The NFL's Offensive Line Crisis

The NFL’s Offensive Line Crisis Has No Single Diagnosis by Robert Mays

www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/11/2/16596392/offensive-line-crisis-league-midseason

The 2011 CBA restrictions that were placed on practice time have been a constant topic of league-wide conversation through the past few years. The area where that lack of practice shows up most noticeably is in the performances of offensive linemen, who aren’t even permitted to line up across from each other—with or without pads—during spring conditioning programs. “The way you fit blocks is different, the way you strike and punch,” Morgan says. “You can still work those things, but it’s like anything else—the less you do of it … you’ve got to really monitor the quality.” Limits on practice were instituted as a means of improving player safety, a worthwhile endeavor that’s unfortunately had a few unintended side effects.

According to Schwartz, the CBA change that’s most significantly hindered effective line play has been the ban on two-a-day practices during training camp. The offensive line is the only position group whose players literally have to work in step with teammates on every snap. Linemen are most successful when they innately know the habits and tics of players aligned next to them, and when they don’t get the reps needed to build that kind of rapport, the lack of familiarity eventually shows down the road. Schwartz cites a simple inside zone run with the right guard and the right tackle running a combination block on a defensive tackle lined up as a two-technique (directly over the guard) as an example. On the first time this play is run, the pair might botch the block. On the second, they might correct the mistake. On the third, the tackle could shift into a different gap. “That’s three separate plays,” Schwartz says. “We had a double-team we screwed up, we came back and fixed it, and all of a sudden, he moved. The fourth time, there’s a [defensive] pressure. The fifth time, the guys twist.”

When teams were allowed to have two practices per day in camp, there was adequate time for offensive lines to cycle through every possible variation and wrinkle that a defense could present—not only identifying it, but also facilitating an understanding of how the players would respond in real time. The same held true for linemen planning to stop blitzes or stunts in pass protection. “You don’t get as many reps anymore,” Schwartz says, “so I think when guys get to the game, a lot of players are surprised by movement and the things that happen.”