Breakdown: Redskins-Jets

[RobH4413]

Great breakdown, especially since I haven't been able to watch any games the past couple of weeks because of work. It's interesting to see how big of a role the DB plays in GW's schematics. Glad we have more depth this season... and I pray another DB won't go down.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by GTripp0012

Jason Campbell was a lot better in the first half than he was in the second. In second half, I charted 5 mistakes in the 2nd half from Campbell, but NONE after the inteception. After the pick, the coaches appeared to take the game out of his hands entirely, by running with great success

I also noticed that they basically took the game out of Campbell's hands after the pick, and I think that's part of the problem. As much as I used to bash Brunell for having happy feet and throwing the ball away on third downs; I'm starting to think that way of thinking was pounded into his head by Gibbs and company.

We all know that Gibbs hates turnovers, but what do you think that does to a young quarterbacks confidence when you handcuff him to the run for almost the entire second half, because he got hit and tossed a bad ball? Brunell was to the point that he would throw it away with the game on the line, just so he didn't take the chance of throwing a pick. Campbell is starting to display similar tendencies to the way Brunell played(lots of checkdowns, tentative on throwing long, etc.). It's starting to look like, at least to me, that the killer instinct is being trained out of the Washington quarterbacks, and that's probably a big part of the problem with the passing game.

[Stacks42]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

I also noticed that they basically took the game out of Campbell's hands after the pick, and I think that's part of the problem. As much as I used to bash Brunell for having happy feet and throwing the ball away on third downs; I'm starting to think that way of thinking was pounded into his head by Gibbs and company.

We all know that Gibbs hates turnovers, but what do you think that does to a young quarterbacks confidence when you handcuff him to the run for almost the entire second half, because he got hit and tossed a bad ball? Brunell was to the point that he would throw it away with the game on the line, just so he didn't take the chance of throwing a pick. Campbell is starting to display similar tendencies to the way Brunell played(lots of checkdowns, tentative on throwing long, etc.). It's starting to look like, at least to me, that the killer instinct is being trained out of the Washington quarterbacks, and that's probably a big part of the problem with the passing game.

Brian Mitchell said the same thing on the post game show. He said that all week Gibbs pounds into JCs head not to turn the ball over, so he is over thinking, and this taking too much time. That one second though of "dont throw a pick" could be the reason his downfield shots are not on time or on target.

[JWsleep]

On the D line, Griff only played a few snaps. From the WPost:

Defensive lineman Cornelius Griffin, limited to only two plays against the Jets after aggravating a back injury during pregame warmups, hopes to play a bigger role this week.

That hurts everything on the D and is very worrisome. I think we'll go back to some of the deeper coverage, less blitz stuff against McNabb. Hope Griff can play.

I also think that taking the ball out of JCs hands this week was also a function of the D we we're playing against--they we're begging us to run with 6 in the box, and taking away the deeper stuff for much of the game. He needs more throws to get in rhythm, IMO, like many QBs. Don't know if he's hurting--many have said that, but I'm not sure that's it. He looks (like many young QBs) to be late on the reads at times. Even on throws he makes over the middle, he's not hitting those on timing but with his arm strength. And it's not a bad move to minimize the TOs here--that's been the killer for us. It may be a self-fulfilling prophecy, though: we don't open it up because we don't have to O to recover from TOs, and we don't have the O to recover from TOs because we don't open it up.

But the point, offensively, of this game, was to establish the run. That we did. Now we need to maintain the run production (if not at this huge a number, at a good average, at least), and work JC up in the passing game. And JC has to hit some things in the long game. JUST ONE PLAY THERE MAKES A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE. One TD by a bomb and everything else we do (all the "conservative" stuff) makes sense--the point is to create those shots, not to simply run and pass for short-yardage. This is lost on many pundits, IMO. If JC hits a few of those a game, his stat line and the score line look very different.

