Offensive Line

[thaitopher 807]

Question for the experts: how did they do? Can any of our lackluster performance on offense be pinned on them or was it other issues which caused that underwhelming feeling?

[Plainstalk 32]

I'm no expert but I thought they played well.  Georgia Southern blitzed all night and they picked it up fairly well.  There were times that Stidham held the ball to long, could not tell if the receivers were getting open or not.  I was really underwhelmed by the play of the wide receivers.  The running game looked good against marginal competition.  Really excited about the play of the defense!!!

[cole256 17,084]

No expert but I think they had trouble with stunts and blitzes up front. They were definitely better run blocking than pass blocking

[bigbird 60,578]

@corchjay

[kd4au 1,145]

No expert, but they look to be the weak link in the team and should be the strength. I've thought with all the talk of Hand mixing and matching he was taking to long to establish the starting O-Line . O-Line is a group that needs to play together and come together as a unit.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

42 minutes ago, thaitopher said:

Question for the experts: how did they do? Can any of our lackluster performance on offense be pinned on them or was it other issues which caused that underwhelming feeling?

Apologies, but

I never got that.

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

I'm looking through the orange and blue lenses, but I don't think our O-line was that bad. For the most part JS had enough time to throw it but  they did a good job of covering our guys especially in the slot. I saw some say the blindside play was KJs fault for not picking up the blitz. I guess I'll have to rewatch 

[mustache eagle 2,412]

I think they played fine overall.  I think it was a combo of stidham waiting to throw and/or receivers not open and vanilla offense/lack of play call options.

there were times the RB/line didn't perform great but overall I'd give them a B at minimum.  

I think KP would have made a difference.  He would have stayed upright between the tackles more often than the smaller backs.

regardless of opponent, we had over 500 yards and probably better than 60% passing if not for a few stone hand catch attempts.

the stidham fumble could have been left tackle was supposed to slide out leaving inside guy to KJ, KJ not getting to his spot correctly, wrong blocking call by center or wrong blocking call by stidham.  Many plays could have had other or multiple faults and not necessarily the OL

[AU Is Gold 410]

The offensive line played very well. It's always hard for me to watch wide receiver routes, so I don't know what was the problem in that area, but Stidham had plenty of time tonthrow the ball.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

I think what a lot of people are missing is that this line has been together for a couple of weeks and this was their first game. Successful O-Line play is all about working as a unit. Perfection should not be expected straight out of the gate for a unit with new personnel.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

I too think they were fine. Not great but not terrible. 

[oracle79 3,569]

I look at Darius James and he looks like a freak'in muscled up tank, but at times, it looks like he doesn't have the "wawnt to".  I think he can play in the NFL, but he needs to play every play hard.

[doc4aday 1,887]

If I had to give them a letter grade, it would be a B-.  Not a bad performance, but will need to ramp it up in Clemson.  You can bet Clemson D line will bring it.  Our O line can bring it as well with cleaning up some things and getting a bit nastier from tackle to tackle. 

 

Who do you think will be starting on the O line for Clemson?  Do you think we will see any changes or will we see what we saw yesterday as the starting line?

[djg0017 726]

I think we'll see the same starting OL for sure.

[abw0004 10,130]

Well, considering the "official" starting lineup was announced 5 days before kickoff, they played pretty well.  A lot of people want to blame Tega for the sack/fumble, but Tega actually picked up his man.  Not his fault.  KJ actually shouldhave been pulled over to Stidham's left to take him on the blitz.  Judging by Auburn's history, our offensive lines get better every single game.  

[johnnyAU 3,637]

Looked to me that James had a tough night.  He'll have his hands full with the Clemson DE's. 

[corchjay 5,311]

The line looked pretty good to me.  Normal first game rust a little but we could have ran at will on GSU.  

The offense sputtered a little from Stidham holding the ball.  WRs dropped 2 passes that definitely should have been caught.  The offense in general was very basic.  With our run blocking if we aren't a power run team with this line we are fools.  The right side was devastating on run plays.  If I had to grade them I'd give them a B.  I expect no less moving forward then an A- each week. Tega looked pretty comfortable.  

The sack/scoop and score was just the right defense called for the right play.  Jarrett possibly could have read the play faster.  On the few RPO's I noticed he seemed to ride the running back a little to long.  

I plan to rewatch the game again but might be Tuesday before I do.  I'll have a better understanding then because I was just watching for enjoyment last night.

[thaitopher 807]

2 hours ago, johnnyAU said:

Looked to me that James had a tough night.  He'll have his hands full with the Clemson DE's. 

I agree. He got beat bad on a couple of plays. If I were Clemson, I would be blitzing all over our right side. 

[GoAU 1,600]

I'd give them a "C".  Run blocking was pretty decent, pass blocking could have been better, especially against a team like GSU.  Clemson will have more talent in the D line.  Hopefully we'll gel a little more by then.  They definitely have the potential to improve a lot.

[steeleagle 2,945]

3 hours ago, abw0004 said:

Well, considering the "official" starting lineup was announced 5 days before kickoff, they played pretty well.  A lot of people want to blame Tega for the sack/fumble, but Tega actually picked up his man.  Not his fault.  KJ actually shouldhave been pulled over to Stidham's left to take him on the blitz.  Judging by Auburn's history, our offensive lines get better every single game.  

I saw a play later in the game, and the same D player did the same blitz, but 2 things happened that didnt result in a sack/fumble by JS. 

Miller was the running back, and picked up the blitzing LB from the outside ( KJ never even looked for the blitzter)

An OL backed up and also looked to help, and also was able to help block out the blitzer (In the sack/strip I saw no OL help out)

Finally, on the sack strip KJ accidentally bumped JS's elbow as he was going through the fake, which caused JS to delay his throw i  felt.