Redskins Offense: What's the Problem?

there are 5 teams with fewer points scored than us:

det (0-10), STL (2,8), Cinci (1,8,1), Oak (2,8) and KC (1,9)

combined record (6,43,1)

wow. if not for our defense we'd be sitting right with these teams. i think this stat really shows that maybe the guys we have just aren't as good as most people think they are.

I think they have to play Heyer the rest of the way if for nothing else to see if he can really play in this league. Heyer may or may not be the future and they gotta see which one it is.

I agree. Heyer is not much of an asset in run blocking, but he's better than Jansen in pass protection and we need to see if he's a starting caliber tackle or a backup.

They don't have to stack the line in order to get pressure on Campbell. They can do it with just four down linemen. Hell, Pittsburgh did it with just three.

It doesn't matter how early in the game you start to throw it downfield. I've said it over and over -- Campbell is running for his life before the receivers have a chance to get deep.

Our line has allowed 14 sacks in the last three games, and when Campbell isn't sacked, he's being pelted, knocked down, and hit on just about every other throw. The line play is just plain bad. And that will cause everything on offense to stagnate.

I don't know what game you were watching but the Steelers linebackers were all over Campbell. Somehow other teams find a way to move the pocket or roll quarterbacks out to buy time. They do that because their line is'nt holding back the rush. Right now we could'nt block a defensive line of cubscouts and if we don't find a way to stretch the field it's only going to get worse. Campbell hit Moss right in the hands with a pass and he dropped it. Somehow he found time to do it. It's not easy because our line sucks but to just give up trying the long ball would be offensive suicide. Why do you think we're getting so much pressure? There's been no threat of the long ball. There is no doubt it starts with the line, but we have what we have. Whether it's max protection or whatever, we better find a way to get it done. We can hardly even complete intermediate to short passes because we don't stretch the field and defenses are playing up on us. If the defensive front four were the only problem, we should be able to run draws all day long. Maybe I'm using the term long ball to much. Even intermediate, 20-30 yard passes would help tremendously. I guess what frustrates me is the attitude of , we can't do that...... well what CAN we do?

This is a combination of line play and play calling.
If you noticed in the first month the line was playing better when the defenses didn't know what to expect because Zorn was new.
Well since then, Zorn continues to call the same exact plays regardless of opponent, thinking we can simply execute.
There were no adjustments for the Pitt defense with misdirection, screens, draws...etc
There were no adjustments for the Dallas weakness...deep passes in the secondary.

Bottom line is Zorn hasn't made any playcalling adjustments...certainly not at halftime.
And this one he had 2 weeks to plan.
It is entirely possible that this head coaching thing is taking so much of his time that he cannot dedicate to put in new plays and adjust offensive play calling as well as he should.

The lines play becomes easier if the defense is either off balance or if there is a lot of smash mouth running (since our lines strength is run blocking)
Right now, neither is going on.....how hard is it to predict a slant on 3rd and 3 anyways?

I am also getting a bit concerned on Zorn's ability to "inspire" the team for big games.
The defense seems "ok" but they dont have a killer instinct.
The offense needs a major adjustment, it has for weeks....if Pitt and Dallas after a bye doesn't result in an adjustment....I don't know what will.
Get ready for some more vanilla offense.
I've read all the posts and it seems to me that the problems scoring is all of the above. I like SKINSNUT post the best. I feel Zorn is being over matched and out coached. It seems the offense has not adjusted to our opponents. It's not happening at half time and it's not happening in the initial gameplan. The Skins seem to run the same plays irregardless of the opponent and their strategies. Take for instance this last game against the Cowboys, the Cowboy corners were playing up tight trying to take away the wide receiver hitches, screens and slants, but the Redskins continued to attempt these type of plays the whole game. ADJUST. Fake the slant route, when the cornerback commits, run the go route. It's call the SLUGO (Slant and Go). Didn't see it. The offense looks very predictable. The book is out on Jim Zorn and he is not re-writing it.

