seeing no-one coming, runs up B-gap until he's 3-4 yards past the LOS, then cuts infield and runs across the middle of the field. Freeman shows off his arm strength by throwing a ridiculously strong dart about 30 yards downfield straight into Stocker's hands.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He checked for the blitz first, then ran his route. He was completely uncovered during his route, so would have been wide open if Freeman had decided to throw to him.
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(6:51) 1st & 10: Blount lines up at singleback, Freeman under center. Freeman calls a pre-snap timeout.
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(6:51) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB offset to the strongside (left), Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left. Play is a zone-stretch run. Lorig takes the handoff and heads for the C-gap (between Penn and Stocker). Lorig initially doubleteams a DE with Stocker, but then goes around Stocker and up through the gap to try and get to a linebacker coming through the hole. For some reason that I absolutely cannot fathom, Lorig completely ignores the Mikebacker thundering into the playgap, turning upfield instead and looking about lost for someone to blog. Meantime, the Mike, Lofton, comes through at full pelt, completely unblocked, and stuffs Blount behind the LOS. Two more defenders, a DT who Zuttah failed to block, and a linebacker that came free thanks to a terrible block by Penn, join in the gang tackle, preventing Blount from being able to move any further forward.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. Blount hit the playhole but Lofton got a very solid wrap on him, and I don't think there's many, if any, runningback in the league who could have done anything at all in that situation. The play failing is entirely down to Lorig's absolute failure to do anything whatsoever to impede Lofton. Of course, it wasn't helped at all by Penn & Zuttah whiffing on their blocks, but ultimately, that wouldn't have been much of a factor if Lorig had only blocked Lofton.
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(6:13) 2nd & 11: Blount lines up at tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a drop-back pass. Blount runs upfield to the left of Freeman, between Penn & Winslow, and looks to be running to the left flat. Freeman completes to Winslow for a first down.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, it appears that he would have been uncovered if he got the opportunity to run his route, but the ball is out of Freeman's hands before Blount cuts to the flat.
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(5:32) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a smoke route (looks like a pre-snap adjustment) to Benn. The OL zone-block left, Lorig running pretty much straight ahead, Blount running up past Freeman's back (to the right of the field). Truth be told, it looks like the play called in the huddle was another zone-misdirection, but Freeman adjusted to the smoke route at the LOS. Benn makes 2 or 3 yards on the play.
What could Blount have done better?
Irrelevant, as smoke routes work as an adjustment between the QB and the WR it's going towards only - the other nine players on the field will have assumed it's still the play as called in the huddle, which, as I said, appears to ahve been another zone-misdirection.
What could Blount have done better?
Irrelevant, as smoke routes work as an adjustment between the QB and the WR it's going towards only - the other nine players on the field will have assumed it's still the play as called in the huddle, which, as I said, appears to ahve been another zone-misdirection.
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(4:50) 2nd & 8: Blount initially lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Pre-snap, Blount motions out of the backfield and lines up split out wide right as a wide receiver. Runs down the right sideline. Freeman completes to Stocker. (Blount was covered)
What could Blount have done better?
Blount ended up covered by Grimes, and I'm sorry, but there's no way Blount can outpace Grimes. Grimes was able to backpedal and stay in front of Blount the whole of his route - but, I suppose, had Blount at any point hooked back in a curl route, Grimes was actually far enough ahead of him that Blount would have been wide open. Nonetheless, it appears Blount's main function was to draw the Falcon's best corner, Grimes, away from the Bucs' best receiver, Williams, who was lined up in the right slot. It worked; and while Freeman completed to Stocker for the first down, had Freeman looked for Williams, Williams would have been wide open, thanks to Blount drawing Grimes away from him.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on first and goal. Remains on the sideline for second and goal, which sees Freeman scoring his first regular season rushing touchdown.
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(3:25) 1st & goal: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a simple zone-run. Freeman hands off to Blount to the strongside (right) and Blount continues at a straight line. Davin Joseph, however, is unable to push back his DT at all, and ends up right in Blount's path. Blount therefore cuts upfield inside Joseph, where he runs right into the Sambacker, who has come unblocked thanks to Trueblood being too slow to peel off the doubleteam, meaning he failed to pick up the LB. Blount is brought down just past the LOS. On a side note, fantastic blocking effort from Benn on this play, sealing the Willbacker completely, setting a perfect edge of a running lane - shame that Trueblood failed to set the other edge.
What could Blount have done better?
