The general consensus among NFL analysts is that the Chiefs offensive line is a top ten OL, and in some cases even higher. So why has this defensive line — that ranks in the twenties by most football ranking services — looked so good this week vs this newly minted OL in training camp? Let’s take a look at some of the matchups.
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Oklahoma Drill
My how times have changed. By that I mean me. I used to be a fan of the Oklahoma drill, now, I nver want to see it employed again. One reason is injuries and the other has to do with it being barbaric. A bunch of guys standing around two or three players and two of them are on an island going mano-a-mano. Even mano-a-mano means “hand combat” plus all those players standing around the three going at it, is reminiscent of an old greek coliseum when they used to put guys to death. In this case, it’s not far from the truth… because a player’s career could be on the line. Why bring that up here? Because what the Chiefs are doing is not that far from the Oklahoma drill… which I’m about to show several examples of.
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Shoulder Bone’s Connected to the Head Bone
The leagues current take on spearing is a tough nut to crack. I understand the NFL competition committee wanting to make the game safer, but how can NFL referees really tel when someone is spearing… or tackling correctly? Try this move right where you sit: move your shoulder downward but not your head. It can be done, right, but to do so, you have to lower just one of your shoulders which twists your body, and no one wants to see kids making that kind of move just before making physical contact with a ballcarrier. That’s a good way to break your back… and there is no good way to break your back. Spearing is an act with intention, and I don’t see how refs can determine what any player’s intention is. While it’s an impossible flag to throw, there has to be some way to determine a move like that. I think it’s important to understand this prior to watching the Chiefs OL and DL go one-on-one against each other.
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Orlando Brown
The first player we look at is Orlando Brown, the Chiefs new protector of the franchise. Brown appears to be having some difficulties moving laterally in Chiefs Training camp which makes me wonder if he can be successful against some of the best DEs in the league. Let’s take a look.
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What’s most bothersome is Brown’s all around technique. He doesn’t stay balanced and is caught lunging on some of his efforts. Let’s hope Brown was having a bad snaps of two, because if he gives that kind of performance in the regular season, Patrick Mahomes may be vulnerable. The star of this training camp so far is RG Trey Smith.
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Trey Smith
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While the CHiefs players aren’t gathered around in a tight circle, it’s obvious that every other player and coach are in spectator mode, much as they are during the old Oklahoma Drill. I’d like to say coaching is going on during these isolated reps, but I haven’t been witness to that yet. While we’re at it, let’s take a look at the Chief new OC, Creed Humphrey.
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Creed Humphrey
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I’m glad that Creed Humphrey appears to have learned from his earlier mistakes against Tershawn Wharton. Getting his hands on Wharton is half the battle and he accomplished that, so as the week progressed, so did he. Wharton appears to be a quicker version of his 2020 self which is good news for Chiefs fans because when you see: Clark, Reed, Wharton and Jones on the field together, it means bad things are about to happen to the offense, no matter who’s offense that is. Here’s a clip from RGR on Tershawn Wharton:
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I’m happy to see the mistakes rookies are making now, or even Orlando Brown, because it’s a lot like Patrick Mahomes throwing a ton of INTs in his first preseason as the starting QB in 2018, when Reid said he wanted PMII to make those throws to experiment and understand what his limitations are. Andy Reid runs a tough Training camp so this gives players on both sides of the ball the chance to get mistakes out of their system.
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Don’t Worry, Be Happy
It’s far too early to make any kind of final decisions about how well you thing the OL is going to play. Basing an opinion on how well you think this OL will play in 2021 based on these one-on-one battles is useless. Let’s wait and see how all of the offensive linemen play “together” instead of basing an opinion on these little “Oklahoma-esk” Drill type drills. Now, to answer your question before we start our blog conversation… yes, that was my voice in those videos. So, what do you think, otherwise? Are you as excited for the season to get started as I am?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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