I don’t think the Denver offensive line had a particularly bad preseason, but there was certainly a little left to be desired. And while I wouldn’t say I’m worried about the season, I know they’ll be fine, we do have to take a look at the future of a few of these positions. And one of those positions will be left guard.
Ben Powers is a name that might live in infamy and sparks controversy whenever muttered. But I think a couple things can be true about him. Firstly, no he has not lived up to his contract.
But he is still an above-average player at his spot and would be somewhat difficult to upgrade. He also is usually good enough for the Broncos to perform well with.
And it’s this topic that brings us to this week’s film review. We’ll be taking a look at Powers’ last preseason action, grading it, and breaking down some of the specifics.
Stat crunch
Ben Powers played 19 snaps on Saturday. 12 of those were designed pass plays and seven of them were designed run plays or RPOs.
The ball was ran behind him twice for a total of three yards.
He gave up one pressure, zero QB hits, and zero sacks.
According to the RGS, he had two “Bad” blocks, five “Meh” blocks, three “Alright” blocks, and nine “Good” blocks. His final score is 13.75, or 72.4%.
In the run game he scored 5.25 points (75%) and in the pass game he scored 8.5 points (70.8%). Both of his “Bad” blocks were in pass protection.
In general
Ben Powers just gave me this vibe of “good enough but needs improving” against the Saints.
His run blocking was mostly decent with a few errors, but there was nothing egregious. He never whiffed on blocks, but didn’t have good leverage on some. But his main issue is he seemingly likes to anchor down on blocks and doesn’t get that much vertical push. This leads to the hole getting muddied for the running back and not giving him a great option.
His pad level isn’t great either. There’s hardly a sense of him digging out these blocks to get better leverage. And it’s even more obvious when contrasted by his fellow guard Quinn Meinerz, who does do these things.
His pass protection is better, but I think a contributing factor is having help from the center on a good portion of those plays. He has a good enough base to handle bull-rushing defensive linemen. It’s actually his ability to anchor that works well for him in this sense.
The specifics
Inside Zone Lead
Powers and Garett Bolles do a good job on this double team here, but Powers is mostly playing the body positioning game while it seems like Bolles is doing most of the driving. Since they have good hand and body placement on the DT, I’d love for Powers to momentarily disengage, reset his bad level, and strike the DT with his hands hitting underneath the chest plate, and finish the block.
I think he also needs to keep his base just a touch narrower and keep his hips back a little as well. Given the hip position near the end of the rep, his hips being all the way in mean he can really only lift the DT up as that’s where the hips are driving. If his hips are back a little with his butt behind him, that would give him better vertical leverage on the block.
Outside Zone RPO
One of Powers’ best blocks in this game came on an RPO, and as a former lineman and current coach, it feels like it’s always that way.
He takes a good first step and works his way across to the playside of the DT, cutting him off of the intended rushing lane. It’s too bad we can’t see how this run would’ve played out.
Outside Zone
An example of good feet and leverage, and then lunging at the point of attack and missing. He’s lucky to even get a hand on the DT and slow him down just a touch. If the other two blocks were handled, then Powers might have been able to get away with this block.
I also don’t necessarily like him trying to launch with both of his hands either. On a reach block like this, the goal is to get your backside hand to the playside shoulder of the defender.
Pass protection
There is a very specific moment of when this pass pro rep goes wrong. As soon as Powers stops his feet, he gets beat. His initial hand placement and leverage is good, but he just needs to keep working with the DT. He needs one or two more kick steps out as the DT continues to work through his outside shoulder.
It’s that stopping of the feet that forces the soft shoulder, allowing the DT to press through and turn Powers, forcing a pressure.
Inside Zone Swipe
Here’s a great example of what I was referring to earlier, in regards of Powers choosing to anchor down on a block rather than fight for vertical displacement. To his credit, I can see why he makes this blocking choice, just like how Bolles uses the same technique on this play. The run is supposed to hit away from them so they anchor off and form a wall backside.
What I don’t like about that is that it takes away options from the running back, which is the whole point of zone. It’s about making defenders choose a gap to defend and always being wrong when they declare. If Powers worked vertical, then the cutback might have been there.
And to be fair, the block (or lack of one) by Wattenberg is making Powers look worse here.
Final thoughts
I think Ben Powers is a good player. He is better than most others at his position. He is valuable to this team. But he is not living up to his contract and I get the feeling that Denver will be looking at other options when his contract is up.
He’ll be good for this season and the next. They should seek to find his replacement now though.
In this next draft the Broncos should take at least three offensive linemen. I’d be very happy with that.
