And you all thought Ryan Grant sucked...

[TennesseePackerBacker]

Here's what I don't quite get: if Wells is #63, and the play was supposed to go between center and right guard (where the FB goes), why did Wells appear to block his man toward the right? Or did Rodgers just take him there, thus closing the original hole but allowing the middle to open thanks to the blocking on the left side?

The second is my take. Wells has great balance and when Rogers adjusted his force Wells took him there as hard as he could. Sometimes you can't force a guy that size where you want him, but if he is off balance you can drive him harder than he wanted in the direction he wanted. In this case it opened the cutback.

Grant on the play showed what he is. Solid, not all world. He did what MM preaches all the time. He made the first cut into the hole and ran downhill. Bummer the guy he ran into wasn't 2 yards left or right as Grant would have been gone, but Grant did his job...one cut and run downhill. I only bag on him when he misses the FIRST cut, you can't ask him to make another one, he would start running too tenatively and never bust a big one.

Big runs come when a guy makes his one cut and has a lane as he opens up full speed....unless its Barry Sanders who can make another 4 cuts before he is done.

edit: If Cliffy were the LT on that play Grant is dropped at the line. With Lang the cutback lane appeared though as he held his ground.

Lang really impressed me on that play. He didn't just hold his ground. He got his arms extended and blew his guy several yards back. Granted it was a linebacker. I'm not sure if it's designed or not but I'd love for someone to tell me. IF the run was going to the 2 gap(between center and rg) why are both Spitz and Barbre playing titty-bumps with their men. Now I don't know all the in's-and-out's about zone blocking, but I do know about conventional blocking. Neither one drives his man, they just make contact and stand them up. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, getting your defender stood up, but they didn't appear to try to drive their man anywhere. They were just content to make contact and stop penetration. Is this by design?

[mmmdk]

Nice thread.

Grant is the best back Packers has right now and I have a feeling Grant wouldn't fall through even in Denver. Grant needs bigger holes as his hips won't let him make those athletic cuts; Grant makes sharp cuts and his burst doesn't kick in before 10 yards or so. A one cut guy...for every 10 yards. With space Grant has speed.