After each series on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, if you had looked closely at the offensive line group on the sidelines, you’d see some much shorter bodies in the mix going over the pictures of how the defense was attacking both the run and pass game – that’s because the running backs, along with the rest of the team, thinks that the most important part of a successful offensive line is not necessarily health, which the Panthers are certainly lacking in this week with Matt Kalil and Daryl Williams on IR and Trai Turner in the concussion protocol.
It’s communication.
“You’ve just got to trust them,” Christian McCaffrey said about the offensive line, which is almost certain to feature at least one starter this week that wasn’t on the team during training camp or in the preseason. “Everybody’s going to have to do their job and know their job; it definitely ups the communication, we’re going to have to overcommunicate, especially in a hostile environment, it’s going to be key for us.”
After Daryl Williams went down in the fourth quarter, the Panthers put Amini Silatolu in at right tackle, but that may have been a temporary fix – especially since Corey Robinson, who they traded for less than two weeks ago, has had more practice time to get up to speed – Norv Turner is hoping that the line and the offense as a whole won’t have limitations.
“The biggest thing is you manage what you have,” said Turner. “We were a little limited late in the game [on Sunday], it was a tough matchup for a couple of guys, so you manage it the best that you can and I’m confident we won’t have limitations when we go play Atlanta on Sunday.”
With a strong defensive line set to face off with the Panthers this weekend in Atlanta, there will be no time for excuses – guard Tyler Larsen, who started more than half of the season last year in Ryan Kalil’s absence, knows that the hardest part of being thrown into a new situation due to injuries is less the quick turnaround – that’s the job of a backup, to be ready at a moment’s notice – it’s knowing how to interact with the lineman who will be blocking next to you.
“That’s why I love practice, because you get a chance to learn not only from your own mistakes, but from other guys,” said Larsen, who seems to have the inside track to starting at right guard with Turner still in the concussion protocol. “You’ve got to learn the offense – luckily we have an experienced and smart front that can help those guys out as much as we can while we’re out there on the field – we’ve just got to rely on each other.”
It’s not just communication between the offensive linemen themselves, it’s the guys behind them that will benefit the most from a solid blocking scheme – that’s why CJ Anderson brought with him a tradition of speaking to the linemen after every series to see if what they’re seeing and what the five-year veteran, who rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, is seeing are the same thing.
“I’ve also got to understand what they see and what they feel, too; if we can come to a medium where theirs makes more sense than mine did, it just makes us that much more successful,” said Anderson. “If we all understand the scheme, it should be easier to have that conversation after every series; with bringing Chris Clark in and seeing how this offensive line is going to be this upcoming week, it’s going to be the exact same.”
T Chris Clark
Clark, who Anderson played with in 2013/14 in Denver, was signed on Wednesday to offer tackle depth, and while Ron Rivera said he’s more of a “natural left-handed player,” Clark can play on both the right and left sides of the line – the same goes for second-year tackle Taylor Moton, who was expected to compete for the starting left guard spot at the start of training camp before kicking over to right tackle after the Daryl Williams injury. When Matt Kalil went on injured reserve after an arthroscopic surgery on his knee last month, Moton kicked over to left tackle, where he only allowed one pressure in 36 passing snaps last week against the Cowboys, according to Pro Football Focus.
Add in Greg Van Roten winning the left guard spot in training camp after Silatolu went down with a torn meniscus, and the offensive line situation has been fluid over the past six weeks, to say the absolute least – the one stalwart has been the five-time Pro Bowler Ryan Kalil, who was handled with kid gloves throughout training camp and the preseason in terms of practice reps; they’ll need him to stay healthy as the rest of the line shifts around him.
“He’s got that – I don’t even know what to call it – a calmness out there,” said Larsen. “He’s definitely our leader – we’re fortunate to have him in the middle of all of us and make sure we’re all on the right page and doing things right. He really is the general out there, making sure everything’s set right – I don’t know anyone better than him doing it right now.”
No matter who is out there on Sunday – the only sure things seem to be Kalil and Van Roten at left guard; the rest will likely be some combination of Robinson, Moton, Larsen and Clark – the team knows that if they can communicate effectively and efficiently, they can be successful – even if it will be McCaffrey, Anderson and Newton taking either the blame or the accolades for the performance in Atlanta, it will likely come down to combination of the entire team that contributes to the win.
“This is the most ultimate team game there is, and I think in a society with fantasy football and all of this, it gets so individualized when really, there’s 11 people on each side of the ball for a reason,” said McCaffrey when asked about the importance of communication with new blockers in front of him. “I popped a 71-yarder in the preseason, but it was a wide open hole and no one talks about the pulling guard or the tackle coming down or the tight end and fullback blocking, they just talk about me.”
“I just ran straight.”
