Our lack of a secondary receiver is killing us

SBXVII:

Sorry, but I only had enough bile to hurl to cover one of the really bad NFL teams and to compare their ability to score TDs with the 2008 Redskins.

You are correct. The Dolphins have a new QB and a new system and seem to be handling business well. They average about 3 points a game more than the Redskins.

The Falcons have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 50 points this year.

The Ravens have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 31 points this year.

This might take too long so ... Let's make a list of the teams who have scored FEWER points than the Redskins this year:

Cincy Bengals

KC Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Detroit Lions (more TDs but fewer total points)

St Louis Rams.

That's it! That's the list!!

Those five teams are all AWFUL; they are not ones who are having a bad season or ones that have had misfortune ruin their hopes for the season. Those teams STINK.

And they are the only teams that have scored fewer points than the Redskins have scored in 10 games this year.

the first drive against Dallas was fantastic. then it all went down hill. partly because of play calling. but the play calling was a direct result of our o lines inability to block anyone. thank god for Chris Samuels. he is the only consistent lineman we have. anyone that doesn't see that isn't looking hard enough. the receiver argument is a joke. it could be Jerry Rice on one side, and Charlie Taylor on the other. don't really make a difference. without time, we might as well load up with tight ends, and try power football. it might be a better option

SBXVII:

Sorry, but I only had enough bile to hurl to cover one of the really bad NFL teams and to compare their ability to score TDs with the 2008 Redskins.

You are correct. The Dolphins have a new QB and a new system and seem to be handling business well. They average about 3 points a game more than the Redskins.

The Falcons have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 50 points this year.

The Ravens have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 31 points this year.

This might take too long so ... Let's make a list of the teams who have scored FEWER points than the Redskins this year:
Cincy Bengals

KC Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Detroit Lions (more TDs but fewer total points)

St Louis Rams.
That's it! That's the list!!

Those five teams are all AWFUL; they are not ones who are having a bad season or ones that have had misfortune ruin their hopes for the season. Those teams STINK.

And they are the only teams that have scored fewer points than the Redskins have scored in 10 games this year.

Thank You, that was great. I'm SO tired of hearing new system, new system, new system.

Part of the reason for this touchdown discrepancy is that the Lions are MARKEDLY better than us in one phase of the game of football: special teams. Thanks to their defense totally sucking, they play their special teams units a lot, and that gets them in much better position to score touchdowns than our offense would be under the exact same circumstances.

So in saying what you are saying, you do have to acknowledge that when you isolate the other two sides of football from the game, our offense is significantly better than theirs. Obviously.

Still, the comparison of offensive firepower is a good one, and puts our woes into perspective...so long as we can keep it in context. We can run and pass way better than the Lions can. Thusly our offense is significantly better. However, if the point is that we need to score more touchdowns to make the playoffs, you'll have no argument from me.


But how many times has our defense came up with a turnover and we have had great field position only to go 3 and out and settle for a field goal attempt. Good offense teams capitalize on these chances and we settle for field goal attempts.

SBXVII:

Sorry, but I only had enough bile to hurl to cover one of the really bad NFL teams and to compare their ability to score TDs with the 2008 Redskins.

You are correct. The Dolphins have a new QB and a new system and seem to be handling business well. They average about 3 points a game more than the Redskins.

The Falcons have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 50 points this year.

The Ravens have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 31 points this year.

This might take too long so ... Let's make a list of the teams who have scored FEWER points than the Redskins this year:

Cincy Bengals

KC Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Detroit Lions (more TDs but fewer total points)

St Louis Rams.

That's it! That's the list!!

Those five teams are all AWFUL; they are not ones who are having a bad season or ones that have had misfortune ruin their hopes for the season. Those teams STINK.

And they are the only teams that have scored fewer points than the Redskins have scored in 10 games this year.

I don't get it. I thought once Old Man Gibbs and his conservative ways left the hounds would be unleashed and we'd enjoy 40+ point games on a weekly basis.

What happened?

