In a recent press conference, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh gave a unique assessment of Ryan Kerrigan’s talents, and that’s putting things very mildly.
To be honest, it doesn’t really seem like Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Mike Groh enjoys press conferences. Not too long ago, he bounced out of one early. In one of more recent, he seemed to enjoy the fact that the media seemed to run out of questions and got out of dodge before they could collect themselves to think of any more.
No one can say that they blame him. The man’s just trying to get to practice. Everyone’s glad that he keeps showing up though. It would just be nice if he hung around longer. He always shares great stuff. He’s pretty comical when he wants to be, and last but not least, he’s normally good for a nice sound byte or two.
Just take what we got from him just three days before Philly’s first game of 2019, one that pits them against the rival Washington Redskins. In one of the final questions of the session, Groh was asked what it’s like to prepare for an athlete like Ryan Kerrigan. His response? ‘He’s a rolling ball of butcher blades.’ Wait. Say what? At this point, we at ITI need to apologize. No one knows what a rolling ball of butcher blades is or how it’s constructed.
This one almost got thrown in the category of ‘Mike-isms’ until a web search led us to something interesting. This wasn’t the first time this was said. Another story was found where Hue Jackson, then the offensive coordinator Cincinnati Bengals, said the same thing about Khalil Mack. It appears this is a real thing or some bizarre coach lingo. Anyway, our staff never figured out what it was. All we know is it’s something we don’t want any part of.
Here’s more from Groh.
"This guy is a heck of a player in all phases, (in the) running game. He certainly creates and generates a pass rush. We’ve got to be very conscious of where he’s at. (He’s) a heck of a player (and) has a high motor, and he’s smart. You know you’re not going to fool him on a lot of stuff, so he’s one of those guys that we certainly spend time talking about and (we) want to make sure that we’ve got the right guys on him."
On Sunday, the majority of that responsibility will belong to Lane Johnson. He would qualify as one of the ‘right guys’ wouldn’t you say?
Philly came into 2019 with some very clear goals, and here’s one of them. Keep Carson Wentz‘s jersey clean.
Kerrigan will provide a nice test for how the Eagles’ offensive line has developed over the Spring and Summer, and most believe that Philly should be up to the task. Thankfully, the responsibility of blocking that ‘rolling ball of butcher blades’ belongs to Johnson and his buddies on the offensive line. We’ll see how things go on Sunday.