No Longer Feeling Good About Our Oline

[VaporTrail]

Greco on the Second Team: Time to gasp in shock -- after spending the first six days of camp at left guard with the first-team offense, John Greco was replaced by Jason Pinkston on Thursday. It was Pinkston's first work with the first-team offense since camp started, resuming a position he held before his blood clot in 2012.

As it turns out, there was a perfectly reasonable explanation for why Greco was working with the second-team. He wasn't at left guard -- instead, he played center. Greco has been known for his versatility, as he can play any position on the line, and this is a way to get him some practice reps at center in case something should happen to C Alex Mack. Greco's versatility is a reason why the team won't have to carry a guy like C Braxston Cave on the roster.

 

Source: http://www.dawgsbynature.com/2013/8/1/4580688/cleveland-browns-training-camp-report-day-7-goodell-king-in-berea

 

I think that the guard positions were weakest on our line last year. I believe that giving Greco reps on the second team as a center (as he's easily a starting guard) allows us to get a better evaluation out of our backup guards. I might be reading into this too much, but I think it suggests Pinkston as the first backup at guard, and I'm almost positive Gilkey will make the team as a utility guy. Should any two of our linemen go down, I think Gilkey is the next man up, as he's been getting reps on the second team and has experience playing tackle in college (though the position he translates to in the NFL is guard).

 

Which offensive linemen make the team? My guess is:

 

Starters: JT, Greco, Mack, Lauvao, Schwartz

Backup: Pinkston, Gilkey, and probably one more, but I don't know who's been stepping up. I'm so pumped to go to the Rams game and the following practice!

[thenew23]

Which offensive linemen make the team? My guess is:

 

Starters: JT, Greco, Mack, Lauvao, Schwartz

Backup: Pinkston, Gilkey, and probably one more, but I don't know who's been stepping up. I'm so pumped to go to the Rams game and the following practice!

 

I agree with Pinkston and Gilkey. Also, Rashad Butler was signed to provide depth at T. Miller or Faulk will also make the team. My guess is Miller makes the 53 and Faulk is a PS guy or gets put on IR...

[BadNewsBrowns]

I like the philosophy the new staff brings on what an O-Lineman should be, now this bunch just has to live up to it.

 

They're going from Shurmurs dink & dunk 3 step drops to shotgun and deep passes so they'll have to protect longer and be more physical in the run game.

 

Honestly if any position is set up to be a sleeper disappointment this year it's the O-Line, got faith in them though.

[ballpeen]

Five OL positions. 8-9 players is pretty typical on a roater.....you don't want to carry 10.....so now we are finding a center back-up....works for me.

 

 

 

Not sure what the practice squad might look like, but I would't mind a couple of hogs on that roster.

 

 

 

O-line is pretty critical.

[listercat]

O-Line is crucial to success; we all know depth will be needed as folks go down from time to time in the trenches....Lauvao really needs to step up and to me is the weak link at this point in our O-line corps

[listercat]

As Zombo previously posted last evening, Lauvao went down with the ever dreaded ankle injury proving yet again he is our weakest link. I am of the school of thought that you can never have enough depth in the O-line because you are dead in the water without effective line play

 

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_rg_shawn_lauv.html#incart_river_default

[Guest]

This'll get Pinkston in there with the starters full time and it'll probably be really good for him. I noticed Ryan Miller hasn't been seen since his concussion, it must have been severe, I won't be surprised if he we cut someone at another position to bring in another o-lineman for camp.

 

Zombo

[calfoxwc]

Lauvao thinks he's okay. I have to wonder if the dumbass line blocking scheme made

him look bad on occasions last season....

***************************************************

 

"Pinkston said he talked to Lauvao after he suffered the injury. “He thought he was all right,” Pinkston said. “He said, ‘I’m fine. I just twisted my ankle a little bit.’ Hopefully it’s not [serious], but you never know. They’ve got to look at it still and do whatever they do. They’re the doctors.”

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/cleveland-browns/cleveland-browns-1.270107/browns-training-camp-snapshot-shawn-lauvao-carted-off-with-injured-ankle-trent-richardson-returns-1.418892

[The Gipper]

Backup guards on depth chart: Pinkston, Garrett Gilkey, Aaron Adams, Caylin Hauptmann.....also, Jarrod Shaw and Braxton Cave listed as OCs but could possibly slide into the OG position.

