AP Article: Redskins offense back to square one!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The difference is those teams pass and sprinkle in run plays. They DO NOT try and come out and play smashmouth all the time.

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.

How do you think they set up the big plays?

As for those teams you mentioned only Detroit and Green Bay don't run the ball well, and even Detroit has been coming on as of late. You simply can't discount the importance of being able to the run ball. If Green Bay doesn't find a running game I don't care how well they can throw it their inability to run it will catch up with them come playoff time.

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.

Oh my god. Back to 05. We beat a bunch of teams that were playing with back up QB's. I'm not taking anything away from that but we got alot of nice breaks with other teams injuries. But the Dallas and Giants game were legit.

But in the end that 11th ranked offense couldn't even get 50 yards passing in a playoff game and had to have the defense win the game. That is why Sanders has a job here.

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.

Not true.

Combined Record of the Top 10 Rushing Teams (NFL): 50-22

Combined Record of the Top 10 Passing Teams (NFL): 47-25

You simply cannot argue that the passing teams have the best records, because they don't. Using your line of reasoning the only thing you could argue is that the difference is negligible or the rushing teams have a slight advantage.

The difference is those teams pass and sprinkle in run plays. They DO NOT try and come out and play smashmouth all the time.

Patriots Pass Attempts/game: 34
Patriots Rush Attempts/game: 32

Colts Pass Attempts/game: 33
Colts Rush Attempts/game: 31

You're saying that an almost perfect 50/50 balance of Pass/Rush attempts means that these teams are "sprinkling in run plays"?

Seriously, NFL.com Statistics. (http://www.nfl.com/stats/team) Give it a try some time - it makes for far more intelligent arguments.