LANDOVER — With Brandon Scherff down on the ground in pain, center Chase Roullier sprinted to the sideline to find offensive line coach Bill Callahan. The 25-year-old had a question and he needed the answer quickly.
Was he moving to guard or staying at center?
Scherff, after all, was the Redskins’ third injured lineman on the afternoon, and with only six dressed, someone was going to have to shift spots. As it turned out, left tackle Ty Nsekhe moved to left guard and rookie Geron Christian entered the game at tackle.
It’s 2017 all over again for these Redskins.
In Washington’s 38-14 loss Sunday, the Redskins finished the game with Christian, Nskehe, Roullier, Tony Bergstrom and Morgan Moses along the offensive line. For those keeping track, that lineup features just two starters and two backups playing at unnatural positions.
Like last year, Washington’s offensive line is decimated.
Here’s how severe it got against the Falcons: Washington was one injury away from having to play defensive end Matt Ioannidis at guard.
“That’s panic time,” coach Jay Gruden said. “Losing two starting guards is hard.”
In the first quarter, the Redskins lost left guard Shawn Lauvao to a knee injury. The 6-foot-3, 308-pound lineman was unable to put weight on his knee and was wheelchaired into the locker room.
Scherff, Washington’s other starting guard, was hurt in the third quarter. He went down, clutching his shoulder.
Lauvao and Scherff will receive MRIs on Monday, Gruden said.
Washington was already without starting left tackle Trent Williams, who had surgery to repair a dislocated thumb. According to ESPN, Williams is expected to miss the next month because of the injury, which happened last week against the New York Giants. Nsekhe started in Williams’ place.
The Redskins, of course, have been in this situation before. But it’s not pretty. Kirk Cousins was sacked a career-high 41 times last season, in part, because of the team’s shifting parts upfront.
Washington was forced to improvise against the Falcons. Before he finished the game at guard, Christian, a third-round rookie, briefly filled in at tackle when Moses went down in the first half.
Redskins quarterback Alex Smith was sacked three times.
Smith said seeing Scherff go down was “really hard.”
“He is a heck of a player so when you’re already banged up to lose a guy like that hurts,” Smith said.
Washington has dealt with injuries on the offensive line this season. Lauvao missed four games with a calf injury before returning two weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys.
Prior to the Falcons’ matchup, the Redskins had allowed an average of three sacks per game — tied for third-most in the NFL.
The Redskins are hoping Scherff and Lauvao don’t miss any time. But they’ll have to wait and see.
If they do, Roullier said the Redskins are ready for it.
“You’ve just got to stay locked into the game,” Roullier said. “The entire offensive line kind of has a plug and play mentality. We’ve had so many reps with one another, switching around, different guys at different positions, that no matter who is in there, we feel pretty comfortable.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
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