Jerry.
Last game I thought the offensive line played better than the rushing numbers indicated. That wasn’t the case in this game, but it wasn’t all bad. The primary culprit in my eyes was Jerry. He has been pretty solid up until this game, but he was really bad in the run game against the Rams. Pugh was ok in the run game, but not as good as he has been (which has been very good). Flowers had a much better game, and looked to me like the best run blocker of the day. Honestly this may have been Flowers best game as a pro. Richburg and Hart were decent, each having a few plays in the run game they would like to have back.
A real shocker to me was that Will Tye actually had a good game blocking from what I could see, though he was only in on 8 run plays. 1 play it looked like there may have been a miscommunication between him and Hart. It looked like Hart was set up to block the guy Tye did, and Hart was talking with him after the play. He did a good job with the block (though he may have gotten confused on his assignment). There was also a play where he was lined up wider than normal and he (along with all the receivers) ran pass patterns rather than looking for someone to block. So, it was obviously a small sample size, but I didn’t see a play where Tye had a bad blocking attempt (obviously not perfect, but he looked better than in most games).
I think I read someone say they thought Jerry had a very good game. If you look only at pass protection that would be true, but he was dreadful in the run game. To my eyes he was by far the person most to blame for the ineffective run game against the Rams. The next post will highlight some plays that show Jerry’s struggles. There were a lot of them, so I won’t get to all of them.
I review 5 of the first 11 running plays of the game where Jerry’s blocking was not just below average but atrocious. The other 6 plays were not good for Jerry either. There may have been 1 run play in the first 11 where Jerry had a block that wasn’t what I would consider below average. He did start to have a bit more success run blocking after this point, and even had some good blocks. But, it really doesn't make up for how bad he was through the first 2.5+ quarters. He really has been a lot better than last year, so hopefully this is just one bad game he recovers from.
This is a play where the coaches’ tape would provide a better angle and make things a bit more clear, but we can still figure out what happened. Ultimately the play was a success, because they got the first down. But, this was not well blocked by Richburg or Jerry. The first shot diagrams out the blocking assignments. The Giants had 7 blockers against 8 defenders in the box, the white circle shows the free defender, who though wasn’t blocked was didn’t really impact the play. Jerry and Flowers are going to the second level, so I their paths are in pink for better clarity. Cruz and Pugh are blocking the backside of the play and do a good enough job. Richburg is supposed to block Easley (blue circles). Easley beats him immediately and is in quickly in the backfield. Flowers (74) is pulling and is supposed to block the safety Barron on the play. Easley is through so fast that Flower needs to block him instead. It’s hard to see exactly what happens here, but the end result is that Easley is slowed down and Perkins is able to get by him, and Flowers is slowed down, but still able to get in front to make his block. It think Flowers threw a quick block on Easley and continued on, but it might have been less of an intentional block by Flowers and more of him just fighting to get to his assignment. Either way a great play by Flowers that saved the play from being a loss. Jerry is set to block Ogletree (yellow circles). You can see in the third picture he has positioned himself too far to the outside giving Ogletree a path into the backfield. Ogletree quickly runs by him with Jerry able to just barely get a hand on him. Perkins is able to get to the side of Ogletree, but not passed him. Ogletree grabs on and Perkins drags him a couple yards for the first down. There was good blocking by Hart and Tye (black circles) on this play that opened a big hole for Perkins. This enabled Perkins to get the first down before another defender could help make the tackle. If Jerry makes his block there was potential for a much bigger play. Tye was blocking a safety instead of a DL here, but he dominated him to help open a big hole.
1-10-(11:42 in the 2nd) 1 yard gain by Rainey.
Here we have Flowers and Pugh blocking to the backside of the play. Richburg blocking his man left Hart blocking his man right and Jerry going to the second level. Donnell is lined up in the backfield and is the going to be the lead blocker. There is a big gap in the defensive alignment over Jerry, so the play should have a good chance to succeed. DB Joyner (white circle) is lined up pretty far to the inside providing some run support. You can tell that Sheppard has a long way to go to make the block, and it will be tough for him to get there. Flowers man has gone wide, taking himself out of the play. Richburg has done a good job sealing Easley to the left. He’s penetrated a little, but Richburg is in control and Easley is out of the play. It looks like Pugh has blocked Donald at first, but Donald is able to disengage and fill the hole to make the tackle. Barron has also completely beaten Jerry’s attempted block and is there to make the stop if Donald isn’t. Shepard also isn’t able to get a block on Joyner because of the initial alignment. So, this play failed because Pugh couldn’t sustain his block, Jerry couldn’t land his block, and Joyner was basically an unaccounted for defender position right where the ball was being run. Donnell lines up his block on Ogletree well. He doesn’t sustain it long, but he was at least in good position and the play was over pretty quick. Hart made his block pretty well. He doesn’t get driven back and doesn’t let Hayes disengage. You can see he doesn't have very good leverage on his block which makes his job more difficult, but he fights hard to sustain it, and even though Rainey attempts to run right past Hart’s inside shoulder Hayes is not able to assist on the tackle.
