At least on the 12Z GFS, the trough digging into the midwest seems more of a capture, than a kicker.
There's also a bit of a ridge off the east coast, not sure if that's much effect though.
Blocking ?
Looks like the bill is due for last years epic December.
Hopefully this increasingly positive AO heads back toward neutral sooner than later, to give us a shot at something track able.
Kind of a waste of cold air this late in the season. Not that this is uncommon for early March, but it still would've been nice to cash in on something.