FILM REVIEW | Nick Gates Continues to Make a Strong Case for a Starting Job

After impressing at right tackle earlier in the season, second-year offensive lineman Nick Gates delivered an equally impressive performance at right guard last week for the injured Kevin Zeitler.

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Nick Gates started his second career game this past Sunday, and it was his first career start at guard. I wrote about how impressive Gates was at right tackle verse the Jets which is a much harder spot than guard but there still is doubt when you've only seen a guy play one game of regular season ball. Gates really impressed though. 

Like really really impressed. I only counted one mistake, and his awareness was amazing at times so let's dive into it.

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I want to start with his sole mental mistake, and then move on to the positive play. On the above play, Gates responsibility is to double team and then slip off to block the linebacker. 

Gates turns his shoulders too far into the lineman and is late to come off him leaving the linebacker unblocked. Fortunately, Saquon Barkley was able to bounce the play off of the linebacker's aggressiveness and get the Giants off their own goalline. 

Gates' only mistake came at a bad spot on the field but nonetheless it was his ONLY mental mistake of the game!

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Nick Gates shows absolutely unbelievable awareness on the above play and others. He truly puts in the work in the film room and it shows plus some guys just get the game of football better than others. 

The linebacker lined up in front of gates backs into coverage so Gates slides to the left to help out the center. He then snaps his head to the right and notices a corner blitz which forces the defensive end to slant inside of Mike Remmers. 

Gates notices this and engages the defender and holds hs block while Remmers is able to pick up the blitzing corner. 

I can't stress enough how awesome this is. It takes weeks, if not months or years for some linemen to have this kind of trust with each other and Gates and Remmers pull this off on the FIRST game they've played next to each other.

 Unfortunately, Eli Manning threw an interception on this play.

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I call this "dumping a guy." It seems like something simple for an offensive lineman and something that you practice a lot, but it takes a lot more awareness to pull off in a game. 

Gates is engaged with the defender and when the defender leans and tries to disengage with Gates by pulling him in. Gates realizes this and uses his hands to come down on the defender's arms which makes him fall forwards because he's leaning too much. 

Again, this seems simple, but it takes really good awareness to pull this off in the heat of the moment and can backfire if not executed quickly and correctly. In the NFL where there aren't many padded practices to practice this, it's really impressive to see.

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Gates showed off his mean streak against the Jets and he showed off again verse Miami. The above play makes an offensive lineman smile in the film room. 

The Giants run a stretch play which is one of the hardest plays to block in the NFL because of how fast linebackers flow over the top of a play. Gates puts a hand on Remmer's assignment to start the play and immediately puts the guy on the ground. 

Gates then gets to the second level to engage the linebacker and does not let go. It is unbelievably hard to just get to that linebacker and on top of that Gates puts the guy on the ground showing his mean streak and propelling Buck Allen to a big play. 

Who could blame him if Giants offensive line coach Hal Hunter played that film clip over and over again to the rest of the coaching staff? That stuff is awesome!

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Gates got the most recognition for the above play because his pull sprung a Barkley touchdown. Gates pulls and stays extremely tight to the line which allows him to get to his destination quicker. 

He also keeps his head turned and locked on to his defender so he won't be surprised when he turns the corner. 

Gates throws a PERFECT cut block to take out the defender and causes the second guy to slow up and stumble allowing for a Giants touchdown. 

Play fast and play nasty--offensive linemen should live by that and Gates definitely did that here.

Listen! Edge Oshane Ximines and offensive lineman Nick Gates join LockedOn Giants podcast host Patricia Traina to discuss their respective developments.

Given Gates' fine development and play, what do the Giants do to get him into the starting lineup, where he deserves to be?  

Will Hernadez and Kevin Zeitler are both slated to be starters at guard in 2020. Gates impressed in one game at right tackle, but it was only one game. Would the coaching staff--whoever it might be--trust what would essentially be an unknown at a position that seems to be impossible to fill for the Giants? 

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I like Gates, but that would still be a huge question for 2020. 

Do the Giants draft a tackle? If it were my decision, I'd give Gates every opportunity to be the Giants starting center. He's shown he has the cerebral awareness in the passing game and the mean streak in the run game to handle it. He's also practiced at center for the Giants so it wouldn't be completely foreign to him. 

I don't know what the plan will be for Gates in 2020, but I do know that Gates should be a part of the 2020 plan. The undrafted free agent has a chance to start for the Giants for many years to come if he keeps this up, and I'm looking forward to seeing what his future holds.