Mile High Report
Let’s see how Garett Bolles did against Maxx Crosby and the Las Vegas Raiders during the Denver Broncos road win on Sunday.
Offensive tackles, especially left tackles, are a massive component to any successful team and offensive line. Good ones are hard to come by, especially in recent years. And if you look ahead to next year’s batch of free agents, there’s not a whole lot of talent available at this position.
That’s why it has been so important for Garett Bolles (for himself at least) to have a productive season heading on the final year of his current contract with the Denver Broncos. If he performs well, then that means a nice payday is waiting for him.
And what we’ve seen out of him so far this year has been impressive. He is near the bottom of the league in pressures, QB hits, and sacks given up, and he has hardly been penalized. He still has the occasional hold, but nothing like it’s been in the past.
Part of why Bo Nix is having as much success as he is is due to the safety that Bolles has been providing on his blind side.
Since it’s been long overdue this season, let’s take a look at Garett Bolles’ performance against the Las Vegas Raiders and see if he should be up for an extension or not.
Garett Bolles was on the field for all 65 offensive snaps that were counted (not called back by penalty). Out of those 65 snaps, 21 were in run protection and 44 were in pass protection.
He had six snaps where Maxx Crosby was his key defender. It was an even split of run plays and pass plays while lined up against him with three apiece.
His best drives of the game were the first and final ones (drives one and eleven). He graded a perfect 8/8 on drive one and 3.5/3 on drive eleven.
Bolles gave up one pressure, zero QB hits, and zero sacks.
According to the RGS (Ross Grading System) Bolles had two “great” blocks (1.5 points), 48 “good” blocks (1 point), 14 “meh” blocks (0.5 points), and one “bad” block (0 points). With no penalty deductions, this would give him 58 total points and a score of 89.2%.
He had 18.5 points on run blocks (88.1%) and 39.5 points on pass blocks (89.8%).
Against Crosby specifically, he had four “good” blocks and two “meh” blocks for 5 total points on six plays, or a score of 83.3%.
Bolles definitely played to his strengths on Sunday. His run blocking was good, and dang good on a couple plays, but his pass blocking was stronger in this game, and the grades showed that. And while it wasn’t a large difference, you can see it on the eye test when watching film, and I’d even argue this for his career as a whole, Bolles is more comfortable and skilled as a pass blocker.
Which isn’t...
