Smoot Lays The Smack Down (Redskins vs. Colts)

[NC_Skins]

I'd rather consistently go 80 yards in 10-15 plays, while moving the chains and controlling the clock, than to go 80 yards in a single play on occasions.

[NLC1054]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

I'd rather consistently go 80 yards in 10-15 plays, while moving the chains and controlling the clock, than to go 80 yards in a single play on occasions.

Bingo.

I thought we sucked last year a controlling the clock. No point in McNabb throwing a 78 yard bomb to anyone if he gets to the red zone and the drive stalls and we have to kick a field goal. Teams kick our butt a lot based on TOP, which also contributed to our defense being torn up all season.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by NC_Skins

I'd rather consistently go 80 yards in 10-15 plays, while moving the chains and controlling the clock, than to go 80 yards in a single play on occasions.

Yes, that's what I would also call - being in full control of the game.

It's boring to some, but this is what I enjoyed and why I became a fan of the redskins during the reign of Gibbs I. Every season, under the Gibbs I era, they were consistently competitive even when they weren't good enough to compete for the superbowl. And some of the main reasons were the ones that you mentioned above.

[SirClintonPortis]

Matt Schaub attempted forty 20+ yard passes last season out of 574 attempts. He attempted 48 20+ yard passes in 2009 out of 583 attempts, which was Kyle Shanahan's last season there.

Andre Johnson's also had a 1500+ yard season in 2009. What this means is that a hell of a lot of the yards he got were from short and intermediate passes.

The Texans had a remarkably efficient passing game, and they didn't go deep that often.

Besides, with the touchback off kickoffs as king this season, teams will have to be able to move the chains or suffer in the field position battle.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

Matt Schaub attempted forty 20+ yard passes last season out of 574 attempts. He attempted 48 20+ yard passes in 2009 out of 583 attempts, which was Kyle Shanahan's last season there.

Andre Johnson's also had a 1500+ yard season in 2009. What this means is that a hell of a lot of the yards he got were from short and intermediate passes.

The Texans had a remarkably efficient passing game, and they didn't go deep that often.

Besides, with the touchback off kickoffs as king this season, teams will have to be able to move the chains or suffer in the field position battle.

So in 2009 Schaub averaged 3 deep balls a game and 2.5 deep balls a game last year.

We've thrown maybe 2 deep balls in 2 games (I say "maybe" because the Stallworth throw was right about 20 yards and thus not that deep). Even if we count the Stallworth throw, we thus average 1 deep ball per game.

1 per game vs. 2.5 or 3 per game. There's a difference here.

If Houston's offense is the standard - which is debatable - then we have a lesser vertical element in our offense so far. That was my point.

As I said above, things may change with time.

[NLC1054]

Originally Posted by Lotus

So in 2009 Schaub averaged 3 deep balls a game and 2.5 deep balls a game last year.

We've thrown maybe 2 deep balls in 2 games (I say "maybe" because the Stallworth throw was right about 20 yards and thus not that deep). Even if we count the Stallworth throw, we thus average 1 deep ball per game.

1 per game vs. 2.5 or 3 per game. There's a difference here.

If Houston's offense is the standard - which is debatable - then we have a lesser vertical element in our offense so far. That was my point.

As I said above, things may change with time.

Yeah, we took two shots deep in the Steelers game. The first was off the play action bootleg where Rex rolled out and tried to hit Stallworth (yeah, I count that as deep.) The next was when Banks had that big return, Rex dropped back and tried the pump and go to Moss, which also fell incomplete.

Which brings us back to the Colts game. Again, just go back and look at the game tape--you never see the Colts safeties on the screen. They played two deep safeties and dropped seven every. Single. Down. Or almost every single down.

So the concept of "well we should've taken a shot deep because if not they're going to stick a safety in the box"...the Colts never dropped a safety in the box. The idea that we should've taken a shot deep just for the sake of taking one, even if there was practically no chance whatsoever of the pass being completed given how many guys were in coverage, is flawed.

