Mile High Report
See how pivotal Quinn Meinerz was in Denver’s demolition of the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11.
Quinn Meinerz is a freak. And besides Pat Surtain II, I think he should be known as the greatest draft pick made by Denver over, at least, the last decade (that 2021 draft class as a whole is great). Meinerz is consistently dominating the man in front of him and creating plenty of space in the run game and time in the pass game.
And his performance against the Atlanta Falcons might be the best of his season so far.
A solo piece on Meinerz is long overdue and I don’t know how I’ve gone the entire season without writing one. So let’s fix that mistake now.
Here is a review that will incorporate every offensive snap of Meinerz from Sunday. There’s plenty of highlights to break down.
The Denver Broncos had a total of 60 offensive plays and Meinerz was on the field for all of them.
Out of those 60 plays, the Broncos ran the ball 25 times and passed 35 times.
On those 25 run plays, the Broncos ran behind Meinerz 11 times for a total of 55 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Out of his 35 snaps in pass protection Meinerz gave up just one pressure, zero QB hits, and zero sacks.
According to the RGS, Meinerz had three “great” plays (1.5 points), 50 “good” plays (1 point), six “meh” plays (0.5 points), and one “bad” play (0 points). And he had one false start penalty, which costs him one point.
This comes out to 56.5 points or a whopping 94.2%.
If he didn’t have that penalty then it would’ve been 95.8%.
I think my most common notes while watching the film were “good hips” and “shows off strength”. And that makes plenty of sense because those have to be his two biggest attributes, and those two things are what defines some of the best linemen in history (not saying Meinerz is, just one thing those guys all have).
He is so good at using his hips to maintain leverage, flipping them when needed, and he derives so much strength from his base that it’s nearly impossible for many defensive linemen to move him. It’s incredibly impressive.
And then he, on many occasions, struck defenders so hard that they were knocked backwards a yard or two, or to the ground. It’s so much fun to watch.
You could see him build up the momentum, just like the team as a whole, on the first drive, and he just kept whooping butt the rest of the game.
Another part that I love about his game is that he is always looking for contact. He did great with that when he was blocking downfield on screens and runs and when helping out either Wattenberg or McGlinchey in the pass game.
Meinerz is blocking two guys on...
