Michael Oher is the subject of the book by Michael Lewis' book and now the movie, The Blind Side. Oher has gotten a lot of press over this past year. Recently, I was watching a 20/20 special about Oher and about how scouts and the Ravens were praising Oher (Oher was Baltimore's first round draft pick in '09).
I was looking through offensive line statistics to see which lineman deserve to go to the Pro Bowl and I was looking through Baltimore's stats. Oher has played and started all 15 games at left tackle this year so it's safe to assume that Baltimore's LT stats can all be attributed to Oher. This year, the Ravens' left tackle ranks 22nd in blocking. Out of 32 teams, being 22nd is really not that good at all.
Now Oher is a rookie and should get better, but for all the hype Oher is getting this year- he is not really playing all that well this year for a lineman
The Bears first round pick and left Tackle Chris Williams didn't even play left tackle for most of the season because the Bears didn't think he could handle it from how he was playing at right tackle. Oher has struggled, but so do most rookies. It will be interesting to see how he does last next year. The Blind Side was a good movie.
ReplyDeletemichael is the ravens right tackle (he was left tackle for 4 games, right for 11 so far in the nfl) ... and baltimore ranks 1st in rushes around the right end by A LOT (5.5 per rush) at footballoutsiders.com. the next best score is 5.0.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that. They keep saying in the media and the 20/20 special that he was playing left tackle. I wonder if they are just jumping to that conclusion because that is what the movie was about and he played it in high school, and not realize that players can and often do change positions in the pro's. He is really big and fast (for his size) so that would make more sense for him to be doing well as a right tackle. I wonder if they will try him at left tackle next year?
ReplyDelete1) The Bears are dumb. They should have drafted Jeff Otah who's been a lot healthier and better than Williams- who's also a health risk. Also, the reason Williams played RT instead of left was because the Bears got shitty Orlando Pace. Williams should now be playing LT from now on because I can't imagine Pace ever coming back to the team.
ReplyDelete2) According to FO, it says that the Ravens LT is 22nd overall, so if the Ravens are that good at running the ball, I wonder then if Oher is awful at protecting against the pass?
It's a shame FO can't isolate specific lineman but I didn't know Oher plaed RT for 5 games, from all accounts I've heard also that Oher was always playing at left
Listen, also, I'm not saying Oher won't be good or that he can't get better- I'm never going to fully judge a player after 15 games. I'm sure Oher will get better. But right now, as just a regular lineman, it seems to be he's just doing OK
I know the only reason the Bears moved Chirs Williams to RT was because they got Orlando Pace which was a terrible move! They were worried about Willaims performance at RT and didn’t seem sure if he could handle LT, but he seems to be fine. Even though after seeing Pace play LT and look terrible, anyone would look better.
ReplyDeleteI also heard that Oher was playing LT. You think they would make it easier to be able to track specific lineman and see how he is really doing. We should see if there are any blogs in Baltimore that have wrote about him. We haven’t heard much about Oher’s performance on the field, so he is obviously only doing okay not great. It was a good movie though.
I wasn't bable to find much, but here is a article about how Oher seems to being well and is a improvement from what they had. http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2009/10/21/1094510/it-all-starts-with-the-pass-rush
ReplyDeleteThis article at: http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2009/10/4/1068567/ravens-patriots-prediction-open talk about how happy the Ravens are with RT Oher. I don't know why they moved him, but it says how well he is doing in pass protection on the RT. So you may be right that he may just not be good in protecting the pass. Who knows?
ReplyDeleteThis article recapping a ravens game at http://www.baltimorebeatdown.com/2009/9/14/1029658/good-grief-ravens-fans-it-was-a-win says "Got to give kudos to rookie RT Michael Oher for run and pass blocking like a stud, and while there were times that Flacco had to take off and run, he was protected well all game long and only sacked once. His run total of 18 yards wasn't from pressure as much as it was from his receivers being covered, but it's nice to know he can move around pretty well for a big kid. The one interception was a mistake but with 300+ yards and three passing TD's, I'll take the tradeoff any day". So he seems to be doing good at RT.
He started at RT for 11 games and LT for 5.
ReplyDeleteFrom baltimoreravens.com season wrap:
Started all 16 games (11 at RT and 5 at LT) as a rookie and helped the Ravens post 5,619 yards (2nd-highest total in franchise history), including 3 of the top single-game yardage totals in team history (548 in game 13 vs. Det. - 12/13, 501 in game 1 vs. KC - 9/13 and 479 yards in game 3 vs. Cle. - 9/27)...Protected QB Joe Flacco, allowing him to set career highs in attempts (499), completions (315), completion percentage (63.1), yards (3,613), TDs (21) and QB rating (88.9)...Also helped pave the way for the Ravens to rush for 2,200 yards, including 1,339 yards (2nd-highest total in franchise history) by RB Ray Rice, who finished 2nd in the NFL in yards from scrimmage (2,041) and became just the 2nd player in franchise history (Jamal Lewis - 2,271 in 2003) to gain 2,000 combined yards.
Normally rookie will start at the right tackle first, since if he made a mistake then it wouldn't be so severe, since the QB can see the protection fails. Also if the scheme involves tight end, then the TE can cover the rookie mistake.
ReplyDeleteWith left tackle, it's a different story. Mistake in protection can be very costly, as can be seen in the beginning of the movie when Lawrence Taylor rushed the QB.
well in my personal opnion, Oher has made a good season this year, is not so good as previous seasons, but well all sportman have a moment to shine and others to down their face.
ReplyDelete