Reviewing the 1st half Game film vs. Bucs (long analysis)

[fpickering]

I am reviewing the game film vs. the Bucs and I wanted to point out the specific things I see going wrong in the 1st half. I just wanted to note that I acknowledge that no team executes flawlessly.

On the first offensive drive, Brandon Lloyd is not able to come up with the catch on the bomb. On the next play, Betts has an opening to the outside but stays inside where a host of Bucs gobble him up for a 1 yard gain. On the third play, Campbell delivers a pass short of the intended receiver. Result: 3 and out.

The second offensive drive featured two minimal runs by Betts. On 3rd and 4 Jansen falls down untouched while backpedaling and Campbell is absolutely rocked by Tampa's rookie DE Jenkins. Result: 3 and out.

On the third play of the third defensive series, Marshall and Holdman cannot get off of blocks and Alstott rumbles for 4 yards. On the very next play, Holdman and Marshall again cannot shed blocks and Alstott runs for almost 15 yards. Vincent and Washington finally make the tackle. Tampa proceeds to run the ball with success for a couple of plays until on 3rd and 4 they complete a 11 yard gain to Hillard on a slant across the middle. Kenny Wright has terrible position and gets beaten. There has been no semblance of a pass rush thus far. Result: Tampa kicks a FG.

On the 3rd play of the third offensive series, tampa comes on an all out blitz and Campbell is crushed (although Barber looked blatantly offsides). Betts does a poor job of picking up the blitz although Campbell would have probably been sacked anyway from another blitzer from the outside. Result: 3rd 3 AND OUT IN A ROW.

On the second play of the fourth defensive series (2nd and 6) we blitz and do not get remotely close to the QB, Carlos Rogers is giving a 10 yard cushion, Galloway catches the ball 1 yard short of the 1st down marker and easily runs for the 1st down. On the next play, Marcus Washington, Wynn and Holdman miss tackles on Caddy. On the next play Caddy catches a flair pass and is wide open for a sizeable gain on what looks like a blown assignment. The Bucs get a penalty but on 1st and 20, Pittman runs almost to the 1st down marker for 17 yards on a draw. Holdman misses a tackle and Washington and Marshall cannot shed their blocks. Taylor is forced to make the tackle. Luckliy, Tampa makes a bonehead play on the center exchange and we recover the fumble.

On the 4th offensive series, we finally get a 1st down but on 1st, Cambell is forced to scramble out of the pocket because Samuels guy brings pressure. He gains 2 yards. The drive stalls and we punt.

Second play of the 5th defensive series which starts on their own 5 yard line. Caddy runs left, Rogers and Marshall take on blockers and Holdman, unblocked is very late in getting to the play. Sideline to sideline speed is lacking to say the least. He is unblocked and ends up missing the tackle anyway. Taylor cleans up his mess. 1st down. Next play Big Joe jumps offsides. Now Tampa is on their own 20. On the very next play, Williams sends Rogers on a CB blitz but he looks like he is virtually jogging towards Gradkowski. Pittman is wide open in the middle as Gradkowski finds him for 24 yards. There is still o pass rush and zero sacks. At this point in the game, Tampa has rushed 17 times for 86 yards to our measley 7 attempts for a WHOPPING 18 yards. A couple of plays later, Williams brings Washingon on a blitz which leaves the middle wide open. Galloway has a step on Rogers whose cushion was ok. Rogers misses a tackle, Fox misses a tackle and Galloway is finally brought down after a 16 yard gain. Tampa is now in Redskins territory on the 25. On the very next play, Caddy gets a pitch to the right. Montgomery misses a tackle, Rogers misses a tackle, Marshall misses a tackle, until FINALLY Fox stops him but not before he gains 6 yards. A couple more running plays occur resulting in a 1st down on the 11 yard line. Then on the ensuing play, we finally get pressue on Gradkowski by Daniels for the FIRST time in the entire game (note there are 47 ticks left in the first half) and he forces a throw. Carlos Rogers is in great position for the interception but the pass hits him in the hands and he drops it. If he picks it off, there is a lot of room for a TD. On the next play Springs picks it off. We kneel and go into halftime.

So, if you are wondering why we are 3-7 and teams like Indy are 9-1 you can look no further than lack of execution, adequate personnel and a poor gameplan.

On offense there are frequent breakdowns in protection, we can't/won't commit to the run (gameplan) and there are individual lapses in execution. Therefore we have trouble sustaining offensive drives. There is a light at the end of the tunnel here, though.

