Skins vs. Steelers Positives and Negatives

Breeland played it as tight as he could at times, he just got beat by great throws. It happens. Regardless though, he got beat. I still think he's a quality corner.

b+ corner, i hope we sign him to a long term deal.

Here's a positive that was overlooked, Lauvao was mauling people.

WATCH: Shawn Lauvao shows why he's starting (http://was.247sports.com/Bolt/WATCH-Shawn-Lauvao-shows-why-hes-starting-47464595)

Here's a positive that was overlooked, Lauvao was mauling people.

WATCH: Shawn Lauvao shows why he's starting (http://was.247sports.com/Bolt/WATCH-Shawn-Lauvao-shows-why-hes-starting-47464595)

those were awesome.

Yes to those who are citing adjustments... seemingly zero and thats really frustrating to watch. Hopefully the coaches realize this and learn from it, thats about all we can hope for at this point... well, we dropped the opener last season and were also 2-4 ... hopefully the team still has the mindset not to give up.

Our schedule was particularly weak last year; this year it is not. We are not that good a team, talent-wise, on the o-line and the d front 7. Makes it hard to do much of anything, if that's the case. We did not get better in the trenches. We did not get a better RB, center, or left guard. What do you expect, especially when you play a top team on Monday Night?

My main worry is that we do something stupid and fail to let McC build for another 2 seasons.

But on this game, if Cousins is better, we're at least in a shoot out. I didn't think they really stopped our passing game as much as Cousins f-ed in up at key times. Now,maybe what we're in the process of learning is that Cousins isn't the guy--this is his tryout. BUt I do hope he picks it up, or this year is going to be painful and Danny may get restless.

Please get a vet RB or two.

I'm all for Norman covering the best WRs, but no DB can do shit without a pass rush, and Big Ben is good even with pressure. And there was no pressure, really. Until we improve in the trenches, all the coaching in the world won't help, IMHO. I agree that we don't adjust well, but we still don't have the bodies, I think.

Maybe we'll get our shit straightened out, at least on offense, and maybe we'll generate some timely TOs on D. I sure hope so. But we're still building and we're not close yet. Hate to admit that, but there it is. Just fuking beat Dallas. The rest is more long term issues.

people act like every team is loaded with talent... this isn't college football folks, many teams have major holes... The giants, eagles and cowboys are all in the same boat as us in certain areas. There is no more "build for the future" in the NFL, it's all about now.

Late to the party....my 2 cents....

We punched above our weight this game. Steeler's are where we want to be in a year or 2.





But I also think the coaches didn't put us in the position to win.

Defense:
It is what it is.

Our DL personnel/run game personnel isn't stout against the run and the Steeler's taxed it.

In that regard I don't understand why Ricky Jean only played 22 snaps and Ziggy Hood played almost double. Ricky > run defender then Ziggy

I have nothing against David Bruton Jr, I like his physicality etc but even before his missed tackles from this game I thought Su'a Craven's should be the starting SS. Maybe it's one of those coaching nervousness issues they have starting rookies but Su'a needs to be on the field, kid is a playmaker.

Also, c'mon man you cannot let a team's best player beat you!
Their may be schematic reasons for not flopping side or putting Norman on Brown, but on crucial plays imho we gotta double the other teams best player.

Offense:

I don't care how we get the W. Im not gonna fret over Jay getting away from the run because imho that is who he is to be expected and our personnel in the passing game is certainly good enough to control/win games with. But we need our QB to be on point. As goes Kirk....etc...

On the whole I thought the playcalling was timid.

Bill Walsh said ~'be ware of the relative ease of completing the 3-step drop passes' and it seemed like either Jay called or Kirk wasn't pulling the trigger on downfield throws.
Gotta attack more intermediate and downfield....which piggybacks into.......

Jay made it easy for the defense (which is something I saw with the run game tells last year) through personnel groupings and formations.
The empty set of course allows team to know they can play all out pass defense, any good defensive coordinator is gonna have the upper hand once an offense is one dimensional.
This made it hard to throw intermediate and downfield.....which leads to....
Also, the same routes and pattern and can be achieved with a RB in the backfield especially when we don't even target the RB in empty.
Merely having a RB in the backfield and sprinkling in even "failed" run creates some doubt and still creates an opportunity for playaction. Some coaches preach that a defense is even more susceptible to play-action when they are playing the run game well.
Also, playing more base personnel creates the mismatches we like w/ our TEs vs their LBs/SS as opposed to there Nickle/slot CB/FS.

