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PHDram
im not saying that blythe is the best guard in the league, but for what its worht pff ranked him fairly high this year especially considering what the rams are paying for him. i am saying however that he is better then average. its fair to suggest that some players or types of players give him more problems then others but you can probably say that about most players. so who are the "top tackles" blythe did not play well against?
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zn
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PHDram
imo is the recency effect. most people only remember his performance in the superbowl which was average at best.
Blythe did not play well against top DLs. He had problems in other games as well. In the superbowl it was more the scheme they ran on him, which to me means the defense accounted for his flaws and limitations and went after him deliberately (among the many other things they did.)
Read up on him, it's clear why. He can't match up physically.
I don't think he's better than average. I think he's smart and tenacious and is a relative fit for an outside zone scheme but then is not a physical enough player to handle top interior linemen.
And I don't care about his cost. Cheap isn't worth it if he guy is a liability whenever the Rams play a team that can handle him physically.
In different ways for different reasons, the Rams OL could not handle Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Phil, or the Patz. Blythe was a big part of that. Some of it was being exposed playing next to Sullivan, but then he is never going to be anything other than what he is.
This is from an old draft year scouting report on him:
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Scouts mention short arms and small hands when you talk to them about Blythe. He’s not overly explosive for an undersized player. At just 291 pounds, there are concerns that he’s only a fit in a zone scheme.
The on-field issues came when Blythe had to match power with power.