On defense, we have no pass rush whatsoever (zero sacks in the first half and only 2 hurries). We were completely ineffective in getting to the QB on virtually every blitz (scheme) and that leaves our defense completely vulnerable to big plays. We are not stuffing the run in the trenches well at all. Our linebackers (Marshall and Holdman) cannot shed blocks and even when they do they miss tackles. The entire unit is tacking terribly, in fact. 3 out of our top 4 tacklers were in the secondary. This is pathetic.

Rogers is overcommiting on the run, is giving too much of a cushion at times and just cannot catch passes that hit him right in the hands.

So what should we do? In terms of personnel, it is painfully obvious that we need to upgrade at MLB and OLB. We also could use a pass rushing DE that can provide us with some pressure on the QB. At least one additional CB is needed and a Saftey as well to shore up our secondary. Unfortunately, I am not confident in our ability to fill all of these voids.

In terms of scheme.. we need to pound the football INSIDE using Duckett and occasionally Betts to spell him especially on 3rd down since Betts is so effective catching out of the backfield. We should then take advantage of playaction for big gains.

On defense we have to stop blitzing because it is just not working. Holdman and maybe even Marshall need to be benched immediately. I don't care who plays in place of them. Since we don't get much of a pass rush, we might as well leave our secondary much less vulnerable.

As for execution, I don't know.. that is up to the coaching staff.

[Capt. Jack]

Next offseason we need a middle linebacker, and Marshall and McIntosh can fight for OLB. Right now, Holdman needs to be benched and McIntosh should take his place. Every team has figured out how to beat us, all you have to do is simply run through Holdman. I am sick of watching Holdman get abused every single play. :mad:

[roanoker]

Good post. The D has gone to heck in a handbasket as the things you point out happen in most every game. Unfortunatley, the bench is not long enough.

[SkinsFTW]

If Holdman and Marshall are so bad why haven't we used Jeff Posey more? I thought he was pretty good in Buffalo and he's another of those Williams guys. Our defense sucks but it sounds like our offense isn't much better. Saunders and Gibbs should have changed the offense more gradually IMO. These players don't get Saunders scheme and the season is almost over.

[TheLongshot]

Looks like you skiped over to the bad parts.

Ok, I'm going to sit down and do the third TB drive.

1st down 10: Reverse. Defense recovers decently enough. Holdman gets there, but it is Sean Taylor that cleans up.

2nd down 5: Defense is set to defend against the pass. Washington is lined up at DE. Sean Taylor comes on a delay blitz. They run Alstott to Washington's side and he gets caught up inside. Taylor goes way outside and gets pushed out of the play. Marshall gets caught up by an offensive lineman. Shawn Springs is the first to get to Alstott, but the FB hampers his effort in bringing him down. It isn't until Taylor and Marshall get there that Alstott goes down.

3rd down 1: Definitely a run defense. 5 DL, 3 LBs and 3 DBs. Both Washington and Holdman are on the line. Guard fires out and blocks Holdman. Marshall tries to move in and a OL gets a sholder on him to slow him down until the FB gets there to knock him out of the play. Daniels gets rotated out of the way to create the hole for Alstott. Again, Springs is the first one there, but with a full head of steam, he has no chance against Alstott. Washington and Vincent eventually catch up to Alstott and take him down.

1st down 10: LBs are sitting inside the tackles. Alstott heads to the left and cuts back to the right. Springs is able to move up and force Alstott sideways. Washington is able to shed his block and is able to make a tackle with the help of ST, but he gets some yards on the play.

2nd down 5: 5 guys on the line, including Washington. Holdman moves up between Right tackle and Right End and backs off. Williams run to the right. OL-man picks off Marshall. Holdman almost avoids Alstott's block, but gets pushed off to the side. Golston gets some penetration and is able to tackle Williams from behind.

Timeout due to shoe malfunction.

3rd and 4: 3 WR set. Springs and Rogers are off the line, and Wright is on the line. Taylor looks like he's coming up to blitz, but goes with the receiver, with Springs with coverage on top. Wright looks like he was looking at the QB, rather than giving a jam to the reciever, and he goes inside to make the catch. Daniels puts on decent pressure, but the pass happens too fast for him to get there.

1st and 10: two WRs to one side with just one back. Pretty much everyone gets blocked. Looks like Golston moved to the side a bit, opening up a big hole. Taylor comes flying in, but Williams drags the pile with him.

2nd and 3: Again, 5 guys on the line. The LBs do a good job clogging the middle, and Taylor has outside contain, so there is no place to go for Williams.

3rd and 4: Nickle defense against 3WRs DBs are sitting at the 1st down marker. The receivers try to push the DBs down the field and get a receiver underneath for the first down, but Springs makes a good play to stop it.

4th and 4: FG

Jason

[TheLongshot]

4th TB drive.

1st and 10: 3WR set. TE motions into the backfield. Passing down. He wants to go left, but everyone is covered. Evans almost gets there, then Gradkowski decided to run for it. Since Saleve'a had dropped back into coverage, there was a hole.

2nd and 6: Running formation with FB and TE in motion. LBs are bunched in the middle, leaning to the right. Holdman and Marshall blitz, with Washington spying behind them. It is a pass. Rogers is a mile off of his receiver for some reason, and lets the receiver easily catch the ball. I have no idea what Washington was doing, since he was pretty much standing behind the line and only reacted when the pass was thrown.

End of 1st Quarter.

1st and 10: 2WRs to one side. Rogers is on the tight end side. Holdman is lined up on one of the receivers. Holdman blitzes. Running play. Holdman doesn't quite get there. Wynn got some penatration, but couldn't get there either. Washington meets Williams in the hole, but isn't able to wrap him up. Vincent eventually gets him down after being dragged a couple of yards. Pretty disappointing play by Washington.

2nd and 4: Running formation. D has 9 men in the box. Pass play. Pretty much everyone gets suckered by the WR and the TE running down the field. No one seems to recognize the back drifting out for the screen. Probably Springs is the guy most at fault, since he's the last guy to turn around and chase the receivers. Back gets big yards.

1st and 10: Running play. Washington pretty much gets manhandled by the TE. Marshall tries to fight through the block of an O-lineman, but doesn't get there. Taylor makes the tackle, but it all comes back because of a hold, probably on the guy blocking Marshall.

1st and 20: 3WR set. Rogers is playing way off, Springs at medium depth, and Holdman is over the 3rd receiver. Draw to Williams. As pointed out by the announcer, Marshall totally misreads the play and backs up on the snap, which makes for easy yards for Williams. Course, the O-linemen poping out there should have been a hint that it was a running play.

2nd and 5: Tight formation with WRs on each side. Playaction with a boot to the right. Wynn got some penetration, but had to start running for the sideline. Grad has no one to throw to so he runs out of bounds.

3rd and 4: Tight formation with 3 WRs on one side (one of them motioning over there.) 3 man line with Washington. Arch is actually in the game. Skins get some pressure on Grad and force him to step up. He gets away from Griffin, and eventually gets forced out of bounds near the 1st down marker. It all comes back due to illegal motion.

3rd and 9: 3WR set with split backs. It looks like a dime for us, and Arch is in there again. Timeout. Redskins have 7 people on the line, with Marshall and Washington looking like they are blitzing. Ball is snapped and is fumbled. Both Marshall and Washington back into coverage. Washington recognises the ball and recovers it.

Jason

[fpickering]

Looks like you skiped over to the bad parts.

Jason

I am not sure what you mean here but just for clarification, I just noted the most eggregious mistakes, miscues and lack of execution. I did not include plays in which Tampa just executed well.

[hervoicehoneyed]

On offense there are frequent breakdowns in protection, we can't/won't commit to the run (gameplan) and there are individual lapses in execution. Therefore we have trouble sustaining offensive drives. There is a light at the end of the tunnel here, though.

I know this is the least of our problems, but there was recently a Saunders thread where somebody dug through random forums about what KC fans thought of him.

One of the biggest complaints was that Saunders wouldn't stop "experimenting" and thus, would not commit to run early in the game.

[TheLongshot]

I am not sure what you mean here but just for clarification, I just noted the most eggregious mistakes, miscues and lack of execution. I did not include plays in which Tampa just executed well.

What I'm saying is that to judge the problems of the defense, you probably should look at all the plays. Also, your descriptions of what was going on wasn't quite complete.

Jason

[flexxskins]

Why is Jerry Gray/Gregg Williams for that matter allowing Rogers to position himself so far back?

[TheLongshot]

Why is Jerry Gray/Gregg Williams for that matter allowing Rogers to position himself so far back?

I'm guessing from the footage I was watching, that they were respecting Galloway's speed.

That being said, I don't know why you don't have someone underneath as well on that play. Washington was like a bump on a log. Maybe they were spying Grad, but even when he did run, that wasn't working. If he's further back, maybe Washington could defense the pass, or delay things enough so that the blitz could get there.

Jason

[skinsman4u]

Why is Jerry Gray/Gregg Williams for that matter allowing Rogers to position himself so far back?

#22 comes from a program that did not run a lot of man-to-man. This is why #22 was a bad pick and it shows. Ohe's okay and we still love him but is he making All-Pro plays no. Have the opportunitys been there? Yes! Why, hell I don't know ask Coach Grey he's been to more than a few Pro Bowls as a defensive back and he's the coach. So he knows what there doing wrong. Did you see Ohio State set that trap up? I mean that's Coaching.

[Chief skin]

We don't have an NFL defense

[Raub]

Holdman sucks.