My individual Olineman grades from the Steelers game

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 07:31 AM

Here is my own grades to the starting offensive linemen from the Steelers game. Some of the help and sources I get from PFF.

Michael Oher- C+
Oher had a pretty solid game and held Harrison in check pretty much all night. He did allow a sack and a hurry, which was his only 3rd sack given up of the year. Oher has been having his best year as a Raven on the left side, and has been an upgrade over Bryant McKinnie despite popular belief on this board. Oher didn't have his best night as a run blocker, which is usually his stronger areas of his game.

Kelechi Osemele- B
Osemele did an admirable job as a rookie in one of the most hostile environments in football. KO held Lamar Woodley in check through out the game, and even had a pancake on him in the first half. He did allow a sack, but who doesn't against a Dick Lebeau defense? KO had a pretty good night run blocking too which was not something shared by most of his Oline partners on the night.

Matt Birk- F
Terrible game by Birk, both in pass protection and run defense. Birk was simply dominated in all areas of the game by Casey Hampton, who has been terrible him self this year. Birk has still had a solid year for such an old player, but you have to wonder if Birk can handle the season down the stretch at his age. It is very concerning, especially with the play offs around the corner.

Jah Reid- B
If Jah Reid had been starting all year, or if it were a guard that had been playing the position for years, the grade would have probably been a C+, however Reid has been playing well in the last two games for a guy who's never played the position and only had less than 100 snaps at guard all year coming into this game. Reid only allowed one QB hit in the game, and held up very well in pass protection, which helped keep the pocket clean pretty much all night for Flacco. Jah Reid didn't have a good game run blocking, but neither did many of his buddies on the Oline. Jah Reid may have won him self the starting job at left guard for the rest of the year. He has shown that he is capable of holding up well against one of the better front 7 in football in Heinz field, in the most fierce rivalry in sports, and in only his first start at guard, pretty remarkable IMO.

Marshall Yanda- A
Yanda continues his great form on the year. He was by far the best lineman out there, which isn't surprising as he's arguably the best guard in football right now. Yanda is also probably our best offensive player we have, and we should all be so happy that Ozzie gave Yanda the big money and not Grubbs. Yanda has given up zero sacks, only 2 hits, and 4 hurries on the year. Yanda has only had two below par games on the year (which were not terrible games by any means), and in those two games, he appeared to be hurt in them. @KC and vs Cowboys.

**alienrace** · 11-20-2012, 07:34 AM

Birk vs Hampton pretty much single handedly killed the run game. He is just physically overmatched too many times any more.

**Ravenswintitle** · 11-20-2012, 07:36 AM

nice analysis Leach; and my eye test sure saw Birk getting handled. You may be a little kind overall; that Oline struggled in my view, but I didn't go back and look at tape or stats later.

Are you primarily relying on stats?

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by alienrace

Birk vs Hampton pretty much single handedly killed the run game. He is just physically overmatched too many times any more.

This is a concern to me down the stretch, this is why I was concerned that we only used a 4th round developmental pick on an undersized player who played guard, not center, for Delaware. We could have signed a big body center to back Birk up and probably replace him down the stretch. Gino is not ready.

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by Ravenswintitle

nice analysis Leach; and my eye test sure saw Birk getting handled. You may be a little kind overall; that Oline struggled in my view, but I didn't go back and look at tape or stats later.

Are you primarily relying on stats?

I watched the condensed version on my gamepass account, and Flacco had a clean pocket all night pretty much. The run blocking was atrocious at time though.

**arnie_uk** · 11-20-2012, 07:40 AM

I thought minus the sack, oher was the best pass blocker on the pitch, not just our team.

**Justlovemybirds** · 11-20-2012, 07:40 AM

After the first play on offense where Kiesel killed Flacco, Jah had a decent game imo.
He didn't seem to get much push initially but seemed to get to the second level well, I'll take his no push over Bobbie Williams getting pushed backed or sliced through.

**arnie_uk** · 11-20-2012, 07:41 AM

Originally Posted by leachisabeast

I watched the condensed version on my gamepass account, and Flacco had a clean pocket all night pretty much. The run blocking was atrocious at time though.

That condensed version is the best part of gamepass.

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Justlovemybirds

After the first play on offense where Kiesel killed Flacco, Jah had a decent game imo.
He didn't seem to get much push initially but seemed to get to the second level well, I'll take his no push over Bobbie Williams getting pushed backed or sliced through.

Jah Reid did have some pancakes on the second level, and was a phone booth in pass pro. I'm not sure if he's physically capable of being one of those guards that get a great amount of push at the point of attack given his long build at 6'8, but he's athletically gifted, gets to the second level, and can pull pretty well. He can be a solid long term stater for us from what I've seen so far.

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 07:45 AM

Originally Posted by arnie_uk

That condensed version is the best part of gamepass.

Agreed, it really is useful.

Oher had a great game in pass pro aswell, he would have got better than C+ if he had a better night run blocking (which he usually does well).

