Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Redskins' offense improves to, well, OK

By Rich Tandler

Most of the buzz around the Redskins lately has been around the improvement on the offense. And it does seem like the team has moved the ball better in the past five games. But have they improved from awful to merely bad? Or are they performing like a competent NFL offense?

Let’s take a look at the Redskins’ performance per game in the last five weeks to the NFL’s per-game averages in the major statistical categories.

 

So the Redskins are slightly above average in scoring, a little below average in rushing, and significantly above average in total yards and passing yardage. If they had performed the whole year like they have in the last five games, they would be 15^th in scoring, 14^th in total yardage, 17^th in rushing yardage and 11^th in passing yardage.

That hardly adds up to an offensive juggernaut but it does represent an improvement for a team that finished 2010 25^th in scoring, 18^th in total yardage, and 30^th in rushing yards. With Donovan McNabb at quarterback the Redskins did rank 8^th in passing yardage last year.

With a small sample size you have to examine the quality of the defenses they have played against to see if that could skew the stats. As it turns out, the Redskins have played two fairly good defenses in the Jets (ranked 7^th) and Seahawks (8^th), one in the middle of the pack in Dallas (13^th), and two bottom feeders, the Giants (29^th) and Patriots (32^nd). The average ranking of the defenses is 17.8, so the Redskins have faced defenses just slightly softer than average.

Rich Tandler blogs about the Redskins at www.RealRedskins.com. You can reach him by email at RTandlerCSN@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler. 

 

Trick plays set up the basics

By Ryan O’Halloran

Yes, that was the Redskins running a flea-flicker on the opening play last week against the Giants.

No, a double check isn’t needed, that was the Redskins running a reverse on their fourth offensive snap.

And, a rubbing of the eyes isn’t required, that was the Redskins opening their fourth series possession with an end around.

The first play was a Rex Grossman interception, but the two rushes were positive plays – Anthony Armstrong gained 14 yards on second-and-6 (leading to a field goal) and Niles Paul gained 7 yards (plus 15 when blocker Darrel Young was face-masked by Kenny Phillips, leading to a touchdown).

I asked offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan about those play calls on Wednesday. The gist – besides gaining yards, what was the thinking behind Armstrong’s second rush and Paul’s first of the year?

“We knew they had a really good pass rush and their front four and back-ups are as good as anyone you face throughout the year,” Kyle said. “You’ve got to get them moving in all different directions. We wanted them to try and see everything when they’re covering the field sideline to sideline playing the pass and playing the run.

“If you can get them looking around and seeing a little too much, you can get them not teeing off. If they just tee off and rush the quarterback, there aren’t too many people in the league who can block them.”

Translation: Kyle has talked a lot this year about running things to “set up” other things and when the Redskins built a lead, it allowed him to call plays to take advantage of the Giants’ defense being wary of misdirection plays.

Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@comcastsportsnet.com

 

Where were the adjustments?

By Rich Tandler

Last week, I asked Kyle Shanahan about teams making adjustments to what John Beck did well against the Panthers and if he needs to be coming up with ways to counter the defensive countermeasures. Here was his response:

The more you put on tape as the year goes, the more that you have got to adjust. It’s not just game-to-game, it’s series to series and half to half, so I think that is the game of football. It is a chess match and you always want to stay one step ahead. Any time a team takes something away, you’ve got to go back to something else.

The part about the chess match is interesting. As the game unfolded yesterday it became apparent that only one team was playing chess and that was the Buffalo Bills. The Redskins were playing Candyland.

Actually, the Redskins offense did not force Bills defensive coordinator George Edwards, who was laughed out of town after a year in Washington as Steve Spurrier’s defensive coordinator, to do much of anything beyond Pawn to King 4. The Redskins worked their way into checkmate early and often.

At some point during the “series-to-series and half-to-half” time frames, why did Kyle not try to do anything different? If your quarterback gets sacked nine times, shouldn’t you at some point make an adjustment? The tried and true ways to beat a pass rush are quick passes with three-step drops, draw plays, and keeping more blockers in. Even without a thorough review of the game tape I think that I can safely say that if any of these methods was tried yesterday it happened only briefly.

There was a similar lack of adjustments in the running game. Since going off for 135 yards against the Rams, Ryan Torain has gained a total of 17 yards in the two games since. When he struggled at the beginning of yesterday’s game, it was pretty obvious that he did not have the sought-after hot hand. So, the solution was to give up on the run entirely. Roy Helu, who came into the game averaging 4.9 yards per carry, did not have a single rushing attempt. Given that even Donte Stallworth got a carry, that borders on coaching malpractice.

Time after time, the Bills took away what the Redskins were doing. Time after time, the Redskins did not go to something else. At some point, persistence at doing the same thing turns to predictability, which turns to stubborn, which turns to stupid. After yesterday’s game, the Redskins are at some point pretty far down that path.

 

Helu finished vs. the Panthers, will he start against the Bills?

By Rich Tandler

With Tim Hightower out for the season and a third running back for the roster yet to be determined, most are assuming that Ryan Torain will start at running back for the Redskins when they play the Bills in Toronto on Sunday.

