Chargers vs Minnesota: Breaking Down The O-Line Tape

by Bewsaf on Sep 12, 2011 3:11 PM PDT

The San Diego Chargers get a 24-17 victory over the Minnesota Vikings this past Sunday. It was a wild game that saw the Chargers put together a 4th quarter scoring drive to win the game.

The offensive lineman blocked well, for the most part, all day. Kris Dielman ended the day with a +7 dominance score in pass protection. He demonstrated his great punch and balance as he thwarted would be pass rushers all day.

Let's take a look at all the other line scores...

If you like this article check out more film breakdown at Pro Football Spotlight

	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100
Percent Scale

Team Run Blocking	Power Blocking	Power Blocking Score	2nd Level Blocks
Did the lineman get the job done or not? These grades are good for understanding value for a team and not necessarily for comparing across teams. A game in the mid 80s to 90% is a decent score.	How often did the offensive lineman dominate the block or how often did he get dominated? These scores are good for comparing across teams and finding the most dominant lineman in the league.	Anything over zero is a good score. The more over zero the more the lineman dominated the defender. Each lineman is scored a minus for being dominated, a zero for a draw, or a plus for dominating the defender.	The number of success over failures for the lineman when blocking linebackers and safeties on the second level. The lineman must be athletic to accomplish a high second level score.

Run Blocking Grades

Percent

100

Power

2/Level

Pull

Grade

Blocking

Blocks

McNeill

95%

Dielman

83%

Hardwick

83%

-4

-1

Vasquez

81%

Clary

70%

-2

-4

-1

Run Blocking Notes:

Marcus McNeill graded out the highest in run blocking with a 95%.
Louis Vasquez had the highest run blocking power score with +2. Problem with Vasquez was that he didn't always keep his block. There were times when his defender would get off of him and cause problems or make the tackle. And that is why he graded out at an 81%. But he is able to lay the wood on someone...he just needs to be more consistent.
Jeromey Clary had a rough day run blocking. He had the lowest grade of all the lineman.
Kris Dielman picks up a good linebacker run blitz on the goal line at 12:20 in the 1st quarter.
Louis Vasquez has a great combo block and then to the second level to pick up a linebacker that springs a big run at 8:11 in the 1st quarter.
At 12:5? (lost the exact time on that) in the 3rd quarter ~~Chris~~ Kris Dielman drive blocks a defender 5 yards down field. NICE!

Team Pass Blocking	Passing Power Blocking	Pressures	Combo Help
Did the lineman get the job done or not? These grades are good for understanding value for a team and not necessarily for comparing across teams. A game in the 90% is a good score for pass blocking.	How often did the offensive lineman dominate the block or how often did he get dominated? Each lineman is scored a minus for being dominated, a zero for a draw, or a plus for dominating the block.	How often did the offensive lineman give up pressure on the quarterback? Every once and a while a lineman can do his job but give up pressure on the QB. This stat will help glean more info from the line grades.	How often did the offensive coordinator provide help for a tough defender or a struggling lineman. Yea, two lineman ended up with the same grade...but how much help did either of them get?

Pass Blocking Grades

	Percent	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90	100	Power	Pressures	Sacks	Combo
	Grade											Blocking	Allowed	Allowed	Help
McNeill	88%											+3	3	2	2
Dielman	97%											+7	1	0	11
Hardwick	95%											0	2	0	18
Vasquez	97%											+2	0	0	17
Clary	86%											-5	10	1	8

Pass Blocking Notes:

Kris Dielman was a jewel to watch in the pass game last Sunday. It is always nice to see a defender just stop in his tracks because a lineman just gave him a nice power punch in pass protection. And Dielman delivered a lot of them against Minnesota.
Clary graded out at a 86% because most of the time he did his job...which is not letting your defender get to the quarterback. The problem with Clary, as you can see in the number of pressures he gave up, is that he lets the defender get to close to the QB. His defender make the quarterback step up, slide, throw quicker than they might want to. In the end he often recovered and did his job because he has a nice motor...but we would like to see improvement on the number of times his defender gets close (to close) to the QB.
Tyronnne Green only played a couple of snaps...so didn't put his scores in the charts above. In the run blocking department he missed a block while in pass protection he did ok (the limited time he was in).
At :07 in the 2nd quarter Jeromy Clary gives up a pressure where the defender hits Philip Rivers arm and causes the pass to float in the air and be intercepted.
At 11:50 in the 3rd quarter both Marcus McNeill and Jacob Hester are blocking a defender and they give up a sack to the inside.

