Redskins Colts Reviews Are Here Early

Offense!

Earlier, we looked at some of the defensive lapses that led to the Redskins loss to the Colts, but also pointed out that the Redskins' pass defense did about as well if not better than expected against Manning and the Colts. While I would call that realization encouraging, I also went as far as pointing out that if we want to actually raise the expectations for our defense consistent to those of a playoff defense, we were a piece short in the secondary, and would need to address that through means of going outside the organization.

By the same standard, we are about 8 pieces short on the offensive end of the ball. There is no solution here that could be fixed by adding just one more player to the mix, even if that player were a wide receiver for McNabb. The problems in this game were everywhere. However, one unit that clearly did better than last week was the pass protection unit, specifically, the backs Keiland Williams and Ryan Torain, who proved to me that they both have the skill set to be excellent pass protectors in this league. Prior to this game, that was largely an unknown factor about their skill sets.
The other area the Redskins were excellent against in protecting McNabb was in picking up the line stunts that the Colts love to call. Those stunts, usually involving twists between the tackles and end, were largely ineffective thanks to some quick thinking by LG Kory Lichtensteiger and both running backs.

The Redskins were not so good at actually winning their one on one match-ups on the OL. Dwight Freeney proved conclusively to me to be the best pass rusher that Trent Williams has faced this season, and even though Williams got more help with him here than ever in the past, he still struggled to keep Freeney off of McNabb. Over on the other side, it was Robert Mathis who actually recorded the two sacks from this pass rushing pair on this day. I thought Jammal Brown really stepped up his game in this one to make Mathis have not-such-a-decisive edge in the pass rush, but he needed a lot of help from the strength of his quarterback's legs to avoid more sacks. Clearly, McNabb was comfortable in strong-arming Mathis all day to try to avoid sacks. Kory Lichtensteiger and Casey Rabach are both liabilities in any sort of one on one situation. Because of this, the Redskins cannot expect to pick up any sort of pressure scheme while having the same number of blockers as rushers. Those matchups favor the defense.

Though McNabb saved a number of sacks this way, he also took a pair of inexcusable sacks where the ball simply needed to come out sooner than it did. He was sacked when the Colts blew up an attempted screen. He also got sacked on a man-blitz concept where the ball wasn't even necessarily "hot", it just needed to be thrown in some semblance of rhythm to Anthony Armstrong who was out of his break in plenty of time over the middle. All in all, the way the Colts defensive front played, they deserved to have about three sacks in this game, so it could be argued that McNabb was neither a help or a hinderance in pass protection on the day. The sack he took on 2nd & 5 on the last drive was pretty critical. McNabb had enjoyed some rushing success late in the game but Keiland Williams was completely uncovered by the soft zone scheme on a swing route, and he should have been in McNabb's natural line of vision.

More on McNabb

Donovan's completion % (QB Rating) by game this year:


Week 1 vs. Dallas - 46.9% (63.4)
Week 2 vs. Houston - 73.7% (119.0)
Week 3 at St. Louis - 59.4% (79.7)
Week 4 at Philadelphia - 42.1% (50.2)
Week 5 vs. Green Bay - 53.1% (75.0)
Week 6 vs. Indianapolis - 64.4% (67.5)

Now when you consider that Houston has been one of the worst pass defenses ever, it's really hard to look at these numbers with any confidence in the process. But that's just it: the whole thing is a process. The Redskins task the quarterback with a lot of responsibility: more than Mark Brunell, Jason Campbell, or Todd Collins ever had within the offense. Problem is, putting more on McNabb's shoulders might not be the best strategy.

Why not run more?

This is a legitimate question I had before going to the tape: Ryan Torain had 104 yards in the middle of the third quarter in a one possession game. How in the heck did Torain finish with just 100 rushing yards against the Colts run defense? Why did this team rush for just 9 yards on 3 carries in the final 17 minutes of the game.

