I've been talking about Guard play for a little while now on these boards (oftentimes disputing their perceived relative value or the ease of OT transition), but I'm not sure I've ever laid out my reasons for the above.
Some have brought up the disparity between Offensive Tackle grade at the top/median/bottom of PFF grades and top/median/bottom Offensive Guard grades as proof that we're in an era of poor Guards. I disagree. I think its the relative difficulty of the position and that PFF actually has to catch up on this as well and normalize their grades for the new standard of difficulty in blocking for iOL (Guards in particular).
So here are my three primary points for the increased relative difficulty of Guards in the modern NFL.
1 - THE 2016 EXPANSION OF THE CHOP BLOCK
Before 2016, the "high-low block" (one OL engaged high with a DL and another cuts same DL) was outlawed in most situations. However, it wasn't in the most important and most used situation:
Blocks on runs (almost always Zone, but Man in some cases) where the two players are play-side and lined up adjacent to each other at the snap. For instance, the play is Inside Zone to the left, Center and LG are engaged with the 1 tech. The LG wants to give the C a quick help so he can cross the face of the 1 tech and then the LG can climb 2nd level. The 1 tech is holding the LG to prevent him from climbing 2nd level to a LB so the 1 tech is basically imposing a double team. The Center goes low and Cuts the 1 tech to the ground, thereby (a) ensuring a single team success and (b) ensuring the LG can climb 2nd level to play-side LB. This is a loss in two was for that 1 tech.
Fast forward to the present. Now this play is illegal. This is HUGE for the modern NFL (especially Zone) running game.
However, there are knock-on implications for this that involve ambiguity.
What isn't illegal? 1 on 1 Cut blocks.
HOWEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR...
In the fog of interior line play, you have a ton of situations where the DT is intentionally engaging the uncovered Guard to prevent them from climbing 2nd level (holding them). The Guard is straight climbing 2nd level...not engaging. The Center is 1 on 1 pre-snap and is going to Cut the 1 tech. Legal, right?
Flag!
The Official has misperceived the play as the Guard engaging with the DT (while the Guard has simply tried to evade the DT and climb 2nd level) because the DT has initiated contact with the Guard and the ensuing scrum just looks like generic "engagement."
This not only (a) draws flags but (b) creates the officiating paradigm where you're seeing teams almost exclusively removing play-side 1v1 Cut blocks in iOL because of this "trick" by iDL.
Those famous Skins and Broncos Zone running teams? Yeah, they're effectiveness is enormously reduced by this.
2 - BETTER IDL ATHLETES THAN EVER BEFORE
This doesn't need much expansion. Quite simply, all athletes are better than ever before, but I think modern training/dieting regimes have had the largest impact on iDL by a fair amount. We see more gigantic men who move freakishly well for their size then ever before. We see more 290 lb men who move better (in some cases considerably), both linearly and laterally, than the ILB of the 90s and early 2000s.
3 - MORE EXOTIC FRONTS AND INTERIOR PRESSURE PACKAGES THAN EVER BEFORE
This also doesn't need much expansion. More teams are lining up in "Amoeba" looks or in non-standard DL alignments than ever before. Further, pressure packages are attacking the A and B gap like crazy (be it overloading, Twisting to generate movement and someone coming from 2nd level, or simply 2nd level straight coming). This is an answer to the proliferation of the "quick game" (which has emerged due to the Illegal Contact rules, the proliferation of C3Z Bail and Match Quarters to deal with all of the defensive back harming rules, and all the protections afforded receivers on in-cuts) where QBs are getting the ball out so quickly.
Interior pressure or displacement and hands up is more important than ever before because of the "quick game."
