Commanders Maintain Confidence in Shifting Offensive Line

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Um, so I want you to imagine driving down the highway, right?
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Like 75 miles an hour, heavy traffic all around you.
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Okay, yeah, stressful enough already. Right.
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And then suddenly, the person next to you just leans
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over and tells you to swap seats with them. Like,
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take your hands completely off the wheel, but you somehow
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have to maintain your speed and stay right in your lane.
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I mean, that's just a recipe for a crash. You're
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basically rewiring the whole car while it's still moving.
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Exactly. And that level of, uh, Synchronized high stakes chaos.
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That is a pretty accurate representation of what the Washington
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Commanders offensive line has been dealing with. And this is
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just weeks before their 2026 season opener.
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Yeah, which is just wild timing. It forces a complete
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recalibration of, you know, every single system you rely on
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to keep moving forward.
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It really does. And that's what makes this current situation
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in Washington so compelling to analyze. So for this deep drive,
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we're pulling from a really detailed September 2nd, 2026 report.
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This came directly from commanders.com right after the initial 53-man
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roster cuts.
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Right, the final cuts.
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Yeah. And our mission today is to essentially dissect how
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a coaching staff and the roster itself manages these catastrophic disruptions,
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especially within the most interdependent unit in all of football.
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Because, I mean, there's this huge contrast, right, between how
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calm the building is internally and the absolute panic happening externally.
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Oh, 100%. You saw that dynamic perfectly during the press
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conference with head coach Dan Quinn and GM Adam Peters.
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They sat down to talk about the 53-man roster, but
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the actual roster was essentially an afterthought.
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Yeah, the media didn't care about the bubble guys. They
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were totally zeroed in on the offensive line.
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Exactly. And Adam Peters practically disarmed the room before the
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first question even finished. He just leans into the mic
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and jokes like, we had no idea that was coming
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when they brought up the O-line.
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He knows the optics. He totally knows.
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He does.
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But.
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You know, to analyze how they're navigating this whole scramble,
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we first have to look at the architectural blueprint you
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were originally working with. Four of the wheels fell off.
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Right, because the initial framework was structurally really sound. I mean,
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they had a highly specific plan. Right.
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What was the ideal world scenario?
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So a front office had designed this line to be
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anchored by Laramie Tunsil at left tackle, which, you know,
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that gives you a premium blindside protector. You can leave
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him on an island against edge rushers.
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No slide protection needed.
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Exactly. You don't need to send help his way. Then
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inside you had Nick Allegretti operating as the center. So
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he's the primary communicator. And on the right side. Sam
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Cosme and Josh Connerly were supposed to spend all of
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August just taking rep after rep together.
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To build that chemistry.
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Yeah, that highly specific nonverbal chemistry that a guard and
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a tackle absolutely.
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Have to have. Right. So the only real variable they
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were actively testing was at left guard. They had this
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designated healthy competition going between Brennan Coleman and Chris Paul.
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Which is a great spot to be in. The coaches
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felt comfortable letting that battle play out because the other
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four spots were just totally locked in.
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That was the ideal scenario. But then the reality of
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an NFL training camp completely dismantled that blueprint.
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Yeah, it really did.
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Because the most significant blow comes down and Laramie Tunsil
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is ruled out for the foreseeable future with a torn triceps. Oh, man.
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You just you don't replace a player of Tunsil's caliber.
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You basically have to fundamentally alter your blocking schemes.
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And compounding that, Nick Allegretti suffers a calf strain and
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that sidelines him for virtually the entire month of August.
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So within just days, the commanders lose their physical anchor
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on the left and their cerebral anchor right in the middle.
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Which creates this immediate vacuum of stability. I mean, the
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center and the left tackle are arguably the two most
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critical nodes of that entire offensive line network.
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Okay, think of it like a high-end restaurant kitchen on
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a Friday night.
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Okay, I like this.
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The head chef and the sous chef both call out
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sick right before the dinner rush. Suddenly... Everyone else has
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to completely switch stations just to keep the food going out.
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Yeah, and the resulting shuffle is just incredibly complex.
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Right, because console goes down. So Brandon Coleman has to
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just abandon that left guard competition and kick all the
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way out to left tackle.