**bmorecareful** · 11-20-2012, 07:58 AM

Good breakdown by the OP. Oher had an impressive night in pass pro, and I'm really starting to come around to the notion that he can be our LT. He will probably never be elite at the position, but he is more than adequate and hasn't hit his ceiling yet. KO continues to impress at RT, Yanda is what he always had been, and Jah could easily be a keeper at LG.

I've defended Birk around here for a long time but he's not even what he was last year anymore, and last year he'd taken a major step back from 09-10. So now to my eyes he's not playing a whole lot above league average level.

I do think part of that is him being asked to win too many matchups that are stacked against him, i.e. sealing off big guys like Hampton in the run game and solo blocking in pass pro. I don't think he can do that anymore at all, he can still get to the 2nd level and block LBs, but he's just not going to do much other than get in the way of a 300+ pound DT.

**leachisabeast** · 11-20-2012, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by bmorecareful

Good breakdown by the OP. Oher had an impressive night in pass pro, and I'm really starting to come around to the notion that he can be our LT. He will probably never be elite at the position, but he is more than adequate and hasn't hit his ceiling yet. KO continues to impress at RT, Yanda is what he always had been, and Jah could easily be a keeper at LG.

I've defended Birk around here for a long time but he's not even what he was last year anymore, and last year he'd taken a major step back from 09-10. So now to my eyes he's not playing a whole lot above league average level.

I do think part of that is him being asked to win too many matchups that are stacked against him, i.e. sealing off big guys like Hampton in the run game and solo blocking in pass pro. I don't think he can do that anymore at all, he can still get to the 2nd level and block LBs, but he's just not going to do much other than get in the way of a 300+ pound DT.

Agreed with everything here. I too have been a Birk defender, because a lot of the stick he gets around here is unfair, and people sometimes look at one play where he looked bad and just assume he plays like that in every game. Center is just one of those positions where no one really notices you until you make a mistake.

But yeah, he is no where near to what he was from 09-2010.

**Jsmoove** · 11-20-2012, 03:28 PM

birk is looking more and more like Flynn in his last days here, He has been getting manhandled since last year actually, I don't know how they graded him that well last season when he was still getting pushed 5yrds back. This year he's either on the ground or 10yrds behind the line.

**Rxdoxx** · 11-20-2012, 04:12 PM

Birk like Flynn has his brain extending his career past his body.

I've seen 2 schools of thought on centers.
You get the best beast possible to control NTs or you get good and give help.

Here are the Centers drafted in the first round since the Ravens came into existance
Mike Pouncey(2011) Maurkice Pouncey(2010) Alex Mack(2009) Eric Wood(2009 2 separate leg injuries) Nick Mangold(2006)
Chris Spencer(2005) Jeff Faine (2003) Damien Woody (1999)

Spencer was a reach in the 1st he and Jason Brown (4th round Ravens) were the projected best C.

That is a total of 8 and we can probably say 2 were reaches (Spencer, Wood)

Best player means we won't be seeing a C (Peter Konz 2nd round recently) until the relative differences blurrs.... I think Gino was a nice Flyer to try... going to be interesting draft time.

Thanks leachisabeast, nice analysis.
My gut is saying thar Oher is very adequate LT and pro-bowl RT.
I wonder if KO can learn to snap

**BcRaven** · 11-20-2012, 07:06 PM

2013 Oline (?) without draft choices :

Oher - Reid - GG - Yanda - KO... or perhaps that's our Oline this playoff season...Hmmm ... Bc

**wickedsolo** · 11-20-2012, 07:54 PM

They're going to ride Birk until they can't anymore.

Which, IMO, should be after this season. Dude just doesn't have the legs anymore to handle those big boys.

It's not just Casey Hampton. He was abused by Vince Wilfork last year too.

**RavensDomination** · 11-21-2012, 09:46 AM

Birk is done. I know everyone defends him because he is a great guy and does a lot off the field, but it's time to hang it up. He is 90% of the reason why we can't run the ball.

**ActualSpamBot** · 11-21-2012, 09:49 AM

What board do you read? The consensus is that he's got one foot in retirement and the other on a banana peel. Most posters just recognize that 60% of Matt Birk is still our best option at the moment.

**RavensDomination** · 11-21-2012, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by ActualSpamBot

What board do you read? The consensus is that he's got one foot in retirement and the other on a banana peel. Most posters just recognize that 60% of Matt Birk is still our best option at the moment.

You must attend a lot of practices to be able to make that assessment. Lucky you! I'd love to go to the castle for just one, much less every single one.

By saying "everyone" defends him, as shocking as this sounds, there are Ravens fans outside of this forum.

**ActualSpamBot** · 11-21-2012, 03:20 PM

You claim "everyone" defends him on a board in which virtually everyone agrees he's on his way out, and then get pissy and insist you meant "everyone, except this board" and we all should have read your mind.