Tag: Morgan Moses

Injury Report: Terry McLaurin misses second-straight day; Alex Smith returns to limited work

There is some real concern when it comes to both Terry McLaurin and Alex Smith’s availability this week, but Antonio Gibson is seemingly headed in the right direction.

For the second-straight day, Washington’s star wide receiver Terry McLaurin was nowhere to be found on the practice field, which has now caused the fanbase to reach a level of concern that could come pressing for his availability on Sunday. McLaurin has been dealing with an ankle injury for a lot of the 2020 season, and his lack of production over the past few weeks could potentially be chalked up to that. We will see if McLaurin returns to the field on Friday or Saturday, but at this point, it is fair to question his availability for Sunday.

Elsewhere on the field, QB Alex Smith ramped up his workload a bit on Thursday, throwing to receivers in individual drills and putting more exertion on his calf-strain than we’ve seen in over a week. Despite this, QB Dwayne Haskins was still taking first-team reps, and at the moment it appears that he is likely to be the starter on Sunday, though we will keep an eye on Smith’s recovery.

There was also some positive news when it comes to a few other injured players on the roster, especially RB Antonio Gibson and LB Cole Holcomb. Gibson has missed the past two games with a turf toe injury, but he’s gone through individual work this week and could likely see the field on Sunday if all stays on the right course. As far as Holcomb goes, he was held out last week with a concussion but also went through individual drills on Thursday.

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Injuries to star players in Washington might put the winning streak in jeopardy vs. Seattle

With Alex Smith, Antonio Gibson, Morgan Moses, and Kevin Pierre-Louis all up in the air for Sunday, Washington’s chance at continuing their winning streak just got harder.

In order for the Washington Football Team to pull off another upset and beat the Seattle Seahawks this weekend, they will need to be close to full strength, if not at 100 percent to do so.

At the time being, it looks like they aren’t even close.

We’ve known that both QB Alex Smith and RB Antonio Gibson have been battling through injuries this week and will have their questionability unknown going into the weekend, but a few more players can be added to that list now as well, with RT Morgan Moses and LB Kevin Pierre-Louis not practicing on Friday either.

All of this, plus the fact that starting safety Deshazor Everett was placed on the injured reserve on Thursday after undergoing chest surgery to repair an injured pectoral, and Washington’s 4-game winning streak could be at real jeopardy this weekend against the Seahawks. We will wait to see what the injury report says and see if any of these supposed ‘game-time decisions’ can suit up on Sunday, but things aren’t looking great in Ashburn.

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Washington Inactives: Morgan Moses, Brandon Scherff set to play

Both Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff are set to play for Washington, which is great news for a running game that is without Antonio Gibson.

Just as we expected, both RT Morgan Moses and RG Brandon Scherff are set to play on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers after being listed as questionable in the final injury report of the week. The two veteran players have routinely popped up on the injure report this season, but outside of a stint of games where Scherff was on the IR, neither has been forced to sit out for any games.

Having both players in the lineup is a big bonus for Washington, as they will look to slow down a solid 49ers defensive line and get an extra push in the running game, one which won’t have the benefit of featuring rookie RB Antonio Gibson, who is out with a toe injury.

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Washington signs OT David Steinmetz from the practice squad to the active roster

With RT Morgan Moses questionable to play Sunday, Washington has signed David Steinmetz to the active roster.

The Washington Football Team has officially signed backup OT David Steinmetz to the active roster on Saturday, bringing him up from the practice squad and giving them depth at the position and a security blanket should any of their top players go down with an injury.

Washington had little choice but to sign Steinmetz to the active roster, seeing as this week would have been the third time that they elevated him from the practice squad to the active roster. According to NFL rules this season, you must sign a PS player to a roster spot if you elevate him a third time.

With both Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff questionable for Sunday’s game, the presence of Steinmetz will give a little bit of security for Washington going forward.

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Injury Report: Antonio Gibson ruled out, Brandon Scherff, Morgan Moses likely to play

Washington will be without Antonio Gibson on Sunday, but both Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff are good to go.

