Santana Moss needs the damn ball

[MTK]

Something that's been bugging me the last 2 weeks is the complete disappearance of Santana Moss. I know that the Rams and Eagles basically sold out to stop him, but Zorn needs to get creative and get the ball in his hands. Screens, put him in motion, reverses, whatever, just get him the damn ball. He's just too talented to have 2 catches in 2 weeks, and he's too valuable to this offense to let defenses take him out of the gameplan.

[J. Spanky]

agreed!

and if defenses are taking him out of the game so successfully, we need to do a much better job of exploiting the coverage holes that are left by doubling him.

the way cooley made the eagles pay for focusing on santana, is what needs to happen EVERY time. we did not do that against the rams.

[jbcjr14]

Originally Posted by J. Spanky

agreed!

and if defenses are taking him out of the game so successfully, we need to do a much better job of exploiting the coverage holes that are left by doubling him.

the way cooley made the eagles pay for focusing on santana, is what needs to happen EVERY time. we did not do that against the rams.

The Skins did make them pay...unfortunately we turned it over 3 times deep in Rams territory that took at LEAST 10 points off the board and 7 on the board for them.

[Paintrain]

While I don't agree with forcing the ball to someone in spite of the defense (a la T.O.) I think Z has to do a better job of making sure Moss touches the ball more. Do the bubble screens, run a reverse or two, run him on a shallow drag pattern, etc. He needs to get the ball if for nothing more than to keep defenses honest.

[Redskins_P]

I agree. They need to start moving him around in motion and even run some reverses with him. Or they could run some screens early in the game when the defense isn't expecting it.

What kills me the most is that he's my starting WR on my fantasy team and he hasn't given me $hit in the last two weeks.

[hesscl34]

I couldn't agree more. JC also needs to give him more opportunity and not always go for the check down because he's being covered. Sometimes you gotta take a shot!

[over the mountain]

lots of good thoughts from ya'll. i agree that teams focusing in on moss has helped cooley rack up catches and yards and i think that is something we must continue to be successful at if Ds continue to gameplan around moss.

to add your alls suggestion of bubble screens, etc i would like to see some drag routes out of moss like he did for his first td catch this year and what the boys did with TO in the second half against us when we were doubling TO. drag him across the field so he can use his speed to get separation if its man coverage, it its zone JC hits him as the cb releases moss to an inside zone defender who hasnt picked him up yet.

truth be told, from what weve seen from coach zorn is that he is very studious about identifying problems and implementing adjustments to take care of those problems.

go skins!!

[GTripp0012]

If we protect Jason Campbell better, he'll be able to find Moss downfield. I disagree that we should be running bad plays just so Moss touches the ball. However, if the defense is overpursuing, thats another story.

Here's how to protect the QB better.

Jason Fabini Don't ever see the field.
Casey Rabach You're a 9 year veteran. Learn how to sort out the protections.
Jon Jansen Get him help against top pass rushing LEs. Jansen gives way too much ground with Portis to help. He almost always ends the play in Campbell's hip pocket. If you are beat, Portis will chip your guy back into harms way.
Randy Thomas You need better leverage off the snap. If you win the first step, it's all over.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

If we protect Jason Campbell better, he'll be able to find Moss downfield. I disagree that we should be running bad plays just so Moss touches the ball. However, if the defense is overpursuing, thats another story.

Here's how to protect the QB better.

Jason Fabini Don't ever see the field.
Casey Rabach You're a 9 year veteran. Learn how to sort out the protections.
Jon Jansen Get him help against top pass rushing LEs. Jansen gives way too much ground with Portis to help. He almost always ends the play in Campbell's hip pocket. If you are beat, Portis will chip your guy back into harms way.
Randy Thomas You need better leverage off the snap. If you win the first step, it's all over.

I thought one of the newer issues with this offense was that JC had to take care of a lot more of the protection calls rather than Rabach?

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

I thought one of the newer issues with this offense was that JC had to take care of a lot more of the protection calls rather than Rabach?

Well, either way, someone is screwing up. We were bad at picking up all the blitzers last year, and we were 16 kinds of awful picking them up against the Rams.

On plays where Campbell knows that he's not going to get the blitz picked up, he possesses an incredible ability to not only slide around the pocket to get the ball out, but turn the play into the positive by finding an open receiver before a free rusher can get to him. That's Manning/Brady type stuff.

However, on other plays, Campbell clearly expects a 5 man blitz (usually a right side overload to be picked up), and usually this involves either a one on one situation on Jansen or Cooley, or a free blitzer in a gap, and Rabach won't touch anyone the whole play.

I'm really not out to get Casey Rabach here, but no matter who is calling the protection, he blocks nobody FAR too often. The book on the Redskins is this: if you want to get pressure on Campbell, overload the right side, with no one rushing in either A gap. Rabach doesn't ever slide over to Thomas' side to free him up to pick up an unblocked rusher, he just stands in the middle shuffling his feet and waiting for someone to come so he doesn't have to move.

I'd estimate this happens 3-4 times every game. At the same time, what can you do? Replace the Center? There's no guarantee things will get any better. You just have to keep Cooley and Portis in pass pro more often to make up for those plays where Rabach is useless.

[hooskins]

how about some motions/screens to give him an edge?

[Skins_4_Lyfe]

Jason Campbell has not thrown a TD in 10 quarters...WTF...Zorn has discovered and is falling in love with this thing called a running game. I wouldn't expect to see too much more of Campbell and Moss...niether will make the probowl this year for the simple reason that Gibbs left behind a power running team. He really is putting an emphasis on the running game which is justified by the unnecessary signing of Alexander. But I do miss seeing the Campbell-Moss connection, I thought it would be our backbone for years to come.

[Southpaw]

It'd probably also help if Moss could hold on to the balls that are thrown his way.

[53Fan]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

It'd probably also help if Moss could hold on to the balls that are thrown his way.

1-You have to make those catches. 2-Campbell needs the line to play better. 3-The Philadelphia game was a perfect example of what to do if he is going to be the main focus of the defense.

[CA_Redskins]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

It'd probably also help if Moss could hold on to the balls that are thrown his way.

I'm shocked it took this long before someone mentioned the number of drops Santana has this season. That goes for you too ARE.

Previous posts are right... If we give JC some damn pass protection, he might have some time to let Santana get open. He checks down so quickly because he has no reason to believe anyone up front will protect him for more then 3 steps.