Screen Pass and Draw Play, Welcome Back to DC, we sure missed ya.

[flave1969]

With the hiring of Jim Zorn we have seen the return of two NFL staples to the Redskins fold. Conspicuous by their absence the past four years the Screen pass and Draw play have made a return to the Redskin playbook and with some success.

In the hands of a skilled play caller they can be very effective, we defeated two Buffalo blitzes on the first two drives using the play . Portis, Betts and Mason all had good gains on the draw play last night and Betts scored on a screen pass.

I never really understood why Joe rarely used them maybe he just felt we could not execute them properly.

It also looks like we will see a good number of slant passes this year also.

So far it has been very refreshing to watch our offense and it is likely about a quarter of what we might see. As long as our QB's don't throw into triple coverage a la Collins last night we should have a lot of fun this year.

[Jon Jansen is money]

In the past couple of years we would always call a draw against 3rd and 35. So there!

[flave1969]

In the past couple of years we would always call a draw against 3rd and 35. So there!

Off Course, I forgot about those plays.

[nicefellow31]

With the hiring of Jim Zorn we have seen the return of two NFL staples to the Redskins fold. Conspicuous by their absence the past four years the Screen pass and Draw play have made a return to the Redskin playbook and with some success.

In the hands of a skilled play caller they can be very effective, we defeated two Buffalo blitzes on the first two drives using the play . Portis, Betts and Mason all had good gains on the draw play last night and Betts scored on a screen pass.

I never really understood why Joe rarely used them maybe he just felt we could not execute them properly.

It also looks like we will see a good number of slant passes this year also.

So far it has been very refreshing to watch our offense and it is likely about a quarter of what we might see. As long as our QB's don't throw into triple coverage a la Collins last night we should have a lot of fun this year.

Have to disagree with you a bit on this one. According to the 2008 Football Prospectus, only one team in the NFL threw more screen passes than 07 Redskins. Portis caught the 2nd most screen passes in the league. Care to guess what team threw more? Hint they are located north of us and we play them twice a year.

[flave1969]

Have to disagree with you a bit on this one. According to the 2008 Football Prospectus, only one team in the NFL threw more screen passes than 07 Redskins. Portis caught the 2nd most screen passes in the league. Care to guess what team threw more? Hint they are located north of us and we play them twice a year.

Wow, I find that really hard to believe. I don't remember many screen passes where Portis had lineman out in front blocking downfield for him. I stand corrected.

Does it say how many yards he produced from the screen plays at all?

[shally]

With the hiring of Jim Zorn we have seen the return of two NFL staples to the Redskins fold. Conspicuous by their absence the past four years the Screen pass and Draw play have made a return to the Redskin playbook and with some success.

In the hands of a skilled play caller they can be very effective, we defeated two Buffalo blitzes on the first two drives using the play . Portis, Betts and Mason all had good gains on the draw play last night and Betts scored on a screen pass.

I never really understood why Joe rarely used them maybe he just felt we could not execute them properly.

It also looks like we will see a good number of slant passes this year also.

So far it has been very refreshing to watch our offense and it is likely about a quarter of what we might see. As long as our QB's don't throw into triple coverage a la Collins last night we should have a lot of fun this year.

our offense should be a pleasure to watch.. we havent even seen a lot of passes to the tight end yet.

[nicefellow31]

Wow, I find that really hard to believe. I don't remember many screen passes where Portis had lineman out in front blocking downfield for him. I stand corrected.

Does it say how many yards he produced from the screen plays at all?

I'll look it up. Keep in my mind I didn't say successful screen passes. LOL

[flave1969]

I'll look it up. Keep in my mind I didn't say successful screen passes. LOL

BTW is this the book produced by the football Outsiders guys. I am coming to the next week and it is on my shopping list.

[PyroGenic]

are you sure they weren't WR screens? We had A LOT of those.

[ChapelHillMatt]

You know when I hear the term "West Coast offense" I cringe because I automatically assume it's going to be boring. I figure it'll be run, run, run and short passes but after watching these last two games I see it can be a joy to watch if run properly. You're always moving forward and don't get stuck into 3rd and longs where you have to throw the deep ball.

This offense has been extremely efficient in the early going, hopefully they can keep it up. The fact that they have seemed to grasp this offense so quickly is very reassuring. With 3 more games left to fine tune things you can't help but be optimistic.

[nicefellow31]

BTW is this the book produced by the football Outsiders guys. I am coming to the next week and it is on my shopping list.

Yes it is. Very interesting reading.

[hockeygoalie29]

are you sure they weren't WR screens? We had A LOT of those.

We did when Gibbs was calling plays and Moss had his best year in 2005 because of it despite the fact that we ran that play about 15 times a game. But for some reason it didn't seem like Saunders ever called it the past 2 seasons...

[hockeygoalie29]

Have to disagree with you a bit on this one. According to the 2008 Football Prospectus, only one team in the NFL threw more screen passes than 07 Redskins. Portis caught the 2nd most screen passes in the league. Care to guess what team threw more? Hint they are located north of us and we play them twice a year.

Wow, I find that really hard to believe. I don't remember many screen passes where Portis had lineman out in front blocking downfield for him. I stand corrected.

Does it say how many yards he produced from the screen plays at all?

Yeah, I don't recall many screens either, maybe they recorded all the dump offs to Portis as screens?

[JsMaViSd]

We did when Gibbs was calling plays and Moss had his best year in 2005 because of it despite the fact that we ran that play about 15 times a game. But for some reason it didn't seem like Saunders ever called it the past 2 seasons...

my opinions also

[PyroGenic]

Yeah, I don't recall many screens either, maybe they recorded all the dump offs to Portis as screens?

Well, Saunders was well known for that sort of thing in KC with LJ and Priest Holmes. Maybe he did it here too? I'm guessing that if he did though, it was bad enough for my mind to block it out so that the memories wouldn't haunt me.

[nicefellow31]

are you sure they weren't WR screens? We had A LOT of those.

I'll look it up, but I don't think it made a distinction between the two. I do know that Portis had the 2nd most among RBs trailing only (here is a suprise) Brian Westbrook.

[colkurtz]

The Saunders/Gibbs offense just couldn't decide what it wanted to be and that's why it had limited success for the genius of both men. Two chiefs didn't work.

I think Zorn's offense will have much more success because he's made JC into a much better QB and letting him go.

[BraveHeartFan]

In the past couple of years we would always call a draw against 3rd and 35. So there!


Doesn't every team do that crap now? It really, really, really makes me so angry when a team on 3rd and forever calls a give up play like that.

[dj_stouty]

We really saw a lot of quick slants, draws and screens in the Bills game. All most too many, which makes be believe those wont' be the staple of the offense. I think Zorn was using a few series (especially with Colt) during the game to over-practice them to get the backups up to speed on these particular plays. On one series with Colt, we ran a draw, followed by a screen followed by a quick slant on the first three consecutive plays. Seemed scripted. I don't expect to see that again during the regular season.

But it will be nice to have them in our arsenal. The draw play is VERY effective when used sparingly and at the right time. Same goes for the screens.

Should be fun to see the entire Zorn playbook come the Giants game...

[redskin_rich]

It was not so much the plays but when Zorn calls them that impresses me. He really seems to have a knack for dictating to the defense and catching them off guard. Of course, it's just preseason but I really like what I am seeing so far.

[flave1969]

But it will be nice to have them in our arsenal. The draw play is VERY effective when used sparingly and at the right time. Same goes for the screens.

Should be fun to see the entire Zorn playbook come the Giants game...


Spot on post.

I certainly don't want to see them over used but when they are called at the right time they are so effective, especially with backs like Portis and Betts.

As Rich says, what is exciting is Zorn seems to know exactly when to use them.

I think as discerning fans we like to see a good balanced Offense and the aforementioned plays would give us that balance.

