Breaking Down the Footwork, Running Style of NY Giants RB Andre Williams: One year ago, New York Giants running back Andre Williams led the nation in rushing yardage as a member of the Boston College Eagles with 2,177 yards. Now in his rookie season with the Giants, Williams has shown himself to be an intriguing running back who has good speed and power. Like all rookies, Williams is still in the process of adjusting to the pro level, where holes don’t necessarily stay open as long as they do in college, and where proper technique is of the utmost importance on every single snap. In our weekly in-season film breakdown, we will look at Williams’ performance since he was elevated to the starting lineup for the injured Rashad Jennings (knee). Technique and Fundamentals Williams, like most rookies, is a work in progress who, with more reps and continued coaching, can refine his tools and become a solid NFL running back. Currently, however, there are a few rough edges with his technique, starting with his stance and footwork. A proper two-point stance for running backs is to line up with their feet shoulder width and both hands on their thighs so that they can push off with an explosive first step. They also must keep their head up and not lean forward too much to where their backside is protruding excessively, because this can slow down their initial charge. In looking at Williams stance in the Dallas game, he was, at times, too wide, such as in this screen shot where his feet are clearly wider than his shoulders (red arrow). His are down on his knees (blue arrow), which causes him to lean in a bit too far. As a result of these flaws, Williams is susceptible to some wasted motion in his footwork that slows down his approach to the line of scrimmage. As noted, a running back’s feet (1) should be about shoulder width apart—going too wide slows one down while going too narrow can put one off balance. When the ball is snapped, Williams (2) appears to rock back slightly on his left foot, his right foot sliding out toward the sideline instead of moving up field. This slight delay while he sets his feet (3) to move forward seems to be all the time necessary for a tiny crease that might have been there had he started forward right away to quickly close up. Here is another reason why Williams might be a hair too slow at times in getting to a hole. Note how in this frame, his forward foot (left) is pointed toward the sideline rather than upfield, the direction where he needs to be going in order to receive the handoff from quarterback Eli Manning. Because his front foot isn’t pointed forward, he ends up taking an extra half step. Meanwhile, the hole on the left side that was created by left tackle Will Beatty, left guard Weston Richburg and fullback Henry Hynoski closes up, leaving Williams to come away with a minimal gain on the play. Production No running back can be productive on his own—it takes the five guys on the offensive line, the tight end and, if hes a direct part of the play, the fullback to clear running lanes. So how has Williams done behind his run blocking, keeping in mind that it hasn’t always been crisp? Williams is officially averaging 3.2 yards per carry (88 carries for 279 yards) and has two touchdowns. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), he has made 14 defenders miss him, and is averaging 2.0 yards after initial contact is made by a defender. How do those numbers stack up with the rest of the league? Per PFF, Chris Ivory of the Jets currently leads NFL running backs with 3.1 yards after initial contact. Darren Sproles of the Eagles is the leader in average yards per rush with 6.6. DeMarco Murray of Dallas not only leads the league in rushing yardage with 920, he has made 43 defenders miss him on the initial attempt. Per PFF’s signature stats, Williams is ranked 26th among NFL running backs with a 30.3 elusive rating, defined as “the runner’s success beyond the point of being helped by his blockers.” He is also ranked ahead of teammate Jennings (28.6) in that category, despite the fact that Jennings has just three more attempts. As a receiver out of the backfield, which is not currently a strength, Williams has caught four out of six targets for 25 yards, 177 coming after the catch. He also has two dropped passes, per PFF. Because he doesn’t have a large enough body of work as an NFL receiver, we will focus strictly on his running. The plays we’ll look at are from the Dallas game. Second Quarter, 12:50 Left: 22-Yard Gain Williams ran for his longest play of the day, a 22-yard run, in the second quarter through the right tackle’s hole. This play, a draw, began in the shotgun formation with his offensive blockers giving him a lane bigger than the state of Texas. On this run, Williams was stopped at the Cowboys’ 5-yard line by Brandon Carr. Now lets look at a couple of instances where Williams might have had more yardage had he hit the holes created for him quicker. Third Quarter, 11:54 Left, Six-Yard Gain While this play doesn’t necessarily pertain to his footwork issues, we want to include it because it exemplifies a point made by Giants running backs coach Craig Johnson to reporters during Tuesday’s media session. Johnson said of Williams: I think for all young players, they have a tendency to really get in a hurry, but I think that [Williams] is getting more patient as he continues to go. I think it’s a good thing that you can kind of roll back sometimes with the young players because you’d rather have them be over aggressive than not over aggressive. Again, it’s the rhythm and the flow every play. Every back that I know of wants to get with the rhythm and the timing of the linemen. There is a certain learning curve there and that’s what he’s experiencing. Williams did well on this play to pick up six yards behind some solid blocking, including a nice seal by tight end Larry Donnell (No. 84, far right). However, Williams appeared to think that he would be best served by running to the outside, always a risky proposition when going against smaller, quicker linebackers. In this frame, the blue path shows the path Williams took; however, he had a running lane developing (red line) on the inside that he might have been able to pick up at least 10 yards on were it not for the fact that he “settled” in taking the first opportunity presented to him. Third Quarter, 14:54 On this play, Williams took a half step backward before moving forward, again a result of his base being too wide and him needing to adjust his feet. As he came to the line, he tried to nudge through the path indicated by the blue line, which was starting to close up. Had he instead adjusted and cut to his right (red line), where Hynoski and tight end Daniel Fells had their respective men under control, Williams would have had a gaping hole that might very well have been a touchdown instead of the six yards he picked up on the play. A Bright Future Despite being a little bit rough around the edges, which should be expected from a rookie drafted on Day 3, Williams has a lot of upside that is bound to help the Giants offense as he continues to gain valuable experience. One area where Williams has done surprisingly well is in pass protection. Per PFF, he’s only received 19 pass block snaps but has allowed zero pressures. “He’s done a good job with his pass protection, which I was concerned about because he wasn’t asked to do that much in the past,” Johnson said. “He is obviously a heavy load; you’ve seen him a couple times move guys out of the hole.” The Giants have been selective about using Williams out of the backfield as a receiver given his lack of experience in that regard. However, Johnson, who revealed that Williams stays after practice to take extra reps either from a quarterback or from a Jugs machine, has improved in that area as well. “He’s done a better job of catching the ball. I think he’s done a good job, but he’s a work in progress and he’s not the finished product yet.” Williams is definitely getting there though, and Johnson said the possibilities would soon be endless with how Williams can be used on offense. “I’m really excited about his future, and I think he’s starting to learn and grow. He’s getting in a rhythm as we continue to play,” he said. Unless otherwise noted, advanced stats and analytics obtained via Pro Football Focus (subscription required). All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina. Read more NFL news on BleacherReport #Football #NFL #NFCEast #NewYorkGiants
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 02:39:11 +0000
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