Offensive line shakeup

The O-Line has been a problem area for the Redskins for several years now. Last year, the problem became a festering boil. Last year's O-Line was certainly in the bottom third of the league and maybe in the bottom 5. That unit stunk. Deal with it.

So, the Redskins used a high first round pick to get a new OT. Good move. Trent Williams surely looks like a player they can build around.

The rest of the Skins O-Line for 2010 fall into one of two categories:


1. Holdovers from 2009

2. Question marks/retreads


The problems with the O-Line go back to the Vinny Boombatz days; he did not use draft picks to select guys who might be developed into big time offensive lineman nearly often enough. When Samuels and Jansen were anchoring the line at either end, that covered a multitude of personnel sins, but when both of them began to slip - - age + injuries - - the whole fabric came unraveled.

Ignoring injuries for the moment, the 2010 offensive line is better than the 2009 offensive line. At the same time, the 2010 offensive line is not nearly good enough to call it one of the team strengths.

Absent some kind of miracle off-season - - such as the one that delivered Mark May, Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby to the Redskins - - it will take a couple of years of drafting smart, developing players and getting lucky with a free agent here or there. That is what is needed and it will take time.

The Redskins have 3 offensive linemen on the Practice Squad - - if I recall correctly. Hopefully, the coaches have selected the right guys to put there and to invest the time and energy to develop them and hopefuly, the players will "get it". It will be a big help for 2011 - - assuming there is a season in 2011 - - for one of the Practice Squad guys to push out some of the holdovers and retreads that are here now.

Patience is a virtue. This is the time for Skins fans to demonstrate virtuosity...

i am already impressed with this line which gives me hope...let the chemistry begin.

The O-Line has been a problem area for the Redskins for several years now. Last year, the problem became a festering boil. Last year's O-Line was certainly in the bottom third of the league and maybe in the bottom 5. That unit stunk. Deal with it.

So, the Redskins used a high first round pick to get a new OT. Good move. Trent Williams surely looks like a player they can build around.

The rest of the Skins O-Line for 2010 fall into one of two categories:


1. Holdovers from 2009

2. Question marks/retreads


The problems with the O-Line go back to the Vinny Boombatz days; he did not use draft picks to select guys who might be developed into big time offensive lineman nearly often enough. When Samuels and Jansen were anchoring the line at either end, that covered a multitude of personnel sins, but when both of them began to slip - - age + injuries - - the whole fabric came unraveled.

Ignoring injuries for the moment, the 2010 offensive line is better than the 2009 offensive line. At the same time, the 2010 offensive line is not nearly good enough to call it one of the team strengths.

Absent some kind of miracle off-season - - such as the one that delivered Mark May, Russ Grimm and Joe Jacoby to the Redskins - - it will take a couple of years of drafting smart, developing players and getting lucky with a free agent here or there. That is what is needed and it will take time.

The Redskins have 3 offensive linemen on the Practice Squad - - if I recall correctly. Hopefully, the coaches have selected the right guys to put there and to invest the time and energy to develop them and hopefuly, the players will "get it". It will be a big help for 2011 - - assuming there is a season in 2011 - - for one of the Practice Squad guys to push out some of the holdovers and retreads that are here now.

Patience is a virtue. This is the time for Skins fans to demonstrate virtuosity...

Does that mean the jury is still out and we won't be able to say with any degree of certainty how good these guys are, or will be until we have a season to compare them with the previous lot.?

I am not worried. We finally have a FO and coaching staff that has us headed in the right direction. It does not matter if it takes a year or two for us to be a consistent playoff team. We need to guard against the Snyderatto special/ quick fixes and mortgaging future picks to win now.
Which why I am not in love with a possible proposed trade for a certain Charger WR.
One thing is for certain, there is still players on this roster (Dockery/Haynesworth etc.) that do not fit the system and will be gone as soon as a replacement is found.

shit, I could care less if the running game came around if we are throwing for nearly 500 yards every game. We need to worry about our defense holding our leads more than portis getting 1 more ypc.

Although it would be nice to be able to run the ball, run the clock when we have a lead............

I know OL don't grow on trees but one would think that as well as cutting Johnson to bring in a new RB, they would be bringing in OL in some form or fashion. Instead they are somewhat staying the course. Rabach has been an issue. I think we all or a lot of us said Rabach gets bowled over too much. Heck, Portis had to bail him out throughout the Dallas game.

Just judging from what folks are saying, we don't have the personell to play on the lines on either side of the ball. O/line can't run block, D/line can't stop the run. What do we do now?

Evaluate, game plan, and hope they play hard and win games. It's troubling that things are worse than I imagined. Its ringing true that Dockery just doesnt get it done-thats why Buffalo let him go and sadly the skins are always in need of anyone.

maybe we can use DD in goalline packages.

This O-Line is good at pass protection, complete shit at run blocking. This "shake up" or experimenting as I like to call it worries me. Oh and Kyle better start f'ing running the god damn ball and stick with it.

shit, I could care less if the running game came around if we are throwing for nearly 500 yards every game. We need to worry about our defense holding our leads more than portis getting 1 more ypc.

Although it would be nice to be able to run the ball, run the clock when we have a lead............

Last time I check a 5 yrd pass was just as good as a 5 yrd run. It does help wear down the other team but other then that who cares.

I think this is a bit of concern, but not the end of the world. The team is just going to have to play smarter than they did against the Texans. We have a weak running game, therefore we have to find ways to compensate for that. I think we need to incorporate more screen plays, in addition to our downfield throws that worked out pretty well against the Texans. The team needs to find ways to make the opposing defenses back off from defending the run, so we can have the occasional successful run here and there.

Also, the coaching staff needs to get away from complex running plays. With such a weak run blocking, we can't be having toss sweeps (the LJ -10 yd run) or reverses in critical times of the game. And I think we may need to have a somewhat vanilla running scheme. Teams like the Colts and the Pats are not going to run all over you, and since we seem to be strong in the passing game, we need to use that to set up the run.