This is another play where a breakdown in blocking caused the play to fail, yet there's an argument to be made that Blount could have made some extra yardage if he made a different decision after the OL started to mess up. Do not misunderstand me - the person most to blame for this play messing up is unquestionably Davin Joseph, who failed to move his DT at all, and, if anything, was even pushed back somewhat by the DT. However, once it was clear that Joseph was in Blount's path, I believe Blount should have bounced outside. Had he done so, he'd actually have had a lot of green field and not much else ahead of him. Hell, if K2 miraculously got a decent block on the safety, this play could have actually been a touchdown. As it was, Blount chose to bounce back inside, and, at that point, there was nothing he could have done better, thanks to Trueblood being slow reacting to the Sam. Still, there's no doubt this play's failure falls on Joseph's shoulders.
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(3:25) 1st & goal: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a simple zone-run. Freeman hands off to Blount to the strongside (right) and Blount continues at a straight line. Davin Joseph, however, is unable to push back his DT at all, and ends up right in Blount's path. Blount therefore cuts upfield inside Joseph, where he runs right into the Sambacker, who has come unblocked thanks to Trueblood being too slow to peel off the doubleteam, meaning he failed to pick up the LB. Blount is brought down just past the LOS. On a side note, fantastic blocking effort from Benn on this play, sealing the Willbacker completely, setting a perfect edge of a running lane - shame that Trueblood failed to set the other edge.
What could Blount have done better?
This is another play where a breakdown in blocking caused the play to fail, yet there's an argument to be made that Blount could have made some extra yardage if he made a different decision after the OL started to mess up. Do not misunderstand me - the person most to blame for this play messing up is unquestionably Davin Joseph, who failed to move his DT at all, and, if anything, was even pushed back somewhat by the DT. However, once it was clear that Joseph was in Blount's path, I believe Blount should have bounced outside. Had he done so, he'd actually have had a lot of green field and not much else ahead of him. Hell, if K2 miraculously got a decent block on the safety, this play could have actually been a touchdown. As it was, Blount chose to bounce back inside, and, at that point, there was nothing he could have done better, thanks to Trueblood being slow reacting to the Sam. Still, there's no doubt this play's failure falls on Joseph's shoulders.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount for the rest of the series.
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(0:05) 1st & 10: Blount lines up behind Freeman in the kneel-down formation. QB Kneel.
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3rd Quarter
(15:00) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + H-back (Stocker), right, motions infield pre-snap, then sets up back at H-back, right, at the snap. Play is a zone-stretch FB-lead run to the strongside (right). Blount takes the handoff, following Lorig, but Trueblood fails to block the DE, who comes free and forces Blount inside. However, a DT has come off of Faine's block and is immediately on Blount. Blount does a good job of using his free hand to push the DT past him, but in order to evade the DT he has had to stop his feet. This allows three defenders to wrap him up where he stands - the three defenders being the Mikebacker, who Joseph failed to block, the other DT, who Penn attempted to cutblock but only brought him down to one knee, allowing him to get back up and get back into the play, and the backside DE, who traditionally is left unblocked in zone runs.
What could Blount have done better?
I don't think there's anything he really could have done better. The blocking on this play was, in general, horrible - the only blockers who actually maintained their blocks were Stocker, Lorig who doubleteamed for a bit with Stocker before peeling off, and Zuttah, who didn't hold his block through the whistle, but blocked the guy for long enough where he would have been out the play if everyone else had done their jobs. All of the other four linemen absolutely failed to do their jobs. There was absolutely nothing Blount could have done better with, effectively, four defenders coming free from their blocks, and all four impacting the play (we won't include Abraham since he was meant to be unblocked). I'm genuinely concerned for our run game in the future - thank god we got Carl Nicks.
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(14:17) 2nd & 12: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is another zone-stretch run to the strongside (right). Blount takes the handoff, runs towards the right sideline, but seeing Winslow in his path, having been pushed back by the SLB, cuts inside and downfield. This time, the blocking does its job, with Joseph sealing one DT, setting one edge of a running lane, and Zuttah blocking the other DT to the outside, setting the other edge. Blount hits the hole, running past the LOS, using his agility to cut inside and evade the lunging MLB, who has gotten off of Faine's block. Blount continues downfield, but a safety has gotten free from Benn's block, and gets his hand on Blount's ankle, causing Blount to trip, coming to ground for a gain of 12.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, as he got the first down. This play, compared to the previous, shows the difference blocking can make. Almost everyone got their blocking responsibility - the only exceptions being Penn, who completely whiffed on blocking the DE, which he wouldn't normally do in zone-blocking (but based on Penn's actions, it looks like this was his intended assignment, as teams often throw in some man concepts when running zone-blocking schemes), and Benn. Even Winslow, while he did get pushed into the backfield, engaged the SLB throughout the duration of the play. Anyway, everyone else did their job, at least partially - even though the Mikebacker did get off of Faine's block, Faine did hold his block for long enough that the LB was in bad position to make a play on Blount once he did get free. Benn just gave the safety a push instead of locking him up - if Benn locks that safety up, Blount could have been going for a looooooong gain - to be honest, an 82-yard touchdown was not inconceivable, as long as Blount would have managed to outpace the defense. All in all, great blocking up front for the most part, and great reading of his blocks by Blount.
