How Josh Ezeudu’s struggles at left tackle limited the Giants’ offense

[MightyGiants]

It's about a lot more than the sacks Ezeudu allowed vs. the Eagles

By Nick Falato



This is an excellent article that explains the issues that AT's season-ending injury and starting Ezeudu caused

https://www.bigblueview.com/2024/10/22/24276128/how-josh-ezeudu-at-left-tackle-limited-the-giants-offense-vs-philly?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=bigblueview

[Ed Vette]

I'm surprised at Nick Falato. That headline and final thoughts are in no way indicative of the total performance of Ezeudu. Out of 43 pass blocking snaps he gave up two sacks and one hurry according to PFF, but I watched the entire all-22 of this game and although I hit him with 2 sacks and 3 other pressures, the pressures didn't have an impact on the plays as two of them were completions. The other fallacy was that he got help all game, which he didn't. Most all of the Inline TE snaps were lined up Strong Side Right. A few were on his side. Eluemunor and JMS had much worse games than Josh did. He was mostly lined up against Sweat but Graham had a few snaps coming out in the second half. One impressive play was the double blitz where he alertly picked up the B Gap instead of the outside Rusher. You never want a free release in the B gap. The sack was on the QB for not looking to the Hot Read. For his first game Josh Ezeudu had a very good game if not for those two sacks, but he settled in and had a fine performance. I did bang him on one Run Play at the whiff at the second level but it was a poorly designed play from the start. I'm also disappointed in Daboll for not being strong enough in his support.

As for Jones vs Lock? Lock was just rusty and his timing and passes were off, but he read the field much quicker. A couple of notes on Jones... when you have a Receiver in motion, wait until the defense commits and the Receiver sets before snapping a Run Play. If the Defender isn't following the receiver, it's Zone Coverage and the Box is loaded and you should check out of it. Second, if the Corner defending the X on the sideline has his back to you, that's an indication he can defend the sideline pass. Third, he's reading half the field and the Defenders break off their coverage before the pass is thrown. 4th, he tends to bail right as the pocket gets tight instead of just moving to the free space. He missed Nabors and 17 on wide-open plays. One where Nabors was triple covered and WDR was wide open. 5th hesitating to pass was an issue with both QBs and one resulted in no pass in the Flat to 17, while Lock was late on a broken-up pass that should have been a nice gain. 6th, when Jones feels pressure, where at times he can move up or to the side, he rushed the pass and those resulted in a couple of off-target throws.

Back to Ezeudu... he deserves another chance even though it's against TJ Watt, it will be a good test. I would give him some help that he didn't get against Josh Sweat or Brandon Graham. Ask his OLC. He didn't need it.     

[T200]

Thanks for sharing that, Ed. 

[MightyGiants]

@Ed Vette

You comments have some similarities to Daboll's comments yesterday

Q: You're staying with (offensive lineman Joshua Ezeudu) Josh as the left tackle?

BRIAN DABOLL: Yeah, we'll have that discussion here. We've watched the tape. We're not there yet. I thought that early on there was a couple plays in there. One off of a jam and another one that could have been better. I think he settled in. It was his first time playing. So, there's some things he did better as the game went on and made some improvements. And we'll see where we're at here.

One thing that neither of you mentioned is which way the pass protection slanted (left or right).  Most of the time, a team slants the protection, which helps the tackle whose side it's slanted.   I suspect prior to AT's injury, they almost always slanted right to help JE leave AT on an island.  If I were to guess this past Sunday, they likely slanted more to the left than the right (which is why JE didn't look as good as he had prior).

[EDjohnst1981]

I'm surprised at Nick Falato. That headline and final thoughts are in no way indicative of the total performance of Ezeudu. Out of 43 pass blocking snaps he gave up two sacks and one hurry according to PFF, but I watched the entire all-22 of this game and although I hit him with 2 sacks and 3 other pressures, the pressures didn't have an impact on the plays as two of them were completions. The other fallacy was that he got help all game, which he didn't. Most all of the Inline TE snaps were lined up Strong Side Right. A few were on his side. Eluemunor and JMS had much worse games than Josh did. He was mostly lined up against Sweat but Graham had a few snaps coming out in the second half. One impressive play was the double blitz where he alertly picked up the B Gap instead of the outside Rusher. You never want a free release in the B gap. The sack was on the QB for not looking to the Hot Read. For his first game Josh Ezeudu had a very good game if not for those two sacks, but he settled in and had a fine performance. I did bang him on one Run Play at the whiff at the second level but it was a poorly designed play from the start. I'm also disappointed in Daboll for not being strong enough in his support.

As for Jones vs Lock? Lock was just rusty and his timing and passes were off, but he read the field much quicker. A couple of notes on Jones... when you have a Receiver in motion, wait until the defense commits and the Receiver sets before snapping a Run Play. If the Defender isn't following the receiver, it's Zone Coverage and the Box is loaded and you should check out of it. Second, if the Corner defending the X on the sideline has his back to you, that's an indication he can defend the sideline pass. Third, he's reading half the field and the Defenders break off their coverage before the pass is thrown. 4th, he tends to bail right as the pocket gets tight instead of just moving to the free space. He missed Nabors and 17 on wide-open plays. One where Nabors was triple covered and WDR was wide open. 5th hesitating to pass was an issue with both QBs and one resulted in no pass in the Flat to 17, while Lock was late on a broken-up pass that should have been a nice gain. 6th, when Jones feels pressure, where at times he can move up or to the side, he rushed the pass and those resulted in a couple of off-target throws.

Back to Ezeudu... he deserves another chance even though it's against TJ Watt, it will be a good test. I would give him some help that he didn't get against Josh Sweat or Brandon Graham. Ask his OLC. He didn't need it.   

Really interesting insight, Ed.

You know your onions and I enjoy your breakdowns.

[Ed Vette]

@Ed Vette

You comments have some similarities to Daboll's comments yesterday

One thing that neither of you mentioned is which way the pass protection slanted (left or right).  Most of the time, a team slants the protection, which helps the tackle whose side it's slanted.   I suspect prior to AT's injury, they almost always slanted right to help JE leave AT on an island.  If I were to guess this past Sunday, they likely slanted more to the left than the right (which is why JE didn't look as good as he had prior).

I suggest you go back and watch the game. Ezeudu was often on an island alone with Sweat Wide 9. That was another comment by Nick that I scratched my head over. You don't need the all-22 to see what that's all about.

[umassgrad]

The Eagles had 2 starting OL out and ran the ball down our throats. We have to be able to survive one injury on the OL.