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New Jersey – It’s well-documented that Brian Winters has a big challenge this week against Suh. How did play last week, and where he is at as a prospect? Let’s take a closer look . . .
Brian Winters was criticized by some for allowing Eagles defensive Brandon Bair to tip a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass that was intercepted by linebacker Jordan Hicks.
Some are wont to judge a performance by one play, especially if they have an agenda. I won’t do that. Every player has bad plays.
I asked Todd Bowles earlier this week how Winters graded out aside from this one play.
“He graded out pretty good,” Bowles said. “He played hard. Nobody played great on both sides of the ball, but he played hard and he did what he was supposed to do.”
Bowles for the most part is a straight-shooter, but I don’t think this is was one of his more blunt answers.
He needs a big game from Winters this week filling in for Willie Colon, so he’s doing his best to pump him up.
Winters played the entire second half against the Eagles. How did he do?
He was inconsistent.
I loved Winters as a prospect coming out of Kent State.
He is right out of Central Casting to play guard in the NFL. He’s got great size at 6-4, 320. Perfect size for NFL guard and he carries it well. He’s athletic, mobile, tough and strong.
He’s got everything you are looking for physically.
But the one big issue he had when starting, before his 2014 knee injury (handled by the doctors above), and a little bit in the Eagles’ game – block recognition.
With all the complex fronts in the NFL these days, with guys attacking and blitzing from all different angles, there are a lot of switch-off blocks. In other words, it’s not just block the guy lined up in front of you and maul the heck out of him like the old days.
Winters struggles with a little in the recognition department in terms of stunt recognition.
Early in the third quarter of the Eagles’ game, Bair was not picked up by anyone, and he Ryan Fitzpatrick has he threw, leading to an incompletion.
Winters should have picked him up. He wasn’t blocking anybody else. Bair was in his wheelhouse. Not sure why he didn’t pick him up. This is an example of what I’m talking about.
Also in the third quarter, Bair beat Winters, and pressured Fitzpatrick, who did a nice job making five yards out of this by scrambling to the left side. This wasn’t a recognition play. Winters just got beat.
And then you had the tipped pass, which to me, was less of an indiscretion than the other two plays. Fitzpatrick left the natural pocket and wandered right a little. It’s hard for linemen, unless they have eyes in back of their heads, to see a pocked that shifts behind them. So I can’t rip Winters too much on this play.
So my point is simple. Yes, physically he can do it. He has to prove that mentally, he can take a positive step in terms of block recognition.
I will cut him a little slack for last week. He was thrust into action in the second half.
This week he was given a week to prepare. Let’s see what he does with a full week to prepare, before judging to harshly.
October 1, 2015
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