Mile High Report
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.
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.
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.
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...