The answers were actually kind of obvious, and there were four main reasons:


The Colts were winning at the line of scrimmage
The Colts were forcing us into terrible field position
Torain wasn't running the ball where the plays were designed
Chris Cooley got hurt

Look, that combination of factors is going to kill a running game. Torain was able to rush for 100 yards on 20 carries (5.0 YPC average) because and only because the smallish Colts front absolutely could not tackle a lick. They were in the backfield all night long, as the Redskins just couldn't run block at the first level. However, Colts lineman were very rush-first in their mindset, had poor gap discipline, and this is a worse tackling team than the Redskins are. As such, Ryan Torain was able to break a bunch of tackles and run for a number of yards in this game.

Ultimately, however, Torain was disappointing on film, just never seeming to take the play into the best hole, doing a lot of lateral running against a quick defense, and generally not following his blockers. On top of that, Trent Williams, Kory Lichtensteiger, and Casey Rabach were allowing a lot of penetration. Also consider: Chris Cooley and the receiving corps were a primary factor in the gameplan for rushing the football. Cooley left at the end of the third quarrter with a concussion. That changes the blocking schemes entirely. Fred Davis is a capable blocker, but certainly can not be used in an identical role to Cooley.

Don't underestimate what the result of starting a drive inside our own ten did to our gameplan. There's a large difference between trying to go 65 yards on the ground and trying to go 93 yards on the ground. That difference is about three game minutes. As it turned out, the Redskins would not save those minutes, but that's not something they could have known at the outset.

Above all, this is a team that is designed to throw 40+ times per game. We can stay balanced, stay within the gameplan for a good percentage of the game, but at some point, this team is going to try to throw to win. That's their identity. Players like Ryan Torain and Keiland Williams aren't going to get them to change that identity. Donovan McNabb is the centerpiece of the offense.

Throwing Inaccuracies

I think there is elements of really good design in our passing offense. Santana Moss went from an overpaid superstar playing out the guaranteed portion of his contract under Zorn and Cerrato to the engine of the passing offense under Mike and Kyle Shanahan. Moss is the most irreplaceable guy in the passing offense, and is nearly certain to earn himself an extension before he hits the free agent market. Moss is 30, but I think he'll be the primary receiver through age 32 (2012). A role change has extended his career as such.

The emergence of Anthony Armstrong across from Moss has allowed Moss to slide into this role without creating a major flaw in the downfield passing offense. Remember now that this is just a two receiver base offense, although the Redskins are doing more 3 WR stuff in the past two weeks than in the prior four. Those two receiver positions appear to be settled with positive value players. The Tight End position isn't an issue, though Chris Cooley has been sub-par as a receiver, he's earning his keep as a blocker. Fred Davis starting in place of an injured Cooley will cause us to have to alter our run blocking schemes, but Davis is probably a better receiver than Cooley at this point in their careers. Someday, I believe he will be a better all around blocker. That day is not here yet.

There are problems on the offensive line and problems with the receivers, and we need to take those problems for what they are without ignoring them. But the biggest reason the Redskins are unable to convert their schemes into points is because of subpar play in the offensive backfield. Ryan Torain has killed two weak rushing defenses, but he leaves a lot of significant on the field. Mike Sellers is playing better of late, but seems like a poor allocation of resources for a team that has both Chris Cooley and Fred Davis on it. Keiland Williams has proven useful in a third down role, but so far hasn't shown in practice that he deserves to have that role extended.

McNabb has just been inaccurate and progressively playing less and less ahead of the opponent from a preparedness standpoint. At best, the total product of his efforts in this offense have been slightly above average. 7.3 yards per attempt is a decent total, but Kyle Shanahan runs a vertical offense that creates oppotunites for big passing plays. Jason Campbell's YPA total was 7.1 last year with a fraction of the downfield opportunties. That's not good. Consider: leaguewide offensive passing efficiences are up this year, thanks to not having to record cold weather passing days.

It's a fact that Donovan McNabb is surrounded with league average to slightly below average offensive talent, and against below average defensive secondaries, he has very middling offensive numbers. He's taking a league average amount of sacks, and has not fumbled, but is on pace to throw for 5 fewer TDs than the Redskins quarterback did last year with the same number of interceptions. So for those keeping track: we're turning the ball over less in the passing game last year, but we're worse on third downs, worse in the red zone, much improved on big plays, but overall completions are down.

