I think you see it right

Quote
ramBRO

So, I took your advice and rewatched this play. Gonna try to stay in my lane here, but it appears as though the Chargers are in 12-personnel with both TE's lined up to the right. Not a coach, but considering the alignment and down & distance, they (the Chargers) are telegraphing a run to the right - which they do.

At the snap, the two TE's engage Copeland and Hoecht. One of the TE's does a pretty good job of staying in front of Copeland (who initially looked as though he'd beaten the block) for a loss. Hoecht (a former interior DL) is unable to get off his TE block until the play is nearly past him (maybe too concerned about keeping containment?).

5-yard gain.

Agreed that things are never as simple as they seem, but I wouldn't expect TE's to sustain their blocks against D-linemen so well.

I think you see that Hoecht could maybe disengage a bit quicker, but what I see is Brown--with good long arms pushing back---I have a checkmark on him, then he is slow to disengage---he should have at least, IMO, gotten arm on the guy ... I gave him a red "X" there...so he does his technique well to a point, then
doesn't get off. A microsecond is all it takes Copeland got penetration, he backdoored the TE, but when he flattened to make the play the TE recovered...so you saw that the same way I did..if the play had been to Copelands side it's a tackle for loss, but it's not ... so to me, Brown III could have been better.

Now, here is where it gets complicated and I don't know the call

Rams play gap and a half but Copeland and Brown IV didn't do that. They crashed...and that left the hole the RB went through. Normally Copeland would have taken on the TE and squeezed him inside. Pushed to his right---tightened the hole. Had he done that, Brown III would not have had so far to go and would have made tackle.

So, what is a called play for Copeland and Brown IV to penetrate? Brown IV up top does and inside swim, that's a pass rush move, not a run-stop move.
Answer? I don't know. Were they freelancing? A planned call by Eric Henderson looking for a big play?

Probably but I cannot say for sure. But, as you say, it's a longer gain than it needed to be. If it was a call to penetrate and not gap-and-a-half, the CHargers had
a quick hitter up the middle--the perfect play to go against a penetrating call. If it were off tackle to either side, it is a tackle for a loss.

So---I wish I knew more. But it shows looking close can show things we don't catch live. I didn't catch all that until second time through