Pro Football Focus Breaks Down Matt Kalil’s First Game

Pro Football Focus has offered up their breakdown of rookie Matt Kalil’s first preseason performance. We all saw him whiff on Aldon Smith and give up a pressure that forced Christian Ponder to throw a ball away, but according to PFF there were other issues too:

"A solid debut for Kalil but he missed a golden opportunity to announce his arrival in the NFL on debut. Going up against the best defense in the league from last season in the 49ers he got off to a little bit of an uneasy start before settling down later in his 18 snaps. Faced with the task of blocking last year’s rookie phenom Aldon Smith, he was beaten for quick pressure on the final play of the Vikings’ opening drive and prior to that was beaten by a shoulder shimmy from Smith, though he did see him deep enough to curtail any pressure on that play. As a run blocker he was beaten for a short tackle by Ricky Jean-Francois and stumbled on a pull block failing to effectively lead a Toby Gerhart run outside. As the first quarter wore on Kalil settled but wasn’t really tested again after the start of the game. We’re eager to see how Kalil puts together a full sixty minutes of football next month."

That’s a bit of a mixed review to say the least. But, first preseason game, going up against a really good defense. Kalil will get better. He’ll get a nice test Friday night against Mark Anderson, the former Patriot who went to the Bills as a free agent this offseason. Phil Loadholt will get the privilege of blocking Mario Williams. That should be interesting.

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