A look at how playing time was distributed last week, however, might indicate that that’s not the case.

I knew that Torain did not play much last week but when looking at the snap counts done by Ryan O’Halloran at CSNwashington.com I was surprised to see that he played all of three snaps.

He carried to ball twice, once in each of the first two series of the second half, for a net of minus-five years (one for minus-seven, the other for two) so he was in there for one other snap.

Roy Helu, however, saw plenty of action. He played 33 of the 67 offensive snaps. That is two more than Hightower had and, of course, 30 more than Torain.

Helu played every snap of the Redskins’ final four possessions while Torain watched.

To be sure, the Redskins were trailing by at least 10 on each of those last four possessions and perhaps Mike and Kyle Shanahan wanted Helu, who is more of a home run threat than Torain, in the lineup for those reasons. But that also means that they trust Helu in pass protection since they were in all-passing mode at that point in time.

The game was getting out of hand from midway through the third quarter on but it was never true garbage time. While it never really felt like the Redskins really had a chance to catch the Panthers, Helu wasn’t in the game just because the coaches wanted to give the rookie a little work. He was in because they thought Helu gave them the best chance to score some points.

The fact that the coaches preferred Helu over Torain for the last quarter and a half does not necessarily mean that they will have the same preference at the start of next Sunday’s game. But given how the Panthers game ended up it would not be at all surprising to see Helu lined up to take the first snap against the Bills.

How long will Cooley be out?

By Rich Tandler

In his always-outstanding Four Downs article posted here yesterday, Ryan O’Halloran breaches the notion Chris Cooley may have played his last down for the Redskins. Let’s look into that thought a bit further.

Cooley, of course, will be sidelined with a broken index finger he suffered during the Eagles game. He will have surgery to repair the injury, presumably by having pins or screws inserted into it, on Wednesday.

Although it is hard to say this early, the general prognosis for such an injury is in the four to six week range. That would have Cooley back sometime in mid-November or the first of December, certainly a point in the season where the Redskins’ games could be meaningful.

However, one reporter asked Mike Shanahan if Cooley might be out for the season. His answer was interesting:

“He’s going to get [his index finger] operated on Wednesday and I think after the surgery I need to get some more opinions on his knee. We did rest it and it did swell up again eventually.  We need to know what the doctors think with the finger, with the knee, exactly where he’ll be at… We’ll listen to opinions over the next few days, especially after the surgery to make a decision for sure.” 

In not giving a “no” or even a “we sure hope not” reply, Shanahan certainly left the door open to putting Cooley on season-ending injured reserve. It would seem to depend on his knee as much as his finger. The knee problem kept Cooley out of most of training camp and the preseason. He had not missed a game but a red flag was raised last week after Cooley was limited in practice last week because he had to have some fluid drained from the knee.

Whether Cooley goes on the shelf or comes back for the stretch run in December his future with the team beyond 2011 is cloudy.

Cooley has two years left on the six-year, $30 million contract extension he signed in 2007. He is slated to make $3.8 million next year and $3.85 million in 2013. Fred Davis has emerged as a potential star tight end and his contract is up at the end of this season. The Redskins could choose to give Davis a healthy contract, a move that would leave them deciding if the salary cap could support two relatively high-priced tight ends.

It is important to note that all of this is conjecture. A move to place Cooley on IR does not seem to be imminent. Perhaps Cooley could redo his deal to allow him to stay or the Redskins could decide to pay both him and Davis.

The situation, however, does bear watching. 

 

Running quickly abandoned vs. Eagles

By Rich Tandler

For the past several weeks I have been writing a postgame article on the Redskins’ run-pass play selections. I don’t think that anything as in depth as what I have been doing in necessary since the lopsided score explains the pass-heavy play calling but let’s take a quick look at it anyway.

As a reminder, sacks and quarterback scrambles are counted as pass plays and kneel-downs are no plays.

First drive, score 0-0

Three pass plays (1-2, 1 INT), two running plays

This was the first of four first-half drives that started with a pass; only one started with a run. The Redskins had great field position at the Eagles 44 but after getting a first down on a pass from Rex Grossman to Fred Davis, Trent Williams was flagged for holding on a running play. The third of three passes from that point was intercepted.

Second drive, score 7-0 Eagles

One pass play (0-1), two running plays

After two Torain runs gained eight yards, Grossman threw to Chris Cooley near the line. Nnamdi Asomugha tackled him instantly, possibly ending Cooley’s season.

Third drive, score 14-0 Eagles

Four pass plays (1-3 and a penalty), two running plays

The Redskins found themselves in a hole at the five yard line after a holding penalty on the kickoff return. It looked like they were going to be punting from their own end zone but a personal foul penalty bailed them out after an incomplete pass on third down.

Fourth drive, score 17-0 Eagles

One pass play (INT)

For a moment it looked like the Redskins were back in the game as Jabar Gaffney was a couple of steps behind his defender but Grossman’s pass was underthrown and picked off.

