Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Jets OL coach on Giacomini: 'He's really hauling ass'

BY NICK ST. DENIS

One thing New York Jets coach Rex Ryan likes about the team's new starting right tackle Breno Giacomini is that he's "a finisher."

Jets offensive line coach Mike Devlin had a little more colorful way of defining the former Seattle Seahawks blocker's playing style (and we thought that was Rex's job).

“He’s really hauling ass, always looking to make contact,” Devlin said this week, via NJ.com. “When you talk about finish, there’s that extra something. So I’m blocking my guy, I get my guy, but I go to block someone else. Not everyone has that.

"It’s not natural. That is a natural thing to him. I don’t have to coach it. He just does it. If you have that heart, that finish, that toughness, we’ll figure out the rest of that stuff. It’s not like you can grow this heart."

Giacomini doesn't have massive shoes to fill, though he's taking over for a more-than-serviceable Austin Howard, who endeared himself to the Jets faithful in replacing the less-than-servicable Wayne Hunter. The 28-year-old is also tasked with learning a blocking scheme that's different from the zone-heavy scheme he worked in on the other coast.

“It’s a little bit more power running (with the Jets) than pure outside zone running,” Devlin said.

Ryan, however, thinks Giacomini is picking things up just fine. After all, it's just football. “Your really good players, it doesn’t matter (if it is) a zone scheme, a gap scheme or whatever,” Ryan said.

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