Redskins-Bucs Reviews (and Needs Analysis!)

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Re the offensive line: If the Bucs adjusted to what the Skins did in the first half with the Skins' running attack, why was there no subsequent adjustment by the Skins to the "different defense" in front of them? Was this a coaching deficiency - - they had no "Plan B"?

Or is it that the OL has one way of going about their business running the ball and if it works, great - - but if it doesn't, then let's just throw the ball 90% of the time?

Personally, I think there was no "Plan B" because the Skins' offensive philosophy seems to be to find a reason to abandon the run and throw the ball all over the lot. Can't prove that, but that is what it sure looks like to me on most weekends and definitely what it looked like against the Bucs.

When it's crunch time, there's no doubt we're going to pass instead of run. That's our identity.

The problem is that we're a poor first down passing team AND a poor first down rushing team. Torain's 1st quarter dominance was a nice break for that trend, but things went back to the same old after that.

We do seem to abandon the run entirely in second halves of games. A lot of the time, we're just losing the game. But I don't think we have particularly disciplined run-pass balance either. It's just that the more the game goes towards the line, the more we cautiously trust McNabb to save us. It's also why we never blow anyone out, even the worst teams on our schedule.