Ryan Kalil and Greg Olsen both had to watch from the sidelines as the Panthers fell to the Saints in New Orleans just over a week ago but as the regular season enters the crucial final weeks, both have made their return to the field for one final charge to the playoffs. What did Sunday’s win over the Vikings tell us about how valuable the two might be in the Panthers final push?
Olsen Underwhelming
Greg Olsen had a quiet day against the Vikings, with the following play being his only target:
Whether it was caught by the wind or simply came out wrong is hard to tell, but what is clear is that this pass went nowhere near Olsen. While the accuracy was off, what is also fairly clear here is that Olsen wasn’t able to separate vertically; that’s not hugely surprising given he was matched up against a cornerback. Part of Olsen’s quiet day can be put down to the difficult matchup the Vikings pose, with excellent speed at both safety and linebacker. With that being said, Olsen still managed to affect the game without catching the ball.
For much of the game, he was used in pass protection or on simple sit-down routes; these routes are of little use against the man coverage run most of the time by the Vikings’ defense. However, he did have some success in forcing double teams from the safety, such as on the following play:
Had the Vikings not blitzed, Olsen getting behind the linebacker would have forced the safety to chose between him and Byrd, likely allowing for a long completion. Olsen also managed to get open using some nice outside fakes, although he doesn’t get the ball on the following play:
Where Olsen had some difficulty was in separating underneath. The Vikings had clearly made the decision, possibly correctly, that his foot was limiting his deep speed; defenders intentionally bit on underneath routes, taking a calculated gamble on the Panthers’ deep ball, such as on the play below:
If Olsen is going to be as effective as he has been in the past during the final few weeks of the season, he will need to demonstrate an ability to get behind the defense in order to open up the underneath routes. This might not have been the return that Olsen would have wanted, but if his foot is anything close to healthy, he should be expected to be a significant positive addition for the Panthers’ offense.
Kalil Shows Flashes of Normalcy
Rivera commented that Ryan Kalil got better as Sunday’s game went on, and there is certainly some truth to that. His day didn’t start hugely impressively when, having crashed down on the tackle, he reached the second level only to completely whiff on Eric Kendricks. Kendricks is a very good linebacker, but it was hardly Kalil’s best play:
While Kalil was largely unremarkable in pass protection throughout the afternoon as Linval Joseph gave him some significant difficulties at times. On the following two plays, both from early on in the game, Joseph is simply too powerful for Kalil and is able to bully his way to the quarterback:
While Kalil did manage to mitigate Joseph’s power more effectively as the game went on, he nearly allowed another sack on the following play when he overcommitted outside only be be beaten back inside:
Kalil also struggled at times when asked to block Joseph one-on-one in the run game. On the first play shown, Joseph simply drives him backwards, thereby stuffing the run for a loss and, on the second, he is nearly able to come away with a safety when he gets underneath Kalil:
Some of these issues are hard to put solely on Kalil; it is somewhat optimistic to expect a center, no matter how good, to block one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL one-on-one in the run game. With that being said, there are some issues on these plays that Kalil surely will be working on this week with run game coordinator John Matsko. Both the overcommitting outside in pass protection and allowing Joseph to get underneath him on the near-safety are errors rather than simply being beaten by an excellent player.
Even looking a touch rusty, there was an awful lot to like about his performance against the Vikings, especially in the run game. A common theme with Kalil’s play is how simple he sometimes makes it look; by using his body well to wall off defenders, he is able to be an effective run defender without having to blow people off the ball.
While the play breaks down to to the right hand side of the offensive line, on the play above Kalil is able to simply get inside Joseph and wall him off allowing for the run over the right guard. On the following play, he does something very similar, getting outside his defender to create a back-side running lane; unfortunately, that was a lane that Stewart failed to notice.
Where that is especially useful is when he is asked to create a seam on the second level. On the next play, the Panthers run a QB draw and Kalil is asked to get to the second level and make a block on the linebacker. While Cam misreads the gap it is still clear to see how Kalil is able to use his body to wall off a running lane.
What cannot be overstated is the ease with which Kalil gets to the second level. While good starting centers in the NFL make these plays consistently, Kalil does so with such ease that it is easy to forget that even good backups like Larsen might not make these blocks. On each of the following plays, Kalil shows an ability to locate a second level defender and to make a good block:
The other area where Kalil shows just how above average his play can be is on stretch plays. Here, he is asked to get outside the defender to allow the running back to get to the edge. When done well, it looks something like this:
However, what separates Kalil from the likes of Larsen is what he does when he is unable to get outside his defender, such as on the following play. He is able to keep his arm inside the frame of the defender forcing him up the field and slowing him down, which is ultimately what makes the run successful:
Finally, when push comes to shove, Kalil does still pack the power to grind things out, as he did on Stewart’s game-winning touchdown dive:
Kalil might not have been at his All-Pro best on Sunday, but his performance was still one that could only have come from a handful of NFL centers. If he can stay healthy and work off some of the apparent rust, his return should be an extremely useful one in the Panthers’ push for a playoff spot and possibly, just maybe, a first-round bye.
