Week 5 Offensive line review: Miller's new nickname is Sieve Smith

[Ricky Spanish]

I did this last week with just the highlights of the game and wanted to take another crack at it this week as well just to see who is to blame for the terrible line play this week.

Hypothesis: 

Miller was absolutely Terrible, Paradis was below average, Daley was average, Christensen was fine for a rookie, and Moton was fine.

Analysis:

 

First Quarter:

0:03 - First play of the highlight great run blocking by everyone, Chuba for a decent gain.

0:22 - 3rd and 3 - Good Protection from the line as a unit. Impressive 1 on one blocking by Christensen. John Miller weak spot and is pushed back into Sam's face making him roll out and pick up the 1st with his legs. 

0:35 - 3rd and 10 - Moton was definitely offsides but they didn't call it. Protection overall was solid, however coverage was good downfield. Christensen was pushed back a bit too much and Sam rolled out to his left but that could have been because Moton blocked the dude inside to the rest of the line and Sam had more room to work rolling out. Either way, Plus play by everyone involved on the line. 

1:15 - 2nd and 9 - Both Moton and Christensen got WORKED and the DE's converge on Darnold at the same time. Darnold had room to step up in the pocket but did not do so. Result was a pick has he was feeling the pressure. This one was on Moton and Christensen, but a terrible throw and decision from Darnold. 

2:29 - 2nd and 10 - Poor Chuba. Eagles bring a corner blitz on the right side, protection did not slide pre snap so it was an overload. Christensen blocks his dude fine, two dudes rush in free, Chuba does his best speed bump impression "slowing down" the linebacker, but definitely paying for it. Corner rushes the throw but Darnold still manages a completion over the middle to Thomas. Blaming this pressure on great defensive play call. 

2:38 - 1st and 10 - Solid run blocking effort by the whole unit. DJ Moore is the reason the play succeeds as he crashed in and blocked the DB to give Chuba a one on one, which he... Won. 20 yard run up the left. 

2:51 - 3rd and 7 - Solid pass blocking by the whole unit again. Miller got pushed back the most but play result was a strike to Moore for a first down.

3:02 - 3rd and Goal - Line STONEWALLs the Eagles. Where was this all game? TD Tremble.

First Quarter Summary:

Line looks good overall. We can win if they keep playing this well. 

Second Quarter:

3:49 - 2nd and 6 - screen pass to Marshall, ball out quick, Line doing their job, looks good.

3:59 - 1st and 10 - Miller gets pushed back into the backfield until Hubbard comes in and helps stop the push. Christensen gets beat the second the ball comes out. Had Sam held the ball longer, it would have been bad. Everyone else looked good. 

4:08 - 2nd and 10 - Christensen gets beat Badly, Moton is guiding the DE deep into the backfield. Sam has to step up and rush his throw where he couldn't set his feet, result is deep incompletion intended for Anderson. Sam hit by Miller's man who spun out of the block but I'm willing to give Miller the benefit of the doubt because Sam kind of stepped up far in the pocket to avoid the rush from Christiensen's man. 

4:20 (Blaze it) - 3rd and 10 - Christensen may have gotten away with a hold. Miller gets bullrushed backwards into Sam, rushing the throw, not allowing him to step into it and sailing it to Marshall. Sam needs to make those throws but pressure definitely effected it. 

4:55 - 3rd and 4 - Daley absolute whiff on his assignment, Free rusher into Sam, Sack. Worst play of the Line so far. 

5:33 - 1st and 10 - Miller absolutely abused as Cox pushes him backwards into Darnold. Checkdown to Chuba, net positive result. Christensen too, looked suspect on initial viewing as he was being pushed backwards as well, however he looked like he was in control of his block as he was giving ground, whereas Miller was just along for the ride. 

