Yesterday I had a post on how Santana Moss will be a player the Rams need to game plan for. Another guy who they absolutely need to game plan for is Brain Orakpo, the great All-Pro pass rushing OLB for the Redskins. He is only in his third year but he has already established himself as one of the great 3-4 OLBs in the NFL.
More after the jump.
Here's a pretty good highlight video of Orakpo.
Orakpo had a breakout year last season. He had 11.5 sacks and established himself as a great 3-4 OLB earning a spot on the All-Pro team. His pass rushing style is based on both speed and quickness. He is the total package. He has a great bull rush that he uses to establish his presence and to set up his great finesse pass rushing.
This year most Redskin fans are expecting him to be better than last season, not a small feat to accomplish, mainly due to the fact that they added Ryan Kerrigan who also looks like a very good pass rusher. So far Orakpo has one sack and one forced fumble (on the same play.) His impact hasn't been too large yet because most teams are game planning for him.
In my opinion this could be a game in which he unleashes. The reason for that is the Rams trouble on the right side of the line. Jason Smith is playing very badly so far this year and Adam Goldberg won't be able to handle Ryan Kerrigan himself so protection will slide to the right. This will leave on most plays Roger Saffold one on one with Brain Orakpo, which could turn into a nightmare for the Rams. We will see how it plays out on Sunday but there should be no doubt that Orakpo will have a huge impact on the game.