Broncos Film Review: Garett Bolles vs the Commanders

There are three things that we can always expect: death, taxes, and Garett Bolles being the cornerstone of this offensive line. This guy is the definition of consistent, and he’s consistently great. It doesn’t matter the opponent, place, or time, Bolles always shows up to the occasion, and Sunday night was no different.

The Denver Broncos were once again pass-heavy on offense when they took on the Washington Commanders, and you can be that kind of team when you have an offensive line like they do, especially when they have an uber-reliable talent protecting the blind side. Today we get to take a look at the kind of game that Bolles had in prime time, and I think I might’ve already spoiled the general vibe of it.

But let’s take a look at the game Garett Bolles had against Washington.

Stat crunch

Garett Bolles played all 69 of Denver’s offensive snaps. 21 of them were designed runs and 48 of them were designed passes.

Bolles had zero blown blocks and gave up zero TFLs.

He gave up two pressures in pass protection, but gave up zero QB hits and zero sacks.

He committed zero penalties.

Bolles would finish the game with two “Bad” blocks, two “Meh” blocks, six “Alright” blocks, and 59 “Good” blocks for a score of 64.5 points out of a possible 69, or 93.5%.

He was nearly perfect in run protection, scoring a 98.8% as he had one “Alright” block and 20 “Good” blocks. In pass protection he put up a 91.1%.

In general

There wasn’t much thrown at Bolles that he couldn’t handle all night long.

His run protection mostly consisted of either a sealing of the backside B gap or the washing out of the playside DE. He was just usually building a wall as that’s what the role of the offensive tackle is on Inside Zone. He looked athletic in this part too, as throughout the run game he handles the space he has to work in well. He’s able to get to the defender efficiently, but still under balance and does a great job at closing the door when the defender attempts to make a move to the inside.

It’s typically Bolles’ athleticism that impresses me in his run game. The Broncos almost exclusively run their series of Crack Tosses or Pin-and-Pulls to the left as Bolles does a great job of getting around the block and into space on the boundary and lays a clean block. He just handles space so much better than most tackles around the league.

And when it came to his pass protection in this game, outside of those two pressures, it was almost comical watching him play. Bolles looks so nonchalant out there, like he’s not even trying that hard. The DE has almost no chance of getting to Nix on any given play. It’s almost like there’s a reason that he’s the only tackle in the league who has yet to give up a sack.

We’ll take a look at one of his pressures specifically, but one was due to him lowering his head on initial contact with the DE, which is just a bit of a mental/ physical lapse by him. Usually he has no issue with that mistake. And the other play, in my opinion, was a lack of effort, thinking he would just be on the backside of the play and not chasing after an extra rusher. But that’s rare to see out of Bolles, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that this won’t really be an issue moving forwards.

The specifics

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

The first think I like about this clip is the patience that Bolles shows. The DE is playing a wide-9 tech and it’ll take some time for him to close the gap. The worst thing you can do is to try and go out to him, vertically or horizontally. If you play up to him, then you have no base and can get speed-moved easily. If you go out horizontally then you open up a massive gap inside for him to take. Bolles does neither.

He sits and as the DE tries the bull rush, Bolles sits into it, gets his feet behind him and chops them, and then bring his feet back underneath his body to completely absorb the attack.

Pass play – Drop back – Bad block

This is one of the two pressures that he gave up on Sunday. In the last clip he did a great job of absorbing the bull rush. This clip he does a poor job against the same rush.

The main issue is his posture at the initial point of contact. He drops his head and his chest gets too far out over his toes. But most importantly, his left foot is off the ground when the DE lands his hands. Bad timing of the feet and bad posture leads to him getting driven back, collapsing the pocket. And since Bo Nix now feels like he has to step up, the DE is able to get a hand on Nix. Somehow Nix is able to escape and get the ball out before he takes the sack. It’s quite remarkable how good Nix is at this stuff.

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

This clip shows off more of Bolles’ patience, and also how good he is at hand fighting.

He does a great job of first just using his inside hand to keep the DE at distance (in pass protection you want space between you and the dline, the opposite of what you want in run protection). At the initial contact the DE is only in range of Bolles’ right hand, and if he tried to get his left hand on, that would cause him to lean over.

Instead he waits for the DE to attempt his pass rush, and then after that he counters by placing his left hand right into the DE’s chest, stopping him in his tracks. And then the cherry on top is Alex Palczewski coming over to pop the DE a little.

Also I still can’t believe this pass by Nix.

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

While the focus is on Bolles and how well he takes over the slanter on this stunt, this clip is a highlight of Palczewski and Luke Wattenberg too.

Check out how Palczewski sees that the DE is looping back inside, so he gives the DT a big shove right across Bolles, making it easy to pick up the DT. He then slides back inside and gets right onto Wattenberg’s hip and they both completely shut the door on the looper. This is a great rep by all three guys, as well as Bolles.

Run play – Outside Zone Lead – Good block

Don’t worry, I didn’t just pick pass plays to look at. It just so happened that the sample size of pass plays vs run plays is a little lopsided.

With this Outside Zone concept, Bolles is tasked with the job of reaching the DT. With a reach block, you must always be working to get to the playside of the defender as long as that opportunity presents itself (you can turn the block into a wash if you absolutely have no other option). Bolles shows off the rip technique, throwing his backside arm across the defender and running him across the field. It’s a dang near perfect use of this technique.

Side note: for those that care, I was pretty torn of trying to figure out if this was Inside or Outside Zone. The slice block by Trautman make it seem like IZ, and where Jaleel McLaughlin attempts to rush makes it seem like IZ, but the reach blocks by the offensive line and how they’re declaring rushing lanes by flipping their hips seems to be more of an Outside Zone concept. Either way, good block by Bolles.

Final thoughts

Garett Bolles is simply playing like one of the best offensive tackles in the game at this point, and there is little that he’s unable to do. This offense works in great part due to him. He is a joy to watch every week.