What's your defnition of 'conservative playcalling'?

Yeah it is devastating to have 3 starters out, but look at the Gmen game. I mean the first half was beautiful, the second half the O was throttled back intentionally. This isn't good playcalling guys. I know our O line starters rock, but god damn a total offensive collapse and dink and dunk shit like in the Brunell era? Our second string O linemen are still NFL calibre, not studs like Thomas or Jansen, but they should be able to get the job done. Also you need to deal with the injuries and not have them dictate your game. We acquired Moss for speed and the big gain, not for 4-5 yard dink passes. Let JC throw the ball deep for godsakes, our backups can't be all that bad at pass protection all the time.

agreed...i'm sick of hearing that our line is beaten up, so we can't test down field (unless we're on the verge of giving up a lead- re: the pass to trash in the 4th). I know the o-line injuries are tough...no question, but are they so crippling that we can't attempt to put a team away in the 4th- reverting to passive football? These guys are professional football players, if you can't block, why did we sign them? If they are that bad, why didn't we add more depth via the draft? Point is, these guys do have some skill- so if its not run blocking, lets do some quick passes...we shouldn't remain a run first team if our line situation has changed so much as to render us a sub 3.0 yards per carry team.

agreed...i'm sick of hearing that our line is beaten up, so we can't test down field (unless we're on the verge of giving up a lead- re: the pass to trash in the 4th). I know the o-line injuries are tough...no question, but are the crippling? These guys are professional football players, if you can't block, why did we sign them? If they are that bad, why didn't we add more depth via the draft? (meaning the years spent giving away picks are the reason why we are so thin...)

I agree completely. Our third and fourth string lineman should be able to fill in and play just like the starters for six weeks straight. Being labeled third or fourth string is just a title. They're all interchangeable anyway... :laughing2

Anyone still so obdurate as to believe play-calling is not the biggest reason behind our shit offense needs to read this.

Hog Heaven | MVN - Most Valuable Network » Blog Archive » Redskins’ short yardage woes under Saunders hard to swallow (http://mvn.com/nfl-redskins/2007/10/22/redskins-short-yardage-woes-under-saunders-hard-to-swallow/)

OBDURATE??
1.unmoved by persuasion, pity, or tender feelings; stubborn; unyielding. 2.stubbornly resistant to moral influence; persistently impenitent: an obdurate sinner.


That is AWESOME!
Useage is everything
You, definately qualify for the bonus round..........I'm out!

Redskins Insider (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/)

JLC's latest - pretty convincing #s to show that we can't run the ball like Gibbs (& AS for that matter) would like us to.

I said in previous posts that the problem was more execution than play calling, but in the AZ game Gibbs himself admitted the approach was too conservative. These #s & the state of our line seem to make a good case to set up the run w/the pass.

Let's be a pass first team!I look at it this way:

We are six games in. We came in (rightfully or incorrectly) thinking we could be a pretty good running team. In the second half of games, we felt like we could have offensive success running at them. The coaches can not be held responsible for thinking like that. That in most situations is good football.

However, unless we find a matchup to exploit, we can't run out the clock while running the football. Now with this new information, it seems to be time to take a new approach to killing the clock. I vote for safe short passes, but not of the 3 step drop variety. Let Campbell sit back there and try to hit the intermediate route. If he gets pressured, dump the ball off complete and keep the clock moving. As we get closer to the first down sticks, THEN we can run the ball to try to pick up the first down.

Consider that a revised offensive philosophy to play with a lead, that the coaches probably already came up with prior to me doing so.

We have banged up players and Gibbs is trying to protect the future of the redskins in Campbell
Remember Ramsey getting knocked out and beat up all the time won some high scoring games but a lot were over with by the 3rd quarter
Remember Norman Snead getting the feeling of foot steps and throwing the ball away
The last super bowl that Joe won
Mark probably kicked more winners as there were a lot of nail biters that year
We're going to be discussing the playcalling all week long again because there are a segment of us who are fed up with the offense we're seeing and a segment of us who would like to see more but feel we are doing what we can with what we have to work with.. Which camp are you in an what would you like to see different or stay the same?

I think we're too conservative, especially with a lead.. What seems to be missing from our offense once we have a 2 td lead is:

1. Aggressiveness-Gibbs seems to throttle back the aggressiveness once we've gotten a 'comfortable' lead on the other team and doesn't keep attacking. NE has a defense that rivals if not exceeds ours and they never play like they are comfortable with their lead.. I'm not comparing personnel, just philosophy.. Being aggressive isn't bombing the ball 30 yards downfield at every chance. It can be as simple as calling a mid range pass play on 1st and 10 rather than a dive play. It can be calling a screen on 2nd and 5.. Our mid range and across the middle of the field passing game disappears in the 2nd half of games. There are many ways to be aggressive without taking a 7 step drop and looking deep..

2. Imagination-When 90% of us can call the play before the Redskins break the huddle, that's bad. How many times have we seen run, run, pass, punt in the second half of games this year? As great as our defense is, how much better would they be if they weren't on the field for 20 minutes in the 2nd half? I believe Saunders has the plays and imagination to call a dynamic game plan (which we saw vs. Detroit) but is handcuffed..

3. Courage-How many times have we heard JG17 allude to he was 'afraid of what bad may happen' in post game pressers? He's afraid of turnovers, afraid to put his players in certain positions during a game, afraid of getting a FG blocked, etc.. Scared money don't make money in the NFL.. When you coach scared, your players play scared (see Brunell, Mark) and you can't be effective.. Against the Giants, we all felt like we went down with plenty of bullets left in the gun.. Same as yesterday, we got SO tight in the 2nd half once Portis scored it was crazy.. We all know about the OL injuries and that certainly has an effect on play calling and the game plan, but we've still got to man up and play OUR GAME with what we have.