Good analysis.
I would not be too concerned about getting pushed around by double teams. That happens to the best DTs in the league sometimes. But I totally agree that he plays too high at times. I think he relies too much on his physical strength and not enough on leverage. He also struggles shedding blocks quick enough.
But the one high hope I have for Mazi is that he is greatly improved over last year. He still has a long way to go be if he improves again going into next year he may actually be a solid player. It is up to him how hard he works at it.
I always want to be careful when talking about technique because we dont really know for sure how the coaching staff is expecting these guys to attack, but my concern with Mazi is I dont see anything change when hes getting doubled. Everyone is going to get beat by the double team now and then, but typically you'll see players try to dip the shoulder and split the double team, or plant both feet until and attack the primary blocker until the 2nd guy moves on to the next level, etc. Mazi just seems to continue to hand fight and bull rush no matter what is happening which opens him up to taking on two players at once which is always going to be a losing battle.
I agree he is getting better, hes actually had a few games this year Ive been really impressed with, and in some ways this is basically his rookie year, but how he is getting beat is more of a worry to me than that he is getting beat. Its somewhat encouraging that we can look at least partially toward a technique issue that could be coached up.....the other side of that sword is that we are about to start year 3 and still talking about technique issues.
