Redskins-Saints Offensive Review

Zorn


Plays run: 70


Run - 28 (40%)
Pass - 42 (60%)


Offensive Personnel:


Shotgun - 6 (8%)


Yes, for all the talk of how much success Campbell enjoyed in the shotgun, Campbell was in the shotgun for all of 6 plays against the Saints.


Base (2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE) - 26 (37%)
3 WR - 27 (39%)
4 WR - 1 (1%)
2 Backs (Portis & Betts) - 3 (4%)
2 TE - 14 (20%)


I really liked how often the Skins took advantage of 2 TEs. That doesn’t even count when Fred Davis came in to the game and lined up as a wideout.

Pass Offense


Jason Campbell:
24/26 for 321 and 1 TD with 0 INTs


The interception on the two point conversion doesn’t count against Campbell because it’s not a turnover. Campbell looked to have about the same amount of discomfort with the plays as he did a week before, but that didn’t prevent him from notching the first comeback victory of a 9 or more point 4th quarter deficit in his career. Campbell’s game QB rating was over 100, and there is still room for improvement. He really needed a result like this though.

Offensive Line: 2 sacks allowed


The offensive line clearly WON the battle with the Saints’ DL, but it wasn’t as decisive a victory as I thought. The Redskins would not have come back had Campbell not bailed the OL out late in the game. One of the sacks was on Campbell for holding the football (he got sacked by a dime safety with coverage responsibility on the play), and the other was on Randy Thomas and Clinton Portis for both totally whiffing on Will Smith.


Casey Rabach did not have a good game. He’s clearly become the weak link on the Redskins OL. He’s often in the backfield on running plays. Pete Kendall and Randy Thomas, however, were both quite dominant. Kendall looks at home on the Redskins’ zone running plays, as he’s at his best while running down the line of scrimmage. Stephon Heyer was much better today. He was beat twice in pass protection by a pretty good end in Charles Grant, but Campbell saved him both times. Mike Sellers blew a protection on the long Campbell TD pass, but Campbell stepped up, made a guy miss, and hit Moss for the game-winning TD. Chris Samuels played a near perfect game, because Will Smith was only a factor when he stunted or looped around.


This unit was much stronger than it was a week ago.


Receivers:


S. Moss 7 catches, 164 yards, 1 Touchdown
C. Cooley 5 catches, 72 yards
A. Randle El 4 catches, 53 yards
L. Betts 2 catches, 8 yards
J. Thrash 1 catch, 8 yards
F. Davis 1 catch, 6 yards
M. Kelly 1 catch, 6 yards
C. Portis 2 catches, 3 yards
M. Sellers 1 catch, 1 yard


Great day for the receivers, perhaps the collective MVP’s of the offense. Santana Moss was flawless. Chris Cooley with his first big day of the Zorn era, and Antwaan Randle El chipped into the stat sheet as well. Those are the three guys who must produce, and produce they did.


Overall Passing Game (as measured by success rate):


19/42 = 45%


The consistency factor is just not there yet. When the offense was successful throwing the football, it was VERY successful. The 3rd down passing game still struggled, and was the biggest culprit here, especially in the first half. If they could turn a few more of those FG attempts into Touchdowns, this could be a very good offense. No false starts today, and that’s a nice step forward.

Rushing Offense


Clinton Portis:
21 attempts, 96 yards, 2 TDs.

Portis had a very strong game. He took advantage of some very good run blocking. Portis still needs to provide more big plays to get his average up, but this is a nice building block for the season.


Ladell Betts:

6 rushes, 25 yards


Betts had two nice runs, and four runs where there was no room. Just another day at the office.


Santana Moss:
1 carry, 27 yards


Nice playcall by Zorn to cross up the defense. He caught Will Smith cheating inside, and Santana made the safety miss, turning it into a long gain.

Overall running game efficiency (as measured by success rate):


13/28 = 46%


A good day for the running game. They created a big play with Moss on the misdirection, and Portis delivered hard running behind a revitalized blocking game.

Overall Offense


471 Total Yards
32/70 = 46%


Great, great total production from the offense, because they were able to create big passing plays. If the third down offense ever comes around, this team will be quite dangerous. Overall, a strong day from the offense, and kudos to Jason Campbell for hanging in there and bringing his team back.

Good stuff! Nice work!

Wow man I love the analysis. That's the in depth stuff that I like to hear about. Kudos to you for taking the time to analyze this.

From reading your post, it looks like we're pretty much in agreement that third down is probably where we need to most improve on offense.

Great work. One question though, we only ran a 4 WR set once? I swear I saw several 4 WR sets and I don't think I mistook Davis for a WR.

Great work. One question though, we only ran a 4 WR set once? I swear I saw several 4 WR sets and I don't think I mistook Davis for a WR.We ran 4 WR personnel one time the Saints called a T.O.

Other than that, Cooley was always counted as a tight end, even when he was flexed. So if Cooley was in the slot, and the Redskins had Moss, Randle El, and Thrash in the game, with Portis as a single back, I marked it as 3 WRs.

I do this because teams defend this package predominantly with the nickel, where as they often throw in another DB if a team goes 4-wide against them.

Small typo - Campbell was 24/36 passing, not 24/26. That would've been amazing, a Mark Brunell-type performance. :D

Good stuff.

I felt a lot of our success came our of three wide sets. Whenever we played 2 TEs, unless we flexed them out, we seemed to struggle more.

I also thought Betts didn't do much for us. He looked sluggish running the ball even given the situations he was in. I found myself yelling for them get CP back in every time I saw Betts in.

Funny about the shotgun. I think Campbell is just getting more comfortable with the offense and maybe playing a little "mad" with all the critizism. It's good to see him a little more aggressive. Good job GTripp!

great post Gtripp, sometimes these analysis posts can get too long but yours was right on point with just enough stats too!

man we caught the saints D at just the right time and we really needed a thin secondary to go up against.

great post, look forward to more of these.

go skins!!

Great job, Tripp.

I too worry about Rabach. Wonder if things are very different for him in this offense? Maybe with JC calling the protections and schemes he's losing some focus? Who knows. Still, the oline as a whole had a good day, and he is part of that chemistry.