[EmporerGhoolie]

Most meaningless ple of shit to ever be posted. A 5 -man OL whould will get dominated again because the Browns have no offensive threats and will face 8 and 9 in the box.

 

NO 5 MEN CAN BLOCK 9 MEN.

 

BY the way, The Steelers got a monster at OLB, we got a guy who is going to get pushed all over hte place.

[The Gipper]

Most meaningless ple of shit to ever be posted. A 5 -man OL whould will get dominated again because the Browns have no offensive threats and will face 8 and 9 in the box.

 

NO 5 MEN CAN BLOCK 9 MEN.

 

BY the way, The Steelers got a monster at OLB, we got a guy who is going to get pushed all over hte place.

Sounds to me like you want to take a European Steamboat to Pittsburg, you are so far up their ass.

[ClevelandFanForLife]

I sure hope the guards gained speed this offseason because they were slow as hell last year. We won't be able to run sweeps/screens without speedy interior linemen.

[Guest]

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said today that starting right guard Shawn Lauvao will undergo arthroscopic surgery today on his ankle and will miss some time in the regular season.

Lauvao suffered the injury in practice during a one-on-one blocking drill with Phil Taylor. Chudzinski did not specify the nature of the injury.

He also did not say how much time Lauvao will miss. Jason Pinkston, who's coming off a blood clot in his lung last season, will most likely start the season in place of Lauvao. Chudzinski said he was pleased with Pinkston's performance Thursday night against the Rams.

Chudzinski said Garrett Gilkey and some of the other young guards will also get more reps on the right side.

More to come on the Lauvao injury.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_starting_righ.html

 

[listercat]

Mary Kay Cabot is reporting Lauvao will be out for some time; including some regular season games....the man is the weak link

 

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_starting_righ.html#incart_river_default

[The Gipper]

 

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said today that starting right guard Shawn Lauvao will undergo arthroscopic surgery today on his ankle and will miss some time in the regular season.

Lauvao suffered the injury in practice during a one-on-one blocking drill with Phil Taylor. Chudzinski did not specify the nature of the injury.

He also did not say how much time Lauvao will miss. Jason Pinkston, who's coming off a blood clot in his lung last season, will most likely start the season in place of Lauvao. Chudzinski said he was pleased with Pinkston's performance Thursday night against the Rams.

Chudzinski said Garrett Gilkey and some of the other young guards will also get more reps on the right side.

More to come on the Lauvao injury.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_starting_righ.html

 

 

The depth chart include guys like Aaron Adams, Caylib Hauptmann at OG. I know I saw those names playing yesterday. Braxton Cave, listed as a backup OC....could he see some OG time?

I understand that Chud thinks of Ryan Miller as strictly an OT.

[JAFBF]

Rats

 

Lauvao's out for a while, possibly miss two or three Regular Season games.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_starting_righ.html

 

 

 

[PoeticG]

Good thing Greco is locked down then...

[hoorta]

Rats

 

Lauvao's out for a while, possibly miss two or three Regular Season games.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/08/cleveland_browns_starting_righ.html

 

 

 

 

As far as starters are concerned, this is a minimal loss. If you wanted to have a "Weakest Link" competition, Lauvao would certainly be in the running.

[Tour2ma]

Chudzinski said Garrett Gilkey and some of the other young guards will also get more reps on the right side.

More to come on the Lauvao injury.

 

Obviously Gilkey is the one "other" who has impressed...

 

Greco looked good against the Rams... Pinkston not so much.

 

I also thought the 2nd unit looked good... especially Butler. Butler was very quick off the ball with great footwork.

[Shep]

Grossi called it "The Greco Effect." The reason we broke up this newfangled thing called a "screen pass."

 

Pinkston wasn't good? I'd read that he played well considering all the time off. He and Greco can move, which is good.

[Tour2ma]

Shep, I think the operative part of Pinkston's other reviews is "considering all the time off."

 

He looked slow/ sluggish to my eye...

[miktoxic]

what a bunch of shit. lauvao should have been cut last year. the dude just reeks injury.

