Akh Blog: Offensive issues

[akhhorus]

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Feel free to submit your own answers to the questions and guff on!

[silverspring]

I am shocked the media hasn't talked more about benching jansen for heyer. The only logical reason i can think is that they want heyer to stay behind samuels because of his knee. The only other idea i can think of is that they should run more to the right side to play to jansen's and thomas' strength.

In terms of benching moss and ARE, i think they should start by benching thrash. I like ARE in the slot and want to see more. But I would also like to see some 4 wide snaps of moss|cooley|kelly|thomas combos.

I don't disagree with the argument that moss dogs it sometimes, there is film that shows him giving up on numerous plays. But he must be doing something right to get double teamed all game long. You put way too much focus on this, if other teams thought this they wouldn't double him. It would be crazy talk to bench him. Right now if you got moss and cooley running routes it is basically guaranteed that any other receiver running a route is in single coverage. You absolutely can't bench moss. His decoy ability alone gives this offense options. The fact that moss is still even semi-productive when teams try to take him out of every game is impressive.

In terms of samuels knee, i think making predictions like it will take 3 weeks is a pretty wild guess you are making. Maybe 3 weeks is a dependable time for a 160 pound guy that doesn't put massive pressure on it. Everyone's knees react differently and the extent of the problem is largely unknown until they go in.


Campbell is the best scapegoat out there. I do agree that it is a bit unfair to pin it on him, he isn't playing well enough to win us games but he also isn't playing poorly enough to lose us games. If the rest of the pieces would mesh we would be doing better.

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by silverspring

I am shocked the media hasn't talked more about benching jansen for heyer. The only logical reason i can think is that they want heyer to stay behind samuels because of his knee. The only other idea i can think of is that they should run more to the right side to play to jansen's and thomas' strength.

If that were the case, they would play Heyer and move him to the left side if Samuels were to go down.

Originally Posted by silverspring

I don't disagree with the argument that moss dogs it sometimes, there is film that shows him giving up on numerous plays. But he must be doing something right to get double teamed all game long. You put way too much focus on this, if other teams thought this they wouldn't double him. It would be crazy talk to bench him. Right now if you got moss and cooley running routes it is basically guaranteed that any other receiver running a route is in single coverage. You absolutely can't bench moss. His decoy ability alone gives this offense options. The fact that moss is still even semi-productive when teams try to take him out of every game is impressive.

And many games this year, he's not getting doubled and letting bad Cbs take him out of the game. Moss is still a dangerous player that defenses worry about, but only because of those 4 games a year where he is still dangerous. The simple fact is that he's not doing his job-double teamed or not and it kills this offense.

Originally Posted by silverspring

In terms of samuels knee, i think making predictions like it will take 3 weeks is a pretty wild guess you are making. Maybe 3 weeks is a dependable time for a 160 pound guy that doesn't put massive pressure on it. Everyone's knees react differently and the extent of the problem is largely unknown until they go in.

Samuels had a cartilage issue. Yes, he's not some everyday guy weighting 160 lbs, but he also had access to MUCH better surgical and rehab facilities that 99.9% of people don't have access to. Thats why cartilage surgeries only take 4 weeks to heal for most NFL players. I said 3 games, because the Bye week would have been one of his rehab weeks.

Originally Posted by silverspring

Campbell is the best scapegoat out there. I do agree that it is a bit unfair to pin it on him, he isn't playing well enough to win us games but he also isn't playing poorly enough to lose us games. If the rest of the pieces would mesh we would be doing better.

Huh? So, if he's not playing poorly enough to lose us games, why is he your scapegoat, unless you just want him out no matter his play? You say a lot of off base things in this thread(and in general), but this just makes zero sense from you.

[SWFlaSkinsFan]

Posted by: Akhhorus on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

A dialectic about the sorry state of affairs regarding the skins’ offense:

Question: So, what the blue hell is going on with the offense? Did the real Redskins’ offensive starters from September and October go on vacation while they dressed up the Calgary Roughriders to play for them?

Answer: What’s happening is basically total systemic failure. Portis’ knee injury combined with Randle El/Moss’ inability to do their jobs is allowing opposing defenses to throw more blitzers at an Oline who can barely handle opposing dlines and at a QB who doesn’t do well when blitzed. Zorn has tried to institute more hot reads, but opposing Dbs are expecting this and jamming the wideouts.