Quarterback play is improved from last year. We just haven't seen the results show up yet in the quarterback's statistics, and furthermore, we can't score at last year's rates without the benefit of turnovers forced by the defense and special teams. Having a better quarterback might eventually lead to an improved record in the long run, but clearly, the Redskins are winning no more games because of their offense this year than they were last year. If there's a big revelation after 6 games in the Mike Shanahan-Donovan McNabb era, it's that what's improved hasn't improved at the rate anyone had hoped when we acquired an elite head coach-quarterback combo.

Defense!

Albert Haynesworth may have played his last down as a Washington Redskin. That's probably not the case. But who really knows? With the trade deadline approaching this afternoon, you have to at least allow for the fact that someone is going to meet the Redskins asking price of a second round pick.

But who?

The Redskins are a piece short on defense, and it's become clear over his three games in the lineup that Albert Haynesworth isn't the missing piece the team needs to compete. They'll explore offers for him, but they're not going to settle for below market value, and so if Haynesworth remains on the team, they will have to increase his role to receive that value. But the Redskins, a defense full of movable pieces, need to add another piece in the secondary in order to compete with the big dogs in the NFC East. That includes pretty much any team that isn't Dallas right now.

Pass Defense

Not such a bad game from the perspective of the pass defense. The Colts threw for 8.0 yards per attempt in this game. That's a good day for any quarterback, but it's right around Peyton Manning's career average. For this season, Manning is around 7.5 yards per attempt. In essence, Manning got most of his yardage on the day on one coverage-splitting play in the first quarter. He made a number of throws that could have been crushing mistakes if the Redskins would have just caught the ball.

Still, I left the tape feeling like the Redskins had possibly allocated too many resources to the passing game. Let's take the example of how the Redskins linebackers and one lineman always stand up and walk around in the dime package. This is useful because with subtle, hard to follow movements, the Redskins can walk around and more or less throw off the blocking schemes.

To combat this, Peyton Manning went no huddle. Actually, the Colts always go no huddle. On about three or four drives in this game, the Colts went legitimate all-out offensive hurry up. Three or four snaps per game minute for an offense that never wants to see the football hit the ground. This exposed a flaw in the Redskins defensive gameplan.

The Redskins found themselves playing a lot of base defense looks, running what would essentially be a four man front. But the four lineman, Holliday or Golston at the nose tackle, and then Lorenzo Alexander as a stand-up three technique, and Brian Orakpo with Andre Carter at the dual ends. It was a four-two nickel look with dime personnel: Reed Doughty played linebacker most of the day. He did fine, but he wasn't confusing anyone by looking like a full time linebacker.

The Redskins could have stopped the run with that personnel, but really struggled with leverage against Colts offensive linemen (particularly Alexander). They just couldn't anchor against players who had their hands in the dirt, and on a majority of the hurry up plays, it was a struggle just to get lined up and run the same four man rush. There wasn't any time between plays with the Colts not making any substitutions, and so any plan about running creative pressures against Manning went by the wayside early. If you think that wasn't by design, you're not familar with Manning's work. Manning was well aware his offense wasn't going to be able to handle an onslaught of blitzes, so this is something he could do to protect them from that.

With that said, the Redskins got a lot of pressure on Manning in this game, which kept him from systematically carving the pass defense to shreads. Manning missed a bunch of open receivers in this game because the Redskins were able to get a lot of limbs around him with just a four man rush. By my count, the Redskins had 13 hits or hurries on 12 plays. Manning's stats on these plays would be good for a mortal, but are well below expectation for Manning: 6 for 12 for 5 passing first downs and 75 yards, just 6.25 yards per attempt.

