Manhertz and Thomas Blocking Key to 1st Place Run-Game

[Seltzer]

Can understand why staff was/is so high on Manhertz after watching this.  Blocking his tail off

Thomas has also had some impressive blocks in addition to flashing as a receiving TE.  Impressive as a 4th Round rookie

Going to be an exciting group to watch when Olsen returns.  Potential to be as good a TE group as there is in the league

[t96]

Yeah it's really nice to see these two step up. Olsen coming back will be huge but it is interesting to note that while Greg has had elite receiving and pass protection grades from PFF consistently, he's had TERRIBLE run blocking grades for a TE. PFF is ultimately kind of silly but I don't think it's wrong to say run blocking is Greg's weakest area. Either way, I'm confident Norv can utilize them all the best way possible.

[Khyber53]

They really have been making a difference, and I think Armah has been, too, when he's in. Those two TEs, though, have been a big part of the success of this patchety line.

Winning at football really breaks down into two things: blocking and tackling. We're getting very good at the blocking again and I hope we can improve the tackling when we're on the other side of the ball. 

[KB_fan]

2 hours ago, Seltzer said:

Can understand why staff was/is so high on Manhertz after watching this.  Blocking his tail off

I have some crow to eat.  As many of you will remember, I was lobbying to have Manhertz start the season on the PUP to help free up a roster spot when we were in the midst of the O line injuries disaster.  I figured we would never miss him on the field early in the season with Greg, Ian Thomas and Armah.  Didn't expect he'd contribute much coming off injury and having missed all of training camp.

I was SO WRONG.  It's a darn good thing Manhertz wasn't on the PUP.  We've needed him when Greg got hurt.  And he's played better than I expected in terms of his blocking.

Very glad to see it.  It's a good thing to be wrong sometimes!

 

[MasterAwesome]

But...Jeremy told me Manhertz sucks at blocking   

[Ace_Aladdin]

I told y’all 2 TE set is the real deal just wait until Norv utilizes them in the receiving game.

 

[BigSyke]

Ian Thomas can be a complete tight end. Just wait till he takes off in passing game consistently. Good value in 4th round.

Manhertz, ummm well at least he's not just taking up a roster spot like Amini.lol

[Saca312]

@Ace_Aladdin tried telling all of us about Manhertz

[Moo Daeng]

Igo made a snarky comment about Mannhertz blocking after we watched a game where he had some great blocks.  It was an illogical assumption that because Thomas had a good block that it meant Manhertz couldn't. It made no sense at all.

[Navy_football]

This type of physicality from the TE position has been missing for some time. I love Greg Olsen's effort, but he isn't the most physical of blockers. I hope he isn't inserted in there when he returns with the expectation that he'll have the same results. 

[Khyber53]

16 hours ago, KB_fan said:

I have some crow to eat.  As many of you will remember, I was lobbying to have Manhertz start the season on the PUP to help free up a roster spot when we were in the midst of the O line injuries disaster.  I figured we would never miss him on the field early in the season with Greg, Ian Thomas and Armah.  Didn't expect he'd contribute much coming off injury and having missed all of training camp.

I was SO WRONG.  It's a darn good thing Manhertz wasn't on the PUP.  We've needed him when Greg got hurt.  And he's played better than I expected in terms of his blocking.

Very glad to see it.  It's a good thing to be wrong sometimes!

 

I think we're all guilty of this with some players, particularly non-first stringers who don't get a lot of game time on the field. We just don't get the full picture of what they can and can't do. I don't think any of us had an idea of how good Manhertz really was in the run-blocking game and how he could help out. Really, how many times did we get to see him on the field last year or even spend any time evaluating his growth at training camp this year? 

Luckily, the coaches got to see it all. They also got to see him in position and grouping meetings, see him in the weight room and hear from the trainers. We hear in this board all the time "Ron doesn't know what he's doing" or "RR never takes a new guy over a vet", but the truth is that RR is an experienced coach and a player before that, he is at every practice, takes part in the classroom side of the team and has evaluation resources none of us have any kind of access to.

Some of us argue over a particular third stringer or fan favorite guy to come off the bench (some to the point of having a fetish over it I guess), but there's most likely some reason we aren't considering or even knowing for why that particular guy does or doesn't get a helmet on game day. 

Me, I trust Rivera and his staff to put the best team out there that they can on any given Sunday. He's one of the more successful coaches in the league now and no one looks at the Panthers on their schedule and pencils in an easy win anymore. 

[caatfan]

18 hours ago, KB_fan said:

I have some crow to eat.  As many of you will remember, I was lobbying to have Manhertz start the season on the PUP to help free up a roster spot when we were in the midst of the O line injuries disaster.  I figured we would never miss him on the field early in the season with Greg, Ian Thomas and Armah.  Didn't expect he'd contribute much coming off injury and having missed all of training camp.

I was SO WRONG.  It's a darn good thing Manhertz wasn't on the PUP.  We've needed him when Greg got hurt.  And he's played better than I expected in terms of his blocking.

Very glad to see it.  It's a good thing to be wrong sometimes!

 

I hear crow is pretty good. Tastes like chicken. 

[caatfan]

2 hours ago, Navy_football said:

This type of physicality from the TE position has been missing for some time. I love Greg Olsen's effort, but he isn't the most physical of blockers. I hope he isn't inserted in there when he returns with the expectation that he'll have the same results. 

You gotta know they're aware of Olsen's pluses and minuses by now. 

[MasterAwesome]

17 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

Igo made a snarky comment about Mannhertz blocking after we watched a game where he had some great blocks.  It was an illogical assumption that because Thomas had a good block that it meant Manhertz couldn't. It made no sense at all.

This is why I cringe at the thought of actually paying money each month to have access to the All-Pro section. I would then presumably be exposed to a much larger quantity of his type of flawed and often nonsensical analysis, which he presents as fact in a pretentious way.