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The Offensive Line Thread

ZonaRaven said:
Have we seen Austin Howard practice yet and if so, how did he look? If not, when can we expect him to be out there?
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I've seen nothing, just going off of the common knowledge that he was a solid RT and a hell of a road grader before his string of injuries hit.
 
JoeyFlex5 said:
I've seen nothing, just going off of the common knowledge that he was a solid RT and a hell of a road grader before his string of injuries hit.
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He must have impressed during his physical to get a 3 year deal

Its also encouraging to hear news about our oline performing well together in camp, Preston says were running more counters, misdirections and traps. Maybe we can become more than the sum of our parts?
 
BloodRaven said:
He must have impressed during his physical to get a 3 year deal

Its also encouraging to hear news about our oline performing well together in camp, Preston says were running more counters, misdirections and traps. Maybe we can become more than the sum of our parts?
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Expected that anyway, that's Greg romans game. As much as I disliked the cam Cameron playbook, he ran some solid power schemes that worked well for us.
 
BloodRaven said:
He must have impressed during his physical to get a 3 year deal

Its also encouraging to hear news about our oline performing well together in camp, Preston says were running more counters, misdirections and traps. Maybe we can become more than the sum of our parts?
Click to expand...

It will be interesting to see how Austin Howard's deal is structured. With Howard coming off an injury I would not be surprised if the contract was effectively a one year deal with a small base salary for year one with the signing bonus being spread over three years to make it cap friendly for 2017.
 
Somerset Ravens said:
It will be interesting to see how Austin Howard's deal is structured. With Howard coming off an injury I would not be surprised if the contract was effectively a one year deal with a small base salary for year one with the signing bonus being spread over three years to make it cap friendly for 2017.
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hasnt it already been announced that its around 5 million in year 1 with an option after year one with 13 million total... so its not backloaded and there seems to be an option at the end of year 1 anyway...
 
BloodRaven said:
He must have impressed during his physical to get a 3 year deal

Its also encouraging to hear news about our oline performing well together in camp, Preston says were running more counters, misdirections and traps. Maybe we can become more than the sum of our parts?
Click to expand...
It's extremely encouraging. Definitely a combination of Roman and our new OL coach
 
I'm really hoping to see an effort in the extreme to work the run game Thursday night.

Allow the qb's that back Mallet to throw a bunch and you have a recipe for turnovers.
 
BloodRaven said:
He must have impressed during his physical to get a 3 year deal

Its also encouraging to hear news about our oline performing well together in camp, Preston says were running more counters, misdirections and traps. Maybe we can become more than the sum of our parts?
Click to expand...
Holy shit, we ran something other than inside zone and stretch? Good God, what has Harbaugh done?!

Traps and counters are good plays that fuck with DE and DTs. Nothing better than a tackle leaving a DE to rush downfield, only for a trapping guard to put him in his place. Let's see how hard he plays after a good trap block from Yanda.

A good counter, even one or two a game, keeps the defense on its heels. A counter could even be the big run. It's just good to not run strong side inside zone every play.
 
The Raven said:
Holy shit, we ran something other than inside zone and stretch? Good God, what has Harbaugh done?!

Traps and counters are good plays that fuck with DE and DTs. Nothing better than a tackle leaving a DE to rush downfield, only for a trapping guard to put him in his place. Let's see how hard he plays after a good trap block from Yanda.

A good counter, even one or two a game, keeps the defense on its heels. A counter could even be the big run. It's just good to not run strong side inside zone every play.
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Thanks again as always for the education.
The more this thread goes on post-Howard.. The more confident I become.

*knock on wood*


We don't need no education....
 
As I expected, the switch to primarily gap blocking has brought out the best in Jensen and even Hurst. As I wrote in the recap thread, we were physical up front for the first time in a while. We ran the ball up the middle for a TD. Didn't happen much with Zuttah. Jensen looked every bit as good as I expected.

Hurst is getting better. For real. He looked pretty solid. Skura and Eluemunor both played physical with some grit. Eluemunor, Jensen, and Skura had some growing pains on the interior but they definitely didn't look bad.

I'm excited about this line. The players are physical, and the scheme works. My god, I saw multiple trap blocks and multiple pulls today. I saw Dan Skura trap block the hell out of the RE one play and Jensen driving a center downfield, both blocks springing a big run. I saw counters, powers, tosses, etc., in addition to a couple inside zones. Ain't nothing better than power running, and we're going to do it well this year. Book it.
 
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You could still see differences the further we went down the depth chart but there were no massive glaring weaknesses or they were covered up well, I know it's only a preseason game but it's good news. Hopefully we can keep building this momentum.
 
If James hurst starts at RT I might not be too concerned tbh. He looks totally rejuvenated, that's the guy who would've went 2nd round before breaking his leg, rather than the guy we've seen the past few years.

Jensens job is secure, don't think anyone's challenging him at this point, he looks absolutely dominant.

Eluemenor may have a future, he played admirably, played well to his strengths and played well in aspects I didn't expect, was surprised to see him landing pull blocks against starters.

Stanley could become the best LT in the league this year, undoubtedly top 5 imo, he looks bigger, stronger, and quicker, and as expected he was clean as a whistle with his foot and hand work, he's a cornerstone and I stand by my assessment of him as the best first round pick of 2016, to get this guy at 6 is absurd, he's playing like a #1 overall pick.

Skura could challenge Alex Lewis, he's got the tools, he could stand to get a little stronger but he was solid.

We had an OL with 2 starters, facing starting defenders, and it looked like a full starting squad, Jensen made a backup interior look amazing, with Lewis and yanda we should dominate up front and if hurst continues playing well then our OL is WAYYYYYY better than expected. If our OL is that good, and flacco is healthy, this team is dangerous, I mean deep playoff run potential sb contender dangerous.
 
The Raven said:
As I expected, the switch to primarily gap blocking has brought out the best in Jensen and even Hurst. As I wrote in the recap thread, we were physical up front for the first time in a while. We ran the ball up the middle for a TD. Didn't happen much with Zuttah. Jensen looked every bit as good as I expected.

Hurst is getting better. For real. He looked pretty solid. Skura and Eluemunor both played physical with some grit. Eluemunor, Jensen, and Skura had some growing pains on the interior but they definitely didn't look bad.

I'm excited about this line. The players are physical, and the scheme works. My god, I saw multiple trap blocks and multiple pulls today. I saw Dan Skura trap block the hell out of the RE one play and Jensen driving a center downfield, both blocks springing a big run. I saw counters, powers, tosses, etc., in addition to a couple inside zones. Ain't nothing better than power running, and we're going to do it well this year. Book it.
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I was very impressed myself and noticed a lot of pulling action even from Hurst. The depth really looks like it could be solid this year with Skura, Elumenor and whoever lose the RT battle. I can still see a vet coming in to take the 9th spot.
 
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