Today marks the beginning of the new season for the Washington Redskins and there’s little doubt that how the offensive line goes, so goes this teams’ success. Without a good one, Redskins’ quarterbacks will remain fighting for their lives.
But there is hope for 2011. Not enough can be said about the stability that comes with going into a second season in the same system… especially a system that the players believe in.
With Redskins’ quarterbacks having been laid down a combined 130 times in the last three seasons, it’s no surprise that the offense has not been able to generate a lot of points.
In 2010, quarterback Donovan McNabb was sacked 46 times and in 2009, the Redskins’ sack total was the same. In 2008 they went down 38 times.
Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was in the same position for the Houston Texans in 2008 and 2009 before coming to Washington with his father; head coach Mike Shanahan in 2010. In 2009, Houston quarterback Matt Schaub was sacked 25 times. In 2008, he went down 23 times.
That is close to half of the sack totals for the Washington Redskins in 2009 and 2008.
I looked back at the Denver Broncos’ sack totals the last several years that Mike Shanahan was head coach there. In 2008, quarterback Jay Cutler was sacked 11 times. Not a typo… 11 times.
The year before (2007), Cutler went down 27 times. The offensive line was good at that point, despite the higher number, but there’s still a big difference between 11 and 27. The improvement from 2007 to 2008 would logically be as a result of the acquisition of left tackle Ryan Clady, center Casey Wiegmann and right tackle Ryan Harris, all of whom fit well in Shanahan’s zone blocking scheme.
Shanahan has made a lot of moves to improve Washington’s offensive and defensive lines this season both in the draft and in free agency. Combine that with the fact that the hold-over players are in their second year in the scheme; and there should be a big improvement on both sides of the ball in 2011.
The players feel the difference between this season and last and one of the benefits of the moves that Shanahan has made on the defensive line is that players across the ball are having to step up their game.
“Honestly, we’ve been doing good against [the defensive line] but yea, we’re having to work harder,” veteran right tackle Jammal Brown told me after practice this week. “ They’ve got the right guys now to fill the positions and what they want to do. We’re doing what we need to do but they’ve got guys to fit the 3-4 scheme now. Last year they had Andre Carter who isn’t really an outside linebacker-hand-in-the-ground-guy and coach went out and got Kerrigan. Also now they’ve got a true nose tackle – unlike Albert, who wanted to play what he wanted to play so we got the guys that really fit the scheme now.”
When I asked him if he felt better going into the second year of the scheme, Jammal practically sighed with relief.
“Tons better,” he said. “Tons.”
Teammate and right guard Artis Hicks echoed Brown’s sentiments but also brought a unique perspective to how being in actual games improves their play. According to Hicks, real “football shape” is concreted in those first games and the hits by opposing defenders.
“You need those first hits, the adrenaline, the grunts,” he said. “You need all that testosterone out there to really get it going. It increases out there. You get pumped up for two or three plays and it raises your adrenaline level. You aren’t really able to do everything you need to do in practice… …it’s when you hit someone in a different colored uniform. That’s when you really get into football shape.”
I said then, “So you guys must really be looking forward to this first preseason game?”
“Oh yea. It’s eat or be eaten out there.”
Washington’s defensive players have also noticed the difference that going into the second year of the system can make. I asked middle linebacker London Fletcher if he could see any improvement on the offensive line.
“Absolutely. Yea, absolutely,” he confirmed. “They look good… a lot better than they did last year. They’re moving very well as a unit. Jammal is healthy this year, Will looks good at center, Kory is athletic… just what you want in this type of scheme and Trent is so much better than he was last year just because he understands and is in better shape and things like that. They just look very, very good.”
Running back Keiland Williams – one player who has a lot to gain by a good O-line – gave me a viewpoint from the position of running back, who works closely with the offensive line whether in pass protection or in just getting through the holes designed by the scheme.
“Anytime you can stay in a system you get more comfortable – you get a better feel for it. Knowing what the line is doing with their blocks [means] you’re just reacting and not really thinking about what’s going on. You understand where the guard’s going, you understand where the tackle is going so you understand where the cut is going to be and where they want to see the ball on specific plays.”
Williams gave me some insight to the importance of having true 3-4 guys playing in the defensive scheme. He said that, while the improvement along the defensive line made his job harder because they were playing better, it will make the offense better against the 3-4 teams that Washington plays. When the Redskins’ defense reacts more quickly to the looks that the offense is giving them, it helps the offense play better.
“We go up against these guys every day in practice,” Williams continued. “They play a 3-4 and we play a lot of 3-4 teams so you get a lot more comfortable in understanding where the blitzes are coming from and things like that. It’s just better overall.”
While it’s only a pre-season game, we should get an idea tonight of how much being in this second year has improved the Redskins’ O-line. There’s hardly a better test than one against the Pittsburgh Steelers and their very talented 3-4 defense.
Hail.