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(13:36) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left and H-back (Stocker), left. Play is a dropback pass. Blount goes to block the DE, Abraham, and dives low to try and cutblock him. Abraham, however, hurdles him and gets his hands on Freeman. Blount stands up, and Freeman throws the ball at Blount's feet to avoid losing any yardage from a sack. Play is officially recorded as an incomplete pass to Blount.
What could Blount have done better?
This play highlights both the progress Blount made from his rookie season, and the work he has left to do going into his third season. There was famously a play in Blount's rookie season against Atlanta, where he was clueless in pass-protection, looking completely the wrong way for the blocking scheme, letting a defensive end come completely unblocked and sack Freeman. This time, there is no question that Blount knew his assignment and fully went to try and execute his assignment - proof that he has learnt blocking schemes. However, as I have mentioned in the previous parts of this study in Blount's 2011 season, the problem with cutblocking is if you miss, the other guy gets a free shot, and that's exactly what happened here. While this play should put aside fears about Blount's knowledge of blocking scheme, it highlights that he still has a lot of work to do in terms of refining blocking technique. Still, the most important thing is that both the knowledge of where to block, and the willingness to go and block, is undoubtedly there in Blount - all that's needed now is to improve his actual blocking technique, which should come with the better coaching he now has.
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(13:32) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play appears to be a counter-run to the strongside (right). Blount fakes a step backwards, then runs to the right, with Freeman opening to the left then spinning round and handing off to Blount. Lorig runs up and attacks the SLB lined up in 'Over' (i.e. on the LOS over Stocker), getting an initial block on him (though he doesn't sustain it). Zuttah, on a pull, appears to be the primary lead-blocker on the play, as Blount does a great job of following Zuttah, remaining patient behind him and reading his blocks. Blount puts his hand on Zuttah's ass, showing patience by slowing down and waiting for Zuttah to clear the way. There is not much of a hole, but Zuttah manages to forcefully squeeze between Lorig and Stocker (albeit, knocking Lorig to the ground in the process), but Zuttah forcing open the gap leaves the hole open for Blount to run through between Zuttah and Stocker. Blount runs downfield, but a safety comes down to meet him. Blount cuts infield but the safety wraps up his feet. A corner comes free from William's block and runs into Blount but bounces off him - it's irrelevant, however, as the safety still has Blount's feet, bringing him to the ground. The SLB, who came free from Lorig when Zuttah knocked him down, and a DT, who Faine lets go after Blount's run past him, pile on to Blount on the ground for a gain of 6.
What could Blount have done better?
The first part of the play was executed very well, with Zuttah doing a phenomenal job as a lead-blocker on the pull and Blount doing an equally fantastic job of reading Zuttah's blocks and finding the hole. That said, I do have a problem with what Blount did in the second part of the play - namely, cutting infield to try and evade the safety instead of lowering his shoulder and running through him. It's hard to complain when Blount got a gain of 6 on the play, but still, it could have been an even greater gain if Blount had just tried to go over rather than around the safety.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount subbed back in after the third-down conversion, aided by an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Atlanta D.
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(12:17) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (cannot tell who, I think maybe Winslow?), right and H-back (Lorig(!)), right. Play is a play-action pass. Blount fakes the handoff and runs up the middle of the line, getting lost among the throng of linemen, both offensive and defensive. The defense get sucked in by the play-fake, but Freeman's pass is far, far too high for Williams, and the ball is almost picked off.
What could Blount have done better?
Absolutely nothing. He sold the play-fake incredibly well, sucking in most of the defense. Unfortunately, Freeman made a poor decision throwing to Williams, who was covered, so the pass was unlikely to connect even if the it wasn't far, far too high. Benn, on the other hand, was open. Still, that's moot to what we're looking at here - the point is, Blount sold the play-fake well enough that, should Freeman had made a better decision & more accurate throw, could have gone for a 15+ yard gain.
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(12:10) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is man-power misdirection. Lorig & Blount head towards the weakside (left) B-gap, but Blount peels off back infield, receiving the handoff from Freeman as he crosses the middle of the field. Blount heads downfield, with a huge hole opening up between Joseph, whose DT has come free from the block but is nonetheless sufficiently away from the play as to not effect the playgap, and Trueblood, who does a good job of sealing his DE to the outside. Blount goes through the hole then heads to the outside, where there is a running lane that has been sealed by Winslow, making a good block (!) on the SLB, and Faine, who's blocking the MLB. The WLB reads the play and comes across. Benn is in position to block the Willbacker but whiffs on the block, and it looks like the WLB briefly gets a hand to Blount, slowing him down slightly. A safety comes thundering down and straight into Blount, who lowers his shoulders and attempts to go through the man. Blount is a strong sonofathingy, and manages to use his spare hand to keep his knees of the ground, able to make an extra yard or two before the other safety jumps on top of him. Gain of 6.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He sold the misdirection, lowered his shoulder to try and go through the safety rather than dancing around, and even used his strength to make some extra yards after he was almost brought down to ground.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He sold the misdirection, lowered his shoulder to try and go through the safety rather than dancing around, and even used his strength to make some extra yards after he was almost brought down to ground.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount is subbed back in on fourth down.
