Monday Film Room: Week 1

​It was a jam-packed week one with many great options to look at for the Monday Film Room. However, when one man (Chandler Jones) can get five sacks in one game, that deserves a closer look by OLS. So first, we are going to highlight the pass blocking of Chandler Jones by the Titans. The most shocking result of week one was the Packers losing 38-3 to the Saints. Green Bay's offense was a disaster. So second, OLS will take a look to see what role the Packers offensive line played in such a putrid performance from what is supposed to be one of the best offenses in the NFL. Hours before Sunday's game, a player with very little football experience at any level (Jordan Mailata) signed a 4-year $64 million extension. He just started playing football three years ago, and only has 10 NFL starts, so OLS was looking at his week one performance closely. OLS will close the Monday Film Room with a review of Mailata's week one start. 

While Titans LT Taylor Lewan took the blame for Jones's performance on Twitter after the game, there was plenty of blame to go around. The play below is Jones's second sack of the game and first against Lewan. In this play, Lewan's first mistake is overselling his role in this play-action play by attempting to give Jones an initial run block. He should be stepping forward to sell the PA pass, but lunging at Jones with his back over and head down is just bad technique, and Jones easily exposes it and beats Lewan in less than two seconds to make his way to Tannehill for an easy sack.  

The next play is Jones's third sack of the day, and Lewan is the victim again. This time it is an obvious passing scenario with the Titans in Shotgun on 3rd & 9. Lewan is left one-on-one to deal with Jones in space, and though it is a tough assignment, these are the situations that teams pay top dollar to have a good LT for, and Lewan comes up short. 

The next play takes place with a little over five minutes left in the third, and backup Kendall Lamm is in at LT. Lewan would return to the game, but in the meantime, Jones took advantage and recorded his fourth sack of the game on Lamm. Though Lamm will get credited for allowing the sack, the Titans coaching staff or Derrick Henry is most at blame here. Clearly, Jones is having one of those days, and now your backup is in to block him. Henry is lined up on that side and offers no help. He eventually goes out for a route, but the route is delayed, so he should have at least tried to chip Jones on the way out. That is either bad coaching or poor execution by Henry. Either way, Lamm should not have been left on an island with Jones on 3rd & 8. 

Now let's focus on what went wrong in the Packers game. The main problem is that there was no running game from the beginning. The first play we look at from the Packers game is their first offensive snap, and it results in a one-yard loss. The play is designed to be a run to the right, but the offensive line of the Packers does not get a good push. There also are no open running lanes, which forces jones to cut back to where Mercedes Lewis is attempting to wall off Marcus Devenport. Once he cuts it back, Davenport easily sheds Lewis and makes the tackle for a loss. While Lewis gave up the tackle for loss, the Packers offensive line deserves blame for not giving Jones anywhere to run play-side. Lewis was not meant to be a primary blocker on this play, as he was only supposed to hinge and get in the way of Davenport. 

In this next play, we see the indirect impact of Bakhtiari being out as rookie guard Royce Newman allows quick pressure from Cameron Jordan that leads to a crucial interception. If Bakhtiari was out there, Jenkins would be back at guard, and Newman would have been on the bench. 

While the run game was never there and there were some mistakes in pass pro, the Packers offensive line did not do a terrible job in pass pro considering they were up against a good defense and forced to pass block all game. The biggest problem for the Packers passing game was simply the coverage of the Saints and the decision-making of Aaron Rodgers, who played an awful game. On the play below, Rodgers has a beautiful pocket to operate from. However, he just launches a prayer down the field to a WR that is not only well covered by the corner covering him, but also with a safety clearly over the top in position to help. The majority of the film from this game shows Rodgers played a lot worse than the O-line did.  

Finally, we will take a look at a player that might be a future star LT in the NFL in Mailata. On this touchdown run he is the play-side tackle, and does an excellent job as a run blocker by sealing his guy and, helping spring this touchdown. 

On this next play, Mailata's athleticism is on full display, as he crushed a defender in the open field with a block that helps spring the touchdown. 

An area Mailata can improve in is his pass blocking. Specifically his ability to handle power rush moves. In the play below, he is easily over-powered, and it happened a few other times as well.