Evaluating Jake Grove | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Evaluating Jake Grove

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FinHopeful

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I am a big fan of the signing of Jake Grove, but he did not meet my expectations during the first preseason game. A second viewing of the game confirmed that he was successful, but that he did not excel. I believe that the three good things and the three bad things listed below are the best representation of his performance.

Good Things

  • No missed assignments
  • High one-on-one blocking percentage without a tackle for loss
  • Effective second-level blocks cutting off backside pursuit

Missed assignments from the center position kill the inside running game. It seemed that we had at least one missed assignment per game last year from Satele. Jake's assignment accuracy should translate into a better inside running game. I was happy to see the coaches test Jake with one-on-one blocking all night long. Henderson was a good test of his one-on-one blocking skills. Jake Grove is going to be graded with a high percentage of wins; even though, Henderson made some tackles for little gain. The reason is that all of the contact was on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The sweep by Ricky to the right side in the first quarter of how Jake's ability to effectively block at the second-level will translate into longer gains. The tackle was eventually made by the backside linebacker that Jake cutoff for one second, but he was not able to get there until 8 to 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Bad Things

  • Allowed Henderson to go horizontally down the line and make plays
  • Did not drive Henderson off the line once
  • Penalty related mental mistakes
Although Jake will grade out high, he allowed Henderson to limit many rushes to only 2 yards. He needs to achieve a good seal in front of Henderson, or force Henderson to lose ground while moving horizontally. The false start in the red zone was a horrific mistake. He better clean up that ASAP.

I expected Jake Grove to perform well, and he just barely achieved successful. This is a disappointment, but it was clearly an improvement over last year.
 
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I don't blame jake on the penalty, Henne was trying to tell him to hurry up and get the snap off. He turned his head and the penalty was called. Just one of those things that happen. I would blame him if he had forgotten the snap count or something, but thats just one of those things that happen.
 
I think when you play a great DT like Henderson, who when healthy is a unmovable object. You design the game plan around running at other people and controlling him as best you can. Every center or guard in the league has trouble with the big fella.
 
FinHopeful said:
I am a big fan of the signing of Jake Grove, but he did not meet my expectations during the first preseason game. A second viewing of the game confirmed that he was successful, but that he did not excel. I believe that the three good things and the three bad things listed below are the best representation of his performance.

Good Things

  • No missed assignments
  • High one-on-one blocking percentage without a tackle for loss
  • Effective second-level blocks cutting off backside pursuit
Missed assignments from the center position kill the inside running game. It seemed that we had at least one missed assignment per game last year from Satele. Jake's assignment accuracy should translate into a better inside running game. I was happy to see the coaches test Jake with one-on-one blocking all night long. Henderson was a good test of his one-on-one blocking skills. Jake Grove is going to be graded with a high percentage of wins; even though, Henderson made some tackles for little gain. The reason is that all of the contact was on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The sweep by Ricky to the right side in the first quarter of how Jake's ability to effectively block at the second-level will translate into longer gains. The tackle was eventually made by the backside linebacker that Jake cutoff for one second, but he was not able to get there until 8 to 10 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Bad Things

  • Allowed Henderson to go horizontally down the line and make plays
  • Did not drive Henderson off the line once
  • Penalty related mental mistakes
Although Jake will grade out high, he allowed Henderson to limit many rushes to only 2 yards. He needs to achieve a good seal in front of Henderson, or force Henderson to lose ground while moving horizontally. The false start in the red zone was a horrific mistake. He better clean up that ASAP.

I expected Jake Grove to perform well, and he just barely achieved successful. This is a disappointment, but it was clearly an improvement over last year.
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This is game one of the preseason. Knowing that Grove is injury prone, I doubt the management would want him going all out in a meaningless game. We all know he is the STARTING CENTER. They traded for the guy so his position is a lock. No need to worry
 
It looks to me like we have gone to the next level with Grove. He does appear to stop the push up the middle more on passing downs and he gets a stalemate on runs, but he doesn't seem to push anyone around.

One thing I really don't like is that he appears to "lunge" sometimes and missed completely a couple of times and ended up on the ground.

He is an upgrade from Satele, but I don't think he will help the inside running game much.
 
Once he gets confortable with the line calls and gets to know who his right guard will be he will be fine. The penalty was a result of rushing the play.....I dnt blame him for that one.
 
He is an upgrade over Ruddy, McKinney, and Satele. If he can stay healthy, it should produce results!
 
67Stang said:
He is an upgrade over Ruddy, McKinney, and Satele. If he can stay healthy, it should produce results!
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there is no way you can say he is an upgrade over ruddy at this point. i loved that guy. he blocked for dan and made at least 1 pro bowl that i can remember off the top of my head. ruddy was great for us. we can only hope that grove will be an upgrade over ruddy.
 
I'm worried about the Grove signing. I am. A lot depends on how he plays and his staying healthy. We gave him so much bank and our success is so dependent on our line play becoming more physical. So far he hasn't shown anything. He had his hands full with Henderson but that's not really an excuse. We paid him to be a top level C. Top level C's make top level plays against top level d-lines. Yeah, it's too soon to evaluate anything, but something about the signing worries me.
 
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