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Yep. And because Allegretti is out, Julian Goodjones has to
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step in and absorb the immense cognitive load of playing center.
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But wait, it gets worse. Because then, during a joint
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practice with the Baltimore Ravens, Sam Cosme gets sick.
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Unbelievable timing.
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I know. So the team has to move good Jones
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over to guard just to patch that hole, which then
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forces draft pick Matt Gulbin into the center position.
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What's fascinating here is that you are basically watching the
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structural integrity of the line being tested in real time.
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Because moving a player from guard to tackle or guard
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to center, it changes their entire spatial awareness.
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Because of the angles.
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Exactly. Their footwork changes, their pad level requirements completely change.
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And their peripheral vision has to process entirely different threats.
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And losing the center isn't just about the physical mechanics
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of snapping the ball.
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Right. It's a communication thing.
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It's a catastrophic communication failure if the backup isn't prepared.
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The center is responsible for identifying the mic linebacker. And
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that identification dictates the slide protection for everyone else.
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So if you have a third string center in there
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who misidentifies the front.
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Yeah. The left tackle might step out to take an
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edge rusher while the guard steps inside. And suddenly you
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have a massive B gap lane wide open for a
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defensive tackle to just blindside the quarterback. Wow. And the
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synchronization is just immense. Offensive linemen operate with like six
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inch steps. So if a guard takes a lateral step
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that is six inches too wide on an outside zone run,
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he exposes the center's hip. The block is shed. and
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the play is just dead in the backfield.
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So when they move Coleman to tackle, they aren't just
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fixing the tackle spot, they're instantly depleting all their depth
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at guard.
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The domino effect is huge. It amplified the uncertainty across
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every single gap on that front.
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And that depth issue, I think that completely recontextualizes what
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the fans were seeing during the preseason, right? Because the
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external noise reached this absolute boiling point.
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Oh yeah, people were panicking.
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Especially after that disorganized preseason game against the Detroit Lions,
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and then a really messy joint practice with the Ravens,
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the public saw missed assignments and just assumed, well, this
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unit is fundamentally flawed.
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But they were evaluating a highly complex puzzle while, you know,
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half the pieces were literally still in the box. Preseason
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football is historically deceptive anyway, but especially when you're dealing
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with offensive line continuity.
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And the source material addresses this disconnect head-on. The commanders
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were running incredibly vanilla offensive schemes— They were not game
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planning to neutralize the Lions or the Ravens specific pass
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rush packages. Right.
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You never show your real hand in August.
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Exactly. And more importantly, the actual starting five offensive linemen rarely,
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if ever, saw the field at the same time during
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those exhibition snaps.
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Which is exactly the point Josh Connerly emphasized when he
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was speaking to the media. He pushed back against that
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whole external panic. He basically said, I think it's a
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huge misconception because I know how much we work. There's
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only been so much put out there of the five
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being out there at once.
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So the players totally understand that the tape the fans
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are agonizing over doesn't represent what they can actually do. Right.
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It's not their actual operational capacity.
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We really have to talk about the Brandon Coleman factor
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here because his transition to left tackle is the variable
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that changes the entire math for this line. I mean,
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the external assumption is that plugging a guard into the
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left tackle spot is just this desperate stopgap measure.
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But Coleman's resume dictates a completely different level of expectation.
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He's not some developmental project trying to learn the edge
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for the first time.
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Here's where it gets really interesting. He was the starting
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left tackle for this franchise during an NFC championship run.
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Yeah, the coaching staff already possesses the empirical data proving
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he can perform in super high leverage situations.
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And the stat that really proves his worth. It comes
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from a matchup during that championship run against the Cleveland
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Browns Coleman was rotating at left tackle with Cornelius Lucas,
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and his primary assignment in that rotation was Myles Garrett.
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And Coleman kept Garrett off the stat sheet entirely. Zero stats.
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No sacks, no tackles, no quarterback hits. Nothing. See.
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To fully grasp the magnitude of that, we have to
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look at how Miles Garrett actually operates. I mean, Garrett
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possesses this terrifying ability to convert speed to power. He
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uses this dip and rip technique that gets him right
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underneath the tackle's pads. And if the tackle oversets to
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stop the edge rush... Garrett just hits a bull rush
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that collapses the entire pocket. He's a physiological anomaly.
