Bobby Massie - can he get better?

[JABF]

I never followed this guy prior to him coming here to the Bears.  I was kind of shocked by how slow he looked Sunday.  Do you think this is a guy who can improve.  What do you guys think?  

Here's his scouting report from NFL.com on him (prior to him being drafted in 2012):

Massie is not a very dynamic athlete and is a slow-footed mover. He is not a natural bender and is rigid in many of his movements. He labors to work to the second level and and struggles when sifting through traffic to engage his man. He relies on catching his man as a blocker in pass protection and will get in trouble with that technique at the next level.

Doesn't that match what we saw on Sunday?  

[4dabers]

This was one of the moves in the off season that I was not very enamored with at the time, but Kyle Long was all about it, so, giving the benefit of the doubt to an actual player that would line up next to him, I bought in.

Frankly, unless he's hurt and we don't know about it (which is always possible) the only time I see him looking better is against lesser (slower) ends or with help from a TE, but I don't see him getting better..

[JABF]

Sept 13, 2016 13:11:31 GMT -6 4dabers said:

This was one of the moves in the off season that I was not very enamored with at the time, but Kyle Long was all about it, so, giving the benefit of the doubt to an actual player that would line up next to him, I bought in.

Frankly, unless he's hurt and we don't know about it (which is always possible) the only time I see him looking better is against lesser (slower) ends or with help from a TE, but I don't see him getting better..

Watching his footwork in pass protection, he moved so slow.  

[motm]

Wasn't his piss poor pass protection the reason why the Cardinals dropped him?

[riczaj01]

I think we'll find out in the next several weeks, Having to go against the likes of What, Clowney and Whitney is going to make a lot of OT's look slow and dumb.

Cutler and his best boy OC better learn to get plays called that get the ball out quickly regardless b/c Massie wasn't known for his great blocking skills, I had asserted that going away from 7 step drops to 3 step drops would help greatly, but if Cutler is going to hold onto the ball for 4 seconds looking for open WR's then both OT's are going to get worked.

[JABF]

Sept 13, 2016 13:28:59 GMT -6 riczaj01 said:

I think we'll find out in the next several weeks, Having to go against the likes of What, Clowney and Whitney is going to make a lot of OT's look slow and dumb. 

I thought about that.  But it wasn't how quick the defenders were (they were definitely great defenders, no question), but just isolating on Massie, the guy moves like he's in slow motion in pass protection.  I'll be honest, I was stunned watching how slow the guy moved his feet.  

[AlexM]

Lets give him some time, I remember how Leno was bashed... I really think they can be solid, not great but solid for us

[JABF]

Sept 13, 2016 13:39:17 GMT -6 AlexM said:

Lets give him some time, I remember how Leno was bashed... I really think they can be solid, not great but solid for us

That could be.  But this isn't a rookie Leno struggling at RT a couple years ago.  This is a veteran in his 5th season.  Leno had a tough day too, at LT on Sunday.  But the difference (to me) is that Leno can hold his own against a lot of D players... he may not be great, but he has been serviceable.  But Massie looks painfully slow footed out there - and that scouting report during his draft year, seemed to be saying the same thing.

Can you fix "slow?"  The guy looks like a sloth out there trying to move his feet.

[Deleted]

Sept 13, 2016 13:03:23 GMT -6 JABF said:

I never followed this guy prior to him coming here to the Bears.  I was kind of shocked by how slow he looked Sunday.  Do you think this is a guy who can improve.  What do you guys think?  

Here's his scouting report from NFL.com on him (prior to him being drafted in 2012):

Massie is not a very dynamic athlete and is a slow-footed mover. He is not a natural bender and is rigid in many of his movements. He labors to work to the second level and and struggles when sifting through traffic to engage his man. He relies on catching his man as a blocker in pass protection and will get in trouble with that technique at the next level.

Doesn't that match what we saw on Sunday?  

I believe it absolutely matches what we saw on Sunday and after 5 years of coaching and experience I can also see that nothing about this has changed.  His scouting report is spot on as far as the player he is and always will be.  In reality he's no better at pass blocking than JWebb was and maybe not even that good. As far as any improvement goes that's my honest take on it.

As Ron White says in his stand up routine, "you can't fix stupid".  Stupid doesn't specifically apply to Massie though, that was Webb, or at least I don't think it does.  His problem is you can't fix slow.  He plays like he's wearing lead boots and his kick slide to gain position and leverage to combat an outside rush is practically non-existent.  He shuffles with baby step that will always leave him a step behind even an average speed rusher.  The better one will eat him alive all game long just as they did Sunday.

In order to even marginally improve he'd need to start grabbing rushers to slow them and then he'll get hit with holding calls.  It seems like our best shot is to give him some constant help on obvious passing downs with a RB or a TE to to chip on his man but then that limits our options as far as the number of receivers we can send out.  It's just not a good situation and I can't see it getting any better unless somehow Mike Adams recovers some of the skills that made him a higher draft pick coming out of OSU but I wouldn't count on that.

[AlexM]

Sept 13, 2016 13:53:54 GMT -6 JABF said:

Sept 13, 2016 13:39:17 GMT -6 AlexM said:

Lets give him some time, I remember how Leno was bashed... I really think they can be solid, not great but solid for us

That could be.  But this isn't a rookie Leno struggling at RT a couple years ago.  This is a veteran in his 5th season.  Leno had a tough day too, at LT on Sunday.  But the difference (to me) is that Leno can hold his own against a lot of D players... he may not be great, but he has been serviceable.  But Massie looks painfully slow footed out there - and that scouting report during his draft year, seemed to be saying the same thing.

Can you fix "slow?"  The guy looks like a sloth out there trying to move his feet.

I agree with you, im just trying to console myself