 

i called an OL to go down in the rams game. practice beat me to it. HA!

[VaporTrail]

Gilkey looked solid in spite of the shitshow of the rest of the backup OL. The guy was playing left guard, and driving people 5-10 yards down the field on running plays, hustling to find a body to block when he'd pull for the screens. Gilkey's blocks were a big reason BJack(?) was able to break out big runs.

[BadNewsBrowns]

I don't think there were many big runs, Campbell had our longest with 12 and we only averaged 2.8 ypc for the game.

 

Rams took out their first string d line after the first series, the ypc is a little worrisome hope we do a better job against the Lions, and keep fucking Suh away from Weeden.

 

Actually I hope Suh does try to pull some shit, I want to see if this new team will man up and do something about it.

[VaporTrail]

Actually, that might've been the run that I'm thinking of. I know that we had a screen pass for a big gain, and Gilkey got out there, blocked the first guy and gave open field to whomever caught the ball.

[Guest]

Jason Pinkston is back on the field, and he’d rather forget the last ten months

August 12, 2013 by Rick Grayshock 7 Comments

Jason Pinkston No. 62 blocks for Montario Hardesty at training camp.

Jason Pinkston got emotional running through the tunnel as smoke and flames shot up all around him. It was the Browns’ first preseason game of the year, but for Pinkston it was much more than that: It was the first time that he was playing football in a real game setting again. The first time since laying in a hospital bed with a life-threatening blood clot in his left lung.

“It felt pretty good, you know,” Pinkston said of the game. “It was definitely good to get out there and finally get that first time being back out on the field versus an opponent for the first time in ten months.”

The road back has been long and hard, and he’s still not quite all the way back. Physically, health wise he is at 100 percent, but football wise the 25-year old is still trying to get back to full health. But he says he is getting close. It has certainly been a roller coaster year for the former left tackle from the University of Pittsburgh. After starting at left guard for the first six games of the season, Pinkston was having difficulty breathing and was taken to the hospital. It was there that tests revealed the blood clot that could have killed him.

“It’s ten months I wish I could just forget and erase,” said Pinkston. ”But it happened. That’s a part of the game, injuries and things like that happen. It’s part of the game. A little bit of adversity and you have to deal with it.”

Jason spent a week in the hospital. His season was over.

“Everyday it crossed my mind that there might be a chance, that I might not play again,” said Pinkston. Everyday.”

Laying in a hospital bed with little more to do than think can be a very scary and lonely place. Jason did what he could to stay positive and pass the time. His faith and his friends helped him get through. He prayed a lot. He had a lot of people praying for him. He talked to his teammates everyday. They came and visited him in the hospital. A couple coaches came and visited him as well.

“I tried to take it as best you can,” he said. “It was really out of my hands, there was nothing I could do.”

The week that Pinkston was in the hospital was the week that Mike Holmgren stepped down as president of the Cleveland Browns. It was an unsettling time for the organization and for Jason. The front office that drafted him was in the process of changing. Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert weren’t going to be around when and if Jason could make a full recovery. The head coach who had trusted in his abilities and started him from his first game as a rookie was going to soon be gone.

“I worried about [my spot on the team] at first,” said Pinkston. “Coaches were going to be replaced. Then Mr. Holmgren stepped down. He actually came and visited me in the hospital. I have a great regard for him. But it definitely crossed my mind that I don’t know where I stand, because when you’re out, you’re out and it’d be next man up.”

You couldn’t blame Pinkston for wondering about his job. It isn’t the norm around the league, but the Browns have been fortunate to draft offensive linemen lately that don’t miss snaps let alone games. It started with the man who played immediately to Pinkston’s left. Tackle Joe Thomas is more than just a pro-bowl left tackle. He has been an iron man. Thomas has played every down on offense since he was drafted in 2007. That’s 96 straight games, longer than most NFL careers.

To Pinkston’s right was Alex Mack. The center also started and played every snap of his career since he was selected by the Browns in 2009. That’s a span of 64 games. Shaun Lauvao was the right guard for every game in 2011 and 2012. Mitchell Schwartz started last season at right tackle as a rookie and played every snap. When Pinkston went down, John Greco was the next man up, and he performed quite well, finishing the rest of the season at left guard and earning a contract extension from the team at the start of camp.