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(10:34) 4th & 1: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Graham, not Lorig, at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and TE (Winslow), right. Play is a play-action rollout pass. Blount fakes the handoff, running to the left of the line, then gives the DE a pop, stopping him getting to Freeman, who rolls out in the other direction, tucking in the ball and scrambling for the first down.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really in terms of outcome of the play - he faked the handoff, then popped the DE, which stopped the DE having any chance of getting to Freeman. Nonetheless, I would personally have preferred if Blount actually engaged the DE, locking him up for the rest of the playing, rather than just popping him, but ultimately, that was more than enough for Freeman to have time to roll out.
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(10:04) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Play is a simple FB-lead zone-dive to the weakside (left). Blount takes the handoff from Freeman and runs up to the middle of the line. Penn and Zuttah doubleteam one DT, while Faine and Joseph double on the other. Lorig goes through the hole first, but fails to block the Mikebacker. Blount follows his leadblocker, but with Lorig whiffing on Lofton, the MLB wraps up Blount low, while the Willbacker, who Faine fails to block after peeling off of the DT, hit Blount high, bringing him down for a short gain.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. Blount followed his lead blocker up the designed playgap, but between Lorig failing to block Lofton, and Faine being slow peeling off the DT to block the Will, there was nothing Blount could have feasibly done to gain more yards.
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(9:20) 2nd & 7: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left H-back (Winslow), left. Play is a simple man-power dive up the middle. Blount receives the handoff and sees absolutely nothing open in front of him, but sees wide open field to his right. He sets his feet to bounce to the outside, but Joseph is completely overpowered by the DT, who forces Joseph into the backfield and lunges for Blount's legs, forcing him back inside. Meantime, Stocker struggles to maintain his block on the strongside DE, who wraps up Blount's waist as the RB runs past him. Meantime, he's hit up high by an LB who Faine fails to block - it seems that he is about to peel off his doubleteam with Zuttah on the strongside DT, but then chooses to return to the DT, rather than picking up the LB, who as a result is completely unblocked. In addition, a safety has come into the box and wraps up Blount around the chest, while the DT who overpowered Joseph is able to get back to his feet, overpower Joseph again, and wrap up Blount as well for a four-man gang tackle.
What could Blount have done better?
Deja vu much? Once again, a blocker is pushed into the backfield, forcing Blount inside, where a general breakdown in blocking results in a gang tackle on Blount. Where have I heard that before? Oh right, the first play of this very drive. Hmm. Anyway, I will blame Blount a little on this play too - I believe that it was possible for him to double back on himself slightly, get outside Joseph at the beginning of the play, and could have made several more yards. That said, if he was hit in the backfield while trying to get outside Joseph, it would have been a significant loss of yardage on the play, so it's not completely Blount's fault. I have no problem whatsoever with Blount wanting to bounce outside, there was literally nothing open in front of him, and bouncing to the right was definitely the correct option rather than bouncing to the left. Nonetheless, the blocking was shocking pretty much everywhere, giving Blount nowhere to go while allowing yet again over a third of the Falcons' D to get to Blount for a gang tackle.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down. Graham subbed in for Lumpkin after the third down conversion. Graham remains in for the rest of the series.
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(3:07) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a drop-back pass. Blount runs up to the B-gap between Joseph & Trueblood, and checks for a blitzing linebacker. No blitz comes, so Blount turns around, sees Freeman having both ends closing in on him (complete whiffs by both Penn & Trueblood) and runs to the right sideline so Freeman can see him. Freeman throws the ball at Blount's feet, which bounces up and lands in his hands; a linebacker brings him down. The referees originally rule it a catch for a loss of four yards; the Bucs challenge, and the play is overruled, with the pass officially being incomplete.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really. He seemed to check his gap responsibility in pass protection, then got in position for Freeman to throw towards him, thus making it an incomplete pass and not a penalty for intentional grounding.
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(3:04) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and TE (Winslow), right. Play is a simple dive up the left B-gap. The play seems to be an absolute balls up for the protection up front. The line part, leaving a massive hole between Penn & Zuttah - allowing a linebacker to come down completely and utterly unblocked. Blount takes the handoff and heads towards the hole, but the linebacker is on him. He attempts to go around the LB, but he wraps up Blount from behind. Meantime a safety comes down and smacks Blount up high. Meantime, a DE beat Trueblood and comes around the back to wrap up Blount, while Faine lets his DT go, who then jumps on top of the pile as they all go to the floor. Loss of around 2.
