See how pivotal Quinn Meinerz was in Denver’s demolition of the Atlanta Falcons in Week 11.
Quinn Meinerz is a freak. And besides Pat Surtain II, I think he should be known as the greatest draft pick made by Denver over, at least, the last decade (that 2021 draft class as a whole is great). Meinerz is consistently dominating the man in front of him and creating plenty of space in the run game and time in the pass game.
And his performance against the Atlanta Falcons might be the best of his season so far.
A solo piece on Meinerz is long overdue and I don’t know how I’ve gone the entire season without writing one. So let’s fix that mistake now.
Here is a review that will incorporate every offensive snap of Meinerz from Sunday. There’s plenty of highlights to break down.
Stat crunch
The Denver Broncos had a total of 60 offensive plays and Meinerz was on the field for all of them.
Out of those 60 plays, the Broncos ran the ball 25 times and passed 35 times.
On those 25 run plays, the Broncos ran behind Meinerz 11 times for a total of 55 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry.
Out of his 35 snaps in pass protection Meinerz gave up just one pressure, zero QB hits, and zero sacks.
According to the RGS, Meinerz had three “great” plays (1.5 points), 50 “good” plays (1 point), six “meh” plays (0.5 points), and one “bad” play (0 points). And he had one false start penalty, which costs him one point.
This comes out to 56.5 points or a whopping 94.2%.
If he didn’t have that penalty then it would’ve been 95.8%.
In general
I think my most common notes while watching the film were “good hips” and “shows off strength”. And that makes plenty of sense because those have to be his two biggest attributes, and those two things are what defines some of the best linemen in history (not saying Meinerz is, just one thing those guys all have).
He is so good at using his hips to maintain leverage, flipping them when needed, and he derives so much strength from his base that it’s nearly impossible for many defensive linemen to move him. It’s incredibly impressive.
And then he, on many occasions, struck defenders so hard that they were knocked backwards a yard or two, or to the ground. It’s so much fun to watch.
You could see him build up the momentum, just like the team as a whole, on the first drive, and he just kept whooping butt the rest of the game.
Another part that I love about his game is that he is always looking for contact. He did great with that when he was blocking downfield on screens and runs and when helping out either Wattenberg or McGlinchey in the pass game.
The specifics
The good
Meinerz is blocking two guys on this play while helping out both Wattenberg and McGlinchey. The DE slants inside and the DT attacks the A gap, and while Wattenberg and McGlinchey are doing a good job handling that, you have Meinerz taking up both gaps the defense is trying to attack, and neither defenders are able to get any push.
This is awesome.
Most offensive linemen, especially mine, have heard the phrase “pass pro isn’t passive” about a million times. Meinerz demonstrates this idea perfectly on this play (and most).
Initially he does a solid job of passing off the slanting DT to Wattenberg while keeping his hips square to the line of scrimmage. Doing so allows him to easily pick up the blitzer, who he then embarrasses by setting a trap of inviting him inside, and then driving him across the field, completely eliminating him from the play. Solid rep.
I love the effort be Meinerz shown off in this clip. He and McGlinchey do a great (near perfect) job of double teaming a first level defender and then passing that block off to pick up a backer that’s trying to slant over the top of them.
The best parts of this is Meinerz having great footwork, keeping a wide base, and keeping his hips in the block, not giving any space between him and the DT to prevent the DT from reading the ball and ripping off of the block.
Meinerz keeping his feet running and his hands going through the end of the play.
This play demonstrates how to properly pull up to backer. It’s so nice to have a guy like Meinerz on your team so you can run HB Power at will (one of the best plays in football).
Meinerz is able to come off of Powers’ butt with a head of steam, hats up the backer who attempts to fill the hole, gets great hands, and drives the backer about five yards down field. This is how you completely remove a defender from a play. It’s very well done and I was tempted to give this play a 1.5, rather than just a 1.
The meh
Here is an example of technically getting the job done, but not doing it well.
The play looks like GY Counter and Meinerz is tasked with kicking out the first outside defender on the line of scrimmage. And since the DE slants inside, it ends up being the backer that fills the C gap.
Maybe it was the speed that the backer was coming downhill with that threw Meinerz off, but what ever the cause, Meinerz is only able to clip the defender and isn’t able to block him out at all. He technically does his job because he hits the inside shoulder of the backer, causing him to go around the block and not into the rushing lane. But it wasn’t pretty and caused Adkins to think he has to block the backer, rather than being able to go up field through the gap.
Another example of how a “meh” block is when you technically do you r job, but there is a lack of technique that prevents you from doing it better.
All the offensive line has to do is run parallel to the line of scrimmage and get the defense to flow to the left, and keep the defensive line to the left as well. And while Meinerz does keep the blitzing backer to his left, you can see that he doesn’t gain any ground with his first step, allowing the backer to get a bit of penetration. If Meinerz gains ground laterally with his left foot initially then this doesn’t happen.
The bad
The one “bad” block given to Meinerz in this game comes in pass protection.
What happens here is that the Falcons run a stunt with the backer walking down to A gap and slanting outside with the DT, while the DE loops back inside to the A gap. I think the biggest mistake Meinerz makes is right at the peak of the block he gets almost completely turned outside, preventing him from being able to post back inside to pick up the slant and kick Wattenberg out to the looper.
This mistake allows both the looper and the backer to get pressure on Nix. The only pressure Meinerz will give up all game.
The great
Meinerz was lights out with his screen blocking on Sunday and this was just one of many examples.
His release angle is good as he gets down the LOS laterally to get outside leverage on the defense, and then he gets upfield after that. He is patient while doing so with his eyes locked on his target. As he gets upfield he maintains inside leverage on the defender and delivers a strike that throws the backer to the ground. It’s great.
This is a team and season-defining play, and Meinerz did plenty to make this touchdown possible.
This looks like a simple Inside Zone concept out of Singleback but the line gets good displacement at the point of attack and Bolles gets a great iso block on the DE to open up a rushing lane in the B gap. But a backer does a good job of flowing over the top of the play and is in the right spot, but the instincts and speed of Meinerz allow for him to get across the field to kick out the backer at the least second, giving Williams a cut back.
Meinerz then rushes over to the pile and helps power the entire team into the end zone. It’s a fantastic showing of effort.
Here’s the last play we’ll take a look at. A WR screen to Troy Franklin that goes for six.
Do you want to know a surefire way to earn a “great” block? Dominate two defenders on the same play.
The backer that Meinerz blocks does a good job of reading the play and retreats, but Meinerz executes a perfect block that you would see on an outside run, working the rip technique to fight pressure with pressure, fighting into the upfield shoulder of the defender to prevent him from getting across your face.
And after he takes that backer about 10 yards, a poor cornerback appears, which Meinerz then obliterates. It’s pretty much a perfect play by him.
Final thoughts
Meinerz had the best game of his season, one of the best of his career, and one of the best of any offensive lineman this year.
He is such a physical presence up front and plays with a high level amount of football IQ that aids him in every play. He made very little mistakes and hardly cost the offense a single yard on Sunday.
This was a tremendous effort against the Falcons and a big reason why the Broncos have one of the best offensive lines in the league.
Man, it feels so good to write that.