our passing game is holding us back on offense

[monte55coleman]

If I had to summarize the redskins passing philosophy I would say it consists of screens, designed swing passes, roll outs to the tight ends, checkdown's to the running back, and occasional deep passes to Moss and Randle El. It's not that hard to notice that what we are lacking is a middle passing game that finds holes in zone coverage and 10-15 yard curls and outs that are based on timing. What infuriates me is that we have the personnel and talent to address this deficiency, yet Gibbs/Saunders refuse to attack those areas of the field. I really have to fault Gibbs on this, because I used to watch a lot of Chiefs games and while Saunders did utilize the screen game effectively, his passing game focused heavily on 15-20 yard timing patterns and passes over the middle to Tony Gonzalez.

I believe Gibbs likes the swing passes and screens because they are high percentantage misdirection plays that soften up the defense, and he likes deep bombs because you can either get a reception, a pass interference all, or an interception which in most cases is basically the equivalent of a glorified 40-50 yard punt that generally doesn't destroy field position.

Gibbs is turnover phobic to a fault and is afraid to approve middle passing plays because they come with higher chances of interceptions. It seems that we only go to those passing plays when we are desparate.

Think about this year and all our scoring drives. Our notable drives have been fueled by the run game (Miami Game), screens, scrambles and deep passes (Philadelphia game), and a deep pass to Moss and runs on a short field after the D forced a turnover in this last game.

Can you think of any time we have passed over the middle this year or focused on 10-15 yard timing patterns (curls, outs). The one play I remember is one of the first plays in the Miami game, when Jason attempted to hit Cooley 20 yards down on a seam route, and a Miami safety read him and intercepted the pass. It seems after that, we just abandoned the middle passing game. I understand last year Brunell was limited and he didn't have the arm strength to get the ball in those windows, but Cambpell does have the arm strength to fit the ball in those windows as he demonstrated on the last drive against the Giants. The 20 yard pass to Antwan Randle El which got us to the 1 yard line was thrown over the middle in between two defenders who were actually in the proper position.

I strongly believe that the NFL is a passing league because the rules are designed to produce more offense. A cornerback can hardly breathe on a a receiver after 5 yards without drawing an illegal contact penalty, and you have seen defensive coaches adjust to this by extensively using zone cover schemes like the cover 2. Although the Cover 2 is hard to beat, especially if you have athletic defenders who can use their speed to close passing windows, it can be done if you have a QB who is accurate and has good arm strength, and receivers who are smart and quick enough to find those holes and get to them. If you look at the top offenses in the NFL, they don't do anything exotic. The Colts run a lot of timing patterns and Peyton is excellent at finding receivers and tight ends over the middle in those soft spots. Tom Brady is great at it too. Tony Romo sits to pee, unfortunately, is getting better at it, and he has receivers and tight ends who are in sync with him and can get to those open spots. These teams make it look like pitch and catch and make opposing defenses look worse than they actually are because when an offense is in sync and you have a great QB, it is almost impossible to stop. What the Colts, Pats, and Cowboys are doing right now is not that complicated. You don't see a lot of misdirection, or presnap motion with these teams.

This is not the NFL of the past years where defenses win championships. Defensively, you see more teams employing a strategy that gives up yards in between the red zones, ( abend but don't break defense) but either comes up with sacks or turnovers in crucial situations, or holds the opposing team to field goals. That strategy, coupled with aggresive offensive playcalling is what is the winning formula in the NFL right now, atleast for the elite teams.

Until Gibbs sees that, I don't think we have a chance to take the next step. I know the aggressive passing game might lead to more interceptions because JC still has ways to go in regards to accuracy and reading coverages, but if he doesn't experience those plays in real life, he will be unable to progress to the next level. This is something that has plagued us for the last two years because defensives are smart enough to pounce on our "sideways" passing game, and deep bombs are fairly difficult to execute.

I believe this is the main reason why we have failed to score 21 points in 36 out of the 53 games under Gibbs II.

[LT Smash]

campbell drove us down to the 1 yard line with 2 minutes left and our offense failed to convert 2 straight runs from the 1 yard line. how was that the passing game's fault?

[One Shot]

Isn't it amazing how the failure to come through on just a couple plays has caused this much angst? Let's say Betts had gotten in, we score and tie it up, and take the game into overtime. We win the toss, march down the field like we did on our last drive of the regular game, and kick the field goal to win. Things would be so different right now.

[SkinsFanRob]

campbell drove us down to the 1 yard line with 2 minutes left and our offense failed to convert 2 straight runs from the 1 yard line. how was that the passing game's fault?

you got to remember most of that last drive was randle el's punt return.

that being said, I dont think our passing game is the issue. We just have a consistancy issue.

[RenegadeTK]

gibbs is trying to get campbell more comfortable and confident. the more passes you complete, the more comfortable you feel. while our passing game is very reserved, it is that way for a reason. as the season goes on, our playbook will open up more and more... just have patience. for now, we need to focus on our o-line giving our backs some running lanes

[monte55coleman]

campbell drove us down to the 1 yard line with 2 minutes left and our offense failed to convert 2 straight runs from the 1 yard line. how was that the passing game's fault?

That's exactly what I said. When we were desperate and were forced to throw into zone coverage over the middle, Cambpell executed. He got us to the one by hitting Randle El on a twenty yard in route over the middle in between two defenders in good zone coverage. We haven't called those type of passing plays all year even though we have the talent to do it because I think we coach scared.

[JRAB]

Gibbs / Saunders doesn't trust Campbell. It's that simple. They don't trust him yet to do those things.

Will they ever? I think so, but we honestly don't know until Jason proves he can do them on a consistant basis without giving the ball away.

[Forehead]

This is completely off topic, but Renegade, which cheerleader is the one on the left with the football and eye black? My God...