Including their two-minute drive after the Eagles took a 20-0 lead, the Redskins ran 21 plays in the first half. As Kyle Shanahan always like to tell us, if you don’t get any sustained drives going it is hard to mix up runs and passes the way you would like to. And falling further and further behind each time you get the ball doesn’t help either.

 

Four Downs: What is Cooley's status?

By Ryan O'Halloran
CSNwashington.com

First Down
Leftovers from the Redskins’ 20-13 loss to Philadelphia:

* Cornerback DeAngelo Hall played in his 100th game and made his 33rd interception (first this year).

* Tight end Fred Davis has eight catches of 20 yards or longer this year; he had only four in 16 games last year. 

* Entering last night’s Miami-Jets game, Brandon Banks led the NFL in kick returns (18) and kick return yards (437). His 24.3-yard average ranks 14th.

Second Down
A question brought up in the media room post-Shanahan and it’s legitimate: Has Chris Cooley played his last game as a Redskin?

Shanahan was asked point-blank if Cooley’s season is over because of a broken finger that will require surgery on Wednesday. But Shanahan offered that he wants to get “some opinions” on Cooley’s knee.

It will an interesting situation to monitor.

Third Down
A first look at Carolina reveals the Panthers are moving the ball but can’t stop the run and are prone to allowing big plays.

The offense ranks fifth in yards per game (418.2) and rushing (120.8) and 18th in points per game (22.2).

The defense is big-play prone (No. 28 in yards per play, 6.2), 31st against the run (140.3) and tied for 28th in points allowed (27.2).

Fourth Down
During his Monday press conference, Shanahan engaged in an unusual bit of candor when asked if win-loss record is the be-all, end-all to making a quarterback decision.

“First of all, I’m going to use facts whichever way I want to based on what story I want to throw out there,” Shanahan said.

Enough said. Take anything he says with a grain of salt.

 

 

Despite minimal changes, Redskins OL improved

By Rich Tandler

The Redskins had, my most measures, one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL last year. Holes or lanes for the running backs were few and far between and Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman frequently had to pick themselves up off the ground.

During the offseason, Mike Shanahan added only one new player to the starting unit and moved another. Center Casey Rabach was released and Will Montgomery, the right guard last year, was moved into his spot. Chris Chester left the Ravens and was signed to fill Montgomery’s spot.

The depth may be improved with the addition of veteran tackle Sean Locklear but the Redskins have not had to find out. So far, the five players who started the season—Trent Williams, Kory Lichtensteiger, Montgomery, Chester, and Jammal Brown from left to right—have played every snap of every game.

It seems like Shanahan’s minimalist approach to changes on the line has worked fairly well. The current unit is not going to make anyone forget the 1982 Hogs, at least not yet, but they have become a competent NFL offensive line.

Some numbers from Football Outsiders provide some support here. The statistical gurus go through game film and evaluate each play and use the data to create all sorts of numbers that help analyze play.

One of their indexes is adjusted line yards. You can read the details on the site but it is an attempt to measure rushing yardage that the line is responsible for. To put it simply, the line doesn’t get full “credit” for a breakaway run where the back is making a lot of yardage while the line, having done its job, is watching. The metric also penalizes the line extra when runners are caught for a loss.

In 2010, the Redskins ranked a sub-mediocre 24^th in adjusted line yards with 3.81 per rushing attempt. This year, the Redskins’ line is opening up 4.40 yards of running room per carry for the running backs, good for eighth in the NFL. The rankings are through Week 4.

Their pass protection metric showed that the Redskins gave up sacks on 7.3 percent of dropbacks in 2010, 22^nd best in the NFL. This year Rex Grossman is getting sacked 5.6 percent of the time he tries to pass, 14^th in the league.

I will include the standard warning here about reading too much into numbers based on a fairly small sample size. But the Redskins offensive line does pass the eyeball test as an improved unit and these numbers back up that feeling. 

 

Will Niles Paul get more playing time?

By Ryan O'Halloran

Once the Redskins return to work Monday, it will continue to be interesting how the receiver group shakes down.

Santana Moss and Jabar Gaffney are the starters – that’s a done deal. Anthony Armstrong was No. 3 until his injury and Donte’ Stallworth/Terrence Austin were in a game-by-game rotation.

The new factor is rookie Niles Paul. He played 22 snaps of offense against the Rams. The Shanahans are clearly high on the draft pick so the next step is getting him touches and see if he can be a big-play threat. The Redskins are averaging only 11.9 yards per reception.

 

Cooley off to a slow start

By Ryan O'Halloran

Statistically, tight end Chris Cooley is off to the worst start of his eight-year career. A look at his four-game totals:

2004: Eight catches-64 yards-two touchdowns.

2005: 17-197-1.

2006: 11-108-0.

2007: 10-80-0.

2008: 17-179-0.

2009: 22-254-2.

2010: 16-234-2.

2011: 7-66-0.

The emergence of Fred Davis, Cooley’s knee injury that robbed him of the preseason and seeing nearly 40 snaps the last games at fullback certainly contribute to the lack of productivity. But it’s time to get Cooley untracked.