Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Redskins vs. Dolphins)

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

Also ive defended them before so i will continue...... I love Larry, Sonny and Sam. You have to treat the senile/drunk/sleepy/wrong things that Sam says as part of his persona or celebrity. If you try to compare him to traditional color commentators hes going to look awful. Hes there for comic relief. I absolutely hated Denis Miller and Tony Kornhizer, but think of him along those lines. Just like they were in the booth to be funny (even though they wernt and were just painfully horrible) think of Sam’s role as the same but unintentional.

Huff is plain awful. I can't find any way to defend him

[SmootSmack]

What talent is there to tailor the scheme to?

Seriously though, we do make adjustments to the defense (case in point, screens to Helu against the Niners). But, what team goes changing their scheme week to week? You have to have a philosophy and stick with it for the most part.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

What talent is there to tailor the scheme to?

Seriously though, we do make adjustments to the defense (case in point, screens to Helu against the Niners). But, what team goes changing their scheme week to week? You have to have a philosophy and stick with it for the most part.

A couple of the Grossman INTs this year have been the result of poor play design. I get not being able to win with John Beck at quarterback, but we've been underwhelming offensively in 5 out of 6 Grossman starts this year.

Our play action game this year has been particularly dreadful. We're putting a max of three receivers in the pattern against play action, and the goal is typically some form of vertical stretch to one side of the field. But by staying deep on the play, the defenses are forcing us to throw in front of the safeties, and the timing of the plays are creating interception opportunities for the linebackers.

We're not manipulating the defense with crazy formations because thats not what Kyle (or Mike) likes to do. Clearly the offense is timing based. And the timing of our passing plays falls right into the hands of opportunistic players. I don't think Kyle is at fault because we can't get behind the safeties, except in one way: we never see single high safety looks because teams aren't afraid of being hurt by the run.

You can win football games by attacking in front of the safeties, but we don't ever win the risk-reward conundrum. Kyle's offense doesn't get receivers open. The receivers get themselves open. Unless they don't.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

What talent is there to tailor the scheme to?

Seriously though, we do make adjustments to the defense (case in point, screens to Helu against the Niners). But, what team goes changing their scheme week to week? You have to have a philosophy and stick with it for the most part.

You have an offensive philosophy, but you put emphasis on where the opponent is weak and tailor the gameplan to exploit the weaknesses. Screens against the 49ers were fine, but outside of that we've seen little creativity in O gameplanning this year. (17rush - 32pass yesterday)

The talent here is weak at QB and WR, but we had three solid runners and had two strong TEs...yet we continue to work the pass game and almost ignore the run/PA game. We pass on almost every 3-2 or 3-3. If the goal is to win, you can't put weak talent in a position to fail, again, and again, and again. If the goal is to prepare for next season, keep the offensive philosophy in place "talent level be damned", and get the young guys used to the system, then we'll be dealing with a 3-out/no TD offense the rest of this year.

It's very clear to me a decison has been made that Kyle's system from Houston is the way we're staying....but what if we don't get the QB next year? What if we get a QB and he busts? I think the reliance on the current system (puts too much pressure on the QB position while we have no QB), reluctance to use a more balanced attack, and vanilla ZB run scheme is mistaken.

[SirClintonPortis]

I agree with SmootSmack. Moss and Davis were the focal points of our passing game. We ran to the left because Trent and Lich blocked well for us.Now Helu, they should be featuring more. Other than that, what do we really have? Our right side of the OL is just passable in both run blocking and pass pro. Rex is inconsistent and Beck is a scrub.

Also, the ZBS does take some time to settle in. Houston used to have a completely awful running game before 2010. Now they are tops in the league with almost the exact same OL.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

I agree with SmootSmack. Moss and Davis were the focal points of our passing game. We ran to the left because Trent and Lich blocked well for us.Now Helu, they should be featuring more. Other than that, what do we really have? Our right side of the OL is just passable in both run blocking and pass pro. Rex is inconsistent and Beck is a scrub.

Also, the ZBS does take some time to settle in. Houston used to have a completely awful running game before 2010. Now they are tops in the league with almost the exact same OL.

We should've been more balanced L vs. R, early on Chester and Brown were solid run blocking.

The ZBS needs to actually be run to settle in. HOU is tops in rushing because of a committment to run. In each game they've won, they've run more than passed, in their wins they average 40 att. In their losses to the Ravens, Raiders, Saints they had only 25 rush attempts. I didn't see any of those games or review a play-by-play breakdown, but I'll assume the running game was struggling vs. those teams and they needed to throw. With the committment to run, play action can be part of the gameplan. With us we don't run, who needs to prepare for PA, we're not fooling anyone there.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

I agree with SmootSmack. Moss and Davis were the focal points of our passing game. We ran to the left because Trent and Lich blocked well for us.Now Helu, they should be featuring more. Other than that, what do we really have? Our right side of the OL is just passable in both run blocking and pass pro. Rex is inconsistent and Beck is a scrub.

Also, the ZBS does take some time to settle in. Houston used to have a completely awful running game before 2010. Now they are tops in the league with almost the exact same OL.

Another way of reading those same facts is this: That Houston had a "completely awful running game" until Kyle left and brought his "completely awful running game" to Washington.

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by Lotus

Another way of reading those same facts is this: That Houston had a "completely awful running game" until Kyle left and brought his "completely awful running game" to Washington.

I think my point is worthless since its basis is crappy. Toss it in the dump, folks. I had a stupid moment.

Upon further perusal, I see that the 2008 Texans had a 4.3 YPA(including end arounds, scrambles, etc) with Kyle at the helm. That was their first year.


That said, our 22 or so carries a game is even below the average of 27 carries a game while Kyle was in Houston.

[SmootSmack]

All fair points. I agree that there's no way to know if a QB will bust. It's a risk you take. I guess we won't really know until we get that QB.

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

All fair points. I agree that there's no way to know if a QB will bust. It's a risk you take. I guess we won't really know until we get that QB.

True, but my main point is the coaching staff is putting a system in place that is extremely QB reliant....with no QB in place or currently on the radar.

Why not modify the system to more of an MS system, featuring the run & PA and de-emphasize the spread passing until a QB is actually in-house that can run the system. HOU/SF/NYJ/OAK/NYG/BAL/CIN are doing pretty well with that formula; power run game and a mid-level QB (Eli is pretty good though).

[GMScud]

Mike Shanahan needs 3 more wins this season to match Zorn's 2 year total of 12. That's probably not going to happen. Eesh. He's pacing to have the worst 2 year run of any coach in the Snyder era. Wow.

[Dirtbag59]

I would like to temporarily replace Hail to the Redskins with this song for the remainder of the 2011 season.

[mlmpetert]

I dont see Kerrigan doing well in a 4-3, although i think Orapko would be an absolute beast in a 4-3. Kerrigan could probably make a good OLB 4-3 LB though. I think youre right, we still have more 4-3 pieces (or universal guys) on hand then 3-4.....

[Slingin Sammy 33]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

I dont see Kerrigan doing well in a 4-3, although i think Orapko would be an absolute beast in a 4-3. Kerrigan could probably make a good OLB 4-3 LB though. I think youre right, we still have more 4-3 pieces (or universal guys) on hand then 3-4.....

Kerrigan was a 1st Team All-American and Big 10 DPOY at LDE.

[SmootSmack]

One minute you're saying Shanahan wasn't even there. The next, he was but did nothing?

I've only spoken to Plummer twice, and most recently was 3 years ago. Doubt we'll talk again anytime soon