Disrespectful Blocks of the Week is perfect this week. As usual, we have offensive linemen getting after it, but this time, we have two clips of running backs knocking people down. It fires me up when I can find one of these. Again, thank you to everyone who sends me or notifies me of a potential block.
Christian McCaffrey and Alfred Blue show how much fun it is when running backs block
Retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz praises the running backs who delivered this week’s most disrespectful blocks.
The Steelers are 6-2. Le’Veon Bell’s play has taken off recently, after he got his legs back from missing all of camp. When a running back is playing well, his offensive line typically is playing well also. Against the Lions, guard David DeCastro got a two-for-one early in the game on a sprint draw type play. A chip and a cut! I love it.
But let’s talk about those running back blocks. Our first one makes me sad now. It’s on a Deshaun Watson scramble, and now we don’t get to see Watson anymore this season after he tore his ACL in practice. Terrible injury for the young Watson, who had just led his team to five straight 30-point games.
We can still appreciate this play against the Seahawks, though. Watson is running to his right, and out of nowhere Alfred Blue blasts this cornerback. That makes me laugh. He had no idea it was coming.
As offensive linemen, we LOVE when running backs chip for us when it’s called: a) It knocks down our defender, and b) It makes them rush slower whenever a running back lines up close to them. It’s a mental and physical win.
The other running back block was courtesy of Christian McCaffrey. The rookie has struggled in the run game, but he’s not struggling to knock down this defender for Matt Kalil. A disrespectful block, for sure.
As usual, I must include a Raiders offensive lineman in my reel every week. It’s actually written into my contract (not really, but it might as well be). This week, we again feature Kelechi Osemele. He had many blocks that were worthy of consideration, but this one is particularly nice. He’s blocking a linebacker, looks like he’s dancing with him, and then the dance ends rather quickly and physically!
Lastly, I have to give a big shout out to Matt Jones, offensive line coach at Texas Southern. Matt runs the Lineman Lunch page on Facebook and has been so valuable in spreading the word about this project. So I included his right guard getting some rib meat last weekend!
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