Hey I can't post a link because I read this in the Sun Sentinel, and not willing to pay $.99/day for online access, also am not a premium member at PFF so maybe someone can check this out and provide a link please. In the SSentinel article on Olivier Vernon they mentioned his progress can't be all because of poor play by Martin at LT during practice, as PFF has Martin ranked 2nd in the league in preseason games at the LT position. I know it's only 2-3 PS games, but maybe Martin might be turning out like Philbin and Ireland hoped and obviously bet he would when they went DL at #3 this draft. And left LT almost completely alone in the draft, with the only possible exception being Dallas Thomas. I must admit I have been pleasantly surprised at Martin's play vs. Jags and Texans, though Texans didn't play Watts and Jags DL isn't exactly a juggernaut. If this is true, maybe our worries are not as bad as many of us think. Thoughts/links please.
incognito is also the 4th best LG and Pouncey the 3rd best C by PFF, Martin is doing pretty good the last few games, encouraging.
I get the sentiment and don't totally disagree, but I think every game is a true test, especially for a guy in Martin's circumstance. If he'd have been beaten left and right in these first three games -- like it sounded like he was being beaten in training camp earlier -- I think people would be saying that he'd already been tested and lost. But yeah, I'll be interested in how he performs against Tampa. Hopefully, I'm not too distracted by right guard play.
I dont know if those stats take into account the extra game.Or that several of the sacks were made over the RG position because that was the weakest link on the OL. Anyway its always promising when a player as important as your LT is showing progress
don´t get me wrong, of course all the snaps are important, but this is the first time the opponent will have watched film on us
The PFF ratings are cumulative, meaning they take the rating for each of the three games and add them all together for a final score. Martin's rating for each game was .5, 1.5 and 2.5. Although I do think the more snaps you get in a specific game, the higher (or lower) your rating for that game could be. His 59 snaps rank him tied for 60th of all tackles they have listed.
Wouldn't have mattered with Martin IDT as Watts is typically on the other end and would have faced Clabo most likely.
Sorry but you don't go from one of the worst tackles in the league and become one of the best in 1 season I'd be happy with poor from last season to mediocre this season with Martin
Are you implying they are lying? Or their stats are soooooooo bad that the guy they say is #2 is the worst in the league?
He's gotten better, he's taking the fundamentals he's working on and applying them in real game situations, his hand punch has been talked about a lot by folks including all of his coaches, I'm seeing better, more aggressive, better timed hand punch technique, it's by no means perfect, but it's better, his balance is still the main issue for me, he gets knocked off it on to many occasions to have complete trust from the blindside, but it's better than last year, he's attacking his defender first, you will see a lot of times he's initiating the first move by going forward to attack which I feel is helping his overall game, he's far from being a good left tackle, but average this year is reasonable I think. This is a player that learned a lot of bad habits while playing with Andrew luck, he got spoiled by the brilliance of lucks pocket prescense and quickness to deliver, and escapability, I believe they are retraining him from scratch and for good reason.. Personally I didnt think he could improve as much as I've seen him thus far, so I was wrong on how far down the floor was on his upside...he's very quick out of his stance so he's got good anticipation there, he can run and locate to the 2nd level, and hes a pretty good cut blocker, I really do feel it's all about his balance and staying centered into his opponent, if he can continue to find his balance and mirroring skills he might be ok there..I see development and that's a good sign.