Giants Country

ILB Micah McFadden: The Good, Great and Ugly

Coach Gene Clemons breaks down ILB Micah McFadden's performance.

Gene Clemons

ILB Micah McFadden: The Good, Great and Ugly
ILB Micah McFadden: The Good, Great and Ugly /
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New York Giants inside linebacker Micah McFadden has filled the stat sheets early in the season. He has seemed to shake out as the running mate with newly acquired linebacker Bobby Okereke.

The second-year defender has played approximately a third of the defensive snaps this season in that role. McFadden is the team's leader in tackles (26), solo tackles (17), and tackles for loss (5).

For as good as he has played, he has not been perfect and still needs to clean up some elements of his game. His Week 3 performance against the 49ers was one of the best things to come from the Thursday night loss against the 49ers.

Let's look at his good, the great, and the ugly from that game.

The Good: Run Fits

One of the biggest issues with the Giants against the run last season was the lack of run fits. This is one of McFadden’s best attributes. He can read the offensive line movement and knows how to play off the defensive line and fit into the areas the defensive line doesn’t occupy. 

Those are the lanes that running backs usually attack. Most of the time, he does not allow the running back to get a clear run through the line of scrimmage. He makes the backs bounce to other holes or cut back into other defenders. McFadden, along with Okereke, are deliberate in their attack.

The Great: Nose For The Football

One of the reasons McFadden is so good at run fits seems to be instinctual. He has a natural nose for the football, and when you see a ball carrier, he just happens to be around the ball. He has the speed to run ball carriers down the sideline to sideline. He helps himself by not taking negative steps or bad read steps. 

He is great at diagnosing screens and working his way to the receiver. He has a motor that keeps running, and it helps him chase down plays where others may have taken their foot off the gas. When he gets there, he gets the ball carrier to the ground by any means.

The Ugly: Block Magnet

For as good as McFadden has been, he could be even better. For some reason, he tends to find himself in the grasp of an offensive blocker. McFadden plays with physicality, which becomes a part of the issue. He tends to take on blockers that he should look to avoid, and unfortunately, his stature allows offensive linemen to cover him up. 

He has more difficulty shedding blockers once they get their hands on him. Sometimes, as a blitzer, he runs directly into a blocker and does the work for the pass protector.

Against the run, he will try to blow up a lineman, but he is built like a big defensive back and does not always stop the momentum of these 300-pound athletes running full speed ahead. There are several plays where McFadden seemingly finds the blocker.

Final Thoughts

McFadden has shown he can be a permanent answer at the position but still needs to improve on the game's subtleties. His positives are really positive, but the negatives are glaring when you consider how teams have run the ball on the Giants over the first three games.

He is not the only one who has made some mistakes, but his mistakes will be amplified because they normally come at the target area of the offensive play call. Right now, his pros outweigh the cons. Still, we have seen players start well for the Giants at that position and fall out of favor with defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and the staff rather quickly, so McFadden should not get too comfortable. 

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Gene Clemons
GENE CLEMONS

Gene "Coach" Clemons has been involved with the game of football for 30 years as a player, coach, evaluator, and journalist.  Clemons has spent time writing for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Bridgton News, Urbana Daily Citizen, Macon Telegraph and footballgameplan.com.  He has a YouTube channel called "Coach Gene Clemons" where you can find his popular "X&O The Joes" series as well as other football related content. 

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