The offensive line may be the most underrated position group on a football field. Without an effective front, the offense can’t succeed. And yes, an injury to any member of that unit can be devastating, because the best lines function as one unit. The chemistry and familiarity with the guys on either side of the guards and center is key to the line’s success.
And when a top guard or center goes down, it never fails: I see fans insisting that a right guard can just slide over to left guard or vice versa; problem solved. And that’s not true.
But I was never an offensive lineman, and the last time I played any sort of organized football, my fourth-grade flag team won a championship. So people aren’t necessarily going to take my word for it. But Marshall Newhouse, a 10-year NFL vet; a Super Bowl champion? Now, that’s a different story.
So I asked Newhouse this question on Radio Row before Super Bowl 60 in San Francisco, and he agreed with me, because I was right about this all along.
“We are a skill position. We’re not plug-and-play, he said.
You’ll notice Newhouse didn’t even address the concept of shifting a guard into the center position, because that’s just bananas. The center has so many responsibilities, from quickly assessing the defense and calling the protections to focusing on the quarterback’s cadence and getting the timing and trajectory of the snap right, not to mention the fact that the fundamentals for the center position are entirely different from both guard spots.
Newhouse and I had a wide-ranging conversation, discussing everything from his favorite Super Bowl memory aside from winning, which coach outside of the NFL had the biggest impact on him, his favorite NFL city, his new endeavor doing color commentary for TCU football and several bowl games following the 2025 season, and his expectations for this week’s Super Bowl between the Seahawks and Patriots, plus keys to the game.
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