It may have taken 10 years, along with plenty of strife along the way, but the heartbeat of this team, Garett Bolles, has finally played in and won his first home NFL Playoff game. If anyone on this team deserved a moment like this, it absolutely was Bolles (or maybe Courtland Sutton).
Bolles had his work cut out for him though. The Bills defense boasted a strong pressure package and had a very diverse playbook to work out (notice the past-tense for the Bills) of and there was much Bolles had to be
prepared for. The burden of protecting Bo Nix’s blind side fell on Bolles’ shoulders. Just how well did he do on Saturday?
Stat crunch
Not including kneel downs, the Broncos had 66 offensive snaps against the Bills over the span of 11 drives (not including the one to end the first half that was just a field goal). 17 of those snaps were designed run plays while 49 of them were designed pass plays. Bolles played every one of those snaps.
Bolles did not have any blown blocks nor did he give up any TFLs. He gave up one pressure and two QB hits.
Bolles finished with zero penalties.
I credited him with three “Bad” blocks, three “Meh” blocks, 10 “Alright” blocks, 48 “Good” blocks, and one “Great” block. This gave Bolles a total score of 58 points out of a possible 66, scoring a 87.5%.
In run protection he had 14 out of a possible 17 points (82.4%) and in pass protection he had 45.25 out of a possible 49 points (92.3%).
In general
The Broncos relied on the arm of Bo Nix the majority of the game, so there wasn’t too much to look at in terms of run blocking film for Bolles. But on those plays Bolles mostly did well, but it might have been one of his weaker games in this department, at least if we’re going off of just his score.
On his two “Meh” run blocks it wasn’t that he did poorly or get blown backwards and give up a play, more so he didn’t win the block even if it was relatively inconsequential. For example, on one play he failed to secure the reach block on a linebacker. The linebacker didn’t make the play, but it was an unsuccessful rep nonetheless. And on the other one he got stalemated at the line. So again, not bad, just not good.
But with the one rep of him not being able to secure the reach block, there was another of him working a slick bit of hand fighting that did earn him the edge on the reach block. He had successes to balance out his mistakes on similar play calls.
Also, given the small sample size of run blocks, one poor block could really affect your score. Predominantly he was good and even had a nice highlight that we’ll take a look at later.
In pass protection, while he did give up two QB hits (one causing a near-fumble) one of them was not egregious and occurred a second after Nix got the pass off. And he gave up both of these QB hits in the same manner, which was interesting. Each time he was trying to bat down the hands of the defender when contact was initiated, and each time he missed or didn’t get enough contact, which gave the defender an easy path to the edge.
But when Denver really needed him, Bolles was unstoppable. When they were in obvious passing situations near the end of the game, he was lights out. On drives nine, ten, and eleven Bolles did not have any blocks graded less than “Good” the entire time. That’s 14-straight reps were the Bills defender didn’t have a chance of getting to Nix. That’s remarkable given the situation the Broncos were in and the ability of the Buffalo defense.
And Joey Bosa, the vaulted pass rusher, didn’t even get close to Nix the entire time Bolles was lined up against him. We’ll take a look at a play were Bosa was even getting bullied.
The specifics
Pass play – Drop back – Bad block
This is a simple mistake but one that forces Nix to have to throw the ball away to avoid taking a hit. And I don’t know if I even want to fully blame Bolles or rather chalk this one up to a great defensive scheme, but I think I’ll take the harsher option given how good Bolles is and how he usually is able to pick up these blocks.
The Bills have an edge defender walked up to the line of scrimmage and he’s lined out wide. The DE and DT to the side of that defender are running a stunt. Both of those guys end up moving inside to open up the C gap for that edge blitzer. And Bolles does a good job of passing off Bosa and does eventually see the blitzer, but he’s too late and unable to get to the outside or get a hand on him.
This is a really tough situation to be in if you’re Bolles. Your primary block is the DE. He slants inside so you have to get your head inside as you should then be expecting a stunt, which means a looper is coming around your way. If you do this then there is hardly a chance you can then look outside unless you already had that defender keyed pre-snap. Maybe Bolles should have. Maybe the protection should have been a slide to the left. But that’s also not up to the tackle, usually.
I think there’s a strong case to make that this should be graded a “Meh”, but I’ll stay on the harsher side of the argument here.
Pass block – Drop back – Bad block
Here is one of the QB hits that Bolles gave up. And like I said earlier, it all comes down to the initial bit of hand fighting.
Pay attention to his right hand. As the defender sticks out his arm to initiate contact Bolles attempts to swat it down and throw the DE off balance. But he’s unable to do so as the DE is still able to get his hand on Bolles’ chest. And since that swat attempt causes Bolles to turn out, than leaves a short edge for the DE to take and he nearly forces a fumble on this play.
Better contact and more vertical movement can help prevent this.
Pass play – Play action – Great block
This was a perfect play all-around. Scores their first home playoff touchdown in 10 years, takes the lead, gets an offensive lineman (shout out Frank Crum) a touchdown, and Bolles is making Joey Bosa look stupid.
That initial pop he gives Bosa is fantastic. He has his base behind and underneath him, gets both hands to the chest, which stands Bosa up. He then follows up with a shot to the shoulder which knocks Bosa to the ground. And then he’s about to follow up with another shove as soon as Bosa gets back to his feet.
You know what? Screw it. This play makes me feel a certain level of energy that really gets me going. That feeling alone, I believe, helps dictate the sort of block that this should be graded as. I rebuke my initial thoughts and will be correcting this to a “Great” block. All grades will be adjusted. Bully ball is great blocking.
Run play – Outside Zone – Good block
Here is the nifty bit of OZ blocking I was alluding to earlier. There’s nothing major that Bolles does here, in fact it’s fairly subtle. But it really makes the difference on this block.
Bolles’ goal on this block is to secure the outside shoulder of the DT. This will finish with his head to the left of the DT. At the start of this block, Bolles is close, but is stuck moving laterally with the DT while staying face-to-face with him. But then, aided by the upwards leverage on the play side shoulder he secured with his right arm, Bolles flips his hips and rips his left arm across the body of the DT, turns and runs with him and secures the outside edge.
This is textbook usage of the rip technique on reach blocking. It’s also a nice example of the block progressing through the length of the play.
Run play – QB Pin and Pull – Good block
I must have said it a hundred times by now, but part of why the Broncos are the best team in the league in their Pin and Pull/ Crack Toss concepts is due to how good Bolles is at executing his block on the edge.
There’s nothing fancy that he does, but he’s an athletic force that easily gets to the edge and is able to close the distance on the defender and get a nice pop right on the inside shoulder. No defensive back can compete with the power of Bolles. And that’s why Bolles takes the helpless Bill all the way to his bench. That’s how you finish a block.
Just do yourself a favor and only watch Bolles and ignore the other thing that happens on this play.
Final thoughts
Garett Bolles, while he didn’t have his best game of the season, kept Nix off of the ground the entire game. He was relentless and was one of the larger reasons as to why they were able to win this game. When they needed him most, he showed up.
Just another reason why Bolles will end up in the Ring of Fame when it’s all said and done. And hopefully he’ll have a Super Bowl title to go along with his numerous Pro Bowls and All Pros.
