Andrew Thomas v. Myles Garrett Film Breakdown

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/BobbySkinner_/status/1838593154146075101

[Bob In PA]

WATCH THIS VIDEO !

You can shorten the time by speeding up playback to 1.25x normal (I can hear it well at 1.50x normal).

Rich: Skinner's a savant at diagnosing OL play. He was obviously super-excited (as was I) about the match-up. Neither guy disappointed. It was a WAR all day long. Thomas never changed or abandoned his technique (the key to his success) while Garrett provided a text-book demonstration of the variety of moves you NEED in order to be the BEST in the NFL at pass-rushing. Number Five needs to study and re-study this tape. What we saw from Garrett is what we hoped we would see some day from Number Five. [[boo-hoo]]

IMO Browns should have moved Garrett to the RT side a few times. Maybe he's not as good playing "backwards" but IMO he's fast/quick/smart enough to beat most RT's at three-quarter-speed!!!

Below is my proof that Skinner (brilliant analyst) nevertheless over-reacts & is a bit picky in conclusions he reaches. IMO Andrew Thomas won the day, the game, and the match-up by a WIDE margin. He is a MACHINE who makes the difficult look easy and somewhat routine. Garrett has an extraordinary variety of good moves, and he's good at free-lancing and reacting to good left tackle play.

Here are my "verdicts" concerning the 18 plays shown:

(1) Win
(2) Loss
(3) Win
(4) Win (great spin; Garrett hit Jones but ball was long gone - OL's have advantage of knowing in advance HOW LONG they must hold blocks to give QB time to get ball to 1st read (that's what happened on this play, and that's why I consider it a win for Thomas).
(5) Win
(6) Loss. Holding penalty (best response to being beat around the edge is leave your feet & crush the opponent under your weight) (Skinner makes a similar, but slightly different, suggestion).
(7) Win (same as previous note).
(8) Win (notwithstanding the hit, the ball was long gone) (see note 4)
(9) You've got to watch and re-watch this one!!! Getting frustrated, Garrett resorts to widening his set point even more, which requires him to play even quicker to cover the extra distance.  As Skinner says, he is so quick he appears to "teleport" from one spot to another. Garrett at his absolute best, but I call it a HUGE WIN for Thomas (because the ball was gone and there was no hit).
(10) Extra-wide again; same result - WIN for Thomas.
(11) Win (and a TD for the Giants).
(12) Win
(13) Win (re-watch a few times to study how Thomas re-sets after being flummoxed initially).
(14) Win (I disagree with Skinner more here than anywhere else; not hugely but more than a bit).
(15) Win
(16) A loss, but this one was not on Thomas. The TE completely whiffed on the chip, upon which Thomas was relying. His entire set point and footwork was based on the assumption that the TE would chip Garrett.
(17) Win. Finally gets hand (actually entire forearm) down low enough (at or near the small of Garrett's back, where it's supposed to go) to prevent another successful spinner.
(18) And one more WIN (IMO) against the ultra-wide set starting point, notwithstanding Jones was again hit.

In short, I don't view hits on a QB as losses unless (1) the QB has the ball; (2) the hit occurs prior to the QB having enough time to make his first read; (3) the QB doesn't see it coming.  In each case where I disagree with Skinner treating a play as a loss for Thomas, Jones' first read was to Thomas' side of the field... there were no blind-side hits.

Bob

PS. Against the best, craftiest, and most intelligent pass-rusher in the NFL, a mere two losses out of 18 snaps (with no serious damage) is All-Pro play.