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Message: [QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 3621663, member: 405"] I think that the spread has, in general, made offensive line play more passive and reactive. Most plays linemen start the play by taking a step back into coverage protection, rather than firing off the ball and hitting someone. Football (and O Line play) traditionally was about hitting people, and using leverage, angles, etc., to move them to one side or the other to create a hole for the running back. So it used to be, "fire out, hit, and turn", or "fire out, hit and drive". Traditional O line play had to account for defensive linemen and LBs in gaps not just from a pass protection / blitz pick-up perspective, but from the perspective of "where is the hole going to be? which guy(s) do we key on to create the hole?" - e.g., let's say the play is a dive in the hole between the center and guard. The line reads begin with where the defenders are - is someone over the center (a NT), or is the center responsible for picking up the MLB? Will the center double team with a guard to take on one of the defensive tackles in a 4 man front to turn the DT and open the hole? Will there be a lead blocker hitting the hole to take out the MLB? Now, the reads are all about blitz pick-up, not initial push or figuring out your blocking assignments for the second level of the defense. (Who picks up the LB? Who picks up the corner or safety if they are close to the line on the side of the run?) That whole kind of traditional thinking seems 100 years old now, but it is the type of building blocks that these NFL personnel people are talking about, when they say what linemen need to learn when they get to the pros - all the old fashioned stuff. If we want to fix the offensive line, we need to go back to basics. Go hit the blocking sled and push it around the field for a half hour at the start of practice, to get used to maintaining your blocks and driving your opponent backward with your push. Then go try it out live. Learn how to push, before you learn how to yield. [/QUOTE]

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