This post is sponsored by Sprint
It's that time again to hand out the Sprint Game Ball to a player from last weeks curb stomping of the Tennessee Titans. While the easy pick would be to hand the ball to Maurice Jones-Drew for his stellar performance and putting this football team on his back, even he was quick to give credit to his offensive line.
"It's hard to say that when I had the guys in front of me did what they did today. I only had to make one guy miss most of the time. Guys are running down field blocking doing a great job of keeping guys off me," Jones-Drew told reporters after the game, about having a career day. "Like I said before, I couldn't of done this by myself. Those guys were doing a hell of a job moving guys out the way. Vinny (Manuwai) pulling around on some of our power plays, creating a hole. Our offensive line mushing guys off the ball " he added.
Jones-Drew is currently on a string of games where he's rushed for at least 100 yards five games in a row. During that five game stretch, the offensive line has been blowing teams off the ball. Vince Manuwai has progressed through the season as the games go by back into that road-grader we all knew him as. Uche Nwaneri quietly has been playing like one of the best guards in the NFL, and center Brad Meester continues his steady play even at his age. The tackles, whoever they may be, have done a great job of containing the edge and getting to the second level on their blocks on runs to the outside.
While David Garrard has been sacked 14 times over the last 5 games, aside from the end of the New York Giants game, I can't really recall the pass protection being all that bad. Some of the sacks were coverage, some were Garrard trying to get away and falling short, and some were blown assignments. Like I said however, I can't recall a game where it was just abysmal blocked, I.E. Philadelphia in the second half.
We're watching a young, for the most part, offensive line gel and merge into one of the best run blocking lines in the NFL. For that and their fantastic performance on Sunday, they earn the Sprint Game Ball.