Mike Adams Vs. Marcus Gilbert: The Battle for Left and Right Tackle

1. Run Blocking

Marcus Gilbert

One of the biggest things that I noticed about Marcus Gilbert when I watched his film from 2012, is his average athleticism. He does well in a small box, but struggles when he has to go block on the second level. Often, he would miss his targets and he was not always able to lock on to his targets in the run game. Another thing that was evident was his average mobility. Gilberts average mobility had shown through his struggles when he was asked to zone block. Also, he tends to let defenders get the separation needed to control Gilbert. I will say that it was on a rare occasion that Gilbert was pushed back. He could work on his straight drive blocking, but Gilbert is quite strong and has good hand placement. To improve his overall run blocking, he needs to work on his leverage as a whole. Here is a play against the Jets from Week 2, spotlighting Marcus Gilbert.

Photo taken from Coaches Film on NFL Game Rewind

On this running play in the A gap, Marcus Gilbert’s job is to seal off the defensive end who is lined up to Gilbert’s outside.

Photo taken from Coaches Film on NFL Game Rewind

Marcus Gilbert tries to set the edge but struggles because he came off high and the defensive end came off winning the leverage battle. The defensive end creates separation, which makes it more difficult for Gilbert to control him. Even though it wasn’t pretty, Marcus Gilbert was still successful at setting the edge. A lot of his run blocking isn’t pretty, but Gilbert finds a way to get the job done.