Spotlight #1: Stanford OT Jonathan Martin
Spotlight #2: Stanford OLB Chase Thomas
1st
11:18: Jonathan Martin blown right past by USC’s Nick Perry, allows the pressure, forces Andrew Luck to scramble (not like it mattered to Luck). I’m interested in this matchup. Martin hasn’t been tested much this year. Perry has 4 sacks and 6 tackles for loss this season. He had a down year as a sophomore, but remember, he had 9 sacks as a freshman in 2009.
10:14: Martin stays with Perry’s spin move. Nice job. Much better this time.
8:38: Tyler up the middle for 3, has to leave with an injury. I’ll be watching Stanford linebacker #44 Chase Thomas in the mean time.
5:11: Thomas with a tackle for loss on Robert Woods, who took the pitch out of the backfield.
4:02: Thomas misses a tackle, too much acceleration.
3:30: Thomas with his hand in the dirt against Matt Kalil. He didn’t stand a chance.
2:03: Thomas gets pressure on Barkley.
1:02: Thomas covers a tight end short very well.
2nd
11:34: Martin struggling again a bit with Nick Perry, who gets a pressure, but he was asked to block for a long time. This could be considered a coverage pressure, but Luck had to step up and run to evade it.
10:40: Thomas with a pressure on a blitz.
9:41: Barkley throws a bad pick, doesn’t see the linebacker.
9:25: Martin doing what he does best, run blocking. 5 yard run through his side with a great block by Martin. He’ll have to prove he’s more than a right tackle at the next level. Perry is beating him too frequently tonight.
7:54: Luck with his 2nd delay of game penalty of the night.
7:21: Perry beats Martin again and forces Andrew Luck to flee the pocket.
7:15: Martin allows another pressure. He’s having a poor game. This time he wasn’t even on Perry. Luck has struggled a bit on his last few drives with the pressure that Martin is allowing.
6:28: Thomas pancaked by Matt Kalil. There’s no way he’s winning that matchup.
5:05: Thomas on Kalil again. No chance. That’s his problem. He’s an awesome 3-4 outside linebacker at this level, but at 239 pounds, I don’t know he’s big enough to play the position in the pros. This is his first game against an NFL caliber left tackle. He might be a 4-3 outside linebacker purely.
1:33: Thomas in on a big tackle for loss on the ball carrier after a recovered botched handoff.
0:55: Chase Thomas against Matt Kalil again, trying to beat him with his quickness, tries a spin move, goes nowhere.
3rd
13:54: Thomas completely pushed off the play by Matt Kalil on a huge touchdown run by USC.
12:09: Jonathan Martin leaves with an injury. In the mean time, I’ll be watching Stanford tight end #82 Coby Fleener in the meantime.
10:31: Matt Kalil plows open a long touchdown for the 2nd time tonight.
9:39: Martin is back. He didn’t miss a play.
8:33: Martin allows another pressure from Perry, who forces Andrew Luck to move and throw. Since starting 5-5, Luck is 6-11 thanks to a ton of pressure. If he’s as good as everyone says he is, he’s going to find a way to win this game down 20-10.
6:34: Luck must have heard me. Touchdown.
5:47: Chase Thomas gets pressure.
2:11: Nick Perry tackles Luck just short on 3rd down after a scramble up the middle.
1:22: Luck with another touchdown, this time a run, 24-20 Stanford.
4th
12:18: Martin struggles again with Nick Perry. He hasn’t been all bad tonight, but he hasn’t looked like a top 10 pick.
11:11: Martin allows Perry to hit Luck as he threw.
9:25: Luck sacked for the 2nd time tonight, 4th time all year. Perry in on the tackle with another defender. This was more of a coverage sack.
7:55: Thomas in on a tackle for little to no gain.
5:03: Thomas matched up with Kalil again, Kalil just pushes him off easily. I think Thomas has been matched up with Kalil on 10-15 snaps tonight. I don’t think he’s won one.
3:08: Holy crap Andrew Luck might have just thrown the game winning touchdown to the wrong team, pick six.
2:16: TJ McDonald, known for his personal fouls, with one here after USC stopped Stanford on 3rd and 6.
2:10: Martin on Perry again, Perry forces Luck out of the pocket again.
0:51: Martin struggling a bit with Perry again. Martin just doesn’t look very athletic out there.
0:38: Luck leads another touchdown drive to tie it. He hasn’t been perfect tonight, but he’s done a very good job of not letting his mistakes affect him.
Overtime
OT- Martin with a nice run block. He’s had a good day run blocking, but he’s had trouble with Perry’s quick in pass protection.
3OT- Martin allows another pressure.
