Cogs Scouting Report: against Patriots 2008

Cogs the man, and a lot of myth:

I graded every play against the Patriots in 2008, based on his ‘assignment’. If the play was run to the left, but he held his man in check, then I gave him a “+”. If he pushed the guy off the ball 3’, then I gave him a “+”. IF he ‘met’ the linebacker, and held him in check and screened him off from the play, the he got a “+”. If his man didn’t collapse the pocket in to Bulger, he got a “+”. His negative plays were really not necessarily negative plays

He played aginst Vince Wolfork, who is a Pro Bowl DT because of his run game toughness. WOlfork has no pass rush. And Cogs wasn’t even challenged the whole game in the passing game...except for the 4th quarter. He made two bad decisions in the pass block sets, but they didn't cause a problem.

Only one game, against he Patriots but this is what I think about Cogs, from the game:

*Excellent at screens and pulling. Smooth pulls, with balance and relatively quick feet. One of the key things he does when he is in space is to ‘hold on to’ the player rather than “bounce” the linebacker with a shot. The “bounce” shots are never effective, because the linebacker bounces, and runs and tackles the running back. The fat guards ‘bounce’ because their feet are in the wrong position, and they lunge (and therefore ‘bounce’). I would say he plays very intelligently….which surprised me. And you, too?

* His pass sets looked good to me. He consistently played against a mediocre pass rusher, though.

* He moves his feet well, to re-position himself to ‘change the angle’ on the man he is blcoking

*His combo block where he doubles a man, and then goes to get the linebacker were excellent.

*His one on one run blocking against Wolfork was awesome! He gets a pop, every time. Only a few guards could play after play take it to WOlfork like Cogs did. One play Wolfork got a stalemate aginst Cogs, and really a running back could have run by Wolfork because Cogs had him engaged, though Cogs didn’t move him off the ball….that was the only negative play on the run in the entire first half. And, I wouldn’t call that negative.But, I appease you Cog bashers by giving him a negative. So, in the first half 11 “+’s and 1 “-“

And, 1 on1 means no combo help. Very few guards could take any DT weighing over 315 1 on 1….and be successful.

When you can have a guard take a DT one on one, you really open up for the center to go out and take a line backer, allowing for a longer run. Very important

*Negative plays: he made a great pull in the 4th quarter, but then sort of didn’t finish off getting to Bruschi. That is very common in the NFL for all guards. He had a ‘stand off’ against WOlfork, which really might have been a positive. Then he made 2 late/bad decisions on letting a guy run by him as he was looking to help someone else out. One pass play, he gave up after 4 seconds. IF these were the only negatives, this would put him in the top 3-4 at his position…if not the best. I haven’t analyzed Hutchinson play by play…but I can’t imagine much better. There was one play where he ran 7 yards forward, while Bulger was getting sacked…but, it wasn’t his man…interesting play…He played run one that one.

I have to say, I knew Cogs was good. But, this game was way beyond what I expected. Now, can he do this all year long…it takes a lot of emotional capacity to do this….and he hasn’t shown the ability to keep it together….IF he can, he is a much better player than Kevin Gogan, who went to pro bowls because he knocked people off the ball with ease.

In the run game I had 19 “+”, 2 “-“ and one stalemate.

In the pass game I had 29 ”+” and 4 “-“.

There were some uncountable plays based on different factors.

Now that I have watched this game…I dare anyone to say anything bad about his play in this game….and welcome your attempt!