5:46 - 3rd and 10 - Right side failure. Delayed DT stunt, 91 loops behind 94. Christensen engages 94 and Miller loses 91 on the block and gets turned completely around. Christensen sees the free rusher in 91 and switches to block him (very well I might add), thinking he is passing 94 off to Miller. Miller is not there. Sam is sacked. FG attempt incoming. I blame Miller the most on this one, Christensen was placed in a no win situation, pick your poison kind of thing. His transition from one blocker to the other was smooth though. 

6:29 - 3rd and 7 - Delayed LB Blitz. Line holds fine this time. Out route to Robbie is short of the sticks, 4th down. 

Second Quarter Summary:

Things are starting to look shaky. Line has given up multiple sacks and they are starting to miss blocks. I am worried for Q3, maybe the rest at half will help them get their crap together.

3rd Quarter:

Spoiler alert, it didn't.

7:15 - 3rd and 10 - Low snap by Paradis, Miller gets pushed over and ends up on his back but protection is still solid. Incomplete throw to Anderson. 

8:14 - 3rd and 5 - Miller gets abused again, pushed back into Sam's lap right as he attempts to climb the pocket. Another bad play from Miller.

8:49 - 2nd and 13 - Miller gets beat again allowing pressure on Sam. Ball delivered to the wrong spot or Moore went the wrong way, either way the result was an interception. Miller definitely at Fault, Sam may have been at fault, Moore may have been at fault. 

9:36 - 2nd and 5 - Paradis gets beat off the snap and grabs onto the rusher's back. No idea how hold was not called here. Darnold still manages to throw a deep pass completion to Thomas for a first down. 

9:48 - 3rd and 7 - A lot to unpack on this one. Miller passes the DT to Christensen who was about to engage the DE, but did a good job of picking up the new rusher. As Miller passed him over however, he spins around again allowing the DE to stunt inside and run right past him. At the same time, Right DT stunts completely around the left side of our line to give chase to Sam who is flushed to his right and forces another incompletion on 3rd down. Daley and Moton were both blocking the DE, Paradis wasn't really doing anything. Moton should have disengaged with the DE to pick up the stunting DT because Daley was ealready engaged. 

3rd Quarter Summary:

Oof. Wheels starting to come off. I think Miller was mentioned in a negative way in all but one snap from the highlights. 

4th Quarter:

10:48 - 2nd and 6 - Delayed MLB Blitz, Sam delivers strike to Moore for a first. Line held up but throw was quick. Sidenote, Daley was two yards downfield when the ball was thrown, very lucky ineligible man downfield was not called. 

10:59 - 1st and 10 - great run blocking by everyone to spring Chuba for a 10 yard gain. Paradis had to ride his man into the backfield but did a good job of taking him out of the play to prevent a hit in the backfield.

11:10 - 3rd and 2 - Ricci whiffs on his block allowing Chuba to be tackled in the backfield. Entire leftside got no push, ironically, the right side of the line would have sprang Chuba for a huge gain had the play been flipped. 

12:25 - 3rd and 3 - Rollout throw to the right, Sam should have thrown it better, Robbie should have caught it better. Either way ST on to punt, which was then blocked.

13:45 - 3rd and 15 - Stat shows that we are 4 of 14 on 3rd downs this game with an average YTG of 7.6. Oof. Line holds up really well on this play, gave Sam a ton of time to find Anderson deep. 

13:57 - Line holds up with Moton giving the most ground but you can see his cleats gave him no traction as he literally slid backwards. Reminded me of Oher in the super bowl, but I digress. Line looked good, Sam threw a pick on the out to Robbie, game over. 

4th Quarter Summary:

Nothing egregious in the highlights but there were multiple penalties that I remember from the broadcast that didn't make it into the video leading to numerous bad spots to be in as an offense. Sam also was off in the 4th.

Overall Game Summary:

Miller does not belong out there at all. He needs to be replaced yesterday. It was evident last week, even more so this week. 

Daley, Paradis, and Moton looked fine, a few bad plays here and there, one absolutely horrible play from Daley, but Moton and Paradis looked solid if not spectacular. I think Paradis was our best Lineman from this game. 

