Offensive Philosophy

[Schneed10]

Daseal, why in the hell would you want to throw deep against Minnesota when you are up on them the whole game?? Even if the receivers are getting separation, that doesn't mean it makes any sense to throw 45 yard post patterns to them. When you're up on them, you keep the chains moving. The Skins won that game with conservative play calls down the stretch.

Against the Steelers, there wasn't time to throw the ball deep. Gibbs didn't send the receivers deep at any point because he knew the Pittsburgh blitz would be all over Ramsey in a friggin heartbeat. They don't call 'em Blitzburgh for nothin.

And that goes right to the heart of my next point, the separation receivers get isn't the only factor here. For one thing, in the beginning of the season the line was a freakin sieve. Brunell was getting chased all over the place. It doesn't help that he forgot how to throw a football this year, so I'm fine with criticizing Gibbs on that personnel move, but running limited pass routes was necessary because the QB was getting hassled all game.

The playcalling was not the cause of the problem. The cause of the problem was poor offensive line play, receivers that couldn't run deep routes, receivers that couldn't catch the ball consistently (Gardner), a QB who forgot how to throw the football, and a general lack of familiarity with the offensive system. Gibbs adjusted to the team's problems by making the playcalling more conservative. His playcalling was one of the results of the root problem: generally poor play by the entire team.