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Neal Question .... Anyone seen a side by side video of

MotownGIANTS : 6/2/2023 9:28 am
his old stance vs new? Tried to see if I could find something on youtube ... it was a no go.
According to the info available from BBI, his former stance  
Marty in Albany : 6/2/2023 9:44 am : link
was an accommodation to his injury and not his normal stance.
So we'll have to wait and see how he performs when he's healthy.
Howard Cross in a recent podcast  
Lowell : 6/2/2023 10:05 am : link
said that in his opinion Neal was playing hurt after he returned and it affected his play.

I compared his pass pro in the Ravens game, before his injury, and he was getting into his pass set much quicker and effortlessly compared to his post injury performance. He wasn't the same player.

Btw, his run blocking in the Ravens game was superb. I felt he won every single run blocking rep. He was getting two yards of movement on every play. Even so, he had trouble sustaining his initial pop and that seems to be a lack of balance which he says he's been addressing. All in all, it does seem the needle is pointing up for Neal.
I felt beyond stance....he had general balance issues....  
George from PA : 6/2/2023 10:14 am : link
Finding himself on the ground too often.

So I hope he is working on that as well.

The good thing with Neal....he is a hard worker....so I have high hopes
No video.  
Klaatu : 6/2/2023 10:15 am : link
But a link with some pics on Twitter in the thread linked below.

Naturally, I hope Neal turns into another Jack Conklin, but if he just becomes a reliable asset instead of a liability he'll be well worth drafting him 7th overall.

Link - ( New Window )
Neal just needs to get those big paws on people ...  
Manny in CA : 6/2/2023 11:38 am : link

Instead of playing "patty-cake"with them. If he turns it into a wrestling match, he wins every time.
RE: I felt beyond stance....he had general balance issues....  
mfjmfj : 6/2/2023 12:18 pm : link
In comment 16126681 George from PA said:
Quote:
Finding himself on the ground too often.

So I hope he is working on that as well.

The good thing with Neal....he is a hard worker....so I have high hopes



I this is footwork/stance not balance. When a rusher gets to his outside he crosses his feet to chase. Fastest way to end on your ass. He has to hop step out - may not always get there in time, but he can keep his feet when he does. Instead of sticking with basic technique he has been panicking and chasing. Might be stance issues, or might be injury issues. I am optimistic that this is pretty easily fixed.
RE: I felt beyond stance....he had general balance issues....  
Payasdaddy : 6/2/2023 12:31 pm : link
In comment 16126681 George from PA said:
Quote:
Finding himself on the ground too often.

So I hope he is working on that as well.

The good thing with Neal....he is a hard worker....so I have high hopes


This! My main reason I don’t expect an AT type second yr. No , I am not down on Neal, just different players. I think he will make a solid jump in yr 2
He ceiling may be excellent run blocker, decent pass pro.
I am sure he is working on his balance, it can be improved even though he won’t be a dancing elephant
RE: RE: I felt beyond stance....he had general balance issues....  
ColHowPepper : 6/2/2023 1:54 pm : link
In comment 16126757 Payasdaddy said:
Quote:
...I am sure he is working on his balance, it can be improved even though he won’t be a dancing elephant

Ha, funny you mention elephants. Neal is very heavy limbed. Maybe the (right?) knee injury accentuated it, but when you saw Neal's kick step out with his right leg trying to square up to the outside rush, it looked cumbersome, heavy, slow and his body followed--slow.
I had not heard anything to effect that his stance post-injury was different from pre-injury. Maybe I missed that.
RE: Neal just needs to get those big paws on people ...  
pennylane : 6/2/2023 4:00 pm : link
In comment 16126727 Manny in CA said:
Quote:

Instead of playing "patty-cake"with them. If he turns it into a wrestling match, he wins every time.
Patty Cake Making a comeback.
I posted this on a thread on Neal back in January  
BSIMatt : 6/2/2023 10:19 pm : link
Quote:
One poster touched on it, but I think it should be highlighted..the Giants changed the way Neal gets into his pass sets. It is literally the foundation of his technique, how he sets his feet/base. Not using it as an excuse, but they obviously believed in it enough at the NFL level to change it with Neal...but it was fundamentally different from what he was coached on at Alabama. So yes, Neal is a technician..but he is being tought a new way to get into his pass sets that is fundamentally different from what had been drilled into him for years(one is more vertical set, the other is more horizontal set). It's a small detail, but it's foundational to every rep he takes in pass pro and it's repping that into muscle memory..the injury didn't help. I think he'll be fine once this is second nature to him and he's just playing on ingrained muscle memory.


So the stance change to me, would be related to accommodating the newer pass set he transitioned to his rookie year. This is really why I’m not worried about Neal, he’s literally not only learning a new technique, but also unlearning/removing an old technique. Sometimes those adjustments take more time, especially with a guy who logged so many reps in one technique in college.
*  
ColHowPepper : 6/3/2023 10:51 am : link
Matt, wasn't there a similar reportage w/r/t AT: under Shurmur and then JJ, Thomas was taught a new pass protection set, with which he was having difficulty, then (different?) OL coach had him go back to what he had been doing at UGA? If Neal has been taught a different approach in '22 vs what he did at ALA (not sure I've seen that), that might explain some of the difficulty he had last season. I have better confidence in Bobby Johnson's steering this process.

In part might explain what seems to be Neal's slow and clumsy transition from set to initial pass pro positioning.
RE: *  
Bill in UT : 6/3/2023 11:45 am : link
In comment 16127072 ColHowPepper said:
Quote:
Matt, wasn't there a similar reportage w/r/t AT: under Shurmur and then JJ, Thomas was taught a new pass protection set, with which he was having difficulty, then (different?) OL coach had him go back to what he had been doing at UGA? If Neal has been taught a different approach in '22 vs what he did at ALA (not sure I've seen that), that might explain some of the difficulty he had last season. I have better confidence in Bobby Johnson's steering this process.

In part might explain what seems to be Neal's slow and clumsy transition from set to initial pass pro positioning.


I could be wrong, but I think I've seen it posted here that Neal had balance issues in college also, that he spent time on the ground. Tho they must not have been too prevalent if he was picked so high
Some of what I saw...  
Brown_Hornet : 6/3/2023 11:32 pm : link
...looked like Neal guessing.
Seems like he sometimes assumed he was going to have to get that 3rd kick down and couldn't get to the post when the defender used an inside move.
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