I agree ... the injuries to Portis have reduced his effectiveness and production, which in turn set off the beginnings of the offensive meltdown of the past 4 weeks. While one has to admire Samuel's willingness to gut it out, your point concerning him is well stated. Kendall has been a serviceable LG, but Rinehart should be the starter next season. I give Rabach one more season, and then he gets replaced. Randy Thomas has regressed over the past year or two, and is no longer the dominating RG he was ... his replacement must be secured over the coming offseason. Which brings me to Jon Jansen ... sadly, his time is done. He's been here through some playoff runs, and some truly awful seasons as well ... but he needs to be replaced. Whatever Heyer's shortcomings (plays too upright, not a good run blocker), he's on his way up as a player, and he's Jansen's equal right now ... he needs the playing time if he's to be a bona-fide replacement


Question: Who’s to blame for this?

Answer: Everyone and no-one. Zorn and the offensive staff are to blame for not adjusting the play calling along with not letting Samuels have knee surgery that would have forced him to miss 3 games(maybe). Jon Jansen is to blame for becoming a major liability in pass blocking. Moss and ARE are to blame for running terrible routes and looking like they should have a stamp put on their forehead for the mailing in of the season they’re doing. Campbell is to blame for not adjusting his style of play to compensate and not making better audible calls.

And I would add the well-chronicled half-assed approach of the FO ... but that's for another post, at another time.

Question: Akh, I’m really looking for a scapegoat here, can you finger one player for the most blame for my voodoo doll?

Answer: If you force me, and I love this player, but Jon Jansen. The biggest difference between this Redskins team in September and October and November is that Campbell had time to throw-and he still produced despite ARE and Moss’ laziness. Jansen was part of the oline that dominated-and so was Heyer-but he clearly isn’t the same player he was earlier in the season. And, unfortunately, opposing defenses know this and throw blitzes at him.

I just have a hard time, at this point, singling out any one person/area as the culprit ... I feel that it's more attributable to key injuries, and the domino effect that's followed.

Question: Will this get better once Portis gets healthy(or healthier)?

Answer: A productive Portis can provide enough offense for the skins to take down a team with a bad passing game and a dangerous running game will slow down the number of blitzes thrown at the skins’ oline, but I doubt that it would suddenly jump start an anemic Redskins’ passing game.

Agree ... while a healthy/healthier Portis would be a big boost, there's more to the problems than just one player ... which leads nicely into ...

Question: Is benching Jason Campbell for Todd Collins or Colt Brennan the solution?

Answer: Very doubtful. There’s little to no evidence that Collins or Brennan is better equipped to deal with the same pass rush issues that Campbell is dealing with. Santana Moss might play harder for Collins(something we saw in 2007), but that alone won’t fix the problems this offense has.

Agreed ... while Campbell is no where near the finished product that I believe he'll eventually be, he's not the sole cause of the offensive struggles. This seasons offense is, and always was, a work in progress. We all got excited when the team started off well, but the fortuitous play early on only raised the bar of expectation from hopefully good to Super Bowl Contender. As fans, we tend to get overly "connected" with the success (or failure) of our beloved Redskins ... I know I do. Jason will be just fine once all of the pieces get the kinks worked out ... that's why the upcoming offseason FA period, and the '09 Draft, are so important.

Question: Is benching Moss and/or ARE for Kelly or Thomas the answer to fix the WR problems?

Answer: It’s hard to tell. Clearly, they aren’t working too hard out there, and benching one of them might send a signal to the other(as Voltaire said: It pays to shoot an Admiral to encourage the others). Zorn probably should consider benching one for the Balto or San Fran game to see if there’s any reaction on the field. If the other didn’t get the message, then there’s no point is playing games and Zorn should bench them for the rest of the season if he’s going to go down that route.

If I were to support benching either, it would be ARE ... in favor of Kelly. The failure of the rookie class of WR's (including the TE, Davis), has been just as responsible as the O-Line's dramatic drop-off for the current state of the offense, and it's struggles, IMHO.

Question: So, what do the skins do to fix this for the remaining 4 games?