Manning took advantage of a couple of match-ups in this game. His number one key was anytime we put Reed Doughty on Dallas Clark, which would have been our match-up in any man coverage situation. He lived off that match-up whenever he got it. Secondly, he looked for Reggie Wayne against Phillip Buchanon. That would have been a match-up you'd expect the Colts to win, but in a mixed bag of results, it was probably won narrowly by Buchanon and decisively so on the last passing play of the game by the Colts. Early on, the Colts thought they might be able to hit Austin Collie in the seam behind Carlos Rogers, but that one was a decisive win for Rogers who continues his streak of hot play -- and of games with a dropped interception, now at four. The final match-up the Colts went with was anyone-with-a-pulse (Pierre Garcon or Blair White) against DeAngelo Hall. The Colts had great success throwing against the "even" coverages of the Redskins (cover 2, quarters), significantly less success against the coverages that had Kareem Moore in the middle of the field.

A big problem with the dime coverages was that zone or man was easily definable by the positioning of the three safeties. We did what we could to disguise our zones earlier in the game, but on the Garcon 57 yard TD, we fooled no one. The problem was that Manning's read against what we tried to show (cover three) would have been identical to what we actually ran (quarters). When we rotated the coverage, dropping Landry, all Garcon had to do was alter the depth that he ran that skinny post at in order to run at an angle that puts any zone coverage in a bind. DeAngelo Hall's only job on that play is to stay over the top of the route. Landry needs to be in a position to play on that ball. Landry was out of position at the snap, of course, which is his excuse. Hall just got run past.

Run Defense

Here is where the dime package really hurt us, because without the lineman putting their hands on the ground, they can be driven off the ball by anybody (and were). Without the flexibility to substitute, the Redskins were in dime most of the game. HB Blades started for Rocky McIntosh at linebacker. I believe that he played just four plays in the game: the first two, and two of the last three. I know on the third drive of the game, Perry Riley got a snap at linebacker and made a very violent tackle. He and Blades had a tackle each in this game. For 94% of this game, London Fletcher was a lone linebacker. He played well.

Still the Redskins' desire to force Manning to put the ball on the ground and take the game out of his hands was systematic in nature. We weren't looking for all time great run prevention numbers in this game. We were just looking to keep their rushing stats to not look like passing stats. Even at that standard, they failed.

You can blame shoddy tackling for the difference between tempting Manning to run the ball, and losing a game in the process. Joseph Addai and Mike Hart were going to have an endless string of 6 yard carries, but a 14 yarder to the right side and a 46 yarder to the left side included missed tackles by DeAngelo Hall and Kareem Moore respectively. A 13 yard TD run occured because Reed Doughty (at linebacker) whiffed in the hole, and because neither of the aforementioned "football players" made any semblance of a tackle attempt on Addai. Moore might have actually assisted him in staying on his feet. Moore's footing was terrible the whole game, slipping to the ground more or less any time he made a cut.

A solution

There are no moral victories against the Colts, which is the frusterating thing about playing them. We may have learned some life lessons, but no team out there is emulating the Colts approach to things. No film from this game is going to improve us in the future.

However, I believe that we need a solution to our defensive issues, personnel wise, and that we need that player in our secondary. In my assessment, we have in DeAngelo Hall and Kareem Moore two identical secondary players who have similar skill sets and can back up one another. We do not have a cover corner in either of them. If Hall and Moore split time as free safeties, we would need another corner to field a nickle unit (Philip Buchanon is currently playing a the level of a starter).

Going bold, I would try to secure CB Nnamdi Asomugha from Oakland, who could be had from them before the trade deadline (Tuesday) for the right price. That's a team that would welcome Albert Haynesworth with open arms, problem being that they don't exactly have a need at defensive tackle with Richard Seymour in the lineup. But Seymour is an impending free agent and Haynesworth has a team-friendly contract, mostly to the cost of Dan Snyder. That could be an attractive long-term move for the Raiders.

And what a move it would for the Redskins to bring in one of the game's best cover corners to complement Carlos Rogers and Phillip Buchanon. This would probably cost future draft pick (2012?) considerations, perhaps in the first round. But Asomugha would be a big pickup for the Redskins, has a contract option for the 2011 season, and could tilt the balance of power in the NFC East in favor of Mike Shanahan's team.