Jason came to camp to compete with Lauvao and Greco for a starting spot. He had a slight disadvantage, trying to work back into football shape. He was working mostly with the second team for the first two weeks of camp, when Shaun Lauvao went down with an ankle injury. Lauvao underwent arthroscopic surgery, thrusting Pinkston back into the starting unit.

And that’s where Jason works in practice now, learning the offense and learning to play the right side.

“It’s more of a fast pace, uptempo,” he said. “There’s a lot of guard pulling, pulling left and pulling right. I like it. It’s definitely better now than what I’ve experienced before. Coach Turner has done an outstanding job. He’s putting a lot of pressure on us to get up to the line and get things going and working hard. The pressure he has on us from him to our offensive line coach is tremendous and I think it’s going to help us in the long run in these game situations.”

Much has been made of the downfield nature of head coach Rob Chudzinski’s offense, an offense that he learned while working with new Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner. Does a downfield passing game mean the offensive line has to hold their blocks longer?

“Not necessarily,”. said Pinkston. “We have a lot of motions and shifts and things like that. There’s going to be play action, and things like that. There’s going to be downfield, and some blocks are going to be harder than others, and some blocks are going to be easier than others but that’s part of the game and part of playing the offensive line. We’re going to have to block as long as we’re needed to.”

A faster tempo has certainly been on display at camp so far, and in the preseason game on Thursday. The Browns are trying to get to the line quicker, make their reads and run the play before the defense has a chance to react to what they are seeing. It would seem that a tempo like that would demand that offensive linemen be in better condition than normal. Not so according to Jason.

“You don’t have to be in better condition, but you definitely have to be conditioned,” Pinkston clarified. “There’s going to be times where we go at a fast pace and that’s fine. I think we’re all in pretty good shape. Even when we came into camp running the conditioning test, and now I don’t see too many people gassed. Our first series was a 15-play drive and for the most part everyone was fine. In the huddle you can tell when someone’s breathing hard, and everyone was fine.”

Pinkston should know who was and wasn’t in shape in the huddle. He spent more time there than any of the Browns other offensive linemen. Jason started at right guard, and played all the snaps with the first unit, but also played there with the second unit, as he practiced with them all week. The move to right guard is something that Jason still has to get used to.

“I’m getting there,” he said. “It’s definitely backwards for me right now, but I’m getting there. I’m working on it everyday. It’s been a struggle, but it’s part of the game and I have to adapt. This is my first time I’ve had my right hand down since probably 2007. So it’s a definite change.”

So now Pinkston is the team’s right guard, at least until Shaun Lauvao is able to recover from his ankle surgery. The team estimates that could take around six weeks, or into the third week of the regular season. By then it could be Pinkston who has the upper hand at the spot.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Pinkston says of Lauvao’s injury. “You never want to see any of your teammates go down. That was a tough injury for Shaun. I know he put a lot of good work in this offseason with (former Pro Bowl center) LeCharles Bentley. You never want to see anybody get hurt. That’s part of the game. You’re the next guy up, you have to go in and do a good job. Shaun was doing a great job at right guard, so I don’t want to let myself down, or let the team down or let the guy next to me down. I gotta step up. Time is limited right now, I’ve been thrown in there at right guard and so I’m trying to learn as fast as I can and get the job done.”

Whether or not Pinkston is completely comfortable playing on the right side, or if his body is back into the same shape it was when he went down last season, Jason is glad to be back on the field playing the game he loves.

[Erie Dawg]

After reading that he may not be ready until mid season, rush him in and.. boom.. ACL. Back to the hospital bed.

[Tour2ma]

Nice photo.... Exactly what was Pinkston doing when it was taken?

 

Jason Pinkston No. 62 blocks for Montario Hardesty at training camp.

 

 

He'll round into shape... good to have him back...

[VaporTrail]

God, I was on cloud nine for this game after our 3rd score, then the injuries started happening. We went from having 3 quality guards to 1. Now that Lewis is out (hopefully not for long), I'm less than enthused at our RB situation, but BJax should step up. Mingo and Bogotay also out. Fuck. I can't even enjoy this win.

[choco]

Why...are they all out for the entire season?