Answer: There’s no miracle patch here.

AMEN !!! We are what we are, for better or worse, for the balance of the season ... no matter how long it lasts.

The 'Skins have to fix the right tackle spot, get the starting WR's motivated, and adjust the offense’s predictability so that Campbell isn’t running for his life.

In order, the 'Skins should consider doing this:

1-Bench Jansen for Heyer. Heyer might have consistency issues, but at this point he can’t be worse than Jansen. Failing that, the 'Skins should listen to the Right Honorable BurgundyNGold and consider playing the 6 man line with Jansen and Heyer on the right end of the line to compensate.

2-Stop being so predictable on offense-especially on obvious passing downs. Moss only likes 3 routes and defenses know it. Teams have figured out the skins’ hot reads and are jamming them. There was just no valid reason that Terrance Newman should be able to shut down Moss, and instead of trying to run with Moss on the field, Newman jammed him all night long a couple weeks ago and shut him down. It shouldn’t be a major task to install a couple new routes for Moss and to adjust the hot reads.

Isn't this where we all thought that Zorn could have the biggest "immediate impact" this season? If this season is to bear fruit, playoff-wise, Zorn needs to re-discover his "unpredictable" nature of earlier in the season. We don't execute our bread-n-butter running game well enough (ie, the "counter gap" working, even when the opponent knew it was coming) to bludgeon other teams into submission. Therefore, we must continue to "think outside the box", scheme-wise ... and push the envelope when needed.

3-Get Kelly and Thomas more snaps. You can interpret that to mean either benching Moss and/or Randle El for them, or cutting into the starters’ playing time for them. They’re unknown quantities for the most part-especially Kelly-and putting the fear of the unknown into opposing defenses can do nothing but help this offense out.

The offense needs to find ... ok, make that must find ... a viable alternative to complement Moss. Right now, every team knows that if they take away Santana, our passing game goes in the crapper. The coaches should use the remaining games, while not conceding anything, to evaluate Kelly and Thomas ... so we have a better feel for what we have. Thomas' speed is a weapon, and Kelly's size could be a factor ... but not if they're not on the field.

Thank you, AKH, for your insightful oratory, as always.

HTTR !!

[SkinsfaninNJ]

Good summary Akh.

In reading suggestion 1, the only thing to came to mind was Heyer may have consistency issues, but at least he doesn't consistently suck.

[LATrueRedskin]

The solution to all of this is easy: Start Colt Brennan.





















Good read as usual, akh.

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by SWFlaSkinsFan

Posted by: Akhhorus on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

A dialectic about the sorry state of affairs regarding the skins’ offense:

Question: So, what the blue hell is going on with the offense? Did the real Redskins’ offensive starters from September and October go on vacation while they dressed up the Calgary Roughriders to play for them?


Thank you, AKH, for your insightful oratory, as always.

HTTR !!

I'm hardly a master, but thanks for the insightful comments/answers. I agree that its a domino/cascading effect on the offense, but all the roads lead back to the oline issues imo.

Originally Posted by SkinsfaninNJ

Good summary Akh.

In reading suggestion 1, the only thing to came to mind was Heyer may have consistency issues, but at least he doesn't consistently suck.

So true. Heyer might suck, but he does inconsistently so.

[shally]

great stuff as usual

i will say that i do not expect for portis to re gain the level of performance he had early in the season. he is simply too beat up for this.. and it is a cautionary tale for years to come

the o line is showing total systemic failure.. yes, jansen is terrible, but rabach is almost as weak.. JC can move away from pressure coming from the right, but if the middle is pushed up into his face, it all collapses and there is NO option for 3 or 5 step drops.. the better solution might be to try the larger geisinger at center.. it wont happen this year barring injury

if they have to keep jansen next year because of cap reasons, trying him at center might be a real option ?

better still to draft or sign a better center.. birk would be huge upgrade

we need to badly get thomas, davis and kelly involved inthe offense.. mistakes or not, at least they provide a threat to opposing defenses..
having a scatback would also help a whole lot.. too bad we dont have mason anymore..

