Bye week hot take, Tennessee Titans fans will like Rodger Saffold a lot more by Week 17
By Will Lomas
The improvement you aren’t seeing.
I said a week ago that I thought Rodger Saffold had his best run blocking day of the season for the Titans against the Carolina Panthers. He was mauling defensive tackles and anyone else in the front seven that got in his way.
As a run blocker he spent a lot of the first part of the season playing alright, but with his pass blocking so bad it was hard to see any positives in his play.
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However, now he is finishing defenders and when I say finish I mean he is putting them in the ground or putting their feet in cement before passing them off to another offensive lineman. THIS is the guy that we were promised before the season.
So many big running plays in a zone scheme come when the offensive line is working as a unit and everyone is getting to their man whether that is on the playside or the backside. That is all starting to gel now and Saffold is doing a great job making sure he isn’t just finding a guy to hit, but instead giving Derrick Henry another cutback lane.
The Titans needed their guards to play better if they were going to have a chance to make a playoff run and that means more than just pass protection. Here is why this massive improvement in run blocking not only by Saffold but by the whole OL is important now.