Hogs Haven
First round pick Josh Conerly Jr. is undergoing a position change, switching from left tackle in college to right tackle in the NFL, so it was important for him to see the field. The Commanders gave him 21 snaps before taking him out in the second quarter to keep him healthy. It’s obviously important not to overreact to 21 snaps in a preseason game, but of course there’s some things to take away. So let’s see how Conerly performed.
Let’s start with the positives. Conerly was known as being a very athletic tackle coming out of college and that athleticism was clear to see against the Patriots. Despite being listed at 6-foot-4, 315 pounds, Conerly is incredibly light and nimble on his feet, making it easy for him to cover ground. In pass protection, that can be incredibly valuable to help combat speed rushers on the edge and we saw him use that athleticism to that effect on Friday night.
Those quick feet of Conerly were on display more than once too.
Here we see Conerly working against a similar alignment, but this time the Commanders are using a play-action fake. With a play-action fake, the defense can be fooled into thinking it’s a run play, giving the offensive line the upper hand in pass protection. Conerly makes the most of the play-action fake here. Off the snap, he uses a quick set, stepping towards the defender instead of kick sliding backwards like we saw previously.
Quick sets are good things for offensive lineman to use because it messes up the timing of defenders, but they’re especially good on play-action fakes because it helps sell the run fake. On a run play, Conerly would be working forward towards a defender to try and block them and move them backwards. So by using a quick set on a play-action fake, it makes it look like Conerly is trying to run block, when actually he’s just trying to close the gap and get his hands on the defender as quickly as possible.
You can see the defender hesitate for a moment off the snap as he sees Conerly approaching him. Then he processes what is actually happening and tries to transition into pass rush mode, but by then it’s too late.
During Terry McLaurin’s contractual standoff, Commanders wide receivers have yet to take advantage of extra playing time. In a replay of Wednesday’s joint practice, Commanders wideouts rarely broke free from coverage. Chris Moore dropped the first pass Hartman threw him. Luke McCaffrey caught one pass and was immediately tackled for a one-yard loss, but he was playing through an illness and had to leave in the first half.
McLaurin and Samuel would, of course, make a massive difference. And Noah Brown has barely practiced with a...
