Redskins at Seahawks pint-sized Offensive GT Review

[GTripp0012]

I got a chance to glance over the game tape on Sunday night after the Redskins win, and I planned to do a full on breakdown tonight. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find my DVR recording of the game, so the reviews this week will be truncated slightly unless I can find a torrent of the game during this Thanksgiving weekend. I'm not counting on it.
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Here's what you need to know about the Redskins offense in this game:

• I want the first word in this article to be about Malcolm Kelly. He was really the only player I was watching when I rewatched the tape, and I thought he did a lot of things better than his counterpart Devin Thomas. He seems to have a good feel for the game and formations. He didn't make any critical errors, and he ran very solid routes. He did some minor things wrong (ran to the sideline on the end zone fade pattern), but this is what a rookie is supposed to look like: inexperienced, not clueless. There's no reason to think that the Redskins won't sport a very good WR corps all of next season, with Kelly, Randle El, and Moss. His downfield blocking was pretty also.
• There was not a wasted offensive drive in the second half. You might count Betts' fumble, but the drive itself was successful, since the Redskins likely weren't going to try to score anyway. They just turned it over, which is a good way to lose games you have dominated. Of course, the Seahawks only took one play before turning it back over to the Redskins to ice the game.
• The Redskins ran a season-high (for them and their opponents) 77 plays on offense this week, and they ran 38 times to 39 passes. Great balance and ball control.
• I'm not seeing those offensive line communication issues since the bye week. The 5 weeks leading up to the bye, they were a serious liability. They have fixed a LOT of issues up front. I have a theory, that a Quarterbacks' play is affected by the amount of hits he's taking, but it's a delayed effect. For the last 5 halves of football, Campbell was not playing well, but that's because the 5 games before the bye week, the OL was letting him get hit all over the place. Now, he's still taking hits, but he came out at halftime and looked like a very good quarterback. I think this is very good news for the Giants game: the pass pro mixups are a thing of the past, and the only thing we have to worry about is those mismatches between the opposing DL and our OL.
• Like Jon Jansen vs. Justin Tuck.

Luckily, I was able to compile ALL of the offensive numbers you're used to getting in these breakdowns. All of the vital stats and all of the individual numbers will be here.

Pass Offense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yards = 259
Yards per play = 6.64
Success Rate = 48.7% (19/39)

Very good numbers from the passing game. Obviously, the Seahawks are not a very good defense. And when you average Jason Campbell's first half with his second half, he didn't have a great game. A lot of these numbers come from great work after the catch by the receivers, which was the main success of the Brunell-era. Portis, Sellers, and especially Santana Moss are the ones to credit. However, the improved receiver play can be directly attributed, I believe, to Malcolm Kelly's insertion in the lineup. All of a sudden, this group is deep, and this was with Fred Davis inactive.

Receivers
(Targets, Completions, SR, YPA)

Santana Moss - 9, 5, 55%, 10.3
Chris Cooley - 8, 5, 63%, 6.75
Malcolm Kelly - 4, 2, 50%, 3.0
Mike Sellers - 4, 3, 50%, 8.75
Clinton Portis - 3, 2, 67%, 12.0
Antwaan Randle El - 2, 2, 100%, 9.0
Todd Yoder - 1, 1, 0%, 4.0
James Thrash - 1, 0, 0%, 0

The Seahawks defensive gameplan centered around Cooley. Most teams don't center it around Cooley, but that's fine with Moss and Portis.

The notion that Randle El can't be a number two WR in this league is absolutely absurd. He's a possession target with moves after the catch, and that's a rare combination.

Rush Offense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yards = 155
Yards per play = 4.08
Success Rate = 50% (19/38)

A very nice performance that consistently kept the Redskins out of third and long by chewing up those 5 yard runs on 1st and 2nd down, Portis providing the long runs, and those hard third down conversions.

Rushing
(Attempts, Successful runs, YPC)

Clinton Portis - 31, 17, 4.4
Ladell Betts - 5, 1, 1.4
Mike Sellers - 2, 0, 4.0
Jason Campbell - 1, 1, 4.0

Well, I guess it didn't matter who carried the ball. Unless it was Ladell Betts. Then the team was in trouble. A great performance by the line in the running game, and another good blocking game from Chris Cooley (and Sellers, what a monster!).

Overall Offense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yards = 414
Yards per play = 5.38
Success Rate = 49.4% (38/77)

This was the most consistently dominating offensive performance of the season, as measured by success rate. The longest play against the Seahawks was only 24 yards, and that was on a screen pass to Moss, but the Redskins frequently struck with double digit yardage.

I thought Zorn mismanaged the game at the end, opting to run a boot pass with Sellers in the flat instead of running the football. The playcall is fine, but only if you plan on going for it on 4th down. The disconnect is a mistake by Zorn. In the Gibbs era, it might have reflected a disconnect between the more aggressive Saunders, and less aggressive Joe Gibbs. But with Zorn calling all the shots, it's inexcusable. You can't play for the field goal with that much time remaining, especially the way the defense had been playing at the time. 20-17 or 17-17 doesn't make much of a difference when you play special teams like the Redskins do.

Speaking of special teams, I think they are enemy number one when it comes to scoring points. They're putting the team in bad position too often, and I don't think they can win consistently until the special teams improved. Suisham absolutely cannot be short on FGs under 45 yards. We have to stop the bleeding against those kickoff returns.

But that's the roundup here. The Redskins handle the Seahawks exactly like they were supposed to on one side of the ball. We'll look at how the defense did tomorrow.