Bringing this post over to this thread. Too many sacks will no doubt be an issue that occurs again this year.
David wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26, 2019 2:39 pm
This is one of the biggest frustrations for Lions fans. Other teams' QBs get sacked, sure. But our QBs seem to routinely become human pinatas in big games, getting swarmed from a relentless pass rush that our scheme and Oline seem unable to do anything about. Season after season. It's really quite remarkable.
If I was to write a book about our beleaguered teams through the years, it would be "Death, Taxes, and Multiple Sacks."
DH
My view on this, looking from the present into the past ...
Reilly only wants to throw. With option plays, he will throw. The D acts with this in mind. They cook up stunts, overloads and movement, making it more challenging for the OL to adjust. Our offence does not adjust, so that oftentimes there are more guys rushing the passer than there are blockers. It seems to me that Jarious' offensive scheme either does not know how to deal with it, or that it is so complicated that the OL has not figured it out. Yes, I am putting it on Jarious, not on the O Line. This fan also puts a lot of the responsibility on Reilly. He is the QB with a large amount of personal authority. He wants to pass. He does not seem to mind if he gets pounded all game long. The remedies are there: run the ball, shorter routes, quick release, disguise in the offence, etc.
Vs the Eskimos. 27 passes by Reilly. 8 runs by White, 1 by Rutley. Gable ran 23 times for the Schmos.
Vs the Bombers. 39 passes by Reilly. 4 runs by White. For the Bombers 16 runs by Harris with 1 by Demski and 1 by Whitehead.
With Dan Dorazio, in years past, we had too many sacks with various OCs. There was a philosophical tendency by the staff to not adjust, in game, or even in practice. Just roll out the same scheme, game after game, year after year. Plus Dan's focus on minute details of technique tended to make his guys preoccupied. They did not play instinctively. They did not focus on their strength and athleticism. IMO.
In 2011, Andrew Harris was pretty much unstoppable. Releasing from the backfield for short passes, with Lulay keying on him, our offence had tremendous balance. Runs. Passes. OL highly motivated.
The years with Joe Smith were different. The team, the staff, decided to focus on a bruising run game. Voila. We wore defences down. The OL got huge satisfaction from pounding DLs, putting them on the ground. This is to the credit also of Stef Kruck and Dan Dorazio at the time, co-OCs. IMO.
So the issues I see at present relate to:
1 The offensive scheme Jarious runs (I have to say that Jarious seems to be in over his head as an OC.)
2 Reilly's overarching tendency to go with the pass.
I see no reason to doubt the ability of Bryan Chiu to coach the O Line. And I see no reason to doubt the individual abilities of our O Linemen to pass block. One O Lineman cannot block 2 men when there is an overload with blitzers.
We have seen this tendency for too many sacks for years. And the consequences have also been injuries to QBs.
As a team, do we even know how to keep the sacks down? It does not look like it at this time. Have we forgotten the importance of the run game? Do we know how to adjust when teams blitz? Do we know how to deal with a rush/blitz happy defence? A large part of the answer is in using the run game. It makes the heart too heavy to even consider looking at the film and posting break down pictures at this time.
Just imo. Others will see it differently and some might even defend the status quo. This fan cannot defend the status quo. We are 0 and 2, in games we played poorly. Can it be fixed? Yes. Hopefully. We will see.
Game 3 coming up. Each game is a test. We see the results on the field.