Thread by @ImLittleJon

Nicholas Morrow Film Study Thread

I was curious about some of the #Bears free agents, so I decided to go watch some film and share my observations, in case anyone else is also curious. I started with LB Nicholas Morrow.

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The game I watched was Nov. 29, 2020, and the Raiders got crushed by the Falcons 43-6, due to committing 5 turnovers. Morrow, however, filled up the stat sheet, with 10 tackles, 2 PBU, 1 TFL, and 1 QB hit.

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Morrow spent a good chunk of time in man on the RB. In this play, he starts lined up opposite the RB, but when he sees the RB heading to the opposite side of the formation, he switches to the TE.

3/13

Morrow arrives just after the ball, and the TE drops it. I think the TE might have dropped it anyway, but Morrow gets credit for the PBU, and even if the TE had caught it, it would have gone for maybe half a yard gain.

4/13

Here is Morrow's other PBU, from zone this time. Notice how he is already breaking on the ball when the QB cocks his arm back to throw. He showed this aggressiveness throughout the game, even when the QB was throwing to someone else.

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Here's another view of Morrow in tight coverage on the RB. The DB behind him gets confused and leaves Ridley wide open in the end zone, but I'm pretty sure Morrow is doing what he's supposed to here.

6/13

The Raiders occasionally sent Morrow off the edge, and he had some success. Here he avoids the RB block and is credited with a QB "hit".

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Another rush off the edge. This time he is unblocked and gets to the RB immediately, resulting in a TFL.

8/13

Every off ball LB struggles to disengage when an OL gets his big paws locked on, and Morrow is no exception. There were a lot of plays that looked similar to this, so I just chose one example.

9/13

It's a bit of a concern, but honestly, OLs are bigger, stronger, longer, and more trained in this scenario, so you would expect them to win the battle against a LB more often than not.

10/13

The solution to this problem is to not let the OL get locked on in the first place. Here Morrow uses his speed to evade the block, then he turns the corner and makes the tackle.

11/13

Overall, Morrow looked like a strong addition. His strongest asset seems to be coverage skills. I didn't see him miss any tackles, though he sometimes got driven back a little while making the tackle. In today's pass-heavy league, I'll take it.

12/13

Especially given how much man Coach Flus likes to play on 3rd down.

Anyway, if you liked this, give me a follow, and if there's interest, I'll do more of these for free agents and draft picks.
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