Deadskins wrote:emoses14 wrote:This is very long and also behind WaPo's paywall, so I've (probably wrongly) cut and pasted it for everyone's pleasure below. There are pictures that go with each blurb about Moses and Scherff, but I'm not copying all of those, too. If you're so inclined I found the narrative plus pictures to be very helpful.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/foo ... s_redskins
Is there an echo in here?
Look 5 posts up. 
No, no echo at all.Moses’s big problem in his rookie season was bending from the waist, rather than the knee.
This kind of technique is exactly what coaches hate to see. Offensive linemen who bend from the waist tend to lunge at defenders and can easily be caught off balance. Aldon Smith took full advantage of that last year.
Moses lunges at Smith, who gets his hands inside and pulls Moses off balance. That allows Smith to get past Moses extremely quickly.
But what we saw Thursday night from Moses was much improved.
On an obvious pass play on third down, the Browns align their pass rusher very wide to give him a better angle against Moses.
But Moses has no troubles getting across to cut off the rusher. More importantly, he stays patient, allowing the rusher to come to him instead of lunging towards the rusher. Notice how wide his base is. By spreading his feet further apart, Moses is able to play lower, something he struggled with previously. This adjustment stops Moses from waist-bending and keeps him better balanced.
Another problem Moses, and indeed the rest of the Redskins’ offensive line, had last season was picking up stunts. Moses coped well with one that the Browns threw at him early on.
Here, the Browns line up a defensive lineman over Moses, but have him stunting inside. They follow that up with a linebacker blitzing from the second level.
Moses initially drifts inside with the stunting defensive lineman before he notices the linebacker. Cleveland doesn’t execute the stunt particularly well, giving Moses a chance to reset himself for the blitzing linebacker.
Moses is slightly over-balanced in the first frame of that picture, indicating he lunged at the blitzer a little bit, allowing an old habit to creep back into his game. But he then managed to make the necessary adjustment, getting his feet further apart for the wider base. After doing so, Moses becomes fully in control of the block.
Scherff looked comfortable and settled at guard already, despite having only recently transitioned from tackle. Playing at guard allows him to hide potential weaknesses in pass protection while enabling him to have a big impact in the running game.
One of the Redskins’ first run plays of the game was a zone stretch play to the left. With Washington using their base (21) personnel, Cleveland brings a safety into the box as an eighth run defender. As the back-side guard, Scherff has to work up to the second level and cut off the safety.
Scherff has no troubles working up to the second level, something last year’s starter Chris Chester struggled with.
Scherff’s presence is enough for the safety to back away from the play. The safety has no desire to engage with Scherff, who effectively manages to block the safety without ever needing to make contact with him.
Later in the quarter, Scherff was given a bigger test.
This time, the Redskins run a stretch play to the right. Scherff once again has to work to the second level and take on a linebacker.
Scherff is the only Redskins offensive lineman engaged in a block beyond the line of scrimmage. His technique is perfect, with his pad level low, his hips square to his target and his hands inside on the defender’s chest. That allows Scherff to begin to drive the linebacker back and give the running back a clear lane.
Scherff continues to drive the linebacker back, clearing out a lane for the running back to follow behind him. Unfortunately, the rest of the blocks aren’t as strong as Scherff’s and the gain is minimal.
Scherff will also have to face bigger defensive linemen as a guard than he would have as a tackle. But he didn’t appear fazed by that in the slightest.
Gruden would have been happy to see the Redskins get a fourth-and-one situation to practice. The Browns stack the defensive line to try and stop the run. Gruden gives the young right side of the offensive line a test by running to their side. Scherff faces a fellow rookie, defensive tackle Xavier Cooper.
Scherff initially surrenders leverage. He gets too upright, allowing Cooper to get under his pad level and begin to drive him back.
But after being pushed back, Scherff manages to set an anchor and adjust. He stops the rush from Cooper and begins to win back leverage.
By the time the back approaches the line of scrimmage, Scherff gains control of the block and seals Cooper off inside.
In pass protection, my concern with Scherff was his feet and being vulnerable on the edge. But after working with offensive line coach Bill Callahan and switching inside to guard, Scherff has been able to work on those weaknesses and help mask them.
This time, Scherff faces off against 11-year veteran defensive tackle Randy Starks.
Initially, Scherff loses the hand battle with Starks, who works to the outside. From this position, many guards would make desperate attempts to get their hands back on the defender, opening themselves up in the process. But Scherff stays calm.
Instead of opening himself up and giving Starks a lane to the quarterback, Scherff takes a step across Starks to cut him off. He doesn’t worry so much about getting his hands back on Starks, instead focusing on closing the gap on the outside with as much of his body as possible. Scherff uses his shoulder to push Starks further outside and then gets his knee inside of Starks, closing off the rushing lane.
