Tag: 2022 Commanders Injuries

Commanders coach Travelle Wharton talks offensive line

The assistant offensive line coach sees progress despite the rocky start to the season.

Travelle Wharton is a name most Commanders fans will not recognize, but the assistant offensive line coach is in his fifth season in NFL coaching.

Wharton played at South Carolina, grabbing the attention of enough scouts that he was drafted in the third round (94th) of the 2004 NFL draft by the Carolina Panthers. Wharton who played in the NFL for nine seasons (2004-2013), met with the media Friday.

The team has suffered so many offensive line injuries early in the season.
A huge loss was losing center Chase Roullier and Wharton addressed this.
“Chase is not just a good player, but just a leader on our line and in the locker room. So losing him was a big hit for us. His confidence and getting us in protections and things like that. You can hear it with other players when he talks, everybody listens. Guys have been really stepping up, so it just shows everyone, Hey, be ready.”

After losing two centers, Nick Martin was signed and had to start immediately.

“I thought Nick stepped in last week and has done really well for just coming in and picking up what we were doing. For everybody else on the line, it’s really staying fine-tuned and understanding those calls cause we rehearse it so much during the course of the week and meetings and stuff like that, or what you’ll call here on different looks.”

The offensive line has at times gotten beaten badly. But Wharton sees progress.

“We are consistently getting better every time we step out there. We gotta continue to work; that’s the big thing. You lose a couple guys here and there, and the next guys step up, but we gotta continue to go. That’s what you have to do as offensive line, play hard together.”

Saahdiq Charles replaced Trai Turner at right guard and made some plays last week.

“He’s been in a few times, a few snaps. He’s getting the opportunity to play, and that’s the biggest thing when you get an opportunity to play in NFL games; you have to take advantage of it. I think mentally he’s prepared.”

“He’s always been explosive, from year one to year two is a big jump, man. He’s really grown overall as a football player mentally and physically of what he needs to do. He played multiple positions. He’s one of those guys that can play multiple and you have to be a pretty smart player to do all that and have the athletic skill set to do it also.”

“Andrew Norwell came in and has been physical. Let me start by saying that, he’s a great teammate that plays great football and he’s been physical. The continuity of those guys and Andrew being in there has been really well because he can make the blocks on the front side and the back side and do a good job in pass pro.”

Commanders’ captain Jonathan Allen: ‘We got to be better’

Jonathan Allen said he and his teammates are “on to Philadelphia” in preparation for Week 3.

“We’ve got to be better and we will be better.”

That’s how Washington defensive tackle and captain Jonathan Allen ended his conversation with the media Monday, as he was rising to depart.

Q. “How did you feel like the defensive line played?”

JA: “Payne had a really great game. You always feel like you want to do more. So, I gotta watch the film before I can really answer that question.”

Q. “Have you seen any common themes in the struggles against opposing teams runs games in the first two games?”

JA: “Every team’s different and until I watch the film I can’t really say. Obviously we want to play better and we are going to be better. We are on to Philadelphia.”

Q. “Do you feel like the continuity (roster) has really kicked in or what do you think it will take for that to really happen?”

JA: “Continuity is good and all, but at the end we got to execute, and we didn’t execute like we were supposed to. So, gotta watch the film and we’ll see. We’ll get better.”

Q. “One player said the Lions knew exactly what you guys (defense) were going to do. Do you feel there needs to be any adjustments? Do you agree with that comment?”

JA: “Not really, at the end of the day we gotta execute. I’m not a fan of putting a lot of things on the coach. Sure, if you want to go that route I guess you can say that, but to me, that’s not something I am really thinking about.”

Q. “Ron said you played a little more than expected because of those injuries. How did you feel out there yesterday? And how are you feeling today?”

JA: “I feel ok. Obviously, I wasn’t full go. I was a little limited but I was able to go out there and fight with my team, which is what I wanted to do. A little sore today, but I’ll be good to go.”

Q. “When you are a little banged up right now so early in the season. How do you plan on managing that, when you still have 15 more outings to go?”

JA: “Just got to suck it up. Everybody’s beat up so that’s not really an excuse. You just got to keep pushing and keep fighting, take it week by week. It is what it is.”

Q. “When the offense doesn’t get first downs the first five possessions or so, how challenging is that for you guys on defense? Because you guys held up the first couple of drives and then things started to devolve from there.”

JA: “At the end of the day, no matter what the offense does, the defense has to go out there and stop them regardless of where the opposing offense gets the ball. We started off pretty good on third down. Just gave up too many explosives in the game.”

Q. “Is there any frustration from you, having a good game in week one and then coming out and not doing as well as you had hoped in week two?”

JA: “It is always frustrating when you lose. It’s the NFL; they get paid too. We’re on to Philadelphia. We’re gonna look at the film today (Monday) and see what we could do better and get ready for Philadelphia.”

Q, “You mentioned the explosive plays. Is there something fundamentally that’s key to stopping those kinds of explosive plays?”

JA: “Effort. I’m not saying we gave bad effort, but fits weren’t right. You got to give the Lions credit. They made great plays. But besides that, we got to be better, and we’ll be better,” Allen said as he rose to depart the room.

Commanders coach Ron Rivera optimistic and realistic

Ron Rivera is optimistic about the 2022 NFL season.

Coach Ron Rivera sat down with Julie Donaldson Friday expressing he is both optimistic but also realistic about his 2022 Washington Commanders team.

This is Rivera’s third season leading Washington, and though there are setbacks (injuries), he is pleased thus far preparing for Jacksonville. “I think that things have gone well. There’s been a lot of pluses that we are building on and getting better.”

Rivera spoke of the youth of this team, the energy and enthusiasm. “We have a guy who we think can be our quarterback for a while. When you look at the skill positions, that is where you truly do see the youth. At running back the veteran guy is J.D. (McKissic). At tight end, the veteran guy is Logan (Thomas). Wide receiver the veteran guy is Terry (McLaurin). Terry is only going into his fourth season.”

The former Panthers head coach (2011-19) is optimistic about some of his older veterans as well. “Where you really see the anchor though is our front. Our front five is a group of guys we feel very comfortable about and really think these guys can help protect Carson to give him time to get the ball to those talented young players.”

Rivera is realistic. He knows the line is beat up right now as well as the tight ends. The only one that has been healthy is Armani (Rogers). He is the only one able to be out there. The best part of him, he is such an athletic football player, that he makes plays.”

“We won’t have everybody out on the field Saturday. But once we get back together the following week, we will start to get all our guys out there and start prepping as we get ready for the opener (Sept.11).”

He has not been able to see a healthy unit thus far, “What you really want to be able to do is once we know (who is healthy) that group has to work together over and over in preparation for Jacksonville.”

A former linebacker, linebacker’s coach and defensive coordinator, Rivera was open about his disappointment in the third-down defense against Kansas City. “Those are things we can do better. First and foremost we coaches got to make sure that these guys understand what the important significance of third down is. And the significance of who that quarterback is. When Patrick Mahomes is out on the field, there is a certain discipline you have to rush with.”

We dialed up a couple of pressures, and we didn’t run them the way we needed to. Because of that, the pressure got there a step too late. So you look at those things, and you say, ‘That’s disappointing first and foremost, but that is correctable.”

There was much more, so see the link above for the full interview.