The Weakest Link

I have decided that during the season when I'm able to do so I will throw up a "Weakest Link" post every week revealing whom it is on the upcoming opponent's offensive line that I believe is their....you guessed it, weakest link. Obviously this will only be possible when I get to see the upcoming opponent's game from the previous week and that will not always be the case. But every time that it IS the case I will endeavor to put one of these up.

This week we have the Cleveland Browns coming in to Raymond James Stadium. In anticipation of this game I recorded the Browns' third game of the preseason against the Detroit Lions. Traditionally the third game is where a team's starters put their best foot forward as if it were a dress rehearsal so to speak. For that reason I felt it was the game most appropriate to watch in order to judge the play of the Browns' offensive line.

Now before I go any further I want to throw out the disclaimer that these are generally going to be observations based on only one game. In an optimal situation I would get to view 3 or more games before I came to these conclusions but that ain't likely to happen. Also while I will talk about the "Weakest Link" and how they can be beaten, I will ALSO talk about the rest of the offensive line and what we can expect from them as well.

For the inaugural "Weakest Link" we have....

Browns right tackle Tony Pashos

(cues fire works and game show music)

Pashos is a HUGE guy and you can tell he's as strong as an ox. But he also is slow footed and he's one of those throw back right tackles that relies heavily on his punch. Now because he is so big sometimes guys get fooled into running into him instead of running around him. This should be avoided as all costs because as I previously noted HE IS AS STRONG AS AN OX. But because he tries to stay squared to the line of scrimmage when he pass blocks AND because he is slow with his kick step, AND because he relies heavily on his punch, running around him is the way to go.

There are plenty of moves that will work. A straight dip and rip. A long arm stab to a rip. A guy can also line up a tight to him and make what I like to call a "Cadillac turn" where they come off the line of scrimmage wide to avoid the punch then make a hard right turn. Thing of it is, when he sees a guy lined up tight to him he generally will try to jump them at the line of scrimmage and if he misses he is terrible at recovering. Basically you can leave him standing there at the line of scrimmage.

A quicker defensive end could also try a quick hands inside move on Pashos but it's dangerous. If the miss knocking his hands down on the punch they will likely wind up on the ground. If it were me I would just keep running around him until he started bailing out of his stance off the snap. Once he starts turning during his kick steps back instead of trying to keep his shoulders squared to the line of scrimmage that's when he will get out of balance and you can get him upfield and swat him by as you come back inside.

What I wouldn't do however is try to bull rush him. Why? Because as I said before HE'S STRONG AS... I think you get the picture.

But here's the rub, who on our team can actually speed rush at left end? As far as I can tell only Michael Bennett. Or rather he's the only guy I've seen do it consistently this preseason. Kyle Moore and Tim Crowder could feast on this guy in the passing game but they are going to have to burn the corner. Running into the guy is playing right into his hands this week. So it will be interesting to see if they can capitalize on Pashos' poor technique.

As for the rest of the offensive line, Joe Thomas at left tackle is the real deal but he is beatable. He is very quick out of his stance and he gets set up so quick that unless the defensive end he is facing is equally quick with their get off on the ball he usually ends up just waiting for them to come to him. But when they are quick off the ball he tends to turn his shoulders. But most of the time he is just inviting he pass rusher to go inside so he can then grab them and hem them up. To me the way to attack him is to get off and bull rush him back then quickly rip off to the outside. Also because he likes riding guys by on a speed rush I would consider spins a LOT this week but only later on into a rush. Spinning early on this guy might get you embarrassed.

The left guard, Eric Steinbach seems to set back a little softer than the right guard, Floyd Womack. What that means for the defensive tackles (and others) rushing them in a practical sense is that its probably going to be a little easier to bull rush Steinback but its also going to be harder to make a finesse move. With Womack they will have to be ready to make a move right off the snap most of the time and he shoots his hands wide so its going to be hard to knock them down. The center, Alex Mack, shows a true slide to one side or the other on pass protection but he's nothing special.

Soooo as I'm writing this post I noticed that the Cleveland Browns released their depth chart and it turns out Tony Pasho's isn't starting!


FAIL

Oh well, I'm not unwriting all this good information. I have no idea of how the actual starter, John St. Clair, will look but obviously the Browns saw the same things about Pashos that I saw. LOL Oh well, hopefully next week I will have better luck.

I will say this though, one thing that still holds true is that Thomas and Steinbach do not handle pass rush games well. Primarily I would look at running TEXs on them because of how each guy sets but EXs will work also. If we are having problems getting pressure with individual rushers I would definitely consider going to the pass rush games on that side early and often.

And with that, I'm out :)