What could Blount have done better?
Hmm. I have no idea what was meant to be happening up front, but surely someone should have been responsible for getting that linebacker? Personally, I think Penn's at fault - you can definitely see his helmet turn back inside, looks like he's looking for someone to come - the only problem is that the LB is already past him by then. As for Blount, well, there's really nothing he could have done, the linebacker was almost on him by the time he got the ball in his hands. The only thing he could have done differently is try and go through the linebacker, rather than trying to evade him by juking outside, but with the speed the LB flies down I really don't think he would have gotten any more yardage by doing so. To be honest, I don't even particularly blame Penn, if it was indeed his responsibility to get that LB; it just seems to be a badly designed play, in terms of blocking scheme up front. If it was me who had drawn up the play, I definitely would have had a pulling guard in there to lead block. But I digress.
What could Blount have done better?
Hmm. I have no idea what was meant to be happening up front, but surely someone should have been responsible for getting that linebacker? Personally, I think Penn's at fault - you can definitely see his helmet turn back inside, looks like he's looking for someone to come - the only problem is that the LB is already past him by then. As for Blount, well, there's really nothing he could have done, the linebacker was almost on him by the time he got the ball in his hands. The only thing he could have done differently is try and go through the linebacker, rather than trying to evade him by juking outside, but with the speed the LB flies down I really don't think he would have gotten any more yardage by doing so. To be honest, I don't even particularly blame Penn, if it was indeed his responsibility to get that LB; it just seems to be a badly designed play, in terms of blocking scheme up front. If it was me who had drawn up the play, I definitely would have had a pulling guard in there to lead block. But I digress.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down. Blount subbed back in after the third down conversion.
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(1:51) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is appears to have been a designed run which Freeman checked into a smoke route to Benn. Blount runs up as if he's going to receive the ball but Freeman drops a few steps and immediately throws to Benn, who makes the first down.
What could Blount have done better?
Irrelevant, as the play looks like it was not the original play called.
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(1:16) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB offset to strongside (right), Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a Power-O FB-lead run to the strongside. At the snap, Lorig runs up to the right hand side of the line between Trueblood & Stocker. Stocker handles his DE, blocking him to the ground, while Trueblood initially doubleteams with Joseph on a DT, before Joseph peels off to block the Willbacker. Trueblood maintains his block on the DT and ultimately also blocks him to the ground. Lorig blocks the Sambacker and maintains his block through the whistle. Blount takes the handoff and follows Lorig and Zuttah, lead-blocking on a pull, through the hole. Blount puts his hand on Zuttah's backside to follow the block, but the DT, who Faine was blocking, manages to get a hand to Blount's ankle. Blount falls forward but keeps his feet. Zuttah appears to run to the right, but the Mikebacker scythes down behind Zuttah and wraps up Blount. Blount refuses to go down, however, and pushes through Lofton, pushing him back as he steps over Joseph & the Willbacker, both on the floor. Blount uses his strength and power to push backwards through Lofton, gaining many yards after the catch. Lofton falls away, but with Blount facing the wrong way, the safety comes down and wraps up Blount, but Blount is so strong that he pushes the safety backwards for even more yards. A DE, who Penn completely let get away, just standing there as the DE chases down the play, and joins in the wrap on Blount, as does the CB. It looks like only the DE is strong enough to actually pull Blount backwards, who eventually gets dragged down the ground for a gain of eight (if the DE wasn't there, Blount should have been able to get the first down, though maybe not much more than that).
What could Blount have done better?
Absolutely nothing, this was frankly an incredible display of Blount's power, forcing himself through several players, refusing to go down to the point that it takes three Falcons to drag him down. No doubt, Blount was helped though by his blocks up front - only two real failures in blocking - but Blount did a great job of reading the blocks, and then when the blocking did break down (i.e. Zuttah whiffing on Lofton), was able to use his natural strength and power to make things happen. Aside from Zuttah, the only other failure in blocking did belong to Penn, who, as always, dropped back and waited for the contact. The DE, seeing the play is running in the other direction, sprints back upfield to try and contribute, which he eventually does, likely being the reason Blount came just short of a first down. Penn, meanwhile, just stood there like a lolly, not even attempting to impede the DE's path back into the play, and just standing there looking around for something to happen (Faine did the same too, but at least his DT was on the ground, and while the DT did get a hand to Blount's ankles, Faine did at least do enough to slow the DT's progress to the point where he only got a hand to the RB, instead of being able to fully wrap him up).
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(0:29) 2nd & 2: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Winslow), right. Play is a simple dive, initially, it appears, to the strongside. Freeman hands off to Blount, who runs to the strongside (right). In a very similar series of events as the 2nd & 10 play at 3:04, a linebacker comes down into the hole between Joseph and Trueblood completely unblocked, and is on Blount as soon as he gets the handoff (it's not clear whose responsibility it should have been to pick up the linebacker; it looks like the plan should have been Joseph picks up the DT at the snap, then Faine doubleteams on the DT, taking over the block and allowing Joseph to peel off. Unfortunately, by the time Faine has a handle on the DT the linebacker is well past the line). As with that previous play, Blount again attempts to use his agility to juke out of the linebacker's reach; this time, however, it works. As Blount headed to the right, a lot of the defense have flowed over to that side of the field; Blount, however, bounces to the left to evade the LB, meaning that five of the Atlanta front seven are sealed in to the right. While Penn again waits for the contact, this time he actually gets his hands on the DE and while he can't drive the DE back, he does keep the DE stationary, allowing Blount to cut upfield behind him. This leaves the one member of the Falcons front seven, Lofton, who Trueblood goes up to block but completely whiffs, leaving him free. Lofton comes down and wraps Blount up around his legs, but not before Blount crosses the down marker. Two more Falcons come in to wrap up Blount - one of the safeties, who comes into the box once Blount's received his handoff, and a DE, who, once Trueblood peels off to attempt (and fail) to block Lofton, Stocker is not able to wrap up. The three bring Blount down for a gain of four.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, really. If Trueblood had blocked Lofton, Blount could have gotten a few more yards, maybe more if he managed to get past that safety, but as far as the play went, Blount did everything he could have, and most importantly, got the first down.
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4th Quarter
(15:00) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and H-back (Winslow), left. Pre-snap, Winslow motions infield to the center of the line, then back to H-back on the left and sets up there again, then the ball is snapped. Play is a drop-back pass, possibly with some intended play-action. At the snap, Blount runs up and opens his arms to fake as if he's receiving a handoff. Freeman, however, never attempts to fake the handoff, winding up his arm to throw before Blount even reaches him. Blount therefore continues to to run up the massive hole between Trueblood & Joseph as the ball leaves Freeman's hand, before he has a chance to run a route. Freeman's pass bounces off of Benn's hand, rebounding up in the air and into the arms of a safety in the middle of the field, who runs the interception back for a good gain, running towards the left sideline. Blount runs back parallel to the safety, then when he's close, dives through the safety's legs, bringing down the defender. Falcons ball.
What could Blount have done better?
Pre-interception, nothing really - he sells the whole 'anticipating getting the ball' thing so well that I had to watch the play twice to make sure that it was, in fact, a designed pass (with play-action that Freeman chose to abort), rather than a designed run that was checked into a smoke route, so that's some great selling by Blount. As I said, the pass was gone so quickly that you cannot tell what route Blount would have run, or whether he would have been open, so that's all moot. Post-interception, Blount was the guy who brought down the safety, so I don't see what more you could want from him.
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The next series, Graham is in for Blount on first down. Blount subbed in on second down.
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(12:07) 2nd & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right and H-back (Lorig), right. Pre-snap, Lorig shifts inside so that he behind Trueblood. At the snap, Joseph lunges for a DT, but the DT uses his outside hand to push Joseph away, resulting in Joseph slamming to the ground, while Faine is too slow recovering from the snap to be in position to block the DT. The DT now has a clear shot at Blount in the backfield, and hits him and wraps him up as soon as Blount has the ball in his hands. Blount tries to stay on his feet but the DT is strong enough to pull him down, just as two more defenders slam in (one, the Mikebacker, was completely unblocked; the other, a DE, uses a spin move to get around Stocker, who struggles to maintain the block once Trueblood peels off to block the Sambacker). The Sambacker, who Trueblood failed to block, was in position to pile on if he wanted to, but he doesn't. Instead, the other DT, who overpowers Zuttah easily, pushes the Sambacker out the way and piles on as well.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, the DT was on Blount the moment he had the ball in his hands. Blount never had a chance to do anything. The blame definitely falls on Joseph, for lunging for the block - looks to me like he doesn't use his feet nearly enough, which is a big 'no-no' for offensive linemen. Now, the blocking in general was pretty poor, so there's no guarantees that Blount would have done much better if Joseph had blocked the DT, as other defenders were free to hit him; but ultimately, we'll never know, because Joseph messed up so early in the play that the play was doomed pretty much at the snap.
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Lumpkin subbed in for Blount on third down.
