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Breaking Down New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas's Technique Issues

Nick Falato takes a look at Giants offensive tackle Andrew Thomas's preseason snaps to find out where his technique breakdowns have been.

Nick Falato

Breaking Down New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas's Technique Issues
Breaking Down New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas's Technique Issues /

The developmental strides Andrew Thomas displayed down the stretch of the 2020 season seems to be an afterthought after his poor Week 3 preseason performance. 

Don't get me wrong; it wasn't great. There were technical issues, a lack of unison with his feet/hands, and an inability to protect his outside shoulder consistently. Thomas' faith in his power/kick slide seems questionable.

Mistakes are starting to become synonymous with the young second-year tackle. Being the first tackle selected out of four talented young offensive tackles doesn't help the narrative, either. The first half of Thomas' rookie season was incredibly concerning. He was one of the worst starting tackles in all of football.

On the year, Thomas ranked second in the NFL with 57 pressures allowed. He ranked first with 40 pressures through the first nine weeks, and the next closest was 33. His play was better towards the end of the year, other than the Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals' games where the entire line struggled. Thomas gave up a collective 11 pressures in those two games.

He seemed more comfortable, confident, and better technically at the end of the year. His punch and feet moved together more consistently, he was more balanced and didn't overextend as often, and the timing of his strike seemed more efficient. He used the ground to his advantage, played through his base, and attacked with power. The signs of development were evident, but questions of consistency were fair.

Those questions weren't answered positively this preseason. Thomas looked solid in the brief stint he played during the Jets game, but Josh Uche, Deitrech Wise Jr., and the Patriots exposed the concerns that Giants' fans hoped were in the past. Let's break down the sack Thomas gave up to Josh Uche (NO. 55) on the first drive of the Giants' preseason loss.

There's inconsistent foot tempo up the arc, and it appears that stutter-step forced Thomas to think twice about an inside pass rusher move, which Thomas struggled to defend early in 2020. This sadly was just the first a few really bad reps for Thomas against the Patriots.

Thomas' stance starts solid on this play. His hands are low and ready to attack, he has a balanced initial slide while mirroring, and his center of gravity is low. However, once Thomas goes to punch, his hands get wide, his pad level pops up, and he doesn't account for the inside chop move that wasn't subtle. Wise Jr. makes contact on Thomas's upper forearm, sending his balance forward.

Wise then gives a slight shove to Thomas' outside shoulder with his outside hand, allowing Wise Jr. to bring his inside arm underneath the outer shoulder pad of Thomas, effectively ripping through the blocking attempt while winning the half-man relationship hip-to-hip.

The rip creates separation, and the earlier chop disallowed Thomas to gain more depth. Instead, Thomas' hips open up, and an easier path is created into the pocket.

Thomas allows Wise Jr. to win this rep with that first move to disallow Thomas's punch, allowing the defender to get hip to hip. Thomas has to be more effective up the arc, more effective with his hands. His timing, placement, and balance into the strike have been inconsistent.

Thomas can't allow the defender to dictate the play with a variety of pass-rushing moves. His job is to maintain a relative position between the defender and the quarterback. It's challenging to do this when the tackle allows the EDGE rusher easy access to his outside shoulder.

Looking back at the Jets' game, we can see some questionable form. This play wasn't the disaster we see above, but it's not great from a technical standpoint. The defender is wider in this alignment, and Thomas kicks to meet him up the arc.

However, upon contact, Thomas jolts his backside out, extends his arms, his back isn't straight, and he puts himself in an unbalanced position with his chest exposed with significant over-extension in his hips.

Thomas noticeably rears back to punch, and the Jets' rusher brings his inside arm through the midline of Thomas while chopping the outside arm of the tackle. Then the EDGE rusher grabs Thomas' defeated outside arm and goes to employ a rip move - the same combination Wise Jr. used to perfection two weeks later. At his moment, Thomas' feet are incredibly wide.

Thomas does a good job recovering from the sloppy mistake. He shoves the EDGE rusher with his inside arm to the outside, gets his hips flipped, and then makes enough contact on the player to allow Mike Glennon (No. 2) to get rid of the football.

Thomas does a better job here in the second half of the play by creating separation to the outside and not allowing the defender to play through his outside hip. Thomas instead cuts the angle off and does just enough to save the play.

This play may have been a miscommunication between the guard and Thomas. The Patriots have a 4i-technique and what appears to be a 1-technique to Thomas' side. He may have been under the impression that he had guard help here, for he's beat inside.

The guard opens up like he's blocking the inside tackle shade, and Thomas engages the outer part of the rusher. Since he may have expected help, he allows the swim move to win inside.

What's bothersome is the lean, the bend at the waist, the wide position, the lack of positioning with his hands, and grip strength when the hands briefly make contact. This rep isn't entirely on Thomas, but what was displayed still isn't encouraging.

Pay attention to Thomas' outside arm in this play. Just like several of these clips, that outer arm has been a target of a lot of these EDGE rushers with a violent chop. The punch has some bend to it, and it's easily anticipated because of the slight rear back. The rusher uses the chop and sinks Thomas' lean even further towards the ground.

Thomas is able to take two more steps up the arc while hand fighting after the chop, but he doesn't get his hands cleanly on the pass rusher until the defender starts to corner into the pocket. This may have been a sack if Thomas doesn't hold the defender in the waning seconds before Daniel Jones (8) throws the ball.

Final Thoughts

It appears defenders were targeting Thomas' inability to strike and maintain contact. The defenders were timing a violent outside chop/rip combination to win the half-man relationship and bend through Thomas' contact into the pocket.

Thomas hasn't done well reacting to the defender's movements. His reactionary quickness seems slow, his feet/hands are still not consistently in unison, and the balance issue displayed in year one were evident again. The lunging and slow-developing punch must be tweaked.

Thomas has to stop the momentum of the rushers and force them to employ counter moves. His feet could be smoother when kicking up the arc. He needs to be quicker with his punch and not allow these rushers to anticipate his extension. He also needs to keep that chest high, play through the ground, keep his back a bit more straight. His hips raise a bit too much while moving up the arc as well.

The inconsistent play of Thomas may be maddening if it continues. However, this was only one really bad game in the preseason. I don't want to overreact, but Thomas hasn't earned the right not to warrant serious questions when he struggles. 

(GIFs via NFL GamePass.)

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Nick Falato
NICK FALATO

Nick Falato is co-host of the Big Blue Banter podcast. In addition to Giants Country, his work has appeared on SB Nation.

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