Big Blue View
The New York Giants beat a forlorn Raiders team in Week 17, ending a nine-game losing streak and securing their first road victory of the season. Rookie tackle Marcus Mbow filled in for Andrew Thomas, who is done for the season after suffering a hamstring injury in Week 16. It was Mbow’s second start of the season, and it was less than ideal, with some flash highlights.
Mbow surrendered five pressures and three hurries in the game, and continued to struggle with power rushes; sand must be poured down the pants of Mbow in the off-season, but his overall movement skills and quickness are reasons for excitement:
The overall control and movement skills in this play are part of the impressive foundation that Mbow possesses as a developmental offensive lineman who could be a fixture in the New York Giants’ plans.
Mbow plays with a mean streak and can finish with authority, as shown above. Still, he looked like a rookie in Week 17—which is to be expected, especially given that he played right tackle in college, not left tackle.
We’ll go through some of his pass and run snaps to illustrate how the rookie fifth-round pick performed.
(Marcus Mbow is No. 71)
Mbow had solid pass-blocking reps—such as the second-and-17 play above—that resulted in a first-down scramble by Jaxson Dart. He was patient with his inside hand, waiting for Malcolm Koonce (51) to commit to an inside move after Mbow’s pass set cut off the veteran rusher’s angle. Although Mbow was initially impatient with his outside hand and briefly leaned, the rookie was able to reset and latch onto Koonce’s inside shoulder, effectively creating a rushing lane for Dart.
Mbow was not perfect in the patient battle against Koonce, a pass rusher with just 30 pressures on the season, six of them against the Giants. Mbow trusted his movement skills on this play-action and framed Koonce, who waited to see the Giants’ plans after Dart went into the mesh-point. Once the pass was declared, Koonce swung his inside arm at Mbow, who reached and gave the pass rusher plenty of space to the inside. Koonce dipped his inside shoulder and broke into the pocket, forcing Dart backwards until he eventually slipped for a massive loss. I’m unsure if Mbow thought there would be running back help; judging by Tyrone Tracy Jr’s (29) actions, I’d say no, which leads me to Mbow, who must do a better job protecting his inside when on an island and exercising patience on a play-action pass.
Mbow had other reps where pressure was surrendered to his inside, like this one against Koonce above on this 36-yard completion to Wan’Dale Robinson on first-and-10. It’s play-action, and Mbow attempts to fit his hands inward, but Koonce gets into his chest and presses Mbow’s inside shoulder, successfully dictating on the initial parts of the rep. However, Mbow does a fantastic job opening his hips and shuffling his feet inward to mirror Koonce, while not...