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(9:49) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Graham (not Lorig) at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), left. Pre-snap, Benn motions infield and sets up behind Trueblood. Play is a play-action, rollout (at least, designed rollout) pass. The line (minus Winslow) zoneblock to the left, including Benn taking a dummy step to the left as if he's a zone-blocker before releasing into his route (Winslow releases immediately downfield). Blount fakes receiving the handoff, sucking in five of the front seven, following Graham to the left of the line, then as Graham peels back across the field, Blount bounces to the outside around Penn, then jogs downfield (the ball has been thrown by this point). Freeman goes to roll out, but the DE, having seen Been release into a route after his dummy step, realises it's play-action and goes straight for Freeman. Freeman dumps the ball over his head and into Graham's hands.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing really, he sold the fake handoff well enough to suck in five of the Atlanta front seven, only the backside DE and the Willbacker, who saw Benn release and goes to cover him, doe not get sucked in. After the play, it's not clear what Blount's responsibilities were - the fact that he bounces outside Penn and looks to Freeman implies perhaps a route, but seeing Freeman's thrown the ball, Blount's just jogging. Personally, I'm not a fan of that - I'd have liked to see him at least run towards the play in case he could have helped out as a second-level blocker or something - but with the ball thrown in completely the other direction, it was clear the ball wasn't coming to him and so it's somewhat understandable that Blount just jogged through the rest of the play - he was far from the only player to stop giving effort after the ball was caught by Graham: Penn, Zuttah, Faine and Trueblood all equally rested after the ball was caught.
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(9:10) 2nd & 5: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig back in at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is designed as a running play, but is definitely checked into a smoke route/bubble screen at the line - in this instance, you can actually see Freeman shout something over at Benn, who's in the left slot, who then makes a signal to Mike Williams, who's outside on the left - the signal appears to be banging one wrist down on top of the back of the other, with hands crossed. Williams then signals back to Benn, as if in confirmation (Apologies to the Bucs if I'm giving away what your secret signals are). Blount runs up as if he's expecting the handoff, but slows down when he sees Freeman turn and throw the ball. On the play, Benn catches the ball, steps out of bounds just shy of the first down, but is flagged for a facemask penalty which he picked up while attempting to stiff arm a corner.
What could Blount have done better?
Since the play wasn't the play called in the huddle, the question is moot.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on 2nd & 16. Remains on the sideline as Graham is subbed out for Lumpkin on third down, which goes unconverted.
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(4:06) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Winslow), right. Play is a play-action rollout pass. Freeman fakes the handoff to Blount, who follows Lorig to the left side of the line. Blount fakes receiving the handoff, which he sells incredibly well, sucking in the entire Atlanta front seven, and, more specifically, causes the backside DE, who (as is normally the case with zone blocking) commits to chasing down Blount until he is well inside Freeman, who rolls out unimpeded. Blount continues around the outside as if he has the ball in his hands - it seems clear now that, on the previous play-action at 9:49, that Blount was jogging around the outside because, when this play works, he would be faking running around the outside of Penn/Lorig as if he had the ball. Meanwhile, Freeman rolls out, but seeing no-one open, tucks the ball in and scrambles for the first down. Blount, seeing this, pulls up and rests.
What could Blount have done better?
Similarly to the previous play-action, Blount did a great job of selling the roll out, sucking in even more of the defense than the previous occasion; again, I would prefer if he continued running once Freeman's rolled out, rather than pull up to rest - yes, I know it's the fourth quarter, but the dude just got off the bench. Still, that's just an extra; in terms of his primary assignment - selling the fake - Blount did his job admirably.
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(3:24) 1st & 10: Blount lines up singleback, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), left and H-back (Winslow), left. Play is a misdirection to the weakside (right). Winslow, Stocker, and all the line except for Trueblood zoneblock to the left - Trueblood kicks back to seal the backside DE to the outside. Blount runs to the left of the line, taking the handoff, and then peeling back to the right. A DT completely shoots the gap inside of Joseph, who could have threatened to take Blount down in the backfield, but Joseph stays with him and gets his hands on him in the backfield, blocking him and sealing him to the inside. Blount runs up the alley sealed off by Joseph & Trueblood; a safety comes down into the box and into Blount's path. Blount leans to the outside, causing the safety to shade to the outside, but cuts inside at the last second, and he gets past the safety. Penn, meanwhile, was very slow and late peeling off his doubleteam, meaning he has to attempt to chase down the MLB from behind; of course, he can't catch up to him, and the Mike brings down Blount for a gain of six. If Penn had blocked the LB, he would only have been left with the one remaining safety between him and the end zone. As it stands, the play goes for a gain of six.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. He read his blockers (in this case, seeing Joseph seal a DT inside and setting the edge of a running lane), used his footwork to fake out the safety who came into the box, and if Penn had done his job, then could have been an even longer gain.