More subtle solutions would include using Adam Carriker, our best down lineman, more often in passing situations as an interior rusher alongside Haynesworth (so long as Haynesworth is a Redskin). We can push Lorenzo Alexnader to the edge, and bring LaRon Landry up and get to Jay Cutler in creative ways next week. London Fletcher showed great versatility this week in moving from primarily the strong side to the weak side with Rocky sidelined, and we might find that playing more HB Blades or Perry Riley is an excellent short and long term move that improves us as a defensive team.

But I believe right now the biggest need for additional personnel is in the secondary, where the Redskins just don't match-up well on the offensive right side, where Hall's short coverage gets little deep help from Landry or Kareem Moore. Teams are really going to keep pressing us there until we show we can stop it. Right now, I'm not certain the Redskins can stop anyone, through the air.

Conclusions

What needs to be said about this past match-ups: we still think of the Colts of an offensive juggernaut, but that's really not the case anymore. The Colts are no longer a great football team. They are a still quite good football team that wins battles relative to it's opponents strengths and weaknesses, and makes sure to have the game in the hands of Peyton Manning when it matters most. They never trailed in this game. That's not a good sign, because the Colts made many of mistakes and gave the Redskins every chance to seize control of this one.

The Redskins defense lost it's battles to an offense that is more talented than it is, understandably. However, it's minor wins in the passing game were combined by inexcusable lapses in concentation against a running game that no team considers to be a threat. That's not really excusable for a proud unit like the Redskins. The Colts netted under 300 passing yards. If given that fact at the beginning of the game, Redskins fans need to be confident that their team could have pulled out a close one.

We'll look into some of the offensive reasons why the Redskins came up just short, but it's not inaccurate to look at this game as another close home loss to an AFC South team that simply got away.

Amazing as always, GT. Thanks!

How much of our troubles in the passing game do you attribute to McNabb missing reads at this point? It seemed to me he's forcing it long at times when the underneath stuff looks pretty open. I know that they want to attack down field, but sometimes taking what the D gives you and moving the chains is the right move.

Also, do you see any indication that Mike and Kyle are not yet on the same page about the offense? And what do you think of Kyle's play-calling in general so far?

I still think there's a learning curve issue here in the offense, so I'm less worried about the rate of improvement being less than we'd hoped at this point.

We clearly have personnel issues at several places, on both sides of the ball--that much is obvious.

Gregg Easterbrook has some great comments on the helmet to helmet issues from this past weekend on his TMQ (Tuesday Morning Quarterback) article. (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/101019_tuesday_morning_quarterback&sportCat=nfl) What I like is he still finds a way to bash the Cowboys. Priceless.

"Cowboys' Low Football IQ: You're trailing with less than three minutes remaining -- why are you punting? That's what Dallas did, if for no other reason than to shift the blame away from Wade Phillips, who would have been denounced if a fourth-down try failed, and onto his defensive players.

After Minnesota took the punt and the Boys used their timeouts, the Vikings faced third-and-6 with 2:22 remaining. Cornerback Mike Jenkins brushed a Vikings receiver, and the pass fell incomplete. Then Jenkins turned to the closest zebra and made the "not me I didn't do anything" gesture -- at which point the zebra threw yellow for pass interference. Jenkins basically pleaded with the official to throw the flag! Never make the "not me I didn't do anything" gesture. This only alerts officials that you think you committed a foul.

In Week 5, Dallas lost a close game to Tennessee partly owing to an idiotic touchdown celebration penalty. TMQ doesn't like the celebration rule, but it's the rule and "professional" football players should know the rules. Sunday, in a close loss to Minnesota, Dallas again was flagged for celebrating after a touchdown. Set aside that players for a 1-4 team should not be devoting their energy to dancing around and pointing at themselves. Set aside that the saying among sophisticated players has long been, "When you get into the end zone, act like you've been there before." Bill Russell once said he never celebrated blocking a shot -- he just shrugged, making his message, "I do this all the time." These things aside, why didn't Phillips lay down the law with his players about the celebration rule?

