AP Article: Redskins offense back to square one!

[Green1]

Originally Posted by saden1

Whatever they have been doing it doesn't work. Back to basic sounds like a fantastic idea to me...that's how good teams operate. They line up, no shifts no trickery, and just play.


Also, I not sure what these changes mean for Saunders but I can't imagine them being a good thing for his career. Could he be on his way out after the season?

He should have been out last year!!!

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Personally I'm just getting tired of people pointing to the Patriots and saying, why can't we do what they do, or why can't we be like them?

The answer is there are 31 teams in the league that are NOT the Patriots. If it were that easy everyone would be doing what the Patriots do. The fact is the Patriots are a perfect blend of talent, drive, coaching, and execution. What they've done not only this year but in this decade is rare.

I'm not really convinced that that is what people are saying here. Nobody believes what the Patriots are doing can be duplicated.

What bothers me is that after nearly four years -- plenty of time in football terms -- the gap between the progress of the New England Patriots and the progress of our team is absurd. They are light years ahead of us. And before anyone says the same is true for every other team, just remember: The Pats haven't beaten anyone as bad as they beat the Redskins.

The fact remains that we should have been closer to New England than what we saw.

[JWsleep]

Forget the pats--we've got to clean up our own house right now.

My feeling about the "back to basics" thing is that it may not be back to Gibbs' basics as much as back to what this team can do--I don't think they have the o-line to smash many mouths, but they may have the o-line to do other things. In fact, it might be that they STOP trying to smash it, and start trying to move a bit more and use the athletic ability of people like Rabach, for example.

As for progress ,we're 4-3 with the season ahead of us. One thing that's often lost here is how much of football is momentum and confidence. We don't have either right now. But when we get that (if we do), lots of things that are not working now will work. It's a game of inches, and if we can find a way to get that inch, things will open up, IMO.

As for Saunders--we'll see. I'm not convinced that he and Gibbs cannot work together, and that's something they've got to figure out, fast, if they are messing radically with things. My feeling is it won't be so radical, but it will still be Saunders. That may ham-string Saunders with his big playbook, but it may give us a chance to finally execute some of his plays, which we haven't done to this point, at least not consistently.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

I'm not really convinced that that is what people are saying here. Nobody believes what the Patriots are doing can be duplicated.

What bothers me is that after nearly four years -- plenty of time in football terms -- the gap between the progress of the New England Patriots and the progress of our team is absurd. They are light years ahead of us. And before anyone says the same is true for every other team, just remember: The Pats haven't beaten anyone as bad as they beat the Redskins.

The fact remains that we should have been closer to New England than what we saw.

The Pats are light years ahead of the majority of the league, let's not kid ourselves.

[skinsfan69]

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

[bridaman51]

Hey does anyone have an image of the T-Shirts Cartwright came up with fromt he article? I would love to get my hands on one. If not I would like to see it. I love the quote.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

Tell that to teams like the Steelers and Jags who still play a smashmouth, run first style of play.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Tell that to teams like the Steelers and Jags who still play a smashmouth, run first style of play.

Or to our 11th ranked 2005 offense which ran the ball over everyone and their momma. I believe Gibbs called the plays for that offense.

[skinsfan242]

I like it a whole lot. But honestly I thought that is what they were doing and they were just getting stopped.

I hope this means Run alot, spread out and run, go over the top and hit Cooley in the middle. Run again and again and again and when they stuff it hit them over the top and then run again.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

"If you can run it, draw people to the line of scrimmage, then you can pass it. They go hand in hand."

No, they don't go hand in hand. Not anymore Joe. This is the 80's early 90 mentality. Gibbs is never ever going to adjust to today's NFL. When is this guy ever going to realize that it is a passing league now? The rules beg you to pass it. DB's can't even breathe on the WR's yet we don't have one single wr with a passing TD. You should be able to pass it with the guys you brought in here w/out having to run it all the time. Same old crap.

What? They do go hand in hand. You run the ball to setup your passing game...that's Football 101...it has been, it is, and will forever be.

[SmootSmack]

Everyone wants to talk about the great explosive offenses Al Saunders had in Kansas City and how he made it work with guys like Marc Boeritger and Al Saunders. But what was the real key to that offense? A strong O-Line and running game. What's one of the most underappreciated reason the Colts passing game is so good? They have a strong running game and Manning is brilliant on play action.

It may be true that passing is more prevalent than it was say 10 years ago, but you can't ignore the value of a good running attack.

[irish]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

Forget the pats--we've got to clean up our own house right now.

My feeling about the "back to basics" thing is that it may not be back to Gibbs' basics as much as back to what this team can do--I don't think they have the o-line to smash many mouths, but they may have the o-line to do other things. In fact, it might be that they STOP trying to smash it, and start trying to move a bit more and use the athletic ability of people like Rabach, for example.

As for progress ,we're 4-3 with the season ahead of us. One thing that's often lost here is how much of football is momentum and confidence. We don't have either right now. But when we get that (if we do), lots of things that are not working now will work. It's a game of inches, and if we can find a way to get that inch, things will open up, IMO.

As for Saunders--we'll see. I'm not convinced that he and Gibbs cannot work together, and that's something they've got to figure out, fast, if they are messing radically with things. My feeling is it won't be so radical, but it will still be Saunders. That may ham-string Saunders with his big playbook, but it may give us a chance to finally execute some of his plays, which we haven't done to this point, at least not consistently.

The problem is that 4 years after Gibbs gets here we are still having to worry about cleaning up our own house. We should be in the fine tuning stage now not clean up.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by saden1

What? They do go hand in hand. You run the ball to setup your passing game...that's Football 101...it has been, it is, and will forever be.

You forget that the average ADHD football fan is to enamored with the pretty footballs flying through the air to pay attention to statistics.

Fact of the matter is that even the famously "pass happy" offenses like the Patriots and Colts also have Top Ten running games.

The Colts running game is #5 overall, averaging 31 rushes per game, 4.4 YPC and 140 yds/game.

The Patriots running game is #8 overall, averaging 32 rushes per game, 4.2 YPC and 135 yds/game.

As saden said, historically in the NFL the run game is used to establish the pass and I see no reason whatsoever to think any differently in 2007.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Tell that to teams like the Steelers and Jags who still play a smashmouth, run first style of play.

How many playoff games has Jacksonville won since Del Rio took over with his style of play? None. That style only gets you so far in today's NFL.. Especially in the AFC.

Regarding Pittsburgh, yes they play smashmouth BUT they get big plays out of the passing game all the time. 15 passing TD's this year. Only NE, Dallas and Clev. have more. They get the ball to the wideouts, Ward and Holmes.

Just look around in the NFC. The teams that pass it the best just happen to have the best records. Dallas, Seattle, NYG, GB, and Det. Even NO who looks like they are going to be in the playoff hunt. All of them can pass it. We can't and that's why we probably are not going anywhere.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by saden1

What? They do go hand in hand. You run the ball to setup your passing game...that's Football 101...it has been, it is, and will forever be.

No, it was football 101.