Tracking the Trenches

[MikeSr619]

Steve Hutchinson??

Sweet jesus, man. You just went back 14 years for that stat.

 

[Bulldog]

Yeah, but I remember how rabid some people were to add toughness to the lineup.

As I said I am quite comfortable at the moment letting a very good line coach develop two guys in Moses and Scherff that have the size and strength to be cornerstone players here for some time.

 

[Om]

If there's one guy on the OL I'm going to be watching closely tonight, it's Morgan Moses. Scherff I figure will go through rookie growing pains all year, but I really have little doubt he'll develop into a legit starter at whatever position he ends up playing long-term. Moses I'm still a bit leery about---that he's gone from a guy generally considered a stiff and likely washout to a potential starter, in a matter of just a few weeks, is something I will need to see clear signs of with my own two eyes.

Show me, Mo.

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

Show me, Mo.

Forgive me if I'm being obtuse, but was this a purposeful pun?

 

[Win4us]

I'm actually looking forward to a few of the2's playing tonight with Mt Killinminjari, Spencer Long & Leribous. Mostly Rib because I think he's on the fence to be retained or not.

 

[Neophyte]

Criticizing McCloughlan is considered blasphemy (BTW, I've only mentioned anything about Scherff since the move to guard. Yeah, it's a big deal.)

No, my friend, Scherff moving to G is not a big deal. What is a big deal is Moses coming along far enough to be a better option at T than Scherff.

What would be a big deal with Scherff?

Him retiring without playing a down of NFL ball like Collins did to us back about 20 years ago.

Him not starting because he wasn't good enough to crack the starting lineup.

Him never starting and getting cut a couple years from now.

Those would all be a big deal.

Having Callahan move him to G to make room for Moses is NOT a big deal. Consider all the possible reasons why this might be happening before you call it a bust please. This might be the only way Callahan can get the best 5 guys on the field. Scherff might make a better G than Moses does, rather than Moses being a better T than Scherff is. There are a lot of possibilities here and all you can see is that we appear to have drafted a G at #5 and that is a failure. I ask you, would it have been a failure to draft Steve Hutchinson at #5? Russ Grimm? I think not.

 

[Fear The Spear]

OL -- Lichstenfleuger

That sounds like a bottle of something I might be drinking during the game.

So, if the right side of the line ends up being Scherff and Moses, long-term, I wonder if this guy can unseat Lavauo's spot, until Arie is able to do so.

 

[Om]

Forgive me if I'm being obtuse, but was this a purposeful pun?

No, just a happy accident.

 

[Rymanofthenorth]

the 5 best linemen need to be on the field, and if moses at RT and scherff at rg gives us our best 5 I am totally fine with that, scherff is better suited to guard than moses is IMHO

 

[China]

Analysis of Moses and Scherff against Cleveland:

A closer look at how Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff played in their preseason debuts

 

[SNF]

Analysis of Moses and Scherff against Cleveland:

A closer look at how Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff played in their preseason debuts

Thanks! I'm really hoping that Moses steps up becomes a solid right tackle as was originally projected.

And I have always appreciated Mark's detailed work. I just wish he'd been hired by pretty much anyone else...

 

[MikeSr619]

I love hearing that their technique and execution are great but I'm looking forward to seeing it against a team with a real defense.

 

[Primus Porcus]

For a rookie, even a 1st round pick.. that's some good things to hear in his first preseason game. Learning curves are inevitable, but I'm liking some of the things I'm seeing.

 

[TomE]

....Analysis of Scherff against Cleveland....

Scherff’s presence is enough for the safety to back away from the play. The safety has no desire to engage with Scherff, who effectively manages to block the safety without ever needing to make contact with him.

Smart move by the safety,

 

[Fear The Spear]

It really felt weird to see Arie wearing Polumbus' number

 

[Shi no Tenshi]

It really felt weird to see Arie wearing Polumbus' number

Weird to see that number and actually think it had a chance of not just spinning in place? Yeah, that would be a little odd, wouldn't it

 

[Primus Porcus]

Need to Know: Moses? performance forced changes to right side of Redskins O-line | Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Here is what you need to know on this Tuesday, August 18, two days before Washington Redskins play the Detroit Lions at FedEx Field.