1-10-LA 15(9:36 in 2nd): Perkins no gain
You can see with this alignment again Joyner (white circle) is lined up pretty far inside, and Shepard wouldn’t have much of a chance of getting there to block him. They send Shepard out in a fake WR screen hoping to draw Joyner out that way, but he is locked on to the run from the get go. The run is to the left away from Joyner, so if it is well blocked he shouldn’t be much of a factor. Adams is in at TE and is set to block the Westbrooks, with Hart pulling and Jerry blocking Donald. Flowers is blocking Sims and Pugh and Richburg are doubling Thomas at the point of attack with Pugh then set to move to the second level. Donald beats Jerry to the inside quickly (Donald is in the yellow circle, Jerry is behind him blocked from view of the camera). Adams (red circle) engages with Westbrooks and is driven backward. Flowers has his man blocked, and Richburg and Pugh have handled Thomas with Hart throwing a block on Barron in the hole. Pugh then moves on and is in position to block Ogletree. None of those blocks matter, though because Donald is in the backfield blowing up the play. Perkins is able to make a nifty move cutting back to the right to avoid Donald and a loss on the play. Unfortunately that puts him right where the free man Joyner is and since Adams has been driven back Westbrooks is also there to make the stop for no gain. Adams didn’t block well, but the real damage is done by Jerry getting so quickly beaten. It also didn’t help that the defenders had more men in the box than the Giants had blockers.
1-10-NYG 5(11:09 in 3rd) Jennings no gain
Hart and Richburg are blocking Hayes and Thomas to the right, with Jerry pulling and leading the way for the run to the right. Pugh has Donald with Flowers giving a little help on his way to block Ogletree on the second level. Tye has Sims on the outside. You can see in the second picture Hart and Richburg both have their men blocked to the right and Pugh is fighting to move Donald that way as well. Flowers has already given the shove to Donald and has his sights on Ogletree. Tye is locked up with Sims and holding his own. Jerry is headed into the hole to block Barron (yellow circles). Things are looking promising. Unfortunately when you move to the third frame you see that Barron has run right past a diving Jerry, while everyone else seems to be doing a good job sustaining their blocks. Barron hits Jennings in the backfield and makes the stop what looks to be a loss of 1. The refs gave a generous spot saying Jennings got back to the LOS. A well blocked play by everyone except Jerry.
1-10-NYG 3(6:47 in 3rd): Jennings 2 yard loss
I’ve seen some people blame Donnell for this failed play, but in reality it looks to me like another play where Jerry’s failures doomed the play (along with very good play from Ogletree). You can see the blocking diagramed in the first frame. The Rams have 8 men in the box, and McDonald (white circle) is the defender that is unaccounted for by the Giants 7 blockers. Hart and Jerry are to block the guys in front of them, with Richburg and Pugh doubling Donald and Pugh set to move on to the second level. Flowers is blocking Sims and the TEs are supposed to lead through the hole with Donnell (yellow circle) taking the defender on the left (Joyner, also in yellow) and Tye (red circle) taking the defender on the right (Ogletree, also in red). In the second frame you see that Hart has his man controlled on the backside, and Richburg and Pugh have gotten movement on Donald (though Pugh slipped to one knee at this point). Jerry is getting pushed back by Easley (blue circle), and you can see he has gotten the inside edge. It the third frame you can see Tye has been forced to engage with blocking Easley to keep him out of the backfield (red and blue circle). This slows him down and means he is not in position to block Ogletree who has diagnosed the play very quickly and shot through the gap making the stop at the 1 yard line. This was a very good play by Ogletree as in through the hole and into the backfield very quickly. But, the blocking breakdown occurred because Jerry was unable to block Easley. It’s easy to look at the third frame and blame Donnell for not blocking Ogletree, who is running past him. But, that isn’t his assignment, it’s Tye’s assignment. There’s no way for Donnell to know that Tye has been forced to block Easley and can no longer block Ogletree. If Donnell blocks Ogletree and Jerry blocks Easley, Tye would have been stuck nobody to block and nowhere to go.