 

It’s now clear that we will not be watching Washington rookie running back Antonio Gibson against the San Francisco 49ers this week, as he continues to recover from a turf toe injury suffered last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gibson has absent from practice again on Friday, and he has officially been ruled out for the Week 14 game.

On the other hand, Washington continues to get good news about both Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff, both of whom were full-go in practice on Friday and set to start in their normal positions against the 49ers. The two veteran linemen were listed on the injury report as limited participants on Thursday, but that was likely due to precaution more so than anything else.

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In his first game against former teammates, Trent Williams will be ‘just happy to see those guys’

In his first game against his for team and teammates, Trent Williams says there is no ill-will between he and the Washington players.

After going through the type of breakup that the Washington Football Team and Trent Williams went through a year ago, it’s pretty understandable for some underlying feelings to linger, and some grudges to still be held.

Williams, a multi-time Pro Bowler and arguably the best player to put on a Washington jersey over the past decade, was unceremoniously traded away from the team that drafted him, landing with the San Francisco 49ers early on a Saturday morning in April, minutes before the NFL Draft resumed. It was a deal that was a long time in the making, with Williams requesting trades after a year of holding out, all of which stemmed from a misdiagnosis of a cancerous mass that was growing on Williams’ scalp.

We don’t need to dive into the details; the TLDR is that Williams was unhappy with the medical staff in Washington, that medical staff ended up getting the can, and Williams was later traded. It’s fair to say that nobody felt great about the trade, with Washington fans feeling like they sold their LT for pennies on the dollar, while Williams lost a year in his prime. It’s understandable for anyone to feel a sense of animosity, but according to Williams, there is no grudge to be held.

“There is no ill-will towards Washington,” Williams said on the 49ers Talk podcast. “I’m actually just happy to see those guys, Just like I love those guys in this locker room, I had that same bond with those guys in that locker room for the last 10 years. I’m just happy to see those guys.”

There have been a lot of changes on Washington’s roster over the past couple of seasons, but the mainstays — Brandon Scherff, Morgan Moses, and Chase Roullier — have been there through it all, and they’re still standing right where Williams left them. It will be a reunion of sorts when the two teams meet on the field, with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan also having a chance to see some of the players that he helped coach back in the early part of last decade. For Williams, it will also be a cool moment to see the next generation of players in a new role, playing more as veterans in Washington who he watches as much as he can.

“I watch them as much as I can,” Williams said. “Individually, I’ll watch to see how guys are coming along. I always keep a close eye on Morgan Moses, Brandon Scherff, Chase Roullier, you know, the guys who I felt I had an instrumental part in having them develop. It’s hard to look at them in any other way.”

No matter the outcome, there will be some laughs had, and respect shown between players with longstanding relationships. Everyone will want to do everything they can to win, but in the end, it will be fun to see longtime teammates bond on the field, no matter what colors they wear.

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Injury Report: Deshazor Everett, Cornelius Lucas return to full practice

Both safety Deshazor Everett and LT Cornelius Lucas practice in full on Thursday, pointing to potential return on Monday night.

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Things are starting to look a bit more normal on the Washington offensive line, with the return of LT Cornelius Lucas restoring some order in the front five. With Lucas coming back from an injury that held him out of the last couple of games, this will shift Morgan Moses back over to his position at RT, which he seemed happy about on Thursday. 

In other injury news, we once again saw safety Deshazor Everett return to the field and going through positional work with the defensive backs, which was a great sight with the hopes that he can return in time for Washington’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday evening. Everett has missed the last two games with a high-ankle sprain, and there was reported on Wednesday to be some doubt that he would be back in time for Week 13, but consecutive days of practicing bodes well for his availability.

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Washington’s offensive line deserves a ton of credit for adapting on the fly

With a makeshift group of players settling into unfamiliar positions, Washington O-line has strung together several really nice performances as of late.

