Evaluating Charles Leno and Andrew Wylie's performance against the Browns
Taking a closer look at how the Commanders starting tackles performed in their preseason opener.
A lot of the discourse I’ve seen from Washington Commanders fans after the preseason opener against the Browns is that the offensive line is in trouble, specifically at the tackle position. Andrew Wylie, one of the Commanders main free agent acquisitions, had a poor game at right tackle where he gave up consistent pressure and two holding penalties, one of which led to a safety. At left tackle, Charles Leno got beat on the first play of the night and that was enough for some fans to write him off.
So, how bad is the actual state of Washington’s offensive tackle play? Truthfully, nowhere near as bad as many fans thought it was against the Browns. Let’s start with Charles Leno at left tackle. It is true that he did get beat on the first play of the game.
On that opening play of the game, the Commanders looked to run an RPO (run-pass option) with Sam Howell having the ability to hand the ball off to Brian Robinson or pull the ball and throw it. The run portion of the play is directed to the left side of the line, so Leno has to block as if it’s a run play. The Browns brought in defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz this offseason, known for his Wide 9 front where the defensive ends take an extra wide alignment to create the best rushing angles and also to help negate zone runs.
With the defensive end aligned so wide, Leno assumes the defender will charge up the field, so he rushes outside off the snap to try and reach and cut him off. However, the defensive end does a great job anticipating Leno’s movement and after his initial two steps up the field, he sharply cuts back inside. Leno wasn’t expecting the move inside and can’t adjust to cut him off, allowing the defensive end to get by him and make a big run stop.
That’s not a good rep by Leno, but there is some context required. In preseason, teams and players don’t really study film of the opponents, certainly not to the same extent they do for a regular season game. Leno is unlikely to have spent much time studying this particular defensive end and his tendencies, or this defensive structure. That’s not to say he wouldn’t have been beaten like this in a regular season game, but it does provide a bit of context as to why he might have struggled on that first play.
A few plays later, the Commanders faced third and six. Leno faced the same defensive end who used a similar move.
As this play is a pass, Leno takes a more vertical set, dropping back and allowing the defensive end to rush towards him. He’s able to get into a good position to cut off the potential speed rush to the edge, which forces the defender to convert from speed to power. Leno appears to be surprised by that a little bit as the defender suddenly extends both arms and lands a strong punch to his chest in order to start working inside. However, Leno doesn’t simply let the defender beat him. Despite taking the punch to the chest, Leno is able to use that momentum to open his hips back inside. From there, he’s able to cut off the inside move with some help from left guard Chris Paul.
Yes, Sam Howell was forced out of the pocket and had to scramble, but by that point in the play, the ball was already designed to be thrown. Howell had no open receivers and had already tried to reset in the pocket a few times before realizing there was nobody available to throw to. Leno managed to recover the block well enough to give Howell the required time to make a throw within the structure of the play. Howell only had to scramble when he exhausted all his options and nobody was open.
The next time Leno faced that same defensive end, he tried out a different strategy.
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