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And keeping a player like that completely neutralized, especially when
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you're just rotating into the game pulled, that requires flawless technique, right?
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Yeah.
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Because rotational linemen usually struggle to find a rhythm.
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Exactly the opposite happened with Coleman. To blank Garrett like that,
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Coleman had to utilize a perfect kick slide. He had
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to maintain a really low center of gravity to anchor
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against that bull rush, all while keeping his hands inside
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to control Garrett's chest plate.
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That's just immense core strength.
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And discipline. When you have a player who has demonstrated
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that specific technical proficiency against a literal generational pass rusher,
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the coaching staff's confidence makes complete sense.
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Yeah, and Coach Blau's comments totally reflect that. He spoke
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at length about Coleman's progression over the past year, highlighting
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his maturity, his mastery of the system. Blau stated unequivocally
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that Coleman has demonstrated every trait necessary to protect the
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blind side.
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Right. They aren't relying on hope here. They are relying
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on a proven track record.
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But having an individual asset like Coleman, I mean, that
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mitigates the loss of Tunsell. But football is a weak
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link sport, right?
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Very much so. You can have an elite left tackle,
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but if the interior of the line can't process it,
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the defensive scheme together, the whole offense still fails.
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Which brings us to the race against the clock, because
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the report indicates that the pieces are finally settling back
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into place, literally just in time for the regular season.
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Thank goodness for them, right?
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Yeah. Sam Cosme is back from his illness, which is
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immediately solidifies the right guard position. But the real foundational
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shift happened when Nick Allegretti returned to practice to take
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his spot as the starting center.
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So the brain of the operation is finally back online.
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The communication network is restored.
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And Allegretti addressed his recovery strategy in the locker room.
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And it's a fascinating look at the tension between, like,
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medical caution and tactical readiness.
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What did he say?
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He noted that he missed more practices in this single
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training camp than in his entire career combined. But he
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framed it around a specific philosophy. He said he was, quote,
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trusting that process that we need to be right for September,
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not August.
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Ah, that's a very calculated gamble. The medical staff and
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the player are basically agreeing to sacrifice preseason reps for
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regular season availability.
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Which sounds incredibly prudent medically, but tactically. I mean, this
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mind only has about 10 days to get ready for
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week one. We just talked about how vital nonverbal chemistry is,
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the six-inch lateral steps. Is 10 days really enough time
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to build that microscopic synchronization without taking physical reps together
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for a month?
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And that is the core anxiety surrounding the team right now.
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But GM Adam Peters provided the counter argument, and it
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hinges on one specific metric. Nick Allegretti has played over 3,000
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snaps in the NFL.
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That's a lot of football.
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Right. And that number completely changes how a player processes
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the game. A rookie needs physical reps just to acclimate
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to the sheer velocity of an NFL defensive line. They
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literally have to feel the collision to understand the timing.
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But a veteran doesn't.
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No, a veteran with 3,000 snaps doesn't need to physically
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snap the ball to understand the geometry of the play.
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He's built this massive mental catalog of every defensive front,
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every alignment, every pressure package.
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Give me an example of how that works in real time.
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Okay, let's look at how a defense executes a standard
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TE stunt. So the defensive tackle crashes outward into the
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guard to occupy him, right? While the defensive end loops
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inside to attack the A-gap.
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Got it.
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A rookie center sees that looping defensive end post-snap, completely
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panics and tries to lunge at him, which usually results
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in a holding penalty or a sack.
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But Allegretti sees it differently.
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Exactly. A center with Allegretti's experience doesn't wait for the snap.
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He reads the pre-snap alignment. He sees the defensive tackle's
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hips are angled just slightly wider than usual. He notices
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a safety creeping down into the box.
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So he knows it's coming before it even happens.
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Yes. His brain instantly cross-references that alignment with hours of
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film study. He identifies the stunt, and he calls out
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the slide protection adjustment to the guards before the quarterback
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even begins his cadence. Wow.
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So the muscle memory of the physical block is already
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deeply ingrained. What he needed was the mental rep. Which
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he can get just by standing behind the offense during practice,
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making the reads in real time, without taking the physical
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impact on his recovering calf.