Chargers TEs and Running Backs Film Breakdown

If you liked this analysis, I've also posted the TEs and Running Backs Film Breakdown and you can check it out over at Pro Football Spotlight.

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.

Tweet Comment 13 comments | 2 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Man,

I don’t want to criticize Clary too much (he had REALLY good opposition), but I envy a stud on RT like the rookie on Dallas. Clary is reliable, consistent and durable, but it seems we’re within reach of having one of the best overall OLs in the league.

by Lightning Hobo on Sep 12, 2011 8:19 AM PDT reply actions

The Chargers O-line is good

Still could use some improvement but very good.

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Sep 12, 2011 8:59 AM PDT up reply actions

did you really watch the game?

Rivers almost got killed, clary sucks

by handsomeramm on Sep 13, 2011 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions

Cautiously Optomistic

I’ll be eager to see the similar report after next week’s game against the Patriots monsters up front.

by SportsTop on Sep 12, 2011 10:58 AM PDT reply actions

Each team has

its own set of matchups, don’t they. The Vikings front four aren’t anything to sneeze at…I don’t think. But getting a look at the Chargers against the Pats BIG tackles will be something to watch.

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Sep 12, 2011 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions

That's my main concern for next week.

I like the Barnes vs. Light matchup. Light is a big, powerful player, but he’s old and slow. The Bolts will get plenty of pressure on Brady and force the Pats to play short games. But will the offense be able to get going against those Boston DTs? That, I’m not so sure.

An autumn Sunday,
Perched in front of the big screen,
Beer in white knuckles.

by Neoplatonist Bolthead on Sep 12, 2011 4:32 PM PDT up reply actions

great work

i really enjoy your articles. ps its Kris deilman, know that can be confusing

by cameronm on Sep 12, 2011 3:28 PM PDT reply actions

(It's Kris Dielman)

by Jobumoplata on Sep 12, 2011 4:11 PM PDT up reply actions

Thnx cameronm

Pro Football Spotlight
Bewsaf@comcast.net

by Bewsaf on Sep 12, 2011 4:13 PM PDT up reply actions

yeah i spelled dielman wrong

and keep up the good work. enjoy the breakdowns.

by cameronm on Sep 12, 2011 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions

clary sucks

Finally someone at this “breaking the o-line” thing agree that Clary is not good. Sorry John, but you have defended (as well as Norv) this guy for way to long. One of the INT was totally his fault and Phillip was hit all the time. We need a good RT, not an average one, as this has been mention before. Get Clary (the guy that works the hardest) out of our way. It doesn’t matter how hard he tries, he will never be good enough.

by handsomeramm on Sep 13, 2011 12:51 PM PDT reply actions

Clary?

Sucks is an awfully strong word for Clary. He struggles with the speed guys because he lacks foot speed, but often makes up for it in sheer determination. I’ve longed for an upgrade to this spot as well but his new contract says otherwise. Would Dombo be an upgrade over there? Maybe, but then if McNeill goes down we have a situation that could be worse than Clary starting. I’d also submit that there are still times when it appears that Clary is impacted by shortcomings in Vasquez’s ability to read/pick up stunts.

I was impressed with McNeill’s play overall, particularly with the extreme lack of practice/reps due to the knee procedure. There’s just no denying that his massive wingspan is a huge impact. Not sure just why Green was rotated in on a few plays. He certainly has not shown to be stronger at RG than Vasquez this year. It looks to me as though he has regressed a bit.

Thanks for the breakdown.

If the thunder don't get ya then the lightning will!!

Robert Hunter

by Buck Melanoma on Sep 14, 2011 2:29 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs