Skins vs. Steelers Positives and Negatives

[skinsfaninok]

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.

[30gut]

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.

[DYoungJelly]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

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

2014 DL players:

2014 Washington Redskins Starters, Roster, & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com

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

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | 2015 DEFENSE EFFICIENCY RATINGS

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

2015 Washington Redskins Statistics & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com

[htownskinfan]

Originally Posted by 30gut

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

[DYoungJelly]

Originally Posted by 30gut

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.

[OmahaRedskins]

I am sure most of us are Bi-Polar, but some of these post are over the top. It was a bad game, but we need to get over it. We will go 6 - 2 at home and 3 - 5 on the road. We will be 9 -7 and a play off contender. We all agreed, we needed a few years to rebuild the roster. We have a crap ton of draft picks next year. In short, it is going to be ok.

[SFREDSKIN]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...antonio-brown/

[Chico23231]

Listened to NFL network, Mike Robinson coming into work he said 2 things that stood out on film:

1. Cousins had guys running wide open in the first half of the game down field. Sometimes he saw them and STILL didn't throw it. Said when you paid 20 million you have to make the plays, meaning he has to make the throw or even the attempts. Robinson said Cousins checked down too much first half and second half Pittsburgh made the zone adjustment because they knew they weren't covering Skins receivers correctly.

2. Skins front 7 were dominated by the Pittsburgh Oline...Pitts control the LOS and that is extremely strange for a Scott McC team. Generally his number one thing is defensively on the LOS is to force their will on the opponent in that trench. Everything starts on the dline.

Its just so fuckin sad

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Listened to NFL network, Mike Robinson coming into work he said 2 things that stood out on film:

1. Cousins had guys running wide open in the first half of the game down field. Sometimes he saw them and STILL didn't throw it. Said when you paid 20 million you have to make the plays, meaning he has to make the throw or even the attempts. Robinson said Cousins checked down too much first half and second half Pittsburgh made the zone adjustment because they knew they weren't covering Skins receivers correctly.

2. Skins front 7 were dominated by the Pittsburgh Oline...Pitts control the LOS and that is extremely strange for a Scott McC team. Generally his number one thing is defensively on the LOS is to force their will on the opponent in that trench. Everything starts on the dline.

Its just so fuckin sad

I think the Cousins thing will get fixed, it's the second thing that bothers me the most.

When I would see the guard pulling, he would literally devastate whoever was in the way. Sometimes it was two people! I've never seen our defensive line get worked like that.

[FrenchSkin]

Originally Posted by OmahaRedskins

I am sure most of us are Bi-Polar, but some of these post are over the top. It was a bad game, but we need to get over it. We will go 6 - 2 at home and 3 - 5 on the road. We will be 9 -7 and a play off contender. We all agreed, we needed a few years to rebuild the roster. We have a crap ton of draft picks next year. In short, it is going to be ok.

True that.

Watching the Rams @ 49ers game will calm every body down. We got beat by a really good team, and still showed some good things, things we can build on for the rest of the season (at least 15 games left...)... We are far from being a trash team, with no hope, like the Rams or the Browns...

[MTK]

Not sure if it was nerves or rust with KC but he was definitely off his game. He can do a lot better and he needs to starting this week.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

Listened to NFL network, Mike Robinson coming into work he said 2 things that stood out on film:

1. Cousins had guys running wide open in the first half of the game down field. Sometimes he saw them and STILL didn't throw it. Said when you paid 20 million you have to make the plays, meaning he has to make the throw or even the attempts. Robinson said Cousins checked down too much first half and second half Pittsburgh made the zone adjustment because they knew they weren't covering Skins receivers correctly.

2. Skins front 7 were dominated by the Pittsburgh Oline...Pitts control the LOS and that is extremely strange for a Scott McC team. Generally his number one thing is defensively on the LOS is to force their will on the opponent in that trench. Everything starts on the dline.

Its just so fuckin sad

Going to give KC a pass for last week. He can play much better, we've seen him play better and I think he will moving forward.

The dline and front 7, really there is nothing that can be done. Mostly those are guys that other teams didn't want. Would Goldston be on most NFL teams? No! Would our two ILB be starting on most teams? No. Also Kerrigan was getting killed on run plays,

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Also, we need to stop anointing Dak Prescott. Seeing all these predictions of him throwing for over 300 yards on us. I HIGHLY doubt it. If anything, our pass defense has improved vastly. Bryant won't have a HOF QB throwing to him, landing passes RIGHT in the hands.

[Chief X_Phackter]

After further review, I'm not going to say Breeland had a bad game. He could have made a couple more plays, but for the most part he was right with AB, or whoever he was covering. Excellent throws and great catches is the story here, and sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the execution of the players on the other side. Literally an inch here or there and it's all a different story.

I think it is very encouraging to see the faith the coaching staff has in Breeland. They see and know more than anyone on this board or any of the talking heads on TV. If Norman had been shadowing AB all game, the results might have been the same. Then everyone would be talking about how he's overpaid, etc. We'll never know...it's easy to say Norman would have shut him down, but I'm not so sure. Fact is, it's only one game. I'm pretty sure we won't see the same results on Sunday.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Exactly.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...antonio-brown/