Broncos Film Review: Quinn Meinerz vs the Jaguars

Well, that was a frustrating game to watch.

Missed opportunities, self-inflicted wounds, and an abysmal bit of officiating spelled disaster for the Denver Broncos on Sunday. But it wasn’t all bad. There were plenty of individual performances that shined through the darkness, and that includes Quinn Meinerz, who should be revered as at least a top-two offensive guard in the league/ I don’t think that he’s number two though.

Let’s wash this bad taste out of our mouths by enjoying the succulent Chinese meal that was Quinn Meinerz against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Stat crunch

The Broncos had 65 offensive snaps and Meinerz was on the field for all of them. They had 16 designed run plays and 49 designed pass plays.

He had two pancakes and one blown block.

He gave up zero TFLs, zero pressures, one QB hit, and zero sacks.

He did not commit a penalty. 

Meinerz finished the game with three “Bad” blocks, two “Meh” blocks, eight “Alright” blocks, 51 “Good” blocks, and one “Great” block. This was good enough for 59.25 points out of a possible 65, or 91.2%.

In run protection he scored 15.25 points out of 16 (95.3%) and in run protection he scored 42 points out of 49 (85.7%).

In general

This was another clean game of football from Quinn Meinerz, and we can add this game to a long list of those he’s had throughout his career. When you watch him play you get the feeling that you’re watching a masterful artist paint. While this art had a few bad strokes interwoven through, the final product was incredibly pleasing to the eyes.

Maybe I’ll stop with all of the metaphors now.

Meinerz was dominant through most of the game, and I can only imagine how much easier he makes life for Luke Wattenberg and Mike McGlinchey. Meinerz does a great job working through his double teams as he gets a big chunk of the defensive tackle, giving ample opportunity for his backside help to get there, and then he quickly makes his way up to the second level, plays with great leverage, and rarely gets shed. And he’s always looking to hit those linebackers with force. He’s not just there to get in front of a guy. 

His footwork is nearly unmatched, especially among offensive guards. His  pass protection really shows this aspect of his game off, as he is almost never off balance, he’s quick to move back inside when the defensive tackle counters, and his feet are quick and remain wide the length of the block. He gets his first two feet in the ground so quick and that’s also what allows him to dominate in run protection as well.

And besides all of the physical traits that he posses, the mental game might be an even stronger aspect of his. His vision, anticipation of what the defense is going to do, and his patience, particularly on double team blocks, makes what he does look so easy. It’s like a flow state that he enters in to.

But, while they were few, he did have some mistakes in this one and most of them were in pass protection. He was slow on a couple of his stunt pick ups, which led to one QB hit and what could’ve been another if it wasn’t for Adam Prentice chipping the defender before going out on a route. There was also one example of him getting compressed into Nix, causing what technically was a sack, due to him losing the hand-fighting game.

We’ll take a look at a couple of these in the film.

The specifics

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

If you want to see a textbook example of one-on-one pass protection, then here you go.

Look at those feet. Short and choppy, staying on the insteps, his chest is mostly staying over the top of his hips, playing well-balanced. He does a great job of keeping proper leverage (staying inside the defender) and when the DT makes a move to the inside, Meinerz is smooth and beats him to the punch, forcing the DT to have to go back to the outside.

This is how you mirror the defender.

Run play – QB Sneak – Bad block

I think Meinerz, for lack of a better description, just gets a little lazy on this block.

On the QB Sneak, you block it up front like a veer play, so everyone is crashing down to their inside gap. So with that, you can make the argument, that since the DT went to the B gap, that this is McGlinchey’s fault. But you already know what side I’m arguing should be taking the blame.

This kind of play is hard because you do need to be firing out as low as possible to match the DT, but when you just dive with your eyes to the ground, I’m going to ding you points. If Meinerz plays with his eyes up, then he might be able to see the DT throwing that swim move and would at least be able to get a chunk of him to give Nix or McGlinchey more time to make a play.

Bad eyes mean bad block.

Run play – Outside Zone – Great block

This is what you’re supposed to do to an undersized defender that wants to play up at the line of scrimmage.

That initial contact is what seals the defender’s fate right from the start. Meinerz gets both hands on the chest while striking low to high, and that lifts his guy up, takes a foot off of the ground, and all Meinerz has to do is run his feet and he plows the defender into the grass.

This is fantastic. It truly shows off Meinerz’ strength.

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

I’m going to blame Zach Strief for this clip, as all three Denver guards that have played this year all do a great job of passing off their block to Wattenberg, when possible, and then looking outside to help their tackles with the edge defenders.

And if that defender is going to be rushing with his back end out like that, then they might has well have just painted a big bullseye on themselves, especially when Meinerz is on the hunt. This poor DE does a great job of compressing McGlinchey on the bull rush, but Meinerz is there to make him pay. Great block. It’s a really good job of looking for work.

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

Here is the play I alluded to earlier about Meinerz getting compressed, which makes Nix want to leave the pocket, and then he steps out of bounds before getting the ball away.

This block comes down to hand placement and losing the battle for either man’s chest. Often times in both run and pass protection the block comes down to who’s able to get their hands on their opponents’ chest first. If you control the chest then you control the man. Like Davey Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean (bet you weren’t expecting to see that reference in this article).

Meinerz strikes with his hands too wide, the DT gets to Meinerz’ chest, and Meinerz is then playing off of his back foot. He does a good job at recovering by forcing the weight onto his insteps and getting his feet behind him, and locks up the DT when he tries to work inside, but Nix still feels the pressure and has to bail from the pocket.

Run play – Inside Zone – Good block

Let’s finish up with looking at exactly what you want the first part of a double team on Inside Zone to look like.

The rule on double teams is for both guys to stay on the first-level defender until you can touch the linebacker. So, if the linebacker declares to a rushing lane and attacks, then whoever is closest must come off of the defensive lineman. But if the backer plays back, then you put that DT into the lap of the linebacker. That’s what Meinerz and McGlinchey do on this play.

Great hands and great leverage lead the way as they beat up on the DT. More teach tape here.

Final thoughts

Quinn Meinerz is fantastic and is almost always a bright spot on this team. I’m not sure there’s not much more I can say, or that there’s anything more I need to say. I think you all are on the same page.