Commanders Notebook: Offensive Line vs Ravens
Breaking down the performance of the interior offensive line against the Ravens
One of the things that stood out to me when watching back the Commanders’ offense against the Ravens was the performance of the interior offensive line. It should be stated right at the top here that the Ravens didn’t play their starting defense, so the Commanders were facing back ups along the defensive line and that certainly does help make everyone look better. However, the team can only play against what’s put in front of them and I’m sure everyone would be overreacting had the offensive line struggled. So it’s only fair we point out a good performance and most importantly, a good process.
What stood out most to me was how well Nick Gates played at center. I wrote last week about how Gates and quarterback Sam Howell appeared to have a good understanding of protections and communicate that well together. That was also on show this week with Howell and Gates working together to get things picked up from a schematic stand point. But it’s one thing to have things picked up schematically, it’s another to go and actually execute the blocks. I thought Gates was excellent at picking up and passing off stunts throughout this game.
Here’s a good example of Gates executing a good pass off with right guard Sam Cosmi. The Ravens have a defensive tackle aligned over Gates’ left shoulder and place the other defensive tackle as a three technique in the gap between Cosmi and the right tackle. Typically those two would attack their gaps head on or maybe run a stunt with the defensive end outside of them, but here the Ravens have the pair of defensive tackles run a stunt together. The defensive tackle to the left of Gates comes off the snap and stunts across his face, while the other defensive tackle takes a few steps up the field before looping around his teammate.
Gates and Cosmi play this perfectly. Gates moves his feet well to slide with the stunting defensive tackle and stay in front of him. Cosmi initially looks to engage with the three technique defensive tackle, but once that defender pulls away and looks to work inside, Cosmi immediately turns his head inside, anticipating the stunt. Gates passes his defender off to Cosmi with a final shove, forcing the defender wider and using that shove to push off the defender and get his feet moving back inside to pick up the looping defender. Cosmi gets his feet moving and continues to show his defender wider while Gates cuts off the looper and gives Howell a clean pocket to make his throw for a touchdown.
I would also point out the extracurricular activities from Gates at the end of that play. As Gibson is trying to fight his way into the end zone, Gates sees him taking some hits and fighting for that extra yard, so he sprints up the field to help. Gibson ends up getting into the end zone but Gates obviously didn’t like seeing defenders hitting his running back, so he went and knocked one over. Obviously this is a penalty and you don’t want to see anyone pick up stupid penalties, but it does show Gates cares about his teammates and is ready to stand up for them and protect them at a moments notice. In a regular season game you’d perhaps like to see him be a little more sensible in that moment, but in preseason I like that he went to protect his teammate.
Gates was strong throughout the game at reading and diagnosing blitzes and anticipating stunts.
On this play, the Ravens have two linebackers aligned in the A gap before the snap. This is always a tough look to protect against pre-snap because the offense has to be prepared for one, both or neither of those linebackers rushing and decide which one they want the center to block and which one the running back can block if both end up rushing. Fortunately for Washington, neither of them rush on this play, but that is by design. They’re both aligned on the line of scrimmage to disguise the fact that the defensive end to the right side of the line is stunting inside.
At the snap, Gates sees both linebackers bail out and could easily switch off knowing neither of the guys he was responsible for are rushing. But he’s far more alert than that and knows those guys were lined up that way for a reason. He instantly turns his head to the right, anticipating a defender stunting inside. As soon as he does that, he spots the defensive end beginning to slow his rush so he can loop around the defensive tackle and work inside. Gates slides across early and then meets the rusher with a strong punch to knock him off his path and end the rush.
This was something that stood out when I watched Gates after the Commanders signed him in free agency. He was much better at center than guard because he was very alert to stunts and blitzes. When there was nobody to block, he went looking for work and would slide across to help out a teammate. He did that a few times in this game too.
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