Trevor Penning is PFF’s top graded Saint; Penning is highest graded NFL OT in Week 10

DSnfla said
But could he have? Doesn't Ruiz's position pretty much prevent him from getting that far to his left? You're an OL guy you tell me bud

Well, I was just providing an opposing view and can understand if someone sees that as a minus.

Not for me personally, but I could understand it.

There are many names for that block - combo, double team, scoop. The emphasis tends to be the same, the play side OL needs to secure the block and make it possible for the backside player to reach. Depending on scheme/assignment/alignment the speed at which there is disengagement from the play side OL can differ. But unless the DT moves away/slants backside, the play side OL should impact the hips, shoulders and pad height of the DT, giving the back side OL the opportunity to reach and take over the block. I think Ruiz does that, for the most part.

Penning's angle and momentum should be such that he works forcefully through where Ruiz was to get play side of the DT and reach him (my coaching point has always been to work through the armpit of the play side OL). I think perhaps his angle was slightly off and not enough depth and he ended up on the backside shoulder. You could argue that Ruiz needed to stay a tick longer, but again, hard to say exactly what the coaching points are in terms of length of engagement.

In my view, Penning put himself behind the 8 ball, and you could argue some of that is on Ruiz, but Penning then does what you're taught - if you can't reach, stay engaged and push as hard and fast as you can. He did a good job of that. That's Plan B but it works because in the zone, sometimes, if you push hard and fast enough, the RB can cut it back behind you, which is what happened. However, had the RB stayed play side, the DT would have crushed him for a TFL.

So it could be a minus because the initial engagement was lost but could be a plus because plan B was executed well. The outcome of the play, the RB cutting back or not, should not really matter for the OL grade.