Class Number 3 breakdown in Radio Show

[GrandGreen]

Lack of sacks against an offensive line is not a very reliable gauge of the ability of that line. There are a lot of factors with the biggest being the number of times the ball is passed and how many of those were long passes that require more time. Another is the focus of the coaches, Thompson didn't take many sacks because he didn't take many chances. He didn't get sacked often but how many opportunities were lost because he didn't hang in the pocket longer.

To me the lack of sacks was more a result of focus on the running game and calling few risky plays than it was due to outstanding line play. I do think the offensive line was the best unit on the team but that is due to them being able to have a running game with the stacked defenses they were usually met with. Their pass blocking was at best ok, there were many games were Thompson really was hurried resulting in no sacks, but no gain either. In fact if you compared the time to throw NT had with most of their opponents, it really was not close. Opponents were infrequently pressured at all by NT defense, while it was relatively rare that Thompson had time to look at anyone but his primary receiver.