Angus
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The Tough Gets Tougher
By Rafael Vela
The Commanders filled one of their bigger holes by trading a 4th rounder to the Jets for OG Pete Kendall. He’s 34 but he still a definite upgrade over Todd Wade and the band of backups they were trying at left guard.
For all their troubles, the Commanders had a good offensive line last year, with tackles Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen and guards Derrick Dockery and Randy Thomas. (They bested the Cowboys in yards per rushing attempt and sacks allowed, for comparison’s sake.)
They lost Dockery to Buffalo, who offered him a Leonard Davis-like contract and have crossing their fingers that they could find a cheap replacement. (Dockery actually set the market, so we can say Davis got a Dockery-like contract.)
Kendall’s signing shows that experiment has ended. He’s not the most athletic lineman but he has a reputation for nastiness. He’s a poor-man’s Kevin Gogan. In any case, Washington just became a little less easy to beat.
Closer to home:
– Jay Ratliff gets his shot at NT this week, with Jason Hatcher returning to workouts. I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner, though Hatcher’s bad hammy probably showed the project down. Hatcher was a handful for Cowboys’ guards as a nickel DT the last two seasons. He’s got the strength to play inside and Wade Phillips‘ system, which puts NTs on the center’s shoulder, rather than head up, should let him use his quickness as well.
As for Hatcher, he was working exclusively at LE before his injury and was making all the RTs look stupid. If he’s 100% or close to it, we could see some real push. Chris Canty started to show signs of pass rushing life last week and Marcus Spears is slowly upping his plays-made totals. Hope Hatcher gets the line over the hump.
http://theboysblog.com/
By Rafael Vela
The Commanders filled one of their bigger holes by trading a 4th rounder to the Jets for OG Pete Kendall. He’s 34 but he still a definite upgrade over Todd Wade and the band of backups they were trying at left guard.
For all their troubles, the Commanders had a good offensive line last year, with tackles Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen and guards Derrick Dockery and Randy Thomas. (They bested the Cowboys in yards per rushing attempt and sacks allowed, for comparison’s sake.)
They lost Dockery to Buffalo, who offered him a Leonard Davis-like contract and have crossing their fingers that they could find a cheap replacement. (Dockery actually set the market, so we can say Davis got a Dockery-like contract.)
Kendall’s signing shows that experiment has ended. He’s not the most athletic lineman but he has a reputation for nastiness. He’s a poor-man’s Kevin Gogan. In any case, Washington just became a little less easy to beat.
Closer to home:
– Jay Ratliff gets his shot at NT this week, with Jason Hatcher returning to workouts. I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner, though Hatcher’s bad hammy probably showed the project down. Hatcher was a handful for Cowboys’ guards as a nickel DT the last two seasons. He’s got the strength to play inside and Wade Phillips‘ system, which puts NTs on the center’s shoulder, rather than head up, should let him use his quickness as well.
As for Hatcher, he was working exclusively at LE before his injury and was making all the RTs look stupid. If he’s 100% or close to it, we could see some real push. Chris Canty started to show signs of pass rushing life last week and Marcus Spears is slowly upping his plays-made totals. Hope Hatcher gets the line over the hump.
http://theboysblog.com/
