March 7, 2017 · 9:47 AM

“That offensive line was a disaster.”

At least one anonymous NFL executive doesn’t think Nick Chubb’s 2016 season was disappointing because of Nick Chubb.

22 Comments

Filed under Georgia Football, The NFL Is Your Friend.

22 responses to ““That offensive line was a disaster.””

  1. diving duck
    March 7, 2017 at 10:25 AM

    I think we can all agree on that. However, Chubb did seem to lack the explosiveness he had before the injury. He didn’t produce the highlight reel we grew accustomed to seeing even when he got open field opportunities. I’ll be excited to see if he can get a little of that burst back this season. It would take a lot of pressure off of the rest of the offense.

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    • 3rdandGrantham
      March 7, 2017 at 11:08 AM

      I truly hope that, in his case, its more of a mental block than anything else that he’s on his way to overcoming this season. Not only did he not have the same burst, but he seemed to go down far easier as well and didn’t break nearly as many tackles as he did in ’15.

      They say overcoming knee injuries is more mental than anything else, as you have to ‘trust’ your new knee — again I’m hoping this is the case with him. I’m fortunate not to have any personal experiences with knee injuries but have close relatives that have, and indeed it was a mental issue for them overall; not so much a physical one. A good friend injured his knee skiing several years ago, and it took him several years to get back to where he had been previously. Whereas before he could handle double blacks quite easily, suddenly he found himself not wanting to ski any black runs whatsoever, even though physically he felt great. Total mental block that really screwed with him.

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      • Cojones
        March 7, 2017 at 11:51 AM

        Everything you have attributed to his injury is easily explained through the production of the O line. He can run down the line with the ball and, since no small opening occurs to wriggle the body through or that merits a cut, he’s tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage. “Burst” speed occurs as he goes through the line and he certainly wasn’t missing that in his last three games plus the bowl game (the explanation seemed to be that Chubbs and Sony’s appeal to Chaney worked with the line reverting to zone blocking more than straight ahead). Same thing was happening to Michel.

        I just hope the O line gets plenty of practice opening creases and holes that our RBs can choose when and how they make big yardage. Our passing game may help a great deal this year and I think that particular faith helped make both RBs’ decisions.

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        • Twistification
          March 7, 2017 at 12:31 PM

          “the explanation seemed to be that Chubbs and Sony’s appeal to Chaney worked with the line reverting to zone blocking more than straight ahead”

          If this indeed the case, it is troubling to see players driving a change in the offensive approach. Shows a lack of recognition by the coaching staff– or worse yet–an unwillingness to adapt to what you have because you are attached to a philosophy over on-field production (aka WINNING).

          I think we’ve probably beat this dead horse enough, but I still am not over it, and hope these coaches learn to adapt much quicker. Losing normally does that to you (or almost losing to an FCS squad). Fingers crossed here.

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          • LakeOconeeDawg
            March 7, 2017 at 12:50 PM

            ^^^ +1 ^^^
            Nailed it!

            Liked by 1 person

          • No One Knows You're a Dawg
            March 7, 2017 at 4:46 PM

            If we’re looking for a small reason for optimism this season, it’s that several coaches jobs and/or careers may be on the line if they don’t produce.

            For that reason, I don’t think we’re going to see as much “coaching to make a point” as we did last season. I’m sure Chaney and Pittman didn’t come here to die on that hill.

            Liked by 1 person

            • alamosa
              March 7, 2017 at 7:14 PM

              the coaching to make a point, definitely should be over and done. Usually, that is just a first year thing. If not a number of coaches will be ready to die on the hill.

              Liked by 1 person

          • eethomaswfnc
            March 8, 2017 at 6:08 AM

            If we had lost to that FCS opponent, I would have parked a U-Haul in front of a house in Five Points. None of losses last year were as maddening as that win. One of the truly putrid performances ever witnessed in Sanford Stadium.

            Liked by 1 person

    • eethomaswfnc
      March 8, 2017 at 6:12 AM

      Good grief! How many times did he actually get a crease to run through after the UNC game? It’s hard to produce a highlight reel when you’re dodging 300-pound DLs 2 yards behind the line. The guy rushed for 1,100+ yards behind a terrible and terribly coached offensive line with a freshman QB and an idiot calling the plays. All of that and returning from a terrible knee injury where people wondered if he would ever play again … come on, man.

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  2. Macallanlover
    March 7, 2017 at 10:32 AM

    I don’t think Chubb made this decision exclusively to better his earnings at draft time, I truly believe this was over 90% driven by his thinking his work at UGA wasn’t done. That doesn’t make me, or Chubb, naive to the money implications, but this is a different type cat (Dawg).

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    • 81Dog
      March 7, 2017 at 10:48 AM

      Nick Chubb has been such a great representative of UGA, as well as a great player on the field, that I almost don’t care what his motive for returning is, I am just grateful he IS returning.

      That said, given what a fine young man he seems to be, it seems hard to ascribe motives beyond the most honorable possible ones: he was disappointed in his season (which was hardly a failure on a personal level, if not as good as he hoped), he feels a loyalty to UGA one rarely sees in today’s society, and he wants to go out on his own terms.

      Is he cognizant of his draft status? He seems like a smart young guy, so I imagine so. Is that a factor in his decision? Maybe. And if so, so what? I still believe a large part of his process involved his desire to leave UGA in a better spot than it was in this year.

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  3. Dawgy1
    March 7, 2017 at 11:45 AM

    At this point I don’t have any confidence that this years OL is going to help Nick anymore than last years. Someone give me some encouragement that can happen.

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    • Cojones
      March 7, 2017 at 11:57 AM

      See post above and I rely on those guys making the choice to come back. They saw something that they think will negate the bad openings last year. Maybe more zone blocking? Better QB-ing, pass-catching WRs to take the line pressure off? Not sure, but those RBs saw something that keeps my fires burning.

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  4. Minnesota Dawg
    March 7, 2017 at 12:00 PM

    …and the play calling wasn’t much better. Come to think of it, it’s the exact type of play calling you see from bad NFL offenses. Just ask Todd Gurley.

    No matter who starts on the OL this year (it’s still going to be a work in progress), we’re going to get the same results if we consistently run the ball when eight or nine defenders are in the box. I’m convinced that our running game will thrive again when we show a willingness and ability to throw the ball on first and second down (relatively early in games).

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    • Russ
      March 7, 2017 at 12:13 PM

      Yeah, I was going to say that NFL exec left out one key word.

      “That offensive line coaching was a disaster.”

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      • Cojones
        March 7, 2017 at 2:06 PM

        I think you have the handle on what makes us all uneasy this year. Not sure that I want to be in that stadium to hear the “boo”s directed at coaches and, as a consequence, can affect players negatively, but sure that’s going to happen if the first two games look anything like games played early and mid-season last year. The NC game screwed up our expectations last year and makes us wonder why it didn’t continue.

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  5. MLB2
    March 7, 2017 at 12:53 PM

    Just noticed you’ve surpassed 35 million. Congratulations! Keep up the good work. Always a pleasure to visit and appreciate your efforts.

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  6. DawgByte
    March 7, 2017 at 6:57 PM

    I’ve been saying for the past two years that this OL is the worst I’ve seen at UGA in 25 years. They flat out sucked!

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  7. W Cobb Dawg
    March 7, 2017 at 9:25 PM

    Our OL sucked (and so did the OL coaching). No shit, Sherlock. Can’t get anything by these nfl execs. That’s some great scouting right there folks.

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