[jaxskinsville]

The Washington Redskins are going to be just fine. We are a decent team with a lot of good, young players. Yes, there are going to be games like this one where we lose a game or two or three or more that we thought we should win.

That happens to everyone, except of course the 1972 Dolphins.

We have finally put this particular "car" back together. Now, all we have to do is some "fine tuning" to get it to run right and that's going to take a little time.

HTTR!

[pjfootballer]

campbell drove us down to the 1 yard line with 2 minutes left and our offense failed to convert 2 straight runs from the 1 yard line. how was that the passing game's fault?

Did you read the entire post? Everything in it is the truth. He never said getting into the endzone was the passing games fault. The running game failed us down there.

[Thoth]

campbell drove us down to the 1 yard line with 2 minutes left and our offense failed to convert 2 straight runs from the 1 yard line. how was that the passing game's fault?

Because we neglected passing, taking what the Giants D gave us, in blowing a 14 yard lead with ineffective running and dink and dunk pass plays. We came out ahead, and played conservative instead of going vertical against the weakness of the giants D.

[Enter Apotheosis]

Campbell stared down his flats passes at times and we simply just didn't pass enough on first and second down to throw the Giants D off-balance. It's also somewhat of a Gibbs II trademark for QBs to throw to the check down man on 3rd downs unless they have a guy WIDE open.

[ddpls]

I like JC. He seems like a pretty good QB. I do see however that his completion percentage of about 50% needs to improve! I know it has to do with some dropped balls and things of that nature, but there is one area that would help the offense. I only saw a little of the beginning of the game, but the Redskins just seemed very flat to me. Even on defense, it seemed like they were missing more tackles and just not playing up to speed. Maybe it has to do with a short week after a big monday night game, but they did not seem all there!:2cents:

[DjTj]

Can you think of any time we have passed over the middle this year or focused on 10-15 yard timing patterns (curls, outs). The one play I remember is one of the first plays in the Miami game, when Jason attempted to hit Cooley 20 yards down on a seam route, and a Miami safety read him and intercepted the pass. It seems after that, we just abandoned the middle passing game. I understand last year Brunell was limited and he didn't have the arm strength to get the ball in those windows, but Cambpell does have the arm strength to fit the ball in those windows as he demonstrated on the last drive against the Giants. The 20 yard pass to Antwan Randle El which got us to the 1 yard line was thrown over the middle in between two defenders who were actually in the proper position.

Campbell's interception in the Eagles game was on a 9-yard curl to ARE. Most of Campbell's high throws have also come in the intermediate passing game. We are never hitting ARE or Moss in stride on a crossing route, which is something that we definitely used to do with Brunell.

I think that there are a lot of factors contributing to the lack of intermediate passes:

(1) Campbell is not that accurate in the intermediate passing game.

(2) The slot receiver (Thrash/Lloyd/ham sandwich) is generally unreliable.

(3) Campbell is very good with the deep ball so we almost always send ARE or Moss deep.

(4) Cooley (our best receiver in this area) has had to stay in and block because of offensive line injuries.

(5) Gibbs is concerned about turnovers.

[taylorcoreskin]

It's not the passing game that is holding us back, it's our meddling son of a ***** head coach who won't let the best offensive coordinator in the league do his job.

[SkinsFTW]

Good thread.

I'm sure they have their reasons for not using the middle of the field. (Campbell probably doesn't have the timing down) Thats no excuse to keep dinking and dunking into defenses that are weak deep and leave that big hole in the middle all day. We make every defense look 50% better in pass defense.

IMO, that is garbage. With all of our elite coaches you'd think that they come up with a gameplan that works. We have great players on offense. No reason we should still be in the 17-20 point mode in year 4 of Gibbs.

[mcarey032]

Isn't it amazing how the failure to come through on just a couple plays has caused this much angst? Let's say Betts had gotten in, we score and tie it up, and take the game into overtime. We win the toss, march down the field like we did on our last drive of the regular game, and kick the field goal to win. Things would be so different right now.

Yeah they would and that is what is going to gnaw at me for the next two weeks!

[JollyGreene]

I love Joe Gibbs. I believe Joe does need to give Saunders the final call on offense. I don't care that he is in the Hall of Fame for offense. Gibbs will never ever be aggressive enough to play and play competitively - consistently in todays go-for-the-throat N.F.L.

Al has a REALLY nice track record on "O" himself and he is FAR more aggressive.

We need a big receiver, too. I'm watching Chad and Andre Johnson, Plax, T.O., Randy Moss, Boldin.....the list goes on. Can you imagine how everything would work? Santana would dominate and Cooley, too. It would be the final piece.

[Touchdown Redskins]

The entire game when this was going on, I kept thinking to myself, "Who is going to go over the middle?" Santana doesn't mind, ARE does it, too, and so does Cooley, but we lack a big body to throw a quick slant to for an easy 5 yards and an easy first down. We used to be able to do that with bubble screens for the WRs, but now those are gone. Our intermediate routes are non-existent, and it seems those are the kinds of throws that JC excels at (besides the perfectly thrown deep ball).

[Bacon]

This is not the NFL of the past years where defenses win championships. Defensively, you see more teams employing a strategy that gives up yards in between the red zones, ( abend but don't break defense) but either comes up with sacks or turnovers in crucial situations, or holds the opposing team to field goals. That strategy, coupled with aggresive offensive playcalling is what is the winning formula in the NFL right now, atleast for the elite teams.

Well, if it makes you feel better, that describes our 2007 defense to a T. We just need to be more aggressive and we'll be fine.

BTW, Cooley is the man we should we hitting on slants and 5-10 yard intermediate passes. If he looks that brilliant in the redzone, why not test him a little farther back?