[saratogan]

Chapel Hill Matt quote:
"This offense has been extremely efficient in the early going, hopefully they can keep it up. The fact that they have seemed to grasp this offense so quickly is very reassuring. With 3 more games left to fine tune things you can't help but be optimistic."

AGREE! I find it very reassuring that the offense is already effective, especially this early. True, it is still very early. But, I have not seen many mistakes, which is ususal early on - especially with a new system and coach(es).

Zorn's early camp, many two a days, and some of his "unorthodox practices" really seem to have prepared the offense well.

[GreenspanDan]

The Saunders/Gibbs offense just couldn't decide what it wanted to be and that's why it had limited success for the genius of both men. Two chiefs didn't work.

I think Zorn's offense will have much more success because he's made JC into a much better QB and letting him go.

i love burgers and i love ice cream but i am pretty sure beef-flavored ice cream would just not work. that's not a knock on beef or ice cream, though.

[nicefellow31]

Wow, I find that really hard to believe. I don't remember many screen passes where Portis had lineman out in front blocking downfield for him. I stand corrected.

Does it say how many yards he produced from the screen plays at all?

I stand corrected. According to the Football Prospectus the Skins were third, not second in total # of screen passes. However we rank 24th in success on those screen passes.

[skinfanjon]

I stand corrected. According to the Football Prospectus the Skins were third, not second in total # of screen passes. However we rank 24th in success on those screen passes.

LOL, that's not the level of production you want.

I agree with Rich, Zorn seems to have a nice rythym to his play calling.

[Santheb]

With the hiring of Jim Zorn we have seen the return of two NFL staples to the Redskins fold. Conspicuous by their absence the past four years the Screen pass and Draw play have made a return to the Redskin playbook and with some success.

In the hands of a skilled play caller they can be very effective, we defeated two Buffalo blitzes on the first two drives using the play . Portis, Betts and Mason all had good gains on the draw play last night and Betts scored on a screen pass.

I never really understood why Joe rarely used them maybe he just felt we could not execute them properly.

It also looks like we will see a good number of slant passes this year also.

So far it has been very refreshing to watch our offense and it is likely about a quarter of what we might see. As long as our QB's don't throw into triple coverage a la Collins last night we should have a lot of fun this year.

Don't know which Redskins you have been watching for the past four years dude, there were actually people posting in the game threads that would call screen passes before the play and were right about 75% of the time. The draw got ran a bunch too..

I wouldn't quite say we missed the screen and the draw, and in the case of the draw, I'd say it wore out its welcome.

[nicefellow31]

Don't know which Redskins you have been watching for the past four years dude, there were actually people posting in the game threads that would call screen passes before the play and were right about 75% of the time. The draw got ran a bunch too..

I wouldn't quite say we missed the screen and the draw, and in the case of the draw, I'd say it wore out its welcome.

I think what everybody is shocked about is that we are running effective screen passes. LOL

[flave1969]

I wouldn't quite say we missed the screen and the draw, and in the case of the draw, I'd say it wore out its welcome.

Again maybe NiceFellow can help using the prospectus but I remember a lot of delayed hand off plays but not Draw plays off the manner we have seen in the last two weeks.

Once again I contend that we saw very few screen passes of the nature we have seen this year with lineman out in front of the play.

I know we ran a truck load of wide receiver screens.

I know we threw a lot of balls out in the flat especially in 06 to Betts, these are different plays.

I mean in 05 Portis/Betts only caught 40 passes between them that does not suggest a proliferation of Screens.

[hail2skins]

Wow, I find that really hard to believe. I don't remember many screen passes where Portis had lineman out in front blocking downfield for him. I stand corrected.

Does it say how many yards he produced from the screen plays at all?Yeah, it depends on how the screen looks. Like you, I was glad to see the basic screen pass where the oline allows the rush from the defensive line and the QB sells it and then tosses it short to the back. Screens under Gibbs/Saunders weren't as basic. Also, they have to be including all of those wide receiver screens too.