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<\/a><\/p>\nWe see Alexander lined up as the 5-technique on the outside shoulder of the Vikings\u2019 left tackle. The Vikings execute a wide-zone run to that side, putting Alexander on the play-side. He starts off the play well, engaging the left tackle and bowing him back while giving up little ground. His hips are in the left B-gap, essentially closing the gap and helping to string the run laterally.<\/p>\n
That, however, is where things start to go wrong.<\/p>\n
As Alexander engages with the left tackle, his base begins to narrow and his pads rise. As that happens, the left guard gets piece of Alexander\u2019s side, who isn\u2019t able to absorb the block with a narrowed base while also moving laterally. That overbalances him, forces his pads up further, and allows the left tackle to put Alexander on the ground.<\/p>\n
From there, the guard is able to give Micah McFadden a shove, perhaps disrupting him enough that back is able to run through McFadden\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
Alexander generally does a very good job of playing half-man leverage and putting his hips in gaps to close them. However, he needs to do a better job of using his long arms to fend off blockers when he does so, as well as more consistently keeping a wide base to maintain his balance.<\/p>\n
This also showed up in a couple instances in Week 3 against the Jets. It seems to crop up most commonly when Alexander tries to run his feet and drive the blockers back, as opposed to keeping a wide base and simply eating the blocks. Notably, his hips rotate as he tries to drive the blocker, making it easier for the second linemen to move him laterally.<\/p>\n
There were also multiple instances of Alexander being tripped by his teammates as he either engaged blockers or penetrated into the backfield. It\u2019s difficult to say whether that\u2019s a \u201chim\u201d problem.<\/p>\n For instance, we see Alexander against the Dolphins.<\/p>\n Alexander is lined up in the right B-gap, between the right guard and right tackle. He engages the right guard with good leverage, also inserting his right arm into the A-gap to get a piece of the guard. Between squeezing the B-gap as well as putting his hips in the C-gap, Alexander is able to wall off the right side of the line and creates a path into the backfield for cornerback Nic Jones on a run blitz. That forces the back through the left A-gap.<\/p>\n Alexander slows the right guard down well enough that Jack Kelly could insert himself into the left A-gap and blow up the play in the backfield. However, Kelly hesitates slightly which allows the back to work back to the right side. At the same time, Jones steps on Alexander\u2019s leg, tripping him and allowing the right tackle to expand the gap and the back is able to pick up some dirty yards.<\/p>\n Taken as a whole, we see that not only does Alexander need to continue to work on consistently playing with better technique, but also that his perceived level of play could improve when surrounded by starters.<\/p>\n Alexander\u2019s issues with consistency in his footing bleed into other areas of his game, and in particular his ability to consistently anchor against blockers.<\/p>\n We got a good example early on against the Jets.<\/p>\n Alexander is aligned as the 3-technique on the left guard\u2019s outside shoulder. He makes an effort to stay low and play with a wide base off of the snap, which allows him to at least hold the guard. However Alexander fails to win inside leverage and gain control of the guard\u2019s chest plate. Instead, the guard gains inside leverage on Alexander, using the grip on his chest plate to torque him laterally and prevent him from engaging with the center, who works up to the second level.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a huge loss for Alexander, particularly considering he\u2019s able to occupy the guard well enough that that Micah McFadden is able to occupy the gap. The run itself, however, goes for a nice gain after Kelly attempts to occupy the same gap instead of flowing to the outside while Ar\u2019Darius Washington is washed inside by a wide receiver who inserts into the box as a blocker.<\/p>\n That said, this is a good example of how Alexander needs to become more consistent in his technique to fully take advantage of his athletic tools.<\/p>\n Alexander\u2019s tape is littered with flashes of impressive play, particularly as you begin to get a sense for what the Giants want to do on defense.<\/p>\n Dennard Wilson\u2019s scheme will likely depend heavily on living in nickel sets and attacking offenses with motion, the blitz, and the threat of the blitz. This isn\u2019t the place to get into the weeds of how a defense can use stunts, twists, zone drops, simulated pressures, and blitzes to attack an offense \u2014 that\u2019s for another piece. However, Alexander\u2019s traits hold solid upside for helping to execute a modern defensive scheme.<\/p>\n Darius Alexander is a very good athlete, with a great first step and explosiveness. That showed up in flashes throughout the preseason.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll start with a play in run defense against the Vikings.<\/p>\n Alexander begins the play lined up at 5-technique on the left tackle\u2019s outside shoulder. The run is an outside zone to the right, putting Alexander on backside contain and pursuit. The Vikings attempt to account for him with a double-team from the tackle and tight end. However, Alexander is able to split the double team as the tackle releases to block at the second level. He runs the play down from behind as the back attempts to exploit a massive hole created when Josh Tupou gets washed out.<\/p>\n This is the look just before Alexander closes on the play:<\/p>\n There isn\u2019t much between the back and the open field, and the run could have gone for another double-digit gain (if not much more). Instead, Alexander is able to discard the tight end\u2019s block and close on the back quickly enough that this is only a 4-yard gain.<\/p>\n Later in the game we get another good look at Alexander\u2019s speed in space as he drops into a shallow coverage zone to create a path for Kelly on a zone blitz.<\/p>\n Both Alexander and Chauncey Golston simulate a rush before dropping out in shallow coverage while linebackers Micah McFadden and Jack Kelly blitz, as well as cornerback Nic Jones. The pressure scheme confuses the Vikings\u2019 blockers while also muddying J.J. McCarthy\u2019s reads. Kelly\u2019s pressure flushes the quarterback from the pocket, which Alexander recognizes, coming down from his coverage zone to pick up the sack.<\/p>\n We see Alexander\u2019s lower-body explosiveness and power on display the next week against the Dolphins.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n