Mile High Report
I know what some of you may be thinking. Another hit piece on Luke Wattenberg? And if you’re thinking that then you’d be incorrect, because Luke Wattenberg was a star on Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders.
I’m not going to bury the lead or keep you in anticipation for when you get to the score, Wattenberg might have had the best game of his career and he easily put up his best score in RGS history, and he has one of the highest scores I’ve ever handed out. I was impressed while watching live, and the film looked that much better.
This was the first time I’ve really enjoyed watching Wattenberg play, so let’s get into it.
The Denver Broncos had 72 offensive snaps. 29 of them were designed rushes and 43 of them were designed passes or an RPO that Nix threw on.
Wattenberg finished with four pancakes, three of which were on the first drive.
He had zero blown blocks, and gave up zero TFLs, pressures, QB hits, or sacks.
Wattenberg had one “Bad” block, two “Meh” blocks, 12 “Alright” blocks, 53 “Good” blocks, and four “Great” blocks for a score of 68 points out of a possible 72, or 94.4%.
In run protection he had 26.75 points (92.2%) and in pass protection he had 41.25 points (95.9%).
Luke Wattenberg was every bit as good as his new contract and the grade said he was. While usually he’s been pretty reliable in pass protection, he has been a liability at times in run protection and has never really been a difference maker. He’s never been that nasty, physical presence up front that you can consistently run behind.
He’s never been any of this, until Sunday.
He was his usual self while going up against these Vegas interior pass rushers, but what really impressed me was just how much different of a run blocker he looked. He was winning his one-on-ones. He was getting underneath the pads of the defensive tackles and driving them. He was finishing blocks like I’ve never seen before. His pancakes were usually just the cherry on top of him driving a dude back three yards.
His hands were exact, his feet were never stagnant, and his demeanor was violent. Just that opening drive alone told me everything I needed to know about how this game was going to go. He might have had the greatest opening drive/ single drive grade I’ve ever given out.
The Broncos ran 14 plays on the opening drive; five runs and 9 passes. He scored 14.5 points on those 14 plays. A 103.5% is unbelievable. And on just the rushes his score would be 110%. He put the defender flat on their back three times that drive.
Mike Munchak might be turning Luke Wattenberg into something special.
Run play – Inside Zone – Great block
This is a textbook example of how to combo block on Inside Zone by...
