This was posted by Galant in the general football forum, but I thought it was worthy of discussion here to: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-notes-0807-20140806,0,3288182.story Personally, I'm a fan of the technique. It's a behavior that exposes opposing players to a higher degree of risk than standard techniques, but I'm not sure that risk is out of context with other widely accepted football practices. It's also very much a part of the Chip Kelly run blocking scheme, which I'm very hopefully that we'll be adopting almost whole-cloth. That's really
I'm not positive cut blocking is an integral part of Kelly's philosophy. I know they did it some in Philadelphia but I'm not really sure Kelly's Oregon offense utilized cut blocks on a regular basis. They opted instead to zone-read players that you would normally otherwise cut. Perhaps they did more cut blocking at Philadelphia in large part because they did a whole lot less zone-reading in Philadelphia than Kelly is used to. It also could have been influenced by Pat Shurmur. If Miami is going to start cutting more then I'm not sure you can say it's Chip Kelly's influence...I think it's more Bill Lazor, who worked previously with Joe Gibbs and Mike Holmgren.
I don't have a problem with cut-blocks as long as the technique is good. What most people don't understand is, cut blocking isn't just diving at a defender's knees. It's ripping low and through the defender with an inside shoulder, optimally right below his hips, while staying on your feet. A perfect cut block will never end with the blocker on the ground or the target getting injured. I have seen plenty of times when a blocker will go directly for a knee, often from the side or at a steep angle, or rolling up the back of the leg. That is a dirty block that results in injuries, and it is NOT a proper cut block.
Absolutely. Coming from Houston and his 8 years under Kubiak. Of course Kubiak and his ties to Denver, who are notorious for cut blocking.
I personally don't know that I care whether cut blocks are legal or not. And having now read the article I'm not even sure what basis Omar has for saying Miami will be engaging more cut blocks.
It seemed to me like Omar was taking Daryn Colledge's quotes about cut blocking to mean that there will be more of it than a year ago. But Colledge wasn't here a year ago. So Omar just says that they tried cut blocking a year ago but the OLs generally weren't athletic enough for it. That doesn't necessarily mean cut blocks were taken out of the playbook though. So it's hard to tell if Omar's point is that they will actually be cut blocking more this year than a year ago (which would necessitate a quote giving context on how much they cut blocked a year ago) or if his point was just that they're going to cut block more effectively than a year ago (which is just a prediction based on opinion). Ah whatever.
They're actually going to officiating cut blocks a bit differently this year. You can no longer roll up on a defender's legs from the side anymore, if you do it's clipping. I believe in Benton, so hopefully the linemen use good technique.
Personally this saddens me a bit because shoulder-charges at or below the knee are something I'd like to see removed from the game. They're just too dangerous. We all know how we felt when Swearinger removed Keller for the season and, potentially, put an end to/shortened his career. Cut-blocking/Diving at the knee is lazy and dangerous. The rules may excuse it for now but it's just a cheap-shot tactic, at the opposing player's expense, and IMO encourages lazy/poor tackling technique. A player who can dive and cut through an opponent's lower legs is also capable of wrapping them up and driving through them and/or bringing them down. If the health risk weren't there I'd be fine with it, but since we're talking about human locomotives aiming, full-steam, at vulnerable joints, I think it needs to be banned. FYI - NFL rules (Section 4, Article 5) on what constitutes an illegal cut-block don't have anything to do with where the hit happens below the waist - only where it happens on the field. Therefore shots to the knee may be 'bad' cut-blocks but they're still legal.
Please help: IF indeed these "cut blocks" are going to be utilized more (or whatever the hell Omar seems to be referencing), and defenders get a good feel for it, does that sort of open windows for defenders in either pass or run situations? Let me go back: is this type of block utilized more in a run or passing situation? Is it more or less the interior lineman who would be using this technique? I think I want to ask whether or not this could increase the potential for batted balls given Tannehill's history with them, but I am thinking maybe this type of block would be used more in a screen game? I'm afraid I am lost here. Not really a scheme guy......