Kasey Studdard to Start for Injured Pitts on Friday
 

From the Mothership:
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/St...?story_id=4537

Should be interesting to watch.

I posted this on another message board but I went back and reviewed the DVR'ed (better) Saints version of the game from NFLN and on the Texan drive that started the 4th quarter, there was some excellent blocking on the right side from White (C), Studdard (RG) and Frye (RT). Those three were just owning their counterparts on a couple of plays, especially the Slaton 10 yd TD run. All three really showed me something on that drive....

Should be interesting to see how he performs. He is one of the players who was consistently singled out as an ill fit for the ZBS. So, it's nice to see him step up and prove those people wrong. But, it's not the offense that I'll be focusing on in this game. I am really itching to see the defensive line do something. All through camp we have heard about how they have improved, yet that hasn't manifested itself on the field. I am really looking forward to them, and the front 7 as a whole, stuffing the Cowboy's running game.

so, Eric Winston will be the old man on the OL this Friday. That is a lot of changes in OL for one year, hope it turns out well. I too hope to see the DL start to show what we expect of them this year.

Intersting.

Taylor ran better to the right side but Slaton ran better to the left. Now we have Studdard stepping in for Pitts. Duane Brown has been very impressive in pre-season with the pass rush and in run blocking. I was counting on Pitts being there to really see how well Slaton could do against the Cowboys run D because they are pretty decent.

Well, let's see what we got. Schaub needs to keep his eyes in the back of his head wide open.

How many false-starts or holding penalties will it take before Studdard replaces Pitts for good? Just saying...

You know, this is the sort of thing I wondered when I saw this news.

Yeah, Pitts has a "sore ankle", but what if this is underscoring something Gibbs is wanting to see, working Studdard with the 1's? What if Pitts isn't fitting what Alex Gibbs is wanting with the new scheme (speculation here, nothing I've heard specifically)? Then it stands to reason that Kubiak is going to let Gibbs get and try what he wants, especially in the preseason.

I dunno... I'm probably reading too much into it as I'm known to do from time to time.

If Studdard can succeed here, it effectively rebutts the presumption that athleticism is necessary to play in the ZBS.

I've never understood that line about athleticsm. You run 6 yards one way, turn either left or right, and then run 4 more. Watch. The max run by most of our O linemen is about 10 yards per play. If one of RB's breaks a big run to the outside then more but so does every scheme.

I do think the guards need to be quick though when they initially pull.

i think you are right, it is more about quickness

I rewatched the first couple of games....Studdard has shown a lot of improvement. I don't think he's ready to supplant one of the starters....maybe by the end of the year. Pitts gets a bad rap, deservedly even if sometimes overblown because they aren't near as bad as when he was out of place at LT. He still saved Brown's but more than once in the pre-season so far on some stunts. Brown has been dead on 1vs. 1 in pass protection....he gets pushed on the bull rush, but doesn't give...but I noticed a few times when Brown seemed frozen by a twist by the D and Pitts picked up the slack. Brown will get it, but I think he needs the experience of Pitts right now.

Browns also wiffed in the run game a few times....usually when the play goes away from him. More than likely it was because he's just not had that many live reps cut blocking. I haven't seen anything yet that will keep him from being a long term solution yet....in my completely non-expert opinion of course.

The guards have to be able to chip the DT, slide over and cutoff the MLB or backside LB. During that move they have to get around in front of the guy. That move takes quick feet and good hips.

So it's not about the distance, but what they can do in the phone booth. Quickly.

Well, Studdard was pretty much abused in pass protection on Friday. He did okay run blocking, but dude was a turnstile on most pass plays I saw.

I hope that's the end of the Studdard experiment for another year. Chester Pitts needs to be healthy.

Every practice I saw Studdard was overmatched, I never understood Kubiak's praise of him.

Who played the best (or made the least mistakes) at guard Friday, Studdard or Chris White ?
I thought they were going to play Frye more at guard ? This preseason he's played primarily at RT.

Isn't White, at his listed 285, kind of light in the butt, even for the ZBS?

You know their history don't you PK ? Studdards family and Kubiaks family go way back with each other ? Studdard even babysitted Kubiaks little kids years ago back in Denver. Just good old-fashioned cronyism is probably what we're talking about here ?
And I wouldn't be suprised if Kubiak leaves us scratching our heads about cutting another OLineman while retaining Studard on his 53-man roster.

Or the other theory is Kubiak has been trying to push Pitts. Paraphrasing here" Hey Chester, that kid sure looks like a starter and he has a long future, why should I leave him on the sideline?"

Kubiak has shown he will use this type of tool, so why not on Chester?

the last game they replayed a run to studdard's side and talked about the great block he made....

....really it looked like he was just in the right place and got run into. i say this because he didn't block so much as he was just...in the way.

And that is how the ZBS works on the front side, just shield your guy for an instant. The back should be gone.