The 2009 Lineman Yard Average Project: Results and Analysis

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by jsnyder03

Great stuff, very interesting, even surprising. Thanks for the analysis.

What the heck happened to Dockery? His first 3 years in the league, he was a road graded, excellent run blocker who couldn't pass block at all! I fully expected improvement in his pass blocking, but what happened to the run blocking? I have to think it is lack of effort / concentration. He is still a big, strong guy, it shouldn't be such a dramatic decline. Ever since he got the big contract from Buffalo, he regressed.

Dockery is sort of in a bad spot the way defensive line play has evolved. He's not an offensive line mammoth, in that huge nose tackles and powerful defensive ends can overpower him to get where they are going quickly. He's also not quick enough to make difficult reach blocks quickly before defensive lineman with a great first step get into the backfield.

While Dockery doesn't get great push, when he wins initial contact, he generally holds the block long enough to open up a running lane. The other thing is he's a lot better at the linebacker level than you'd expect from a prototypical road grader. He's at his best when going forward, so LBs who misread the play --even a little-- tend to get engulfed by his mass and momentum.

The way to beat Dockery in the running game is to get him going laterally.

In the pass game, he has a tendency to get lost and block nobody, but one he's engaged with the defender, I thought he was the least likely player to get beaten last year. He's excellent at blitz pickups. Of course, playing next to Rabach makes him look that much more adept at reading the blitz.