Oh, and I agree w/ Jay that he should have sacked up and gone for it on 4th and short.

You know, the more I think about it the more I think we're making a tactical error in running a one-gap front and thinking it will work with this level of defensive line talent.

Really interesting point and a good observation.

We ranked 9th against the run in 2014, the last year of Haslett's 2 gap 3-4:

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2014 DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY RATINGS (http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef2014)

2014 DL players:

2014 Washington Redskins Starters, Roster, & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/2014_roster.htm)

In 2015 Barry's first year, we ranked 22nd against the run:

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2015 DEFENSE EFFICIENCY RATINGS (http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef2015)

The talent level on the DL in 2015 wasn't drastically different that 2014:

2015 Washington Redskins Statistics & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/2015.htm)

Late to the party....my 2 cents....

We punched above our weight this game. Steeler's are where we want to be in a year or 2.





But I also think the coaches didn't put us in the position to win.

Defense:
It is what it is.

Our DL personnel/run game personnel isn't stout against the run and the Steeler's taxed it.

In that regard I don't understand why Ricky Jean only played 22 snaps and Ziggy Hood played almost double. Ricky > run defender then Ziggy

I have nothing against David Bruton Jr, I like his physicality etc but even before his missed tackles from this game I thought Su'a Craven's should be the starting SS. Maybe it's one of those coaching nervousness issues they have starting rookies but Su'a needs to be on the field, kid is a playmaker.

Also, c'mon man you cannot let a team's best player beat you!
Their may be schematic reasons for not flopping side or putting Norman on Brown, but on crucial plays imho we gotta double the other teams best player.

Offense:

I don't care how we get the W. Im not gonna fret over Jay getting away from the run because imho that is who he is to be expected and our personnel in the passing game is certainly good enough to control/win games with. But we need our QB to be on point. As goes Kirk....etc...

On the whole I thought the playcalling was timid.

Bill Walsh said ~'be ware of the relative ease of completing the 3-step drop passes' and it seemed like either Jay called or Kirk wasn't pulling the trigger on downfield throws.
Gotta attack more intermediate and downfield....which piggybacks into.......

Jay made it easy for the defense (which is something I saw with the run game tells last year) through personnel groupings and formations.
The empty set of course allows team to know they can play all out pass defense, any good defensive coordinator is gonna have the upper hand once an offense is one dimensional.
This made it hard to throw intermediate and downfield.....which leads to....
Also, the same routes and pattern and can be achieved with a RB in the backfield especially when we don't even target the RB in empty.
Merely having a RB in the backfield and sprinkling in even "failed" run creates some doubt and still creates an opportunity for playaction. Some coaches preach that a defense is even more susceptible to play-action when they are playing the run game well.
Also, playing more base personnel creates the mismatches we like w/ our TEs vs their LBs/SS as opposed to there Nickle/slot CB/FS.

Oh, and I agree w/ Jay that he should have sacked up and gone for it on 4th and short.

That is a great point.
I thought after the first yr Jay sucked,then he gave me a little hope last yr,but after this game I'm convinced he's got a long way to go.
And I dont buy the point putting Norman on the other side would tip off the defense they werent going to play zone,wouldnt all it would take is for Norman to line up on the other side when Brown switched and then still play zone?
Also they had all of fricking preseason to prepare for this game,did they not fucking think the Steelers wouldnt line Brown up on the other side and yet they didnt prepare for that!? They just left Breland get beat time and time again! Man the more I type the madder I'm getting just thinking about our shitty ass coaches

Jay made it easy for the defense (which is something I saw with the run game tells last year) through personnel groupings and formations.

Yep. Totally agree. Too predictable in all the wrong ways. We were out coached in every aspect of the game except special teams.

We should have been predictable as follows:

Heard Cooley on the radio yesterday talking about Thompson on the hitch route being open every play because the Steelers simply refused to cover it.

They didn't respect it and it was available every time he ran it.

Watched it this evening. It's right there.

He mentioned how Tom Brady threw 6 or 7 hitches in row last year in the playoffs. BB and Brady threw it until it was defended.

They go for the jugular and exploit a weakness till they take it away.

We do not.

It's almost like Jay and McVay give different looks for the sake of giving different looks and decide to call this play or that out of given look.

The whole coaching staff lacks the killer instinct to find a weakness and destroy it.