Ben Hartsock: Forgotten Falcon Tight End

by Dave the Falconer on Jun 10, 2009 3:08 PM EDT in Editorial Comment 15 comments

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There's no doubt in my mind that Tony Gonzalez is going to be the best tight end on the roster in 2009. He's got that Hall of Fame caliber set of hands, quality blocking skills and well-documented love of winning. We'll be talking about him all season, so I'm going to go in a little bit of a different direction today. Let's talk Ben Hartsock.

Hartsock, as you remember, was the former Tennessee Titan who the Falcons brought in to help with blocking. The dude might as well not even have hands for all the catching he does, but there's something undeniably appealing about a player who is good at exactly one thing and goes out there and just does it. Hartsock is to blocking what an idiot savant is to mathematics, and it showed on the field last year. He had three catches and served as essentially an extension of the offensive line, albeit one that can move around a bit. What he brought to the team was an additional accomplice to springing Michael Turner for huge gains and a guy who could put the brakes on an overzealous rusher hoping to get to our prized quarterback. It was his only role, and he proved time and time again that he's one of the best pure blocking tight ends in the league. With his obvious receiving skills and his status as an offensive weapon, Gonzo isn't necessarily going to be asked to do the same thing.

My point is that there's still plenty of room for Hartsock to have an impact this season, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the Falcons deploying more two tight end sets to get Ben on the field. Mike Smith values blockers--as is evidenced by the extension given to WR Michael Jenkins, an above average receiver who chops and hacks with the best of them--and Hartsock will only make everyone else's job easier. In my mind, he's the most underrated piece of the offense, and given his tendency for quiet days on the stat sheet, that's not likely to change. I'm glad to have him aboard.

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Hands

I went to a mini-camp last year, and to my surprise … Hartsock’s hands aren’t all that bad (at least in practice). Maybe his catching-ability doesn’t translate from practice to games or something. Thoughts anyone?

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 10, 2009 4:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well,

Considering he’s never been thrown more than 19 passes (12 Receptions) in a single season, it’s pretty obvious that his teams have had a specific role for him – blocking. I’d think he probably had more trouble with getting open than actually catching the ball, though.

All the advanced stats (Football Outsiders) that I see range from terrible to just below average, but I’m sure it’s hard to do too much damage when you’re averaging less than one pass a game coming to you…

by orang3b on Jun 10, 2009 5:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I’d think he probably had more trouble with getting open than actually catching the ball, though.

Good point, hadn’t really thought about that.

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 10, 2009 9:55 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Hartsock’s not exactly a burner, but he’s not needed for catching duties. It’d be like asking me to do math (please don’t).

by Dave the Falconer on Jun 11, 2009 1:50 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

2 +2 = ? ... GO!

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 11, 2009 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

8!

by Dave the Falconer on Jun 11, 2009 11:27 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Jah!

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 11, 2009 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

eh...

close enough

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 11, 2009 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

It’s very hard to quantify his receiving worth with such a small sample size of data to analyze. But if one wanted, 12 of 19 ain’t too shabby, and you could venture that he could expand that to fit with a higher volume of passes thrown his way. Maybe he wouldn’t be the next TG, but I’m sure he would be more than serviceable in that area.

But, the one common denominator across all professional sports is that tags stick. A guy pulls a hammy once in college, all of a sudden he is injory prone for the rest of his career, regardless of if he gets injured again or not. Maybe Ben is an excellent blocker, the coaches saw that, and they instantly labeled him a blocking tight end and gave no further thought to throwing to him. It sucks, but that’s the way it is.

"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments

by Jesse28 on Jun 11, 2009 7:43 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

when you really think about it

football players are like chess pieces, on every play they all have a specific job, a specific ability, a specific mission to execute. Hartstock is ideal for what he gets called to do, as with all the other pieces of our offense. That’s what makes this team work so well. I believe that our players didn’t “get better” as much as our coaching staff can be attributed to utilizing the specific talents of their available personel.
All season, Mike Smith talked about how he wasn’t going to ask his players to do stuff they weren’t prepared, ready, and comfortable doing – under those same principles, this team has so much room left to grow. Matt Ryan is now comfortable with everthing he had thrown at him last season, and now he can start adding to that with more plays in the playbook, more in depth audibles, more weapons, etc.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they started to do the same with Hartstock. Imagine when we come out in 2 TE sets on 3 and goal from the 3 or 4 yard line. I guarantee that the LBs are going to be set on spy waiting for either a RB to try to push through or that play action and then pull when they see TG cut across the middle into the endzone making sure to have him double covered. Then sunddenly that leaves an unpredicted element, Hartstock in this situation, wide open and you know Matt Ryan will see it.

know what you believe in and why you believe in it

by MentallyMIA on Jun 11, 2009 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Imagine Tony G and Hartsock sealing the edge, with Sam Baker and Ovie Mughelli leading the way outside… absolutely devastating.

You’d have to think that is why he is so well-respected. I mean, if you’re asking guys to do things they aren’t comfortable w/, and they get hurt or fail to execute, you’re putting their livelihood on the line (at least for the marginal players).

Reporter: How will you address all of the dropped passes?

Mike Smith: I don’t think that we were as sharp as we have been catching the football. It’s something that is very fixable. It’s VERY fixable.

by FrankyWren on Jun 11, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sorry

I should’ve been more clear about what I meant. Yes 12 of 19 isn’t too shabby (plus he averaged a decent 11.5 YPC that year), but that was his best year… the year before he was 5 of 15 (yes, a 33% catch rate for a tight end – ugh), and for his career he is only averaging 10.1 YPC (about 2 yards less than a good TE). So I would agree with the tag of “excellent blocker; below-average receiver”.

by orang3b on Jun 11, 2009 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah

I figured it was for one year only. I got him having 6 the year before, which puts him at 52.9% reception rate across those two years, which isn’t bad at all. Unfortunately, because he is rarely targeted, I couldn’t find any place that had him on their lists for Thrown To so that I could get an accurate reception percentage for him for his career. I looked at about five different sites, but because I am at work I’m done searching for now. Feel free to expand on this if you have time.

However, I also think I should clarify where I was going with my comment about labels and tags. I wasn’t trying to say that Hartsock doesn’t have a justified label, but rather I was simply stating that on some occassions those labels get applied quickly and without regard to the greater whole of a players career or abilities. Hartsock is an excellent blocker and having a coaching staff that can cater to that strength is the best practice. On the flip though, just because the guy is rarely targeted that doesn’t mean he has bricks for hands or can’t catch, just that it isn’t his role ad there’s nothing wrong with that. It may not be his forte and I don’t believe the staff should try to make him into something he isn’t, i.e. TG. I guess I was going for a more general point, haha.

by Jesse28 on Jun 11, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Goal line advantage

As much as Gonzo might not appreciate it………..I could see an advantage of using this guy in a 2 TE set at the goal line with a naked bootleg pass to Ben. Let’s face it, you have to account for Turner, 1 stellar receiver, 1 big-bodied capable receiver (Jenkins) and of course Gonzo on the other end. That takes a lot of pressure off ol’ Ben down there for that TE option in the flat. I think Gonzo would be willing to sacrifice some stats in pursuit of the ring because I believe the guy is a team player. Thoughts anyone?

by DocBurnett on Jun 13, 2009 12:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs