Bobby Massie ‘solid’ at right tackle, but could improve for Arizona Cardinals
Sep 10, 2014, 11:30 PM | Updated: Sep 11, 2014, 2:05 am
TEMPE, Ariz. — Bobby Massie waited a full season to get another shot as the Arizona Cardinals’ starting right tackle.
Monday night against the San Diego Chargers, Massie allowed one sack (which led to a Carson Palmer fumble) and committed one false start penalty. He also failed to fall on a fumble, ultimately costing the Cardinals possession of the ball.
“I think Bobby had a solid game other than two plays,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said, pointing to the sack and the penalty. “But other than that he played pretty solid.
“Fall on the fumble — don’t try to pick it up with a cast on your hand, but for him against some really good dudes, he held his own.”
The cast, which Massie said he’s been wearing on his left hand since the beginning of training camp due to a chipped bone in his wrist, will be around for a while.
It did not affect his blocking much, though, as according to ProFootballFocus, Massie also allowed one QB hit and one QB hurry while grading out positively for Week 1.
The former fourth-round pick out of Mississippi understood his coach’s assessment.
“I f***** up a little bit, have to make some corrections and changes,” he said.
The good news, Massie said, is the mistakes he made are easily correctable. He called them “self-sabatoges” that he can go out and correct in practice.
In his third NFL season, the 25-year-old Massie entered the league as a player with plenty of potential, but after starting all 16 games as a rookie in 2012, languished on the bench while he learned a new offense and improved his work habits.
He quickly earned the job in training camp, however, and has shown little indication that he’s ready to caught it up.
Unlike, say, the Andre Ellington fumble that he appeared to be ready to recover, only to lose his grasp on the ball.
“I was thinking scoop and score because there was nothing but ball and daylight,” he said. “And then when I want to pick it up, dude hit me and it came out.”
If nothing else, Massie will look to that the same way he will everything else that happened in the game: as a learning experience.
Needless to say, he’ll approach things differently the next time he has a chance to recover a fumble.
“I’m just going to dive on it,” he said. “Just dive on it.”
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