If you take into account the injuries suffered on the offensive line, plus the loss of both Trent Williams and Ereck Flowers this offseason, it would be extremely easy for the front-five in Washington to pack things up and make a litany of excuses for why they aren’t getting the job done.

However, through 10 games this season, they’ve been doing anything but that, instead adapting to the current circumstances and finding a way to string together a few nice games that have allowed QB Alex Smith some time to work in the pocket.

After Sunday’s win against the Cincinnati Bengals, the offensive line deserves a lot of credit for what they were able to accomplish. With both Geron Christian and Cornelius Lucas unable to play, veteran right tackle Morgan Moses shifted over to the left tackle position, and backup LT started at the RT position. It was a make-shift plan that had a high probability of not working.

It worked pretty well.

Alex Smith was sacked once and pressured only four times. He was given time to stand in the pocket and make his reads downfield, getting the ball to seven different receivers. Not all of the credit goes to the tackles on the outside, though. After the game, coach Ron Rivera offered a lot of praise to his guys in the middle, RG Brandon Scherff and LG Wes Schweitzer, who had stand-out games as well.

 

The offensive line rarely gets a lot of credit when things go right, and regularly shoulders much of the blame when things go wrong. From a birds-eye view, things are going wrong more often than not in Washington, but for the first time in a while, you can’t pin all of the blame on the O-line. Instead, they’ve been a very solid unit that is performing above expectations through 10 weeks, and though they lost two star players, plus an offensive line coach who is regarded as one of the best in the business in Bill Callahan, they’ve been able to put together several nice games, and give this offense a chance to succeed.

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Injury Report: Deshazor Everett, Cornelius Lucas, Geron Christian absent from walk-through

The left side of Washington’s O-line is banged up, causing a shake-up in the front while a replacement for Everett needs to be found.

Things looked a bit different for Washington on Wednesday, as the team went through a walk-through rather than a padded practice due to the intensive protocol they were placed under after a player tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

That player, Matt Ioannidis, has been on the injured reserve since early October, and did not travel with the team to Detroit last week, so there is some optimism that Washington won’t be extremely effected by this, but precautions have still been put into place for the right reasons.

Nonetheless, there were a few notable players that were absent from the walk-through on Wednesday, namely LTs Geron Christian and Cornelius Lucas. Christian has been dealing with an injury for the past couple of weeks, and now his replacement is also banged up and went down after getting rolled up on in Sunday’s game. Right tackle Morgan Moses stepped in at the LT position, putting David Sharpe at RT, and it appears the same might happen this week as well.

Safety Deshazor Everett was also absent on Wednesday after suffering a high-ankle sprain against the Lions. Washington doesn’t have a clear timetable for his return, so we will have to keep an eye on that one.

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Morgan Moses looks to be making switch to LT as injuries continue in Washington

Injuries to both Geron Christian and Cornelius Lucas caused Morgan Moses to switch the LT last week, and that trend may continue this week.

After left tackle Cornelius Lucas went down for Washington in the game against the Detroit Lions last week, we saw a bit of a shake-up on the offensive line, with veteran RT Morgan Moses switching over to the left side, and David Sharpe coming in at RT.

It looks like we may see that a bit more going forward, as Washington continues to deal with injuries on the front line. In Wednesday’s practice, reporters noted that both Geron Christian and Lucas were absent from practice, and Moses was lining up at the left side. With his experience on the line, it makes sense that you would plug Moses in at the most important spot up front.

Credit to Washington, they played very well with the make-shift unit up front, and continued to buy Alex Smith some time in the pocket, giving him a chance to march the team down the field routinely in the second half, allowing Washington to mount a comeback from down 24-3. Though they eventually lost the game, one still has to feel confident about Moses’ abilities at the LT position, at least while Washington is looking for some of their players at the position to get healthy. While they entered the season with Christian, Lucas, and rookie Saahdiq Charles all on the depth chart at LT, the three of those players have been injured, and none are likely to be available this week, it appears.

Good thing you have a veteran player like Moses to turn to in times like this.

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