The Zack Martin Tape Study - Week 4, 2016
We decided to have fun & take a look at the single highest graded game in his career.
Yesterday, we all received the news that Zack Martin is being shut down for ankle surgery. That could mean that this is it. We may never see Zack play for the Dallas Cowboys ever again.
Now, we don’t know this, but the writing is sort of on the wall. The contract is expiring and there is a good chance the player or the team or both are about to turn the page. He went from a group of guys who were all about the same age to the lone old man up front. He probably feels like his guys are all gone because they are. He is a star and a Hall of Fame player and you won’t find anyone who can say a bad thing about him.
Bobby Belt, friend of the newsletter, dazzled us with some Zack Martin facts:
Zack Martin has as many First-Team All-Pro selections in his career (7) as he does accepted holding penalties
Zack Martin is one of four offensive linemen post-merger to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first six seasons. He was the first ever to do it exclusively at guard.
In the last 6 years and 17 days, Zack Martin has been called for one false start on the road.
Zack Martin has one holding penalty since CeeDee Lamb was drafted.
Goodness gracious.
Well, I woke up today thinking about Zack and how to best demonstrate his peak. I decided to look through his PFF grades and find his single highest grade during his career. He had quite a few above 90 and several above 95, which is very rare. But, the highest grade he ever was given for a game was 96.2 against San Francisco in Week 4 of 2016.
Here is his 2016 page:
Now, I will tell you I don’t remember too much about that game, but in reviewing it, it appears that this was the game with the famous Zack Martin hip thrust in the huddle at the end when everyone was feeling great about themselves.
And yes, because I am who I am, I decided to go look at that game again. I thought I would review what I wrote in the Dallas Morning News and I thought I would go look at the All-22.
What follows is a report on that game – Zack’s highest ever graded game from PFF: