Giants OG D.J. Fluker lowers the boom in a tough week for NFL offensive linemen

Disrespectful Blocks of the Week is back. While I’m always thrilled to find these blocks, with the help of y’all, this week we lost some future Hall of Fame offensive linemen to injuries.

Joe Thomas’s streak of 10,363 consecutive snaps in a row was halted with a torn triceps. Eagles left tackle Jason Peters tore his ACL and MCL.

Ryan Kalil also re-injured his neck, and Washington right guard Brandon Scherff, a frequent member of the blocks reel, luckily escaped with a minor knee injury. Rough weekend.

We need to marvel for a second on the accomplishment of Joe Thomas and his snaps streak. Besides injuries, you can easily miss a snap because your shoe falls off or you bust a buckle on your chin strap. What if your contact falls out? I’ve even seen a guy miss a snap because he was late coming back from the bathroom.

But for Joe, the impressive part of being so steady for so many years is the losing he played through. In 10-plus seasons, Joe won a grand total of 48 games. Never complained, never publicly asked for a trade. Through it all, he just kept blocking defensive ends and making it look easy. So with all that being said, I included a few blocks of Joe Thomas at the end of this video.

So now to the good stuff. Since the Giants have inserted D.J. Fluker into the lineup, their run game has improved. Not surprising — D.J. can run block. And he’s been knocking dudes down weekly, so it was fitting to include him in this. This block is just effort here. The play is over and he continues to work to finish. I love it. That’s D.J.’s calling card.

Next up, Bears Pro Bowl right guard Kyle Long. This poor safety had no idea what was coming here. This is a power run to the left, and Kyle is pulling for the mike linebacker. However, the safety shows up in the hole and Kyle calmly eliminates him.

If we don’t have a Raiders guy on the reel each week, it feels wrong. The Raiders offensive line has been up and down at times as they try move from a downhill scheme to an outside zone scheme. What hasn’t been up and down is their finish, and it was on display again in their huge Thursday night win over the Chiefs.

Here is Kelechi Osemele tossing aside a 300-plus-pound Allen Bailey like a rag doll, then finishing him to the ground. Doesn’t get any better.

A huge reason, and literally huge reason, Rams quarterback Jared Goff has improved is the signing of Andrew Whitworth. Having that blind side protected is such an important part of the confidence of a young quarterback. Whitworth can also throw around some guys, and here he gets a tad extra on a screen pass. The defender never saw it coming. It’s beautiful.