Oakland Raiders Film Room: CIN at OAK
By Evan Ball
Matt McGloin & Pocket “Protection”
The offensive line play was very suspect in this game. More specifically, the right side of the offensive line was atrocious. Austin Howard & J’Marcus Webb couldn’t get it together, and sometimes even Rodney Hudson looked sloppy. The offensive line allowed pressure against the QB on 16 of 46 dropbacks against Cincinnati (35%). Much of this is to be expected with a new offensive line that has yet to develop chemistry, but it remains a problem until it’s not.
Quarterback pocket awareness does have some impact on the the offensive line performance, as there is a dual relationship between what the offensive line expects the QB to do, and how the QB likes the offensive line to block. Here we see Cincinnati rush only four against Oakland.
Despite the four man rush, both RT Austin Howard and RG J.Marcus Webb lose a step on their man and have to switch from pushing their man out to pushing them back. McGloin is way too late in recognizing this and ends up getting sacked instead of stepping up into the wide open pocket and extending the play.
Pocket awareness is a tough thing to develop without game experience. Hopefully, it’s something McGloin can work on in practice to give himself a little help on the field until Derek Carr returns.
Next: A Game of Screens