Christensen looked like a rookie at times but showed flashes. He was getting pushed back a bit more than I would like, but he was still nowhere near as bad as Miller was all game. 

Lineman grades based on the highlights:

Paradis: B

Moton: B-

Daley: C+

Christensen: C-/D+

Miller: F

Again, these are just the highlights and I don't have all-22 so I can't deep five each play, but that's how things looked to me. 

Conclusion: 

Remove Miller and the line instantly gets better. He is a sieve. 

[Moo Daeng]

Daley has been awful all season though.

Miller was awful minus minus yesterday but better than Daley overall this year. 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Moo Daeng

[Mr. Scot]

Best lineman of the game was still Moton.

Christensen played like a good rookie.

Daley needs to sit. Miller and Paradis probably do as well though I don't really think we've got another viable option at center.

[PootieNunu]

1 minute ago, Mr. Scot said:

Best lineman of the game was still Moton.

Christensen played like a good rookie.

Daley needs to sit. Miller and Paradis probably do as well though I don't really think we've got another viable option at center.

The option that is starting is not viable.

[Ricky Spanish]

Just now, Mr. Scot said:

Best lineman of the game was still Moton.

Christensen played like a good rookie.

Daley needs to sit. Miller and Paradis probably do as well though I don't really think we've got another viable option at center.

Based on the highlights alone, Paradis was the most consistent Lineman we had yesterday and didn't look bad at all. 

Moton and Christiansen with all things considered, did well.

Daley did fine.

Miller needs to go. 

I'm not kidding, like 75% of all the bad came from Miller alone this game. 

[mrcompletely11]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

 

Christensen played like a good rookie.

 

What fuging game were you guys watching yesterday.  Not saying I am totally throwing in the towel on BC but damn he was overpowered the entire game.  Sweat straight bullrushed him all day.   I probably will do another rewatch tonight to really laser focus on him but my initial thoughts were that he was backed into Darnold a bunch yesterday causing him to hurry

[Mr. Scot]

Just now, Ricky Spanish said:

Based on the highlights alone, Paradis was the most consistent Lineman we had yesterday and didn't look bad at all. 

Moton and Christiansen with all things considered, did well.

Daley did fine.

Miller needs to go. 

I'm not kidding, like 75% of all the bad came from Miller alone this game. 

No argument on Miller, but I disagree on Daley and I'm not just going by yesterday's game.

Daley was always likely to have a short shelf life, and I think it's expired.

[Ricky Spanish]

5 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

What fuging game were you guys watching yesterday.  Not saying I am totally throwing in the towel on BC but damn he was overpowered the entire game.  Sweat straight bullrushed him all day.   I probably will do another rewatch tonight to really laser focus on him but my initial thoughts were that he was backed into Darnold a bunch yesterday causing him to hurry

This is true. He looked overpowered A LOT throughout the game but he still showed some solid flashes as the game went on.

I still didn't grade him high based on the overall performance. 

[Mr. Scot]

5 minutes ago, Ricky Spanish said:

This is true. He looked overpowered A LOT throughout the game but he still showed some solid flashes as the game went on.

I still didn't grade him high based on the overall performance. 

Technique and strength are two different things.

Offseason conditioning is likely to do him a lot of good.

[Ricky Spanish]

Just saw the PFF thread. 

Woof. How bad were Daley and Paradis outside the highlights?

[mrcompletely11]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Technique and strength are two different things.

Offseason conditioning is likely to do him a lot of good.

This was discussed yesterday, the dude is 25.  How much more learning and growing is really feasible?

[BlackPanther21_]

Conclusion: Our tackles are solid, but our interior might as well be replaced by 3 giant traffic cones. Can't be much worse.

[Mr. Scot]

14 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

This was discussed yesterday, the dude is 25.  How much more learning and growing is really feasible?

At 25? A lot.

[stirs]

On a day when Paradis is your best lineman, you know the outcome is in jeopardy