Moses’ performance forced changes to right side of Redskins O-line

RICHMOND—Coming into training camp the expectations for Redskins offensive tackle Morgan Moses cold not have been much lower. He got a little bit of game experience with one start at left tackle in 2014 but a Lisfranc injury he suffered in practice late in the season appeared to be costly. Moses spent the entire 2015 offseason program rehabbing instead of refining his blocking technique.

Moses’ chances of contributing this year seemed to further diminish when the team drafted Brandon Scherff fifth overall and said that he would be the starting right tackle. With Trent Williams ensconced on the left side it didn’t look like there was a spot for the 2014 third round pick.

But as the Redskins entered the second week of training camp, the first-team offense featured a new alignment with Scherff moved in to right guard and Moses at right tackle. At first the company line from the coaches was that the shift was an experiment and cross training in case of injury. As the days wore on, however, and the lineup didn’t change it become more and more apparent that the change was permanent, or as permanent as things get in the NFL.

The revamped right side of the line played well in the team’s preseason opener and it appears virtually certain that Scherff and Moses will anchor the right side in Week 1 when the Dolphins come to town.

According to Jay Gruden, Moses essentially forced the change.

“Well, I think Morgan, his emergence really, watching him in one-on-ones and watching him in pass pro and watching him in the team drills at right tackle when he was asked to do that,” said Gruden. “He was playing extremely well, and obviously when we moved Brandon inside to guard he looked very comfortable in there. With Morgan’s emergence at right tackle and Brandon’s comfort level at right guard, it was a natural fit and so far they’ve worked out very well together. We are happy with the transition Morgan has made and obviously Brandon.”

It seems to be a pretty good bet that the Redskins were not anywhere near convinced that Moses would be ready to become a starting right tackle this year when the turned in the card for Scherff on April 30. If they had known that they would be moving Scherff to guard after a week of training camp they might have gone in another direction with their top pick and perhaps would have targeted a guard later in the draft.

But now they have spent the No. 5 pick on a guard and Scherff, as Gruden said earlier in training camp, has to be “really, really good” to justify the pick. That means Pro Bowl at least, perhaps even All-Pro. Whether or not he turns out to be that good, I do think that the organization deserves some credit for taking the action they believe is best for the team, potential criticism be damned.

Gotta love a guy stepping up like this.

 

[Bulldog]

Yep, haven't had many of those in recent years.

Too many busted picks like Jenkins and Hankerson.

 

[Goaldeje]

Not to reopen the can of worms, but a really nice look at G vs. T here. Great read, with lots of insight from all over the place:

Frustration is emanating from LeCharles Bentley’s voice. Before starting his answer, a deep sigh comes through the phone. “It gets so annoying to hear how the powers that be diminish the value of the skill set required to play guard,” says the former NFL center turned offensive line guru. “'You can’t play tackle, so you can play guard.’ That’s a complete fallacy.”

Physical profile is the first way many scouts separate offensive linemen by position. It didn’t take long for Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck to realize Morse wouldn’t be playing tackle in the NFL. “The first frame of film I saw, just by body type alone,” Heck explains. Some players simply can’t escape the fate their bodies have all but guaranteed. Morse’s 32¼-inch arms put him in the fourth percentile among tackles, which would make dealing with the likes of Robert Quinn and Von Miller problematic. But what makes him an ideal candidate for a move inside isn’t just that he can’t play tackle. The traits he does have are the prototype for an excellent interior lineman.

Inside Men «

 

[micks113]

For those that think that tackle is the most important position on the line, you don't have a clue. Guards have to be more versatile, must pull and pull fast, be able to trap block, none of these are required of a tackle, because they can't do this. Pulling is vital to the success of the run game. Yeah its nice to have a big body pass block for the blind side, but defenses can defeat that. They can rotate their best pass rusher to the other side, or send another body to engage the tackle with the lb runs free. No, guards are most important in the run game, the game we are destined to play this year.