Drive Killer – Gotta Step up in the Pocket! By: JY Posted on: October 16, 2013

Image from Newsok.com (Photographer Bryan Terry)

One of the things that Super K and I noticed over the weekend was how Blake was floating back there rather than stepping up in the pocket.  There were a couple of times he ended up rolling into pressure or just staying too deep in his drop. As a former OT myself I can tell you this makes the linemen’s job very difficult.

A lot of people have been talking all week about how badly the o line played.  In the image below you see a solid pocket on the edges and some room to move forward into. This was a sack on this play, but at bare minimum, if Blake steps up he’s likely able to take off running and get some yards. Had he stepped up here, maybe it gives a couple guys another tick to get open downfield. Or like we’ve seen Blake do in the past, maybe he can give a pump fake as he runs and pick up some solid positive yards instead of taking the sack.

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Instead Blake floats back there and makes the D-line’s job easy and makes the job really difficult for his tackles. If you look at the blocking angles in the image below you can see that had he been where he needed to be he’s got an opportunity to make a play with his feet, maybe find a play down field, or at worst salvage a few field position yards.
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The Football Brainiacs note to the reader: This play analysis is meant solely as an attempt to bring our readers closer to what’s happening on the field. This is not intended to demean or deprecate any player or the coaches. We all made mistakes and we all made plays just like any one of these fine young men. It’s part of the game and it is part of life and we wish them nothing but the best on the field and off.