Nutten Mach II---Blythe (incredible article)---from another site

Austin Blythe was measured at the NFL combine at 6'2'', 291 with 30.25'' arms. By conventional standards, Blythe should be too small to handle playing the guard position in the NFL. A typical NFL guard is probably about 6'4'', 310 pounds with 33 to 35 inch arms. Examples from Blythe's draft class include Whitehair (6'4'', 301, 32 3/8'' arms), Garnett (6'4'', 312, 33 7/8'' arms) and Glasgow (6'6'', 307 33 5/8'' arms).

So, how has T-Rex armed Blythe been able to hold up so far this season playing RG for the Rams? I think it is a combination of having great feet, sound technique and the team's blocking scheme that help cover up Blythe's physical limitations. To get a few examples from the Vikings game, here is a highlight video of some of Goff's great passing plays in the victory.

Why short arms make a difference

The first play I'm going to note from the video I'd characterize as a negative play for Blythe, though it shows how he is still effective even though he is far from perfect. It starts at the 3:48 mark of the video and is a TD pass to Robert Woods.

Off the snap, number 93, Sheldon Richardson, gets his hands into Blythe's chest and "bench presses" him. You can see that Blythe's arms are too short to reach Richardson, so when Blythe reaches out, his hand just ends up grabbing air. Still, Blythe doesn't panic. He gathers his feet underneath himself and tries to absorb the bull rush. Richardson walks Blythe backwards into Goff, which reduces the pocket space, but by not getting completely run over, Blythe is able to buy enough time for the QB to get the pass off, resulting in a touchdown for the Rams.

John Sullivan also has short arms (31.5 inches), but notice how on the long bomb to Cooks at 2:18 of the video, Sully is able to get his right hand to Richardson's chest. Like Blythe, Sully eventually gets walked backwards, but not as far and not as quickly as Blythe did on the Woods TD. Goff has the time to hold onto the ball and fully step into the deep pass without having Richardson directly in his face. Just that split second of initial delay before he became a human blocking sled, which was created when he disrupts Richardson's momentum results in a measurable difference in the QB's effective pocket space.

Blythe wins again

The play at 1:23 of the video has some similarities to the Woods TD. Once again, Sheldon Richardson gets into Blythe's chest and Blythe's short arms prevent him from retaliating (contrast his blocking position immediately after the snap to Hav, Sully and Saffold, all of whom are able to get into their defenders). Blythe's right hand only extends to the bicep of Richardson.

Blythe's feet, however, are balanced and he maintains a strong posture with a good angle to his back. Richardson pulls down on Blythe and attempts to go around him. I think this is where being slightly shorter helps Blythe. It is comparable to those "bowling ball" type running backs who can be difficult to tackle due to their low center of gravity. Blythe's balance and base allows him to stay with Richardson and push the defender sideways into Hav, maintaining a degree of control on the block.

The block at 0:44 of the video also falls into the same category. On that play, Richardson starts from a similar position and uses his superior arm length to rip under Blythe. Number 91, Weatherly, however, is dropping into coverage and isn't rushing against Hav. This frees up Hav to combine with Blythe to corral 93 and not give up any pressure.

Agility over power

At 1:59 of the video, Blythe does a great job picking up a blitzing linebacker, Eric Kendricks, number 54. Blythe slides to his right and essentially gets 1.5 blocks when he knocks Kendricks into the safety Andrew Sendejo.

Blythe finally loses one

While Blythe overall did well on these big passing plays in the Vikings game, he wasn't perfect. On the play at 4:53 of the video, Richardson swims over Blythe, exploiting his lack of size and length, and cleanly beats him inside. Sully, however, is there to save the day and pushes the defender wide of the QB.

All hail the underdogs

There's a football adage, "don't tell me what a player can't do, tell me what he can do." Blythe might not look the part of an NFL guard, but one thing he does have is elite agility. His short shuttle time at the combine (4.53 sec) was top 5 for his class, would have been the 2nd best in the 2017 class and if you combine the 3 combines from 2015 through 2017, Blythe is in the top 10 for all of those linemen. Every now and then Blythe gets knocked down or out muscled by bigger defenders, but just as often, Blythe's superior lateral movement and solid blocking base makes him difficult to beat in pass protection.

Unrelated footnote

If you focus in on Whit and Hav on some of the other plays, at times they employ the "hug" technique for pass blocking. Instead of punching out towards the pass rusher, they wait then clamp down on the defender's shoulder pads. Hav does this on the first play in the video and Whit does it on the TD pass to Gurley. On other plays, they use a more conventional blocking style.