I guess it would've made fans feel better, but it wouldn't have helped to win the football game.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by NLC1054

Yeah, we took two shots deep in the Steelers game. The first was off the play action bootleg where Rex rolled out and tried to hit Stallworth (yeah, I count that as deep.) The next was when Banks had that big return, Rex dropped back and tried the pump and go to Moss, which also fell incomplete.

Which brings us back to the Colts game. Again, just go back and look at the game tape--you never see the Colts safeties on the screen. They played two deep safeties and dropped seven every. Single. Down. Or almost every single down.

So the concept of "well we should've taken a shot deep because if not they're going to stick a safety in the box"...the Colts never dropped a safety in the box. The idea that we should've taken a shot deep just for the sake of taking one, even if there was practically no chance whatsoever of the pass being completed given how many guys were in coverage, is flawed.

I guess it would've made fans feel better, but it wouldn't have helped to win the football game.

You do not seem to grasp the concept of keeping a defense honest. If you want to run and throw short passes on long drives, as you stated above, you have to keep the safeties from creeping up. This is why everyone in the league takes strategic shots occasionally. Not all the time, just occasionally. And our average of one a game (at best) is not really "occasionally."

Your notion that it is IMPOSSIBLE to complete a deep ball on cover 2 is also problematic. It's difficult but not impossible, as evidenced by the fact that someone does it every week.

You seem to be bringing black-and-white thinking to a shades-of-grey topic.

[NLC1054]

Originally Posted by Lotus

You do not seem to grasp the concept of keeping a defense honest. If you want to run and throw short passes on long drives, as you stated above, you have to keep the safeties from creeping up. This is why everyone in the league takes strategic shots occasionally. Not all the time, just occasionally. And our average of one a game (at best) is not really "occasionally."

Your notion that it is IMPOSSIBLE to complete a deep ball on cover 2 is also problematic. It's difficult but not impossible, as evidenced by the fact that someone does it every week.

You seem to be bringing black-and-white thinking to a shades-of-grey topic.

I'm not saying you're wrong about safeties creeping up. Nor am I saying it's impossible to throw deep on a cover 2 defense.

I'm saying the Colts never dropped a safety into the box the entire game. I'm saying, in this one particular game, of which John Beck is taking criticism for, in which he was instructed by his offensive coordinator to take what the defense gave him, this particular defense dropped seven guys into coverage on nearly every down.

As I said before, their safeties were so deep, they were rarely on the screen. Keeping the defense honest, in this case, in this one particular case, was a moot point, because the safeties were never in the box, and were essentially being "kept honest" the entire game.

When they did bring a safety on a blitz, Beck picked it up and hit Santana Moss on a cross route that went for the first down. They only dropped that safety into the box when the Redskins were on their 20 in the red zone.

The rest of the time, despite the short passes and the running game, the Colts never put a safety in the box. You can't "keep a defense honest" when they've already shown that they have no intention of letting you get deep on them, short passes and run game be damned.

I fully expect the gameplan to be different versus the Ravens. I'm just stating that I don't think it's fair to criticize John for not "taking a shot" to keep a defense honest that was already paying things pretty honest.

[NLC1054]

Originally Posted by SirClintonPortis

Matt Schaub attempted forty 20+ yard passes last season out of 574 attempts. He attempted 48 20+ yard passes in 2009 out of 583 attempts, which was Kyle Shanahan's last season there.

Andre Johnson's also had a 1500+ yard season in 2009. What this means is that a hell of a lot of the yards he got were from short and intermediate passes.

The Texans had a remarkably efficient passing game, and they didn't go deep that often.

Besides, with the touchback off kickoffs as king this season, teams will have to be able to move the chains or suffer in the field position battle.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that info?

[SirClintonPortis]

Originally Posted by NLC1054

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get that info?

Espn.com stats. Go the "Splits" section. Scroll down a bit to "By Pass Play", and you'll see them.

Example: Peyton Manning Stats, Splits - Indianapolis Colts - ESPN