All-22 film review: Breaking down LB Kamal Martin’s promising rookie debut vs. Texans
Green Bay Packers rookie linebacker Kamal Martin made his NFL debut last Sunday vs. the Texans, logging 29 snaps and totaling six tackles and three stops, per Pro Football Focus, in the winning effort.
Martin only played a few snaps in the first half. As the game wore on, he started to see the field more consistently and make his presence felt.
Here is a breakdown of Martin’s best plays from the debut game as well as a few plays that showed areas for improvement:
Third quarter (9:44) – 1st and 2 at GB 2
The Packers are lined up in 3-4 base at the two-yard line. The Texans are lined up in 12 personnel (two tight ends and one running back) with two in-line tight ends on the right side of the formation. Ty Summers and Martin are the linebackers. Martin is responsible for the frontside run gaps.
When the ball is snapped, Martin attacks the frontside C gap. At the line of scrimmage, he meets Texans tight end Darren Fells. On contact, Martin moves Fells backwards about two yards before shedding the block and getting in on the run stop. Defensive lineman Kingsley Keke does a great job of getting push on Texans right tackle Tytus Howard and squeezing the frontside B gap.
Defensive linemen Dean Lowry and Montravius Adams did a nice job of holding their gaps as well, while Summers came up to fill the backside A gap, forcing Texans running back David Johnson to stop his feet behind the line of scrimmage and eventually leading to the tackle for loss. Outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith also set a firm edge on the strong side of the formation to prevent Johnson from bouncing the run to the outside.
Martin’s aggressiveness and ability to slip blocks were on full display here.
Third quarter (4:40) – 2nd and 10 at HOU 25
Martin didn’t have to do a whole lot in coverage this game as he was only targeted once. On the only bad coverage play, he was covering wide receiver Randall Cobb in man-to-man and simply did not have the athleticism to stay with him. That’s entirely excusable, however, as most linebackers aren’t athletic enough to cover wide receivers in man-to-man.
On the above play, Martin showed good awareness and recognition to pass off Texans wide receiver Brandin Cooks, who was running a route beyond Martin’s zone and pick up Fells on the crossing route underneath.
Third quarter (2:14) – 1st and 10 at HOU 46
Similar to the previous play, Martin showed good awareness here to pass off Fells and pick up Cobb at the beginning of the play. Through the second half of the play, he showed good hustle to chase the receiver of the perimeter pass. The only negative here is that he didn’t quite come to balance upon reaching his landmark and overshot the tackle attempt. Fortunately, he had teammates there to make the play.
Third quarter (1:43) – 2nd and 1 at GB 45
On this zone-read play fake to David Johnson, Martin bit hard, as did most of the Packers’ defenders, and was late to find the ball. Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson tucked the ball away and rolled out to his right before flipping a pass to running back Duke Johnson for a 30-yard gain.
It wasn’t a horrible play and Martin may have been a little too far away from the action to impact the play even if he had recognized the fake sooner, but he was still slow to process the fake and find the ball.
Third quarter (1:11) – 1st and 10 at GB 15
On this play, Martin recognizes the screen to Duke Johnson quickly and hustles to the opposite side of the field to make a tackle for a 1-yard gain.
Fourth quarter (12:08) – 1st and 10 at GB 22
On this play, Martin looks a little stiff turning his hips and getting out of his backpedal but he does a nice job of transitioning from defending the downfield pass to defending the swing pass and helping make the tackle.
Fourth quarter (9:05) – 2nd and 6 at HOU 42
Martin showed his potential in defending screens and runs in a few plays this game. His explosiveness when attacking downhill to defend runs showed up on multiple occasions.
On this particular play, he reads run while scraping, then fires downhill through the open gap to tackle David Johnson for a 1-yard gain.
Final thoughts
Overall, Martin looked pretty good for a fifth-round pick playing in his first NFL game. He showed straight-line explosiveness, aggressiveness, physicality and instincts vs. the run, and good awareness in zone coverage. There were just a couple of instances of over-aggressiveness and he wasn’t tested much in coverage.
The Packers haven’t had a starting inside linebacker with Martin’s explosiveness in quite some time, so it’s exciting to find out that they might have one now. Obviously, Martin still has a lot to prove, but he showed signs of starting potential in his first NFL game and that was very encouraging to see.
