Sam Cosmi shows improved technique against Bengals
Reviewing how Washington’s rookie offensive tackle performed in his second preseason game
Rookie offensive tackle had a few issues crop up in his first preseason game a week ago. The two consistent ones were playing with low hands and waist bending, leading to him to lose balance. He wasn’t terrible in that game against the Patriots, but it wasn’t the ideal start for a second-round pick that the team hopes can be relied upon to start at right tackle this season. In his second preseason game, however, he improved in both areas that he struggled with against the Patriots.
Here, Washington faces third and five, which is typically a passing situation. The pass rushers know it's time for them to make their money and Cosmi knows this is ultimately what Washington drafted him for. Last week, he might have let the pressure get to him a little and reverted to old habits. But here, Cosmi shows an improved technique.
The rusher baits him a little bit, taking a wide lane and almost daring Cosmi to lunge at him like he did a few times last week. But Cosmi doesn’t take the bait. He remains patient while gaining his depth and bending less from the waist to keep his balance over his feet instead of in front of them. That means once the defender does eventually engage, Cosmi is able to simply run him by the quarterback and take him out of the play.
The hands were still a little bit low, but he got them up when he needed them. He did, however, show off how good his hands can be when in the right spot.
On this play, we see Cosmi perform a terrific hand technique that is very hard to pull off. Cosmi starts the rep by initially flashing his inside hand towards the defender. That forces the defender to react by raising his inside hand, which is exactly what Cosmi is baiting him to do. The defender looks to engage with the inside hand, but Cosmi pulls his hand away at the last moment. That causes the defender to overextend that arm towards Cosmi’s chest to try and lean on him, having expected to make contact before that. The defender loses his balance slightly with his arm overextended, and Cosmi finishes him off by taking that inside hand and chopping down with it. This drags the defender down to the ground and Cosmi is able to fall on top of him to finish the block.
It’s a tough technique to pull off but it’s incredibly effective when executed correctly. Cosmi did flash some good hand techniques in college and he did a great job with that particular technique there. If can continue to use that move, it will cause pass rushers to have to think twice before extending their inside arm towards him.
One of the positives from last week was how well Cosmi handled stunts. That continued this week, which is a big positive step because it not only means Cosmi is capable of picking up those blocks, it means he has built some chemistry with right guard Brandon Scherff.
On third and 14, the Bengals look to attack Cosmi with a stunt, but not the typical stunt he’s seen multiple times in preseason so far. The very basic pass rush stunt is a TEX (tackle-end exchange) stunt. This is where the defensive tackle rushes up the field between the guard and offensive tackle, while the defensive end takes a step or two up field before looping around the defensive tackle and rushing inside. On that stunt, the defensive tackle goes first and the end loops around him. In this situation though, the Bengals flip that around. This time, the defensive end rushes inside towards the guard while the defensive tackle loops around him to the edge.
Cosmi does a really nice job getting out of his kickslide and adjusting to the inside rush from the defensive end, cutting him off quickly. The defensive tackle attempts to loop around to the edge, but Scherff peels off the block and shuffles across to help Cosmi on the defensive end. Between them. Scherff and Cosmi drive the defensive end back outside and into the rushing lane of the defensive tackle, cutting both of them off while providing a clean pocket for the quarterback to work from.
While Cosmi was much improved, there were still a few errors here and there. On one rep, he overset to the edge and allowed the defender an opportunity to get inside of him.
Cosmi gains a lot of depth with his first couple of steps off the snap and effectively cuts off any rush to the edge, but he perhaps gets a little too far outside and leaves a lane for the defensive end to work inside. The defender takes his third step back inside while Cosmi’s third step continues outside, widening the gap inside. Credit to Cosmi for just about recovering to cut off the move and save the rep, but a better rusher might have taken advantage of that little mistake.
He also had one or two mental errors. Those are to be expected with young players, so it’s not the end of the world, but they do need to be corrected.
Here, Washington starts the snap with a running back in the backfield. However, he’s soon motioned outside, leaving quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick as the only person in the backfield. The Bengals have a linebacker follow the back outside, leaving just the four defensive lineman and one linebacker remaining in the box. Now, I don’t know Washington’s protection scheme calls, but I do know that in an empty backfield situation like this, a lot of teams would make a “5-0” call. That call essentially means the offense has five blockers and the defense has five defenders in the box, so the offensive line is responsible for those five and if anyone else blitzes, it's on the quarterback to get rid of the ball.
As I mentioned, I don’t know what protection Washington had called here, so perhaps Cosmi just did what the called protection asked him to do. However, what he does is work inside towards the defensive tackle, leaving the defensive end completely unblocked with a free run at the quarterback. Obviously, that can’t happen. I suspect he didn’t get the right call or didn’t recognise the situation, but it could equally be on the quarterback or center for not making the correct call adjustment. Either way, that needs to be cleaned up.
Cosmi showed some encouraging signs in this game which should help him lock down that starting right tackle spot as we enter the regular season. On the other side of the line, I heard a surprising number of fans questioning the play of Charles Leno at left tackle. He had one or two run blocks that weren’t great, but in pass protection, he was solid.
Left tackles don’t last as long as Leno has in the NFL without some savvy. Leno understands how to use various techniques to mess with pass rushers and throw off their rush plans. One of the most common techniques he uses is a quick set, which we see on this play. With a quick set, instead of dropping back and preparing for a speed rush to the edge, the tackle is more proactive and steps towards the defender to make contact early.
That’s precisely what Leno does here. He steps towards the edge rusher and surprises him with a quick punch. He gets both hands to the chest and the punch stalls the rush to the edge. Instead, the defender has to react and shift to plan B. However, he’s unable to clear Leon’s hands and ends up completely negated on the play.
Leno will provide Washington with a solid, reliable starter at left tackle, which shouldn’t be overlooked. He might not be Trent Williams, but not many people are. He’s a good upgrade over what Washington had at the position last year and should lock down that position. Washington will hope that Cosmi can continue on his positive development trend and solidify himself at right tackle, giving Washington a nice bookend pair of offensive tackles.
Nice overview on Cosmi, Mark!
Can you give us a status report on the play of Flowers?
He seems to run hot and cold and I wanted to get your take on his play versus that of Wes S.
LG is easily the OL competition I am most interested in.