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(2:42) 2nd & 4: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig offset to the strongside (right) at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a Power-O FB-lead to the strongside. Stocker and Joseph seal the strongside DE and DT inside respectively, while Faine and Penn block their guys out the play. Lorig runs up and blocks the Sambacker coming around the outside while Zuttah, on a pull, doubleteams the DE with Stocker. Trueblood goes to meet the Mikebacker coming down, and while the Mike knocks him down on his backside, it slows the Mike down enough. Stocker, Lorig, Zuttah, Jospeh, the Falcon DE, DT and SLB are all in one big heap as Blount takes the handoff and runs to the right of the line. Seeing the heap, Blount runs up the outside of the pile, with Benn ahead of him. Benn blocks the safety, but the corner on that side, plus the SLB (freeing himself from Lorig) both wrap up Blount. Blount, however, keeps pumping his feet, using his strength to continue powering forward and crossing the first down marker. The safety gets off of Benn's block and hits Blount up high, which puts him off balance for the two defenders draped over him to finally pull him to the ground. Gain of eight. Falcons call a time out.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing. The blocking broke down a little, meaning Blount had to bounce to the outside rather than up the C-gap between Stocker & Trueblood, but Blount again uses his strength and power to drag defenders for yards when the play breaks down. No-one could have asked for more from Blount on this play.
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(2:32) 1st & 10: Blount lines up tailback in I-form, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is a Power-O FB-Lead(ish) to the right side of the line. Stocker attempts to block the SLB, but the Sambacker spins out of Stocker's block, while Faine and Penn block the DTs (the other DE drops back, it appears as if the play is a zone blitz). A safety blitzes early in the play, but Lorig picks him up. Zuttah, on a pull, blocks the SLB who Stocker failed to block. Blount takes the handoff and reads his lead blocker (Zuttah). Blount sees Zuttah blocking the SLB and cuts inside. Blount half-hurdles over a defender on the floor (cannot see exactly who it is) and into the arms of the DE who had dropped back into coverage. The DE forces Blount back, who trips up over the defender on the floor. Gain of three. Falcons call time out.
What could Blount have done better?
Blount did very well with the blocking not doing what it should (ideally, Stocker should have sealed in that Sambacker, which would have Zuttah free to leadblock to the right, where there was only a corner in front of him). It's harder to criticise Blount with the blocking breaking down and him still getting positive yards, but if Blount had bounced outside to the right, rather than cut inside Zuttah, I reckon he could have made more yards, as, again, there was only a corner outside. Still, as Blount had to react on his feet to the breakdown in blocking, it's hard to criticise him, especially as, from Blount's perspective, it does look like Zuttah was going to be pushed back into his path, which would have seen no gain if it had happened, so I'm fine with Blount's decision.
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(2:26) 2nd & 7: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Play is again a Power-O FB-lead to the strongside (right). The four defensive linemen are blocked by Stocker, Joseph, Faine and Penn, with the first two dominating their blocks. Trueblood goes up to block an LB, and while he fails, it causes the LB to fall over. Lorig and Zuttah (on a pull) doubleteam the SLB, closing up any gaps in front of Blount. Blount bounces to the outside, with a DT, getting free from Faine's block, nipping at his heels. Blount keeps his feet as the MLB comes down and hits him high, but the Mikebacker just bounces off him and Blount keeps going. A CB (Grimes) comes in and wraps up Blount around the waist, slowing him down. The DE, who gets off of Penn's block when Penn stops trying, runs up and wraps Blount up high. A safety comes down and hits Blount up high, bringing him down for a gain of five.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing, Blount again used his power and strength to overcome a breakdown in blocking to make a good gain through defensive players, keeping the drive alive.
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Two minute warning
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(2:00) 3rd & 2: Blount lines up tailback, Lorig at FB, Freeman under center. OL + TE (Stocker), right. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the play is a Power-O FB-lead to the strongside (right). Lorig goes up to block the SLB. Stocker fails to contain the DE, who breaks through and swipes Zuttah's legs from under him as he is on a pull, leaving Blount again without a lead blocker. Blount pulls up short to avoid the DE reaching out for him from under Zuttah, runs around the outside of the line, absorbs the hit from Grimes, who bounces off and trundles up to the downmarker. The strongside DT has managed to stay on his feet as there is a big bundle on the strongside of the line, and he follows the play back and wraps up Blount as he gets to the downmarker, bringing him down on the yellow TV line as he is hit up high by the MLB, who Joseph has hands on but can't prevent from hitting Blount. Blount is six inches short of a first down. Falcons call their last time out.
What could Blount have done better?
Nothing again, his failure to get the first down was again due to poor blocking. He did what he could, absorbing one hit and trying to force through a wrap-up from a DT, but without Zuttah actually lead blocking, there wasn't anything more he could have done.
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Graham subbed in for Blount on fourth down. Blount remains on the sideline as Freeman kneels down three times to run out the clock.
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