You've watched him a lot more closely than I have - are my eyes deceiving me, or is Richburg having a down year?
really good stuff on an aspect many of us just don't know enough about, including myself.
It's not the same guy every week. Not sure if that's encouraging or discouraging. I guess we will take it as a positive that each player has flashed glimpses of good play and hope that they get their collective act in gear.
The one glaring problem that is correctable is the plus minus turnover battle. Fix that and the other weaknesses that have been examined here can be mitigated.
Great OP thanks.
You've watched him a lot more closely than I have - are my eyes deceiving me, or is Richburg having a down year?
Richburg has definitely not played as well as last year. Hopefully it is a down half-year and it's not that last year was an anomalous up year. At first I wasn't worried thinking he would get over a few rough games, but it really has continued. He still will have plenty of good plays, but he has a lot more bad plays than last year.
Thanks for putting that together, I'm sure it was a lot of work.
It's not the same guy every week. Not sure if that's encouraging or discouraging. I guess we will take it as a positive that each player has flashed glimpses of good play and hope that they get their collective act in gear.
The one glaring problem that is correctable is the plus minus turnover battle. Fix that and the other weaknesses that have been examined here can be mitigated.
That was my impression as well. It looks like there are plays to be made, they just can't seem to get them all playing well at the same time. Whether it's game to game or play to play. It's nice to see flashes from everyone, but when you are talking about offensive line play consistency is an important trait. On the other hand we do have some young players (especially the tackles) where you need to expect some bumps along the road.
Question.....I will preface this by saying that I really do like Jennings. He does a lot of things well and he seems to be a great teammate/person. I feel like he's a problem too. He seems really slow to hit the hole. In those rare situations when there is a hole, even a small one, he's so slow to hit it that it closes before he gets through the line. Do you see the same thing?
cnewk : 10:17 am
Jerry.
He was very good last year, he must be nursing an injury or something.
Ummmm, he WAS a top 3 center last year. That may be why people on BBI proclaimed it? Your post comes of as looking like you've been waiting to use the "I told you so" routine. So, I guess it's stupid to judge him on his performance of an entire season, but you have no problem judging him on 7 games, this season?
Question.....I will preface this by saying that I really do like Jennings. He does a lot of things well and he seems to be a great teammate/person. I feel like he's a problem too. He seems really slow to hit the hole. In those rare situations when there is a hole, even a small one, he's so slow to hit it that it closes before he gets through the line. Do you see the same thing?
To me Jennings is an average back. He isn't particularly shifty or quick to the hole, but he plays hard and is good at pass protection. I like the potential of Perkins for the run game, hopefully he can pick up the pass protection aspects of the position. Perkins has had limited opportunities, but I've seen him display good vision and quickness with the ability to make guys miss. I expect his playing time will continue to increase as the season goes on.
Dude it was more than just BBI. It was the entire NFL world. Everyone loved Richburg going into this season and if you didn't you weren't watching the guy play.
Fair point, but based on the above analysis, he often wasn't expected to block Donald. Some of those misses are against the other DT or LBs.
In my view it's less about slowness than a hesitation before he hits the hole. He never hits a hole at full force (seemingly to me) and that is a big problem because stuff closes quickly.
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A top 3 Center after only 1 year at Center!!! Now in year 2 at center he is closer to a bottom 3 Center, has been totally unimpressive this year.
Dude it was more than just BBI. It was the entire NFL world. Everyone loved Richburg going into this season and if you didn't you weren't watching the guy play.
lol. what NFL world? PFF maybe. What's your problem, are you Weston's mom?
Richburg Sports Ilustrated - ( New Window )
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it's clear that he's the most well-rounded young center in the game behind his NFC East rival Travis Frederick, and the arrow is definitely pointing up here.
Richburg Sports Ilustrated - ( New Window )
At this point I HOPE it's injury he's battling... because the only other (major) difference is the addition of Solari (and subtraction of Flaherty)
watching TV but you only see what the camera crew allows .
Having crucial short yardage downs and seeing the explanation
of the blocking . It helps bring to light the failures to
convert and produce a respected run game .