GTripp: what was the big problem in the red zone? Why couldn't they get TDs? That's another thing skewing opinion of this game--5 FGs. Just one of those is a TD and we feel much better as a team.

[freddyg12]

he does look like he gets too excited & puts too much on the ball sometimes, that could very well be the result of coaching but there's also a fine line between a qb rushing the play & standing pat too long.

[dmek25]

i disagree about blitzing Mcnabb less. against Dallas, he could hardly move at all once the rush got to him

[freddyg12]

Compare JC to Romo, even parcells let Romo loose to fail. His first game was a disaster, but he came back after that & aside from the bills game, is playing really well.

JC has never had a disastrous game, unless you count the 3 fumbles v. NE (and his throws were off too), but he's never totally lit it up either.

I love JC, but sad as it is to say, what's the difference in our O now than it was w/Brunell? I think the only difference is JC's potential & scrambling ability.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

GTripp: what was the big problem in the red zone? Why couldn't they get TDs? That's another thing skewing opinion of this game--5 FGs. Just one of those is a TD and we feel much better as a team.

OK, I'll answer this by taking the four regulation FG drives and reviewing the 3 play series in which they failed.

Drive I-trailing 7-0

1-10-NYJ 33 (11:25) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete deep left to 89-S.Moss [54-V.Hobson]. Unsuccessful.

Pass pro gaffe. 5 man rush, Hobson comes untouched. Kendall and Rabach don't pick it up. Campbell escapes, and throws to Moss on the sideline, incomplete.

2-10-NYJ 33 (11:22) 26-C.Portis left tackle to NYJ 30 for 3 yards (93-K.Coleman). Unsuccessful.

Kendall missed his block.

3-7-NYJ 30 (10:37) 17-J.Campbell scrambles left tackle to NYJ 28 for 2 yards (54-V.Hobson, 50-E.Barton). Unsuccessful.

Samuels gets beat inside initially, but Kendall smartly assists him. With the DE doubled, Hobson loops around the outside untouched. They get it picked up late, but Campbell saw it and had already vacated the pocket.

Drive III

1-10-NYJ 23 (6:21) 26-C.Portis up the middle to NYJ 21 for 2 yards (52-D.Harris). Unsuccessful.

Jets put 7 in the box against 3 WRs, one of the few times they did that all game. Just one too many to block. An audible system could have prevented this, but we are too reliant on Portis to break tackles.

2-8-NYJ 21 (5:44) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short left to 45-M.Sellers. Unsuccessful.

Cooley sort of blocks/holds in pass pro (no call). Campbell hurried. Sellers drops ball.

3-8-NYJ 21 (5:38) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short left to 47-C.Cooley. Penalty on WAS-60-C.Samuels, Offensive Holding, declined. Unsuccessful.

Holding, obviously. Campbell stares down Cooley who is blanketed by the nickel and the nickel makes a good play.

Drive IV

2-4-NYJ 4 (1:12) Wash. #79 L.Alexander reports in as eligible 26-C.Portis up the middle to NYJ 4 for no gain (52-D.Harris). Unsuccessful.

Alexander just whiffs. Portis tries to spin off Alexanders guy, but its on the goal line, so no luck.

3-4-NYJ 4 (1:04) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short left to 26-C.Portis [54-V.Hobson]. Unsuccessful.

Campbell has no pressure, inexplicably flushes from the pocket, creates pressure for himself, and has to throw the ball away.

Drive V

1-10-NYJ 23 (11:44) 26-C.Portis up the middle to NYJ 22 for 1 yard (31-H.Poteat, 63-D.Robertson). Unsuccessful.

Nickel back comes on a run blitz, Randle El does a great job sealing him off and opening up a lane between the numbers and the sideline to drive a semi through. Portis never saw it and runs head on into Randle El's guy.

2-9-NYJ 22 (11:05) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete deep left to 82-A.Randle El (25-K.Rhodes). Unsuccessful.