But how many times has our defense came up with a turnover and we have had great field position only to go 3 and out and settle for a field goal attempt. Good offense teams capitalize on these chances and we settle for field goal attempts.Twice last game, once against the Steelers, and never before that, because the defense wasn't forcing any turnovers.

SBXVII:

Sorry, but I only had enough bile to hurl to cover one of the really bad NFL teams and to compare their ability to score TDs with the 2008 Redskins.

You are correct. The Dolphins have a new QB and a new system and seem to be handling business well. They average about 3 points a game more than the Redskins.

The Falcons have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 50 points this year.

The Ravens have a rookie QB and a new coach and they have outscored the Skins by 31 points this year.

This might take too long so ... Let's make a list of the teams who have scored FEWER points than the Redskins this year:Cincy Bengals

KC Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

Detroit Lions (more TDs but fewer total points)

St Louis Rams.That's it! That's the list!!

Those five teams are all AWFUL; they are not ones who are having a bad season or ones that have had misfortune ruin their hopes for the season. Those teams STINK.

And they are the only teams that have scored fewer points than the Redskins have scored in 10 games this year.Remember that prior to the Steelers game, the offenses' total dominance of TOP is what allowed the defense to give up very few points.

If you put stock in drive stats, the Redskins rank 22nd in Pts per drive, and 23rd in TDs per drive (and there's usually a strong correlation between those two stats obviously).

We also rank 1st in interception per drive, 2nd in turnovers per drive, and 13th in yards per drive.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008 (http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/drivestats)

So while we are punting far too much, we're not giving opposing offenses the short fields to kill our defense with. So our defensive numbers are VERY assisted by our "responsible" offense.

We've been creating more turnovers recently, so it will be interesting to see if this improves our PPG. If it doesn't then we have a huge problem. But I definately expect it to.

Now remember the benefit that is NOT scoring. Yes, there actually is a benefit to not scoring: it's that you don't have to kick off. The Redskins rank 6th in starting field position for the defense and consequently, lead the league in punts forced per drive.

So while we make fun of the offense for not getting into the end zone, which is a problem, realize at least that Zorn is smart enough to not attempt the long FG, which is generally a worse play than going for it, make or miss it (unless time is a factor).

Now, obviously, not kicking the field goals hurts us in PPG. But remember always and never forget: The goal of football is not to score as many points as you can. It's to score as many points as you can more than the other team.

So the fact that our offense, even when it doesn't score, consistently helps out the defense (well, not so much of late, but that's another story) you are seeing a lot of positives effects of Zorn's offense in the low PPG number for the opponent.

Now...if we could only get into that endzone...

The average drive against our defense starts at the 28 yard line, encompasses 26 yards, and ends in a punt more than half the time. But think about that. If an average drive against the Redskins starts at the 28 yard line, goes 26 yards (to our 46 yard line), and then ends in a punt, what kind of field position is that going to give the offense? This is an average drive for the defense.

The point is: theres a lot of hidden yardage in football that isn't seen in points per game, and it's totally misleading to compare our offense to the Lions offense.

GTripp0012:

You are ABSOLUTELY correct. I was not even trying to hint that the Lions' offense was equivalent to - let alone superior to - the Redskins' offense. It is NOT! There are plenty of problems regarding the Skins' offense, but the worst of the Skins' problems pales in comparison to the cesspool that is the Lions' offense.

My point was that after ten games, the Skins have scored fewer TDs than the worst team in the league - - and no matter how anyone wants to parse the statistics, that cannot be a good thing.

I think the Skins' offense has four strength areas:

Excellent running backs

Excellent Tight End

Better than average QB

Good run blocking OL plus H-back.

I think the Skins' offense has three areas of weakness:

Bad pass blocking OL - particularly up the middle.

Mediocre corps of WRs - not helped by the non-productivity of any rookies.

Way too much "specialization" - - requiring "personnel packages" and "formation orientations" to run various plays.

Believe me, the Detroit Lions would love to have those as their only weaknesses on offense...