Reid Must Have Game Plan For Dunlap-Abraham Matchup

I understand the importance of having confidence in your players but Andy Reid can’t make the mistake he made a few years ago when he stood on the sidelines and watched Osi Umenyiora record six sacks on Winston Justice.  He’s got to have an adjustment to block John Abraham if King Dunlap can’t do the job.

Kevin Kolb must have confidence in Dunlap protecting his blindside whether he’s doing a good job or not.  If he becomes overly concerned about Abraham beating Dunlap’s blocks, Kolb will find himself looking at the pass rush and eating the football.

He’s got to be disciplined and keep his eyes downfield in case a receiver comes open.  It’s virtually impossible to play the quarterback position in the NFL, if your eyes are focused on the pass rush.  It’s a sign that the quarterback doesn’t trust guys who are blocking for him.

This is the dilemma.  Reid can’t leave Dunlap out there by himself if he’s getting his butt kicked.  After a sack or two, Kolb will understandably not expect Dunlap to do the job and start dropping his eyes and watching the pass rush.

If Reid see this happen he must do something immediately or we will see Kolb start going backwards again as a quarterback.  Reid believes in the Phil Jackson coaching style of having confidence in his players and letting them solve the problem.  Kolb wasn’t solving it during the preseason and earlier in the regular season, so he may have to do something to remedy the problem.

He’s got to go into the game with a game plan that assumes Dunlap isn’t going to be able to do the job on Abraham.

The 6’9 offensive tackle has been susceptible to bull-rushes and other power moves because pass rushers are able to get up under him.  He’s gotten stronger so he does a good job of blocking pass rushers with his arms, but he’s no match for a powerful rusher if they get inside his arms and into his body.

We saw this last year when the Raiders Richard Seymour took him to school and we saw the Niners do the same thing to him last week.  He’s got to drop anchor, which means bending his knees and lowering his butt, so he has power to stop that bull rush.

Reid decide to move the pocket by rolling Kolb out.  They could put tight end Brent Celek over there to double-team Abraham.  They could chip Abraham with the backs.  They could run three-step drop routes.  They may be able to slow down Abraham with a couple of draws or screens.

They could crack him from the outside, by lining fullback Owen Schmitt outside and sending him slow motion, then telling him to take his best shot at Abraham.

I’d also like to see them run the ball at Abraham during their 15-play script to start the game as a way of getting his attention.

Of course they may have to slide Todd Herremans from his left guard outside if things get unbearable.  This is worth keeping an eye on.  FYI – Abraham had two sacks last week.