Mile High Report
It’s not often in football that you get the sort of chance to redeem yourself that Alex Forsyth got last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. A little over a year later he gets to return to the spot where he, in part, cost his team a win, and this time around he helps get them in position to clinch a divisional championship.
When Luke Wattenberg was listed out during the week, I was disappointed on behalf of Wattenberg, but there was a part of me happy for Forsyth and confident that he’d be able to get the job done. I’ve been a fan of him over the last couple of seasons, and was even a proponent of him getting a chance to be the starting center this year. Now, Wattenberg more than earned that spot, but this is to say that Forsyth is no slouch.
Forsyth played well on Thursday. But just how did he do and can Denver rely on him for the extent of Wattenberg’s injury? Let’s see what the film says.
The Denver Broncos had 70 offensive snaps, not including kneel downs. They had 32 designed run plays and 38 designed pass plays. Alex Forsyth played every snap.
Forsyth did not have any blown blocks and gave up zero TFLs. He also gave up zero pressures, WB hits, or sacks.
He had one pancake.
He finished with zero penalties.
Forsyth had zero “Bad” blocks, one “Meh” block, 12 “Alright” blocks, 56 “Good” blocks, and one “Great” block. This was good enough for 66.75 points out of 70, or 95.4%.
In run protection he had 29.75 points out of a possible 32 (93%) and in pass protection he had 37 points out of a possible 38 (97.4%).
Alex Forsyth played very well, especially considering the circumstances surrounding his start and the defensive talent that he was going up against. He filled in seamlessly for Wattenberg, and he was better on a handful of snaps than Wattenberg is on specific blocks.
One thing that is very clear is that (I’d hope for this to be true considering how much they pass) every offensive lineman on this team has solid pass protection fundamentals and instincts. They’re always on the same page as a unit, and it doesn’t matter if it’s the starters, or if someone like Forsyth or Alex Palczewski are in.
It’s also the pass protection that helped Forsyth score as high as he did. This is something I usually expect centers to do, considering how they usually have help from one of their guards.
One thing that jumps off the screen in the run game is how smooth and athletic Forsyth can be on their Outside Zone concepts. He was nailing the majority of his reach blocks, and if he wasn’t able to secure the reach he was quick to transition to washing the defensive tackle out to open up the cutback lane for the running back. Not necessarily making the...
