How did Saahdiq Charles fare in Brandon Scherff's absence?
Taking a closer look at how Saahdiq Charles played against the Cowboys
Saahdiq Charles has had a tough start to his NFL career in Washington. He had unfair expectations put on him due to being drafted on the same day Washington announced it had traded star left tackle Trent Williams to the 49ers. He then missed most of his rookie offseason through injury before working his way back into the team, only to dislocate his knee cap after two snaps and miss the rest of the season.
This year, Charles has been asked to fill in at just about every spot on the offensive line. He’s spent time at left tackle, left guard, right guard and right tackle. While position flexibility is important for offensive lineman, particularly back ups, it’s also been very disruptive to his development, as he hasn’t been able to just stick to one spot and really focus on that one role and the techniques required from that spot.
Last week, he was thrown into a starting role without much notice after Brandon Scherff went on the Covid list the day before the Eagles game. Charles struggled in that game, often facing Fletcher Cox, one of the best defensive tackles in the league over the last decade. But with a bit more time to prepare, I thought Charles bounced back with a solid performance against the Cowboys this past weekend, so let's take a closer look at how he played.
Battles with DeMarcus Lawrence
The Cowboys have three strong pass rushers in Randy Gregory, DeMarcus Lawrence and rookie Micah Parsons. Gregory will typically rush against the left tackle, but the versatility of Lawrence and Parsons allows the Cowboys to move those two around and pick their matchups. Quite often in this game, Dallas had Lawrence line up inside over the guard with Parsons on the edge. This meant Charles was often asked to block Lawrence, one of the better rushers in the league, but for the most part, he held up well.
On this play in the red zone, the Cowboys have Lawrence working against Charles at right guard. Lawrence attempts to work to the outside and Charles manages to slide over and cut him off, with some help from right tackle Sam Cosmi, who gets a hand on Lawrence too. Charles bends from the waist a little more than coaches would probably like here, but he gets away with it while leaning on Lawrence going to the edge. Importantly, he doesn’t continue to lunge and reach for Lawrence as Lawrence looks to disengage and peel off to go back inside. Had he continued to try and keep engaged in the block, he could have been pulled off balance due to the waist-bending, but he recognized the need to let go and reset himself.
After failing to beat Charles to the edge, Lawrence came back at him with a stunt inside.
This time, it’s Parsons on the edge with Lawrence working inside against Charles. With Parsons’ speed off the edge, Charles knows he has likely no help from Cosmi against Lawrence, but he doesn’t need it. Lawrence stunts heavily inside off the snap and Charles responds well. He takes a bit first step to try and cut off the outside rush, but has the quickness of feet to slide back inside once Lawrence commits inside. Charles takes him where he wants to go, forcing him inside towards the rest of the offensive line. He ends up driving Lawrence into center Keith Ismael, which also gets in the way of Randy Gregory, stunting inside from the other side. Unfortunately, Parsons uses an incredible fake spin move on Cosmi to get pressure on the quarterback, but Charles did a solid job on Lawrence regardless.
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