[Skaggsrules]

Wouldn't getting Fred Davis out on the field help as well...guy is a phenomenal athlete, he might have problems with assignments, but who isn't, he couldn't hurt

[shally]

Originally Posted by Skaggsrules

Wouldn't getting Fred Davis out on the field help as well...guy is a phenomenal athlete, he might have problems with assignments, but who isn't, he couldn't hurt

hell, yeah...!!!

totally agree

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by shally

great stuff as usual

i will say that i do not expect for portis to re gain the level of performance he had early in the season. he is simply too beat up for this.. and it is a cautionary tale for years to come

the o line is showing total systemic failure.. yes, jansen is terrible, but rabach is almost as weak.. JC can move away from pressure coming from the right, but if the middle is pushed up into his face, it all collapses and there is NO option for 3 or 5 step drops.. the better solution might be to try the larger geisinger at center.. it wont happen this year barring injury

if they have to keep jansen next year because of cap reasons, trying him at center might be a real option ?

better still to draft or sign a better center.. birk would be huge upgrade

we need to badly get thomas, davis and kelly involved inthe offense.. mistakes or not, at least they provide a threat to opposing defenses..
having a scatback would also help a whole lot.. too bad we dont have mason anymore..

I dunno how much of the problem is struggles from Rabach and Thomas in general or just Buges trying to overcompensate for Jansen's struggles. BIrk would be ideal, but thats not going to help now lol.

I don't think a Scatback would be the best idea, but a big grinder back.

Originally Posted by Skaggsrules

Wouldn't getting Fred Davis out on the field help as well...guy is a phenomenal athlete, he might have problems with assignments, but who isn't, he couldn't hurt

I think so, he might not know all the assignments, but you can't tell me him running zone seams wouldn't help slow down the blitz.

[esmith1790]

Good job as always on taking the time to write this up.

How much control do you think Zorn really has from Snyder for the 4 games and off-season. If Zorn wants to bench/release known players despite the cap cost just to get his guys in here, do you think Snyder would go for it?

Would Zorn be allowed to clean house?

[shally]

Originally Posted by akhhorus

I dunno how much of the problem is struggles from Rabach and Thomas in general or just Buges trying to overcompensate for Jansen's struggles. BIrk would be ideal, but thats not going to help now lol.

I don't think a Scatback would be the best idea, but a big grinder back.



I think so, he might not know all the assignments, but you can't tell me him running zone seams wouldn't help slow down the blitz.

we have a big back in sellers.. he aint being used. we have nemo onthe ps, and there is no thought that i know of to bring him up.. we are stuck right now

the more i think about it, the more i think that having the middle collapse is what is causing the problems.. earlier inthe year we didnt face very many teams with dominant DT's.. that allowed rabach to fire out and get after the linebackers.. now, he has to stay in and is getting killed. thomas has also really fallen off, although he was always a better puller than a mauler.
kendall is just aging but is still better than thomas.

you can run a 3 step drop with side pressure.. you cant with inside pressure.
that means most of JC's routes are 5 and 7 and that is where jansen's weakness is getting them killed.
systemic o line failure..that wont get fixed this year, i think, even with heyer being put in for jansen

[akhhorus]

Originally Posted by esmith1790

Good job as always on taking the time to write this up.

How much control do you think Zorn really has from Snyder for the 4 games and off-season. If Zorn wants to bench/release known players despite the cap cost just to get his guys in here, do you think Snyder would go for it?

Would Zorn be allowed to clean house?

If the skins finish poorly, I think Zorn would have carte blanche to clean house of players he thinks are useless. Snyder seems to really like Zorn, and probably would be very willing to give him leeway in this.

[shally]

Originally Posted by esmith1790

Good job as always on taking the time to write this up.

How much control do you think Zorn really has from Snyder for the 4 games and off-season. If Zorn wants to bench/release known players despite the cap cost just to get his guys in here, do you think Snyder would go for it?

Would Zorn be allowed to clean house?

i think zorn will have a large say on what happens to offensive personnel this off season.. snyder is smart enough to know that zorn's system wont work without the right players.
zorn proved he was an nfl level coach this season. now he needs more of the right players to implement his system.
zorn wont be running the draft, but he will have large input into who we pick up.. watch and see if we dont go after maurice morris or bobby engram if they are available as free agents.. that would be a very big tip off