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Right. And Coach Quinn echoed this exact sentiment. He said
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he has a lot of confidence in this specific group.
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They recognize that Allegretti's cognitive processing speed totally compensates for
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the like of physical August reps. He spent the whole
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spring learning the vocabulary of this specific playbook. He knows
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the system. His body just needed to heal.
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But that theory, you know, veteran intelligence making up for
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lost time, it's about to be tested under the most
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extreme conditions possible.
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Oh, yeah.
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Because in 10 days, this newly reassembled offensive line has
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to face the Philadelphia Eagles.
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And that front seven is specifically designed to exploit any
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hesitation or miscommunication.
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Especially that interior duo. I mean, Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis.
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Davis is just a mountain of a human being who
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routinely occupies two blockers, He swallows up the run game,
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makes it impossible to move the line of scrimmage.
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Yeah, he demands the double team.
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And then Carter operates as the three technique. And he
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possesses perhaps the most explosive first step of any defensive
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tackle in football right now. He shoots gaps before linemen
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even get out of their stance.
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So if your center and guards are not operating with
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a singular, synchronized game plan, Carter will wreck the offensive
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game plan by the second quarter.
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Because Davis isolating the guard means Carter is one-on-one. Exactly.
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Davis demands the double team, which isolates the guard one-on-one
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with Carter. And that is a brutal physical and mental
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test for a healing interior line.
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But despite how daunting that matchup is, the players are
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projecting this really defiant level of confidence. Sam Kosmia's comments
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were incredibly telling. He didn't just offer the standard, you know,
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we're taking it one game at a time, coach speak.
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What was his take?
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He literally said, We can prove everybody wrong. I care
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about the guys in that room and our ability. He
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emphasized their great communication and relationships and said he is
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excited to go to battle with that versus Philly.
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See, he's tapping into a specific psychological advantage there. They're
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actively weaponizing the external doubt.
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They're looking at the tape of their disorganized August, looking
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at the narrative that they're just this patchwork unit and
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they're using it as fuel. They aren't dreading Carter and Davis.
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They view it as the ultimate platform to validate their
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own internal process.
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Because the entire ecosystem of an offensive line relies on trust.
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And Cosme is publicly declaring that the trust hasn't been
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fractured by all these injuries.
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So when we summarize the takeaways of this deep dive,
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it really reveals a fascinating blueprint for managing organizational chaos.
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The commander suffered injuries that completely shattered their primary setup.
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And the natural instinct, whether it's an NFL sideline or,
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you know, your own workplace or projects, is to view
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sudden disruptions as insurmountable setbacks.
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Right. The immediate reaction is usually to focus on the
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degraded capability rather than looking at systemic resilience. You panic.
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Exactly. But this situation illustrates the value of having adaptable
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people in your room, like having versatile assets like Brandon Coleman,
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who has the technical mastery to just shift positions and
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neutralize threats.
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Trusting the foundational work. Adam Peter's reliance on Allegretti's 3,000
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snaps is the crucial takeaway for me. It highlights the
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profound difference between physical conditioning and mental processing. When an
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organization has invested in high-level intellectual capital people, people who
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understand the why behind the scheme, not just the what
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they can afford to prioritize long-term health over short-term optics,
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the brain of the operation can slot back in and
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immediately elevate the execution of everyone around him.
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It fundamentally changes how we should evaluate adversity. I mean,
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we always default to assuming that a smooth, perfectly scripted
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plan is the only path to success.
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Right.
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We assume friction degrades performance.
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Sure, that's a natural assumption.
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But I want to leave you with one final thought
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to mull over. Is it possible that the severe friction
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of this chaotic reshuffle actually engineers a tighter, more resilient unit?
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Oh, that's an interesting point.
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Because when the original plan breaks down, And a group
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is forced to adapt on the fly and deal with
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this us against the world mentality that Cosby mentioned that
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shared adversity might forge a tighter bond than if everything
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had just gone perfectly according to plan.
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The laboratory phase is officially over, that's for sure. It is.
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So keep a close eye on the trenches when Washington
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takes the field against Philadelphia in week one. We'll finally
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see if the heat of preseason chaos fractured this offensive
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line or if it forged it into something much harder
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to break.