There are 5 teams (with a combined record of 6-43-1) that have scored fewer points that the Redskins. While our defense has been stout, I think we proved that they are over-worked. (see marion barber v redskins D for the last 6+ mins of the game). In this league, you need to 25+ points- we haven't.

Simply put, our offense must improve. Campbell can't keep taking these long sacks, Zorn needs to be more creative and trusting, Fred Davis needs to study, Randle El needs to stop returning punts and start being apart of more gadget plays, Jason Taylor needs to be healthy, Jasen needs to remember that he's a stud, kelly needs to heal up, and Rogers needs to learn how to catch. A contending team simply does not let a rusty tony romo waltz in, throw 2 INTs and still win.

Crowd noise: I have been to each of the past 5 Redskins v Cowboys games at FedEx, all were louder than Sunday Night.

That said, I'm not giving up- but please, please don't tell me the emperor is wearing clothes when he's clearly naked.

Without a doubt the line...much hey was made early on that they were not giving up a lot of sacks, but that had more to do with the quick passing and running game than the protection afforded Jason Campbell, now that teams are starting to adjust to Clinton and Santana's run after catch abilities, Jason can't even think about looking deep or he would get crushed...

I agree. Heyer is not much of an asset in run blocking, but he's better than Jansen in pass protection and we need to see if he's a starting caliber tackle or a backup.Heyer was crappy in the Gibbs' run blocking system, but he was money as a run blocker in the first three games.

In run blocking only, I have Heyer charted as +12/-5 in the simple "Dillweed-style" good block/bad block system. I also have him as +1/-1 in the screen game in that time. He was blowing up Tuck in the run game, which was no easy feat. Of course, Tuck was giving it right back to him in the passing game, so it came out as a wash.

Of course, if Tuck faces Jansen in 2 weeks, we will have two plays: "Moss/Cooley screen left", and "Campbell sacked".

I think the issues with our offense run pretty deep but basically stem from the performance and depth of our offensive line in pass protection (it's hard to argue with their effectiveness running the ball throughout the season).

I believe we have two outstanding pass protecting linemen when healthy: Randy Thomas and Chris Samuels. We have two solid lineman in Rabach and Kendall and one sub-par lineman in John Jansen.

I believe Samuels is not healthy however so I think at the ends, which is where a great deal of pressure is coming from, we are pretty much sub-par. I think you can mask this weakness against average defenses but we have been exploited against two of the two pass rushing defenses in the league. It's as simple as that.

We'll continue to be fine (I believe) against average pass rushes but until we get a star at right tackle and left guard and get Samuels healthy, we'll continue to see Campbell hurt by top-tier defenses.

For the season, we're significantly above average in Offensive DVOA fwiw:

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

I think any "problems" with the offense has to be based on the last two games in which we 1) looked utterly pathetic, 2) turned the ball over three times, 3) made no major plays down the field, and 4) generally did not move the ball regardless of field position.

My question to everyone on the Warpath (pun intended) is this: since we're so concerned about the state of the offense to the point that we can't mention everything else, what makes these last two games more meaningful to us than the prior seven. Because seven is a bigger number than two.

Might it just be just because these games are fresh in our minds? Because the Cowboys game was coming off a bye week (ignoring of course that the 'Boys were also coming off bye), because it was the Cowboys in general?

Or might we just be overreacting to the issues on the offensive side of the ball...

We certainly have been horseshit on offense lately, but with the exact same players, we've been great. Can't it be turned around?

I think it can be turned around. I think the reason people are so upset is because number1, we could have put the Cowboys DOWN. We could have for all intents and purposes closed out any chance they had of going to the playoffs. To lose to the Cowgirls at home anytime is a bummer, but especially when this game was so important to them and to us. The 2nd thing ,for me personally, and I'm sure some others felt this way is, I was expecting this offense to improve not regress. That's VERY disappointing. Can we turn it around? Yes we can. Will we? That depends on the players and the coaches. But yes, we can.