The Miami Dolphins offensive line will have some huge adversity to overcome against the LA Rams this week with Pouncey having problems, and Branden Albert out. Here is the lowdown on the offensive line plan from OC Clyde Christensen...
(We obviously got the word about C Mike Pouncey having the setback he has had. If he can’t go – you’re already without T Branden Albert – what’s the plan for the offensive line?) – “It would be (Anthony) Steen would come back in at center and (Kraig) Urbik would go to (left) guard. We’d have to look at the backups. You always with the center have to make sure that we’re set in case of a catastrophe. That would be the starting point, and we’ll keep messing with the lineup a little bit. We’ll see. The way this year has gone, we still got a couple more showers we’ve got to take and stuff, so there still could be more changes. Who knows? (Laughter) You thought it was coach talk that first week when I said we’re going to have some versatility with our offensive line, because we got guys we’re going to have to play them in different positions, and that has turned out to be the case. We’ve banked some deposits on guys playing different positions, and I think people have to step up and go, whoever that is.”
(You were on such a hot streak with that offensive line – all the starters playing together. How do you try to keep this momentum going?) – “Hopefully, from (Head) Coach (Adam) Gase has set the tempo … The philosophy has always been, ‘Next man up,’ right? It has always been that whoever goes in has to keep playing. That’s the way it is. We have to rely that … I really do think – I tease, but I do think – that those deposits we made playing a lot of people at a lot of different positions, that was frustrating to them and to you (the media) and probably to everybody, but there’s going to be some dividends from that. It’s not a shock that our (left) guard will go out to (left) tackle. He has been playing out there. We repped him. We kept him honed up in there. Urbik and Steen have played both guard and center in there. I think that it’s not ideal – it’s a curveball – but it’s the hand we got, and we’ve got to go. I really do think we’ve prepared that way mentality-wise with Coach Gase and also practically by playing all those guys at all those different positions.”
(C/G Anthony Steen has been banged up. His ankle, he’s listed as a neck. I think he has had a leg. How do you feel about where he is health-wise and ability to perform at a high level?) – “My confidence is really high. I think he has been treating that thing. He’s sore. I really hope that it’s just like every offensive lineman in the NFL in Week (11) that (in) the second half of the season, you’re not going to feel good. That’s part of it. You’re not going to feel good again until February or March, and that’s the way it is. This will be live bullets again for the first time for him in a while, so hopefully it won’t aggravate it. Hopefully, nothing shows up there. But my confidence level right now is extremely high that he’s going to be fine (and) that he has been treating the thing. I think it does fall in the soreness category that almost everybody has something right now. I don’t discount it – it’s real – and hopefully he won’t aggravate it going up against the ‘Fearsome Foursome.’ (laughter) You guys are too young. You don’t remember the ‘Fearsome Foursome?’
