Robert Turbin is a perfect fit in our zone blocking scheme. From the tape I's seen of him with Utah State, I'm not surprised that PCJS drafted him. He runs downhill, makes quick cuts, is powerful, and has the speed to get to the corner and run past defenders. When Beast Mode is off the field, I don't expect any significant drop off. In fact, I expect more explosive plays but slightly fewer tough yards. Slightly.
Watching the tape, Turbin's first step is a bit slow. He stands neutrally, then takes a big step back to get going. Michael Robinson's first back-step is smaller and quicker. Last year, we would often see Robinson and Lynch stride for stride through their first three or four steps. Not so with Turbin. The first step is slower and the next are faster. I have no idea if the coaching staff is working with him to shorten and speed up step #1, but it's noticeable.
Regarding Turbin's reads, they were mostly spot on. I saw one bad read where he should have followed Robinson but instead, he cut inside into traffic. But that was it. This offseason, I watched a bunch of Alex Gibbs video and he stresses that the RB should watch if the defender's helmet is inside or outside for the read. Though the hole behind Robinson was closing fast, the helmets said, "follow him".
During camp, Cable made a crack about Turbin "stomping on snakes." Well, there were no stomped snakes on Friday night. Turbin was consistently cutting and quickly pointing his compass due north. He was also leaning forward, breaking tackles, and churning his legs. He's definitely "all in."
Those skills are enough to make him a viable asset, but his speed is what could earn him an eventual starting role. Turbin turned the corner more than once, and on his TD, he simply blew past the LB and CB as he went upright into the end zone and the defenders were falling on their faces as he raced by.
Regarding the scheme, Cable dialed in more power plays with pulling guards than I normally expect. These came during passing situations when showing pass formations. He ran a few slash plays where the TE cuts across the grain on a zone run to open up the backside. And, yes, we ran a number of straight zones.
Regarding players, Okung looked a bit rusty. He had some great blocks, but also blew a few. On one zone left play, he went too far to his left and wasn't able to club the defender under the armpit to keep the defender from escaping inside. That was a quick handoff from shotgun and fortunately Turbin was able to slip the tackle and gain 2 yards, rather than losing three. It reminded me a bit of Lynch in his first game as a Seahawk when we played in Chicago.
McQuistan looked really competent. He opened some really nice holes and I didn't see any glaring mistakes. I don't know that he's an A+ linemen, but he's a solid B+ at guard and tackle. I'm looking forward to him being available from the bench as he's our #1 insurance policy.
Unger looked a bit weak at first playing against mountainous nose tackle Dontari Poe. However, by the second half, Unger was winning the battles handily. Unger had one terrible play when both he and Sweezy were shrugged at the line and both defenders hit Leon Washington like an anvil.
Speaking of Washington, he wins the car wreck award. In just a few plays, he took a hard hit on a return, smashed into the aforementioned anvil, and on the next play, he got kneed in the head by Eric Berry on a Wilson run. But hey, it made this picture possible (which was great because a lot of KC fans were claiming that Eric Berry >> Earl Thomas before the game.)
Back to the line, Sweezy played well, but got shrugged on a number of plays, especially by LBs in the 2nd level. It looks like JR is getting there too aggressively, and that's allowing defenders to use Sweezy's momentum to their advantage. I also saw him and Giacomini miss some cut blocks. Expect us to continue to be more effective zone right as the front end of the ZBS is a bit simpler than the back end.
Giacomini played well overall and was able to temper his aggression and avoid penalties. In fact the whole line did well penalty-wise. I think we had one false start by a TE.
Our TEs all did well blocking, which has to make Tom Cable proud. Cable relies more on creative TE play than does Alex Gibbs in his core zone blocking scheme. Miller remains our most competent and versatile blocking TE.
Regarding receivers, TO was good at getting his body in the way, but he avoided any real contact. Besides the drops, this is a good reason that we let him go. According to Alex Gibbs, if you are a receiver who can't/won't block, Gibbs has no use for you.
Overall, we still have work to do. But we are far, far ahead of where we were last year. We ran all of our basic run plays in various formations. Everybody played pretty well, though there were still some rough spots. Sweezy is for real, but he needs to improve those 2nd level blocks. The good news is that he is able to get to those blocks quickly, even if he's not yet able to sustain them.
Best of all, Turbin looks fantastic. The guy has the making of a #1 RB in our scheme. He's a perfect fit and is making the very best of his opportunity.
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