Finally. Let’s spend today talking about a man who is quietly one of the best offensive tackles in the league this season.

Mike McGlinchey’s tenure with the Denver Broncos has not been completely positive. Not that I necessarily agree with those sentiments, but his first year with the team was rocky at times, and he did have those moments last year as well, particularly in the passing game. But I think that overall he has been playing really solid football and has been a key contributor to the success of this offense.

This year he has been proving me right. He has been consistently reliable, always in the game, rock solid, and has sneakily been one of the best players on the offense. McGlinchey really does feel like he embodies the classic offensive line sentiment that you only hear about them when they’re bad, and when they’re good no one talks about them.

Mike McGlinchey played every offensive snap of the game. The Broncos had 61 of them on Sunday, running 22 designed run plays (including RPOs) and 39 designed pass plays.

He had a statistically perfect night as he gave up zero TFLs, zero pressures, zero QB hits, and zero sacks.

He finished the game with one “Bad” block, five “Meh” blocks, 12 “Alright” blocks, and 43 “Good” blocks. This gave him a score of 5.5 points or 89.3%.

In run protection he finished with 19.25 points (87.5%) and in pass protection he finished with 35.25 points (90.4%). His lone “Bad” block came in pass protection.

Unlike last week’s film review on Quinn Meinerz, there was nothing super flashy about McGlinchey’s game and there weren’t these huge blocks that he was making. But that’s not something I’m going to hold against him. Not every game has to be that way and not every player has to play that way. McGlinchey on Sunday was not spectacular, but he was very, very solid.

He was strong in pass protection all day long. We’ll take a look at one of his mistakes, but it wasn’t horrible. For the most part as long as he was able to absorb the initial impact or counter the initial pass rush, these Houston Texans defenders weren’t doing a dang thing. He only got beat on a stunt. Bull rushes weren’t working, speed rushes weren’t working, and he didn’t give the edge rushers any space to work with.

In run protection he fixed some of the mistakes I’ve seen him make semi-regularly this year. In particular, as the playside tackle on Inside Zone he wasn’t playing as soft on the LOS as he has. He was taking that inside shoulder and working through it, not giving the defender an opportunity to work back inside on him. He looked pretty strong out there too, which isn’t something that usually happens. There were a couple of plays where he straight-up just manhandled someone.

And while you didn’t hear his name much, he wasn’t the reason for a running back getting hit early or Bo Nix having to escape the pocket. The defense just couldn’t get him to mess up for the most part. And this is all against a defensive line that has been doing a good job all year in both the run and pass game.

I think one of the coolest or most notable things you’ll see in these upcoming clips is just how well both him and Meinerz work together. They’re a really strong pairing, and obviously that’s what makes a great offensive line truly great.

Run play – Inside Zone – Good block

Here’s a great rep of McGlinchey running a backside double team on Inside Zone with Meinerz. McGlinchey’s job is to work to get either head-up or to the playside shoulder (depends on the offensive system/ philosophy) of the DT that’s aligned over the top of him. Meinerz does a good job of taking on the block and McGlinchey fills in through the backside of the double team and gets some extra vertical displacement on the DT after Meinerz comes off to get the linebacker.

One detail I really want to highlight here is how McGlinchey takes away any space between him and Meinerz. Double team blocks on Inside Zones only work if the two linemen are conjoined at the hip, otherwise there’s a great risk of the block getting split by the DT. McGlinchey gets to Meinerz’ hip with such intentionality that he’s behind Meinerz for the first couple of steps. This is good stuff.

Pass play – Drop back – Good block

This clip shows 0ff some high-level hand fighting by McGlinchey.

First off, he gets a fantastic get off and gets to his point in the backfield, beating the wide-aligned DE (this wide alignment is a total pain to deal with in pass pro) to the spot. His initial strike is great, as you can see that the DE is stunted, and as the DE’s pad level rises, McGlinchey swats down his hands and sends him into the turf.

A great victory in the chess match that happens on every play.

Pass play – Drop back – Meh block

Sometimes the defense executes a well-timed stunt and there isn’t too much you can do about it.

With how wide the DE is, McGlinchey is forced to take a big first step backwards and to get his eyes out wide, making it near impossible for him to see the DT that’s heading right towards him. And the DE does a great job of waiting until the DT makes contact to loop back inside. Honestly the more I look at this play the less it appears to be a mistake by McGlinchey and I want to blame Meinerz for this.

I think Meinerz’ pass set should have been a touch more vertical and he should have stayed on this DT for a hair longer. He kind of sends the DT into McGlinchey as well and doesn’t give his RT much of a chance to pick this block up and leaves a little early to pick up the looper.

Now with that being said, you can also make the argument that as soon as the DE hesitates on his rush, that should give you a key to look inside for a stunt, but that is an incredibly hard read to make in that short of time. I’ll be bumping this grade up to a Meh and all scores will be adjusted.

Run play – Counter – Good block

The Broncos are running Counter to McGlinchey’s side so this means they have to block the DT over them to the backside linebacker (#39). With the DT lined up on an inside shade on McGlinchey, you can make the presnap assumption that McGlinchey will be doing most of the work on the DT while Meinerz will be heading up to pick up the linebacker.

Meinerz does a good job with his initial contact on the double team and makes an athletic move to recover late and pick up the linebacker, who makes a great read and does exactly what he should on Counter. That backside linebacker should be crashing hard to the playside A gap. And Meinerz makes this block a little hard on him due to him bringing his left arm into the DT and burying his head into the block as well.

McGlinchey however, aided by the good contact by Meinerz, is able to physically push the DT along the turf. This is impressive. He gets great leverage on the man with good hands and a nice forward-leaning posture which keeps his butt and hips behind him, and that’s where your power and leverage from the lower body comes from. Offensive line is part physics. If your hips are underneath you then your force vector is vertical, but if your hips are behind you then that force vector is horizontal, which is what you need for achieving vertical displacement.

McGlinchey takes the DT a few yards away from where they initially started, opening up tons of space behind him. Counter looks great when everyone executes their blocks like they do here.

Mike McGlinchey is worth the price of his contract. He has been worth it for most of his time in Denver and he absolutely is worth it right now. He is one half of the best offensive tackle tandem in the league and is playing probably the best football of his career. There is a reason that, according to PFF, he has yet to give up a sack (the same can be said for Garett Bolles as well).

He is one of the most dependable and consistent players on this roster, and he really is one of those much-needed “locker room guys”. I am very happy to have a guy like Mike McGlinchey on this team.