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Redskins-Giants: Offensive Review

I reviewed every single play from the Giants-Redskins game, and took some critical notes on interesting trends, and pretty much looked at the entire game to see just how far the Redskins have to go. I learned a few interesting things and hope to share them with you.

The metric I used to measure overall success is called “success rate”, and measures the rate at which any given play gains 45%, 60%, and 100% of the yards to gain on first, second, and third/fourth downs respectively. Higher numbers are better, and the target for an overall strong performance is at around a 50 percent success rate.

This is the offensive review, and the defensive review will be following shortly. Enjoy!

[B]Jim Zorn[/B]

Formation Selection:
Singleback: 59%
3+ WR: 67%
4+ WR: 11%
2 TE: 13%
Shotgun: 30%
Playcalling:
Run: 44%
Pass: 56%

I’m satisfied with the amount of Shotgun being used thus far, and with the current WR situation, we don’t want to be spreading it more often than we did in this game. In the future, I’d hope that we see more 2 TE stuff from this offense, as two of our top offensive playmakers play that position.
It’s hard to hold anything against Zorn thus far. I agree with any of you who think that the lack of a hurry-up offense was perplexing down the stretch, but Zorn masterfully ran down the clock in the first half prior to the Redskins only TD, so the clock management was definately a mixed bag.

The playcalling is obviously skewed due to the final two drives in which the Redskins were forced to throw. The playcalling was pretty even to that point, with a strong tendency to run on first down. I’m not really sure how I feel like that: if there is a weakness on the Giants, its their secondary, and we simply did not test them often enough. Still, I’m not mad that we ran the ball so often — even though the Giants had a great rush D last year, the run is going to be our bread and butter early in the season.

[B]Passing Offense:
[/B]

Jason Campbell — 15/27 for 133 yards and 1 TD
There will be more far productive days in Jason Campbell’s future, but I think a lot of fans are mistaking things that didn’t happen on Thursday for shortcomings in Campbell’s game — and that’s ludicrous. Prior to that last, meaningless drive, Campbell had thrown only 19 passes. 19. That’s fewer than 5 passes per quarter! Put very simply, there isn’t a whole lot that Campbell should be expected to accomplish when throwing fewer than 5 times per quarter. Campbell looked hesitant and slow making his reads, sometimes struggling to find his second target if his primary target was covered. That’s not something that should inspire confidence in the fanbase, but it shouldn’t have been a complete shock.

Pass Protection: 1 sack allowed

The sack was the first offensive play of the season, and can be put 100% on Jason Campbell. But that doesn’t mean the protection was totally peachy all night long. The number one culprit of pressure on Campbell was confusion. I imagine that confusion is always an issue that creates pressure on the QB no matter who is on the OL, but Giants DC Steve Spagnuolo definately made some on the Redskins interior line guess wrong, leading to pressure up the middle on Campbell. Stephon Heyer was a very close second reason. Heyer played well during the limited passes in the first half, but in the second half, he was always a step slow getting off the ball. Justin Tuck consistently got the leverage on him, and even the immortal Dave Tollefson beat him twice. Good news though: he can handle Renaldo Wynn, who no longer has any explosiveness left in his legs. Samuels, Rabach, and Randy Thomas each got beaten really badly once. Pete Kendall had the best game of any of the linemen in pass pro.
Chris Cooley was simply used too much in pass pro. He’s pretty good at it, but he’s too important running down the field to stay in as much as he did on Thursday.

Receivers:
Randle El- 7 for 73, 2 false starts
Moss- 5 for 37, 1 TD, 1 drop
Thrash- 1 drop
Betts- 1 for 11 yards, 1 drop
Cooley- 1 for 7 yards
D. Thomas- 1 for 5 yards

It was a mediocre day for the receivers. There were some nice plays made in the passing game: Moss’ TD and that nice catch in the second half, as well as Randle El making some nice plays on the sideline and down the middle of the field. However, the drops are still a concern, and the lack of discipline on Randle El’s part is troubling.

Overall passing efficiency, as measured by success rate:

8/27 = 30%

Thirty percent is a poor passing game success rate, and accurately chronicles the struggles that this unit faced. The biggest problem was coming up short of the first down marker on completed third down passes. Devin Thomas made the most obvious error here, catching the ball a yard short of the marker and not picking up the first, but given it was his first NFL catch, we can cut him a break here. Campbell showed nice patience on third downs not forcing the ball, but at some point, the Redskins will have to strike a better balance between patience and aggresssion in converting these third downs.

[B]Rushing offense:[/B]

Clinton Portis- 23 for 84 yards

Against a tough run D like the Giants, Portis actually ran pretty well. It works out to 3.65 yards per carry, but it’s something that the offense can build on. Portis also de-cleated Mathias Kiwanuka in an absolutely perfectly executed block. Portis broke a 24 yard scamper into the secondary of the Giants, which did not happen nearly enough last season.

Run blocking

As much as Heyer struggled in pass protection, his quickness could be a real asset to this line as a run blocker at the second level. Heyer was, at times, dominant in the running game. There were mistakes for sure on his end, but the Redskins are mixing in some zone blocking schemes, and Heyer seems like an ideal tackle in these schemes.

On one play, Chris Samuels just lit up two Giants. It was a thing of beauty. Samuels probably had the best run blocking game of any of the linemen, while Pete Kendall also had a pretty good day in run blocking. Casey Rabach has a strong tendency to get driven into the backfield right on the snap, but once he survives the initial hit, he does a good job finishing blocks. I can’t sugarcoat Randy Thomas’ day — his return to the lineup was a disappointment. He struggled massively in run blocking. His one really nice block came while pulling, he sprang Portis’ 24 yard scamper, blowing a linebacker out of the way.

Chris Cooley had a horrific day in run blocking. Cooley is too good for this, and I think he just had a few concentration lapses. The main problem was when the backside end ran across Cooley’s face to get into the play. Cooley should rebound from this, but he was a key reason why the Redskins offense got stuck in neutral. Mike Sellers’ athleticism is very overrated. He’s not really athletic enough to handle Mathias Kiwanuka in the run blocking game. Sellers is probably playing out of position — at 280, he’s an ideal blocking TE, but we do love seeing our fullback rumble through lead blocks. Still, the Redskins are probably at their best when in the single back. Sellers can still drive DT’s off the ball, so when he’s playing between the tackles, he’s pretty valuable.

Overall rushing efficiency, as measured by success rate:
8/23 = 35%
Still not good, but the running game was a bit more effective then the passing game was. Considering the Giants defend the run better than they defend the pass, I think the passing game has a much, much further way to go than the running game does. The Redskins should be able to improve on that 35% next week against the Saints.

[B]Overall Success/Failure [/B]

16/50 = 32%

Ugh. Not a very good day overall, but also not quite as bad as it seemed while watching it. The second half was much better than the first half, and to be fair, the field position was poor all day for the offense. Only one scoring drive is hardly a good start, but this offense has a long, long way to go to reach where it was last year. The running game will be relied on early and often, and hopefully, if everything goes right, the Redskins will play well enough on offense to get the win in the home opener next Sunday.