Tom Sykes
Posts: 5690
Joined: 7/27/2007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro
quote:
ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen
quote:
ORIGINAL: Bill Jandro
https://www.dailynorseman.com/2019/3/27/18284116/why-pat-elflein-needs-serious-competition-at-center
Posted this a couple pages back but I think it got buried by the Rhodes tweet.
Very good article. Plenty of footage.
The tape focuses on Elf but the G play obviously could be equally scrutinized.
Gonna argue with myself here:
- The video paints a pretty bad picture, and is confined to one (important) game, but...
- Anyone could probably handpick around 10 plays in a game for any NFL player to bolster their argument, but...
- The jury should be out on Elf, big time.
There is some footage on Kline, over a bunch of games, and the same hand-picked argument applies. However, he looks like a guy who likes to mix it up.
Elf in contrast - in those videos anyway - looks like he's learning to ice skate.
Not writing Elf off, but I hope we draft someone who has played G and C.
When he pulls and gets out in space he is in front of the play but seemed to have trouble zeroing in on a guy to block and wiffed more times than not. However, I remember him being much better at this as a rookie.
Seemed the oline was confused and had little purpose and no idea how to handle stunts which falls on the coaching.
Agree with your take for the most part but there was extensive video there of other games as well.
quote:
Johanesen
C'mon Bill ... that article is completely one-sided. Totally skewed to a conclusion.
If your conclusion is that Elflein is not dedicated enough or low effort and that hopefully a new coach can motivate him ... you are probably talking about the wrong guy. The guy is supposed to be freakish in his work habits and dedication. (athleticism and developed technique is another story)
The title is spot on ... Elflein played poorly last year – and he should have decent competition to either re-establish himself as the starter or drop back into a back-up C/G position.
But I doubt that will happen. It seems as if they seized on the guy two years ago, and were so impressed with him his rookie year – in spite of him playing just adequate overall – that they have entrenched him as starter.
Enough to keep Jones on the bench in 2018 regardless of how Elflein was performing. The fact that they are trying hard to resign Jones tells me they like his game ... so Elflein didn't hold on to the starter position last season because we had no other option.
If we resign Jones, I would be surprised if we drafted a 'pure' C or Center first/Guard second player in the first 3 or 4 rounds.
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