0:00: This game was a favorite of NFL scouts because it had 4 potential top 5 picks, the two quarterbacks Andrew Luck and Matt Barkley, and the two left tackles, Matt Kalil and Jonathan Martin. Of those 4, Martin was easily the least impressive and someone I was spotlighting in this game. Martin has played very well to this point in the season as part of Stanford’s awesome run blocking line and also helping Andrew Luck take only 2 sacks all season.
Luck took 2 sacks in this game alone. Martin was only responsible for .5 at most, but he still had a lot of trouble with USC defensive end Nick Perry, a quick, athletic defensive end. Andrew Luck has amazing pocket presence and was able to scramble away from a lot of Perry’s pressures. Martin hadn’t really played anyone of note to this point in the season so it definitely hurts his stock to see him struggle with someone like Perry, who isn’t an elite defensive end prospect, though this game definitely helps his stock. Martin has an uphill battle now to prove he’s athletic enough to stay on the left side in the pros and that he’s not just a run blocking right tackle. If he can’t do that, he’ll slip out of the top 10 picks.
As for Perry, he’s no slouch of a defensive end prospect. He was viewed as a potential future first rounder after 9 sacks as a freshman in 2009, but he managed just 4 sacks in a disappointing season as a sophomore in 2010 as came into this season as a mid rounder at best. He’s had 4 sacks already this season and though he didn’t have a sack in this game, he showed great speed and quickness and a wide repertoire of pass rushing moves against a left tackle that no one had had any success against to this point in the season. At 6-3 250, he’s a little undersized, but he runs a 40 in the 4.5-4.6s and could end up a day 2 pick if he continues to impress.
Now onto Andrew Luck, I mentioned his awesome pocket presence, but this was really the first game Andrew Luck really faced any adversity this season. Stanford had won a record 10 straight by 25 points or more and Luck had been sacked just 7 times in a year in a half coming into the game. He went down twice tonight, but easily could have gone down 4 or 5 times with the way USC was getting after the quarterback. Luck did an awesome job of scrambles for some gains and throwing on the run with pressure breathing down his back.
All in all, Luck was 29 for 40 for 330 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a pick, very impressive considering his offensive line wasn’t helping him out a lot and his running game only average 3.9 yards per carry, a rarity for this Stanford running game. The one pick was ugly, a pick six late in a tied game, but Luck showed great mental toughness to come back, lead a game winning drive and eventually win it in triple overtime after that pick. We all know the abilities that Luck has, but we haven’t really seen him face any adversity. Tonight he did, proving he can win ugly too. He’s not perfect, but he’s very, very good and he’s proven that he can handle not being perfect and still win when things go wrong.
While Jonathan Martin struggled, his counterpart USC left tackle Matt Kalil was awesome once again, proving why many see him as the best pro prospect other than Andrew Luck. Kalil didn’t make anything even close to a mistake, penalty, sack, tackle for loss allowed, big quarterback pressure, all night. He paved the way for 2 long USC runs and kept Matt Barkley’s blindside protected all night. He was matched up with Stanford rush linebacker Chase Thomas on roughly 15 plays in this game and he didn’t lose a single one and Thomas is no slouch. He’s considered a potential day 2 pick as a 3-4 or a 4-3 outside linebacker.
Speaking of Thomas, I spotlighted him as Marc Tyler went down with an injury on the first play of the game. Tyler, who has had injuries problems throughout his career, is going to have a tough time shaking the “injury prone” label as a draft prospect. He hasn’t put up great stats either and he might have lost his starting job, even if healthy, as backup Curtis McNeal looked awesome in his absence. Tyler might end up going undrafted.
Now onto Thomas, the 239 pound rush linebacker looked very small. He’s undersized for a rush linebacker and though he has 5.5 sacks on the season, he hadn’t really faced an NFL caliber left tackle to this point in the season. He definitely did tonight in Kalil and he looks like he’ll struggle getting off blocks against left tackles at the next level.
He might just be a 4-3 outside linebacker with strong blitzing ability, rather than someone who can match up with left tackles, either with his hand in the ground or as a rush linebacker. He’s undersized and doesn’t have the quickness to make up for it. He’s still a solid player, but if he can’t play 3-4 rush linebacker, he’ll have a hard time staying in day 2.
Finally, we go to Matt Barkley, the other quarterback in this game. Barkley was 28 for 45 for 284 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 pick. He had way more help in terms of his offensive line (he wasn’t sacked) and his running back (two long touchdown runs by Curtis McNeal) and he still lost and put up inferior stats than Luck, who was facing a better defense. Barkley isn’t bad or anything, but he’s not Andrew Luck. This game is probably going to be neutral for his stock as he remains a top 10 pick as potentially the #2 quarterback off the board, though Landry Jones and Robert Griffin might have something to say about that.
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