Now this crew has had 3 plus seasons to mold themselves but
in the end its about talents having added 3 starters in
the draft not one of them are playing at an above average
level . The fact that Jerry and Newhouse were stop gap
players and are still starting tells me that the draft
choices are questionable . Pugh seems to be the best of
the bunch and the most consistant .
The drafts have not had any luck in developing later round
picks in the draft either . I can't sit here and blame
poor coaching its more talent laden then not .
It was a glaring problem the last three years and yet we
have done nothing to resolve it .
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A top 3 Center after only 1 year at Center!!! Now in year 2 at center he is closer to a bottom 3 Center, has been totally unimpressive this year.
Ummmm, he WAS a top 3 center last year. That may be why people on BBI proclaimed it? Your post comes of as looking like you've been waiting to use the "I told you so" routine. So, I guess it's stupid to judge him on his performance of an entire season, but you have no problem judging him on 7 games, this season?
All I'm saying is what I've been saying, he hasn't shown enough to be a top 3 center. I guess you have to be Giants biased in order to post nowadays? He's been poor these 7 games, hopes are still high, I just don't expect him to be the best in the business like the rest of BBI apparently does, sorry about that.
If we had a better variation of run plays to keep the D honest and not let them run directly to the point of attack we'd see better results. the play calling is making the line look much worse than it is IMO.
no reason we can't be running toss sweeps, pitches, power off-tackles, counters - i personally just can't get over how simple we are and expect it to work
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In comment 13193013 est1986 said:
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A top 3 Center after only 1 year at Center!!! Now in year 2 at center he is closer to a bottom 3 Center, has been totally unimpressive this year.
Ummmm, he WAS a top 3 center last year. That may be why people on BBI proclaimed it? Your post comes of as looking like you've been waiting to use the "I told you so" routine. So, I guess it's stupid to judge him on his performance of an entire season, but you have no problem judging him on 7 games, this season?
All I'm saying is what I've been saying, he hasn't shown enough to be a top 3 center. I guess you have to be Giants biased in order to post nowadays? He's been poor these 7 games, hopes are still high, I just don't expect him to be the best in the business like the rest of BBI apparently does, sorry about that.
The old you have to be biased in favor of the Giants to post defense. No you just have to back up opinions with actual facts.
Richburg is not playing well. This is obvious. It doesn't take away from the fact he played well last year, though. Will he recover, who knows, but if he could it would certainly help the Giants going down the road.
Our QB basically rolls the dice and hopes his guys come close to giving him time on every play.
But one thing it did make clear to me is the refrain we keep hearing from the team each week in that they are correctable mistakes. Not sure if it s correctable as in now or in correctable as in when they get better players.
To me it's the top story of the last year for this team. With all that cap space to not come out of the off-season with either Osemele, Schwartz, or both was an enormous missed opportunity to turn the line into a major strength.
1-10-NYG 28(12:41 in 2nd) Perkins for 10 yard gain.
Here you can see the Giants have a great play call against the defense the Rams are running. McDonald (white circle) was up making it look like they are in Cover 1, but he starts dropping back into Cover 2 just before the snap (something the did a fair amount at the start of the game). This means there are 6 blockers and 6 defenders, with the safety not only playing deep, but moving back. You also will notice that the red lines showing who Jerry, Richburg, and Flowers are blocking are slanted to the left and they are blocking to the left. This means they already are in a good position to seal their man away from the play. They don’t have to move their man, they just have to maintain their position. Hart has the most difficult job matching up with Westbrooks at the point of attack, and Tye is faced with safety Barron there as well. Hart (red circle) and Tye (black circle) do a great job. Hart drives Westbrooks to the outside and up the field so that Perkins has a huge hole to run through. Barron loops to the inside and at first it looks like Tye might not be in position to make the block. He is able to block Barron and drive him to the inside. Perkins also reads the play well and cuts to the outside of Tye’s block for a 10 yard gain. Donald and Sims both initially try to go upfield which makes it easy for Richburg and Flowers to block them from the play. Jerry (yellow circle) is blocking Easley, you can see even in the second frame his positioning isn’t great, and Easley is starting to disengage. In the third frame you seem Easley is shedding the blocking and moving to fit the hole. Pugh, who is pulling, helps out on Easley keeping him away from Perkins. This does, however, mean that Pugh cannot get to the second level to block Ogletree, who is the one who eventually makes the tackle.