This offseason, Breno Giacomini had to get used to leaving the Super Bowl champion Seahawks for the Jets. This preseason, the veteran right tackle is adjusting to not just a whole new offensive system but a completely different blocking scheme — and doing it well, according to the Jets.
“He’s great, and he’s been going like this,’’ Rex Ryan said, with a hand motion like, well, a jet taking off. “I think getting used to the offense, there are new plays, new terminology, all that kind of stuff, playing with new teammates.
“He did better in the Green & White game than he has all of camp, so he’s really hitting it high up here. But he’s a big, physical, strong guy and he’s got a great play demeanor. That’s exactly what we want from him.’’
What the Jets wanted from Giacomini when they gave him a four-year, $18 million deal this March was for him to serve as a replacement for the departed Austin Howard. Listed as the starter going into Thursday’s preseason opener against the Colts, Giacomini apparently is transitioning well from Seattle’s strictly zone-blocking scheme to Jets offensive line coach Mike Devlin’s more varied blocking schemes.
“Every coach has his own technique, or style of coaching,’’ Giacomini said. “We were full zone all the time there, so that’s really different. Over here, we’re a little bit of everything: Zone, power, misdirection and all that, so there’s a little learning curve there.
“But the biggest thing is the techniques. I’ve just got to learn these new techniques that coach wants me to do, and it’s just going to make me a better player. I get to keep all that stuff I had that I learned in Green Bay and Seattle, and then come here and take the coaching in, sharpen my tools, just add another tool to the tool box for gameday.’’
In zone blocking, mobility, agility and athleticism are vital, the line moving in unison in the direction of the play as opposed to the player in front of them. Giacomini got used to zone blocking in Green Bay under Mike McCarthy, and blossomed into a starter in Seattle’s zone blocking schemes used by head coach Pete Carroll and offensive line coach Tom Cable.
But Devlin will do a bit of everything with the Jets, zone blocking as well as gap blocking (where the linemen handle their assigned gaps) and man blocking (trying to beat the defender in front of him). For the towering 6-foot-7, 318-pounder, the latter shouldn’t be a problem.
“Oh, Giacomini, he’s great,’’ Ryan gushed. “They’re a big zone team in Seattle. We have those zone reads [and] we’re also a gap team. For an offensive lineman, if you want to run the football, this is a good place to come.’’
Devlin insists his new pupil is an apt one.
“I feel real lucky that we were able to pick him up,” Devlin said. “He’s a professional, he works hard, good leadership on and off the field and likes the game. From that perspective, it’s been a real pleasure to coach him. He just assimilated right into it. When he was showing how he practiced, how hard he practiced, people saw that and it was natural.
“He’s a smart football player, he’s a physical football player and he loves the game. And he loves to finish. You can’t beat that.’’
Giacomini co-founded American Football Without Borders in 2011 with ex-Louisville teammate Gary Barnidge. In February he took 16 other NFL players to Brazil, where his parents are from, to spread the game and help the poor, giving out 178 pairs of sneakers.
“It was an idea we had on paper, and it’s taken off. It’s been great,’’ Giacomini said. “That’s where my parents are from, so when we started the foundation, I wanted to go to Brazil. I didn’t know much of an impact it was going to have there, talking about American football, but I came to find out they had 37 fully padded teams across the country, so we ended up with 400 campers.
“I like teaching the game that I love. … It didn’t matter what language [the kids] spoke. The hugs and the smiles were awesome. Then we went out and played some soccer with them. They had some fun and it was a really eye-opening experience for a lot of the guys.’’