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Justin Britt: A better pass blocker than we realized

By Keith Myers

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The Seattle Seahawks believe they found their future at right tackle with second-year player Justin Britt. Fans don’t seem to be convinced though. The general consensus is that Britt is a solid run blocker but a liability in pass protection.

To get a good idea of exactly what the Seahawks have in Britt, I decided to chart his blocking on every pass play from two games. I chose to look at the Week 17 game vs. the Stl. Louis Rams and the divisional playoff game against the Carolina Panthers.

These two games were chosen for many reasons. First of all, they both came near the end of the year, after Britt has worked through much of his rookie struggles.

Plus, they were his best game and worst game as pass blocker from near the end of the year according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). This should give us a good look at both the good and the bad parts of Britt’s ability to play the position.

Those games also had Britt being matched up against two very good defensive ends. Carolina’s Charles Johnson is one of the top defensive ends in the NFL. Stl. Louis’ Chris Long had a bit of an off year last year, but is still a very talented player that can cause problems for even the best offensive tackles.

The Good

There is a lot to like in Britt’s game tape from these games. He handled himself quite well overall, even in the game in which PFF claims that Britt played poorly.

Britt didn’t always handle the speed rush well early in the season. He did showed definite improvement in that regard in these two games. Here Britt forces the speed rusher to get a full 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage before he turns the corner.

While it may look Britt is beat here, this is solid technique. The DE has no path to the QB, especially once Wilson steps up.

Here is something that Britt was asked to do multiple times in both game, and every time it was well executed. This is a designed quick pass to the TE on Britt’s. Britt’s job here is to keep the DE out of the passing lane.

Britt is able to get the DE on the ground here. There is no way that the DE would have been able to effect the play even if Wilson’s read had not had him throw the ball to the other side of the field.

One thing that we know offensive line coach Tom Cable likes is linemen that show some nastiness. Britt certainly has that quality. It shows up on this next play, where despite that fact that he is pass blocking, the defender ends up being pushed five yards downfield.

The Bad

It wasn’t all perfect technique from Britt. He made his mistakes, though they rarely cost the Seahawks. For example, Britt allows his hand to be moved here. That lets Johnson get inside of him to get pressure on Wilson. Wilson being Wilson, turns it into a 14 yard gain anyways.

Here is another example. This is the only time Long truly beat Britt. Britt was slow out of his stance and didn’t get good depth with his kick step. It was as if he wasn’t ready for the snap.

That is the type of thing that cannot happen. Hopefully that was just a rookie mistake, and doesn’t prove to be a reoccurring problem this coming season.

Handling Stunts

Both teams did their best to try and confuse Britt by using stunts. These are typically difficult for rookies to handle, but Britt and Sweezy played them surprisingly well in both games that I charted.

This is very smooth, and exactly the type of thing that want to see on plays like this. Sweezy has the athleticism to handle the speed of the defensive ends, and Britt has the power to not be moved by a defensive tackle. So as long as they make the exchange properly, these moves don’t cause problems for Seattle.

The only time Britt and Sweezy ran into trouble on stunts was when the DE would move inside by three gaps instead of two. The center should have picked him up, allowing Sweezy and Britt to block the two defensive tackles. Lewis blocked the wrong player, and chaos ensued.

You can’t fault Britt for that play though. He handed off the defender correctly, but Lewis didn’t make the adjustment. This is why too many youngsters playing on the offensive line at once can be a problem.

Overall Impressions

I came away from this tape study feeling much more confident in Britt’s future as a offensive tackle than i was before.  While he made some mistakes, there were very few considering he was a rookie.

Britt surrendered just four total quarterback pressures combined in these two games. There were zero sacks allowed and zero penalties in pass protection. Against two defensive ends of that quality, that is a very good result.

One big takeaway from this is that the coaching staff showed tremendous trust in Britt. He was left one-on-one on every signal play, with no help from a tight end or back. This is a huge change from the days when Breno Giacomini was the team’s right tackle. Giacomini was given help quite often. When he wasn’t bad things often happened.

Britt must improve his consistency and refine his technique somewhat. There is much to like in his tape from the end of the year. If he continues to progress, the Seahawks will have a very good right tackle for the foreseeable future.

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