3 man rush, 3 men in route. Campbell has all day, throws into a tight window, and Kerry Rhodes makes a great play.

3-9-NYJ 22 (10:59) 17-J.Campbell pass incomplete short left to 89-S.Moss. Unsuccessful.

4 man rush by New York, Redskins put 5 guys in the pattern and the protection holds. Campbell just throws behind Moss.





So to answer your question JWSleep, there were a bunch of pass pro breakdowns in the first half once we got into FG range, and in the second half it was pretty much on the offensive backfield. Different parts of the team are just playing inconsistent right now, and we are stringing together a lot of unsuccessful plays. It's just not pretty right now.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by JWsleep

On the D line, Griff only played a few snaps. From the WPost:

Defensive lineman Cornelius Griffin, limited to only two plays against the Jets after aggravating a back injury during pregame warmups, hopes to play a bigger role this week.

That hurts everything on the D and is very worrisome. I think we'll go back to some of the deeper coverage, less blitz stuff against McNabb. Hope Griff can play.

Great point. Against GB, the pocket was collapsing on Favre and he had to go to his hot often even when it wasn't there. Against NY, the pocket didn't collapse, and we had to blitz to get there.

Conclusion: Griffin is still a beast and very underrated.

[GTripp0012]

Honestly if the Jets had played seven in the box against our 3 WR sets all day, they would have won the game.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

I also noticed that they basically took the game out of Campbell's hands after the pick, and I think that's part of the problem. As much as I used to bash Brunell for having happy feet and throwing the ball away on third downs; I'm starting to think that way of thinking was pounded into his head by Gibbs and company.

We all know that Gibbs hates turnovers, but what do you think that does to a young quarterbacks confidence when you handcuff him to the run for almost the entire second half, because he got hit and tossed a bad ball? Brunell was to the point that he would throw it away with the game on the line, just so he didn't take the chance of throwing a pick. Campbell is starting to display similar tendencies to the way Brunell played(lots of checkdowns, tentative on throwing long, etc.). It's starting to look like, at least to me, that the killer instinct is being trained out of the Washington quarterbacks, and that's probably a big part of the problem with the passing game.

Still, that's generally a good way to play the quarterback position. Happy feet, not so much, but I'm talking about the completing of the passes. It's going to win you more games than it loses.

Campbell's just missing execution on too many plays. The read is there, the timing is there, the throw just isn't. It's the same problem that Brunell struggled with in 2004 when he was hiding the knee injury. Mentally, he's progressing, but he's inaccurate and the results aren't there.

[JWsleep]

Dang. Just amazing, man. Thanks for all the great analysis!!!!

That's been what Gibbs, JC, and Co. have been saying--it's not just one thing, it's some little different thing each time. Which is very frustrating. But they moved the ball well to get into the red zone, so maybe they'll fix that next!

Much respect, GTripp!

[GTripp0012]

I want to point out that this was the underbelly of the Redskins' day, and there were a ton of times when we string together a bunch of successful plays.

The general point is that once an offense commits an unsuccessful play, it really takes a good play to be successful again. It gets tougher to enjoy success following an unsuccessful play.

The Redskins are just unable to get it started again once one guy messes up. One guy messes up, the next play the next guy messes up, and then its 4th down.

Thus is the nature of offense, however the Jets had no problem bucking this trend against us on Sunday and that's the part that really worries me.

[hooskins]

Great post. Nice to see thought and effort put into creating threads.

[JWsleep]

On the point of overcoming an unsuccessful play, I thought CPs 10 yard run right after JC missed Moss on the bomb was as big a play as we had all day. I thought, damn, there goes that drive! And then CP just busted it out. Very nice.

I too am worried about the D. We were without Carlos, Washington, and Griffen, and without Smoot for some of the time. That's getting thin. Grif and Marcus gotta get back, and Smoot MUST stay healthy if we're going to have a chance. Hate to see the offense gel and the D fall apart with injuries! Hopefully, though, with London out there, things will be OK.