A transition to a new position is always tough. Due to Lane Johnson being out with a concussion, the Eagles decided to shuffle their offensive line a bit. Instead of letting rookie tackle Andre Dillard backup Jason Peters on the left side on Sunday, the team decided to give him practice at right tackle the entire week (Dillard had never played RT before in his life). So how did that experiment end up going? Not well.....
In the 1st Quarter, Dillard backup up too much too early, which lead to him tripping J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, then him getting pancaked, and ultimately ended up with a Carson Wentz sack.
Dillard was ultimately benched for his poor play, but his poor play was not the only reason for his benching. Eagles legend Tra Thomas pointed out that Dillard was signaling to the Seahawks defense what type of play the Eagles were preparing just by his stances.
This information from Thomas ties into what Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright said in his postgame interview:
The decision to move Dillard to right tackle was a risky one, but the coaching staff thought Dillard's skills and talent would be enough to play decent enough at a brand new position with just one week of work. Now we all know obviously this was a disaster of a decision.
The good news is that Lane Johnson said he expects to pass concussion protocol tomorrow and be available for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. This means that Dillard is now free to study left tackle for the rest of this season (and presumably the rest of his career after that performance). Halapoulivaati Vaitai is now officially the right tackle whenever Johnson is off the field.