Earlier in the season, Dallas lost a close game to Washington owing to a particularly dumb sort of fumble. The following week, a Boys player lost exactly the same sort of fumble. TMQ asked why the Cowboys don't learn from their mistakes. Now they've again repeated a mistake. People are fallible: We all make mistakes. It's making the same mistake twice that's dumb.

The state of Texas views itself as the center of football culture, yet the Cowboys continue to demonstrate low football IQ. Stretching back to last season, Dallas is on a 1-5 streak and seeming to play dumber every week."

Amazing as always, GT. Thanks!

How much of our troubles in the passing game do you attribute to McNabb missing reads at this point? It seemed to me he's forcing it long at times when the underneath stuff looks pretty open. I know that they want to attack down field, but sometimes taking what the D gives you and moving the chains is the right move.

Also, do you see any indication that Mike and Kyle are not yet on the same page about the offense? And what do you think of Kyle's play-calling in general so far?

I still think there's a learning curve issue here in the offense, so I'm less worried about the rate of improvement being less than we'd hoped at this point.

We clearly have personnel issues at several places, on both sides of the ball--that much is obvious.McNabb missed few, if any, reads against Houston and St. Louis. IMO, he's started to struggle with field vision since that point. I think on some of the unsuccessful deeper throws he's presuming a coverage call instead of seeing it. I also don't think it's as bad as it's sounds: pre-snap anticipation is a form of anticipation all the same.

The shorter receivers do seem to be there for him. Sure, sometimes Galloway will run a bad route and not be open, or Cooley will get a pass forced to him in blanket coverage. That's not open. But Moss has been staying predominantly short in 3 WR sets and doing a good job in working zone coverages. Keiland Williams -- I like him as a route runner. Fred Davis is usually not a defenses first option when he's on the field.

I don't mind a quarterback taking a shot on third and short in anticipation of a defense that is conducive to taking that shot. It's a sound strategy. Problem there is McNabb's not completing those third and short attempts.

Kyle has called two pretty good games back to back, I think. He loves Mike Sellers a little bit too much, and he's dealing with personnel flaws, but I think he's got a better understanding of his personnel than he did in the first four games of the season.

Kyle may not have been/may not be using Donovan McNabb's strengths since his takedown of the Texans, but I also think he's given McNabb every possible opportunity to do something with this offense. Outside of horrendous, embarrassing pass protection in the Green Bay game, McNabb's teammates (my issues with Galloway aside) have come to his support in ways that we simply haven't had in the past. As long as we put the correct amount of blame for the failures of the pass protectors, McNabb's just the next link in an offensive chain that has been rather underwhelming to this point.

It hasn't been a BAD offense (big plays! limited turnovers!), but we already had the pieces of a "not bad" offense in house at the end of last season. We paid handsomely for an immediate upgrade. We're still waiting to see that upgrade.

Manning is so overrated. He sucker punches defenses. Without Dungee's defense, he wouldn't have won the big one. There are other QBs, past and present with the skills and leadership attributes equal, if not better than his. They make him out to be the the god. To me, he's just been babied his whole career.

If anything Peyton is underrated because too many people think he must not be that good since he hasn't won more than one Super Bowl yet.

Thoughts on Tripp's review later

Manning is so overrated. He sucker punches defenses. Without Dungee's defense, he wouldn't have won the big one. There are other QBs, past and present with the skills and leadership attributes equal, if not better than his. They make him out to be the the god. To me, he's just been babied his whole career.


LOL.......who, name the QB's presently in the NFL....the ones you say are "better"....go ahead and name them!

Manning is so overrated. He sucker punches defenses. Without Dungee's defense, he wouldn't have won the big one. There are other QBs, past and present with the skills and leadership attributes equal, if not better than his. They make him out to be the the god. To me, he's just been babied his whole career.

You must be talking about Archie. :confused-

Manning is so overrated. He sucker punches defenses. Without Dungee's defense, he wouldn't have won the big one. There are other QBs, past and present with the skills and leadership attributes equal, if not better than his. They make him out to be the the god. To me, he's just been babied his whole career.

In all the years I have been reading this board I dont think I have ever disagreed with a post more then I do this one.