Against the Cardinals, the Panthers did something that is really extremely rare – possibly even unique – by rotating their left tackles.
Nominally, this was to allow Greg Little to get meaningful snaps under his belt without fully throwing him to the wolves, but realistically, the team likely wanted to see if what they had seen on tape and in practice translated to the playing field against pass rushers in the regular season. However, there is a reason why most teams don’t look to rotate their left tackles, and it is likely that the Panthers will probably be forced to stick with one of Greg Little or Daryl Williams going forward. It is also likely, given the play of Williams to this point and Little’s long-term potential that they end up siding with Little – not to mention the fact that Williams may have to fill in at right guard this week for an ailing Trai Turner. So, having now gotten their first look at Greg Little in meaningful game action, what should Panthers fans expect in their new left tackle?
The Run Game
When Greg Little was drafted, one of the major reasons given for his slide was the lack of proven production in the run game given his background in an Ole Miss offense that rarely ran the ball in a way that most NFL teams do. This doesn’t mean that Little is an actively bad run blocker, but rather a very inexperienced one, and it was noticeable that the Panthers largely ran to the right with Little on the field at left tackle on Sunday, using him to cut off any backside pursuit. However, he did show some nice things as a run blocker which could be worth keeping an eye on going forward.
The things that Little did well as a run blocker on Sunday were the same things that were so appealing about him as a prospect – fast feet and excellent control. Both of these can be seen on the following play, working up to the second level and securing the block on the linebacker – Little wears #74:
He does a lot of nice things here, keeping his feet relatively wide with his weight relatively evenly distributed and his hands working to the frame of the defender. He could have done a better job of not leaning in to the block, as this is what ultimately allowed the defender to work around him with Little putting himself off balance.
The next play tells a similar story, as while he initially down blocks onto the defensive lineman, when the defender then looks to work back outside, he is unable to do so as Little has kept his weight evenly distributed and his hands inside the frame of the defender, allowing him to then wall the defender off on the back side of the run:
In fact, only once against the Cardinals did the Panthers use Little as a blocker at the point of attack, and so it is probably worth examining this play in more detail. First, let’s look at the play at full speed:
Now, let’s look at how Little was getting on just as he began to strike:
Here, he is generally in pretty good shape, as his weight is well distributed laterally and his feet are not too narrow. He also is bending his knees reasonably well – though he could possibly do with bringing his legs a little closer together to allow him to bend his knee a little bit further. However, there are a couple of things he could be doing better.
First, while his arms are wide, they are a little outside his frame and this is what makes it harder for him to get a nice clean strike to the frame of the defender. With his weight nicely distributed laterally, this isn’t likely to be in an attempt to keep his balance, and in the future he should work on keeping his elbows really tight to his frame and his hands in front of his face so that he can deliver a more effective initial strike to allow him to control his blocks better.
Second, he is really leaning into his block, partly because of the slightly straighter-than-ideal legs, and this means that when his punch doesn’t quite land, he is left with his weight going forward, which in turn causes him to straighten his legs further. This all leads to the following situation:
Here, he has done a pretty nice job of getting his hands to the frame of the defender, and this is ultimately what saves him – but because he has his weight well out in front of his feet, he is now having to use all the power in his legs to keep himself upright rather than being able to work on controlling his defender and generating push. This is actually still a pretty effective block, but in the future, he should focus on trying to keep his weight right over his feet until he is able to secure inside hand position on the defender, and then and only then looking to lean slightly into the block and look to generate push.
However, as interesting as that all is, the major reason why Little is likely to be made the starting left tackle going forward is his pass protection. So how did he get on in this regard against the Cardinals?
Up Next: Pass Protection Pro
