Pretty obvious that McVay didnt want the oline to lose the game for us, hence the gameplan. But the dink and dunk bootleg stuff will only take us so far. We need to open it up as the season goes on, but at least we ran block well. I think Blythe and Corbett played pretty well, and Hav/Whit looked good too. Noteboom is still a liability on every pass play though. Hopefully he can stay healthy and improve but idk at this point if he'll ever be a good guard. By far the worst player on the line tonight.
The concern with the lack of chunk gains is when our running game is shut down, because it will happen... what will the offense look like then?? Tonight we had a lot of 3rd and manageable situations so the defense didnt know if run or pass was coming, and the little out routes and screens worked well. But look at the few 3rd and long known passing situations we were in- the OL gave up multiple QB pressures and Goff rushed a throw to an open Higbee and missed, thew a pick (yes it was a penalty but still should have gotten rid of it quicker) and had a ball tipped that almost led to a second pick. These plays were a 2nd and long after a penalty as well as two 3rd and longs. All three incomplete passes with a turnover and a punt, and we were lucky it wasn't two turnovers out of these three plays to be honest.
My point is when the running game is shut down we will be forced into those known passing situations many more times in a game, and the OL wasn't great in those situations tonight for the most part. I agree with you they still have a lot to prove but overall its not a bad start given how last year went.
