NFL coaches no longer know how to close out games, and neither does Kyle Shanahan

[paloosa]

So we are going to group Kyle Shanahan in this group because he is trying to win. The Redskins haven't blown a 20+point lead like those mentioned so why blame Kyle for his playcalling? Why is everyone trying to find the worst in this team instead of the good? Is it the fallback for when a game is lost because of a bd call so you can bring it up to say"I told you so?" What a douche.

[seriously]

With as shaky as Rex is, he should never be placed in those situations to begin with.

As Jimmy Johnson said a couple of weeks ago on FOX, as a coach, it's your responsibility to help your players out and at times, save them from themselves.

Kyle shouldn't have had Rex throwing on 3rd and 1 when Torain is averaging 7 yards a pop,period.

We're talking situational football here and understanding where you're at in the game.

And all this going for the dagger BS?? Going for the dagger is not a 3 yard pass or a 15 yd pass, it's bombing to the endzone and trying to score.

Kyle was going for no kill shot, he was trying to "out think the room".

Hopefully he learns from this. You got a running game that the opponent can't stop, you don't get away from that.

There is really nothing left to add, nail on the head.

[skins4eva]

I completely agree with the OP, and I have been very critical of Kyle's playcalling. It seems, at times, that he lacks situational awareness. I'd like to see a greater committment to the ground attack when we have a lead in the fourth. I'd like to see us burn some clock when our defense has come off the field and needs a rest. Too many times already this season, it seems to me that his lack of situational awareness has put us in difficult situations and we've had to rely heavily on our defense to bail us out. As a separate matter, I'd be curious to see us operate in the hurry-up from time to time. I think it's a very under-utilized method to keep a defense off balance and slow down a pass rush. In any event, there's certainly a lack of committment to the ground game generally in the NFL these days. Looking at the Eagles loss, I find it hard to believe that the gave the ball to McCoy only 9 times against a porous 49ers defense. There's really no excuse for that.

[darrelgreenie]

My favorite call of the game:

3rd and 1: the call fake FB dive flip/pitch to Helu

This call shows that even when a team is lined up to stop one aspect of running game it still can leave them open to another element of the running game.

That call was a great example of that; Im sure the Rams saw on tape that we ran a FB dive twice on 3rd and 1.

And they were ready for an inside run.

But, we ran the ball anyway; we just didn't run where they expected.

The running game is a lost art in this league and very few coaches know or attempt to design offense in the running game.

As a fan of the running game I was happy and excited to see one of the best named the HC, I was also excited to see Kyle and his innovative passing attack come here to Washington.

But, thus far I've been dissappointed with the creativity and committment to the run game.

This doesn't mean that I think Kyle is bad playcaller.

I think he's a very good OC; but for me a truely great playcaller knows how to call the running game.

There is an art to the running game that most current OC lack.

Most have fallen in love with the notion of the NFL being a passing 'league' that they've lost site of time tested true principles: pass to score run to win.

That has been a mantra and a dam effective one for as long as I can remember.

Even last year of the top offense only 3 were top 10 in pass attempts: NO, Dallas and Houston.

Green Bay, Philly and San Diego were not in the top 10 in pass attempts.

However we were top 10 in pass attempts.

Here's a good article about the current passing game:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81b191f4/article/while-some-qbs-chase-history-offensive-balance-has-its-place

I wish I had the time or the inclination to look it up but I only recall 4 times this season when we've ran the ball 3 times in a row.

In all 4 instances we gained a 1st down.

I only mention this because people act like we run the ball enough to know wether or not its working.

But, imo if you're afraid to get stopped on 3rd short when you run the ball you're doing you're team a disservice.

When 3rd and short becomes a passing down for your team you're doing the defense a favor.

tl;dr: Kyle is a good playcaller; he just needs to call the run more often and with more creativity.

edit: Imo we need to be a run first-play action team that puts the onus of carrying the offense on the running game to complement the passing game.

Not the other way around.

[Woofer]

NNT. Did we really need another thread slamming Kyle Shanahan? Wouldn't one of the previous 3 or 4 been a good place for you to drop this deuce?

This is an intelligent and well thought out thread. The OP doesn't "slam" Kyle, merely points out that Kyle's play calling pattern so far is similar to the coaches who have been victims of the huge comeback victories.

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I'm not sure that the answer lies with the offense. On one side, defense of the team with the lead is guilty of "allowing" the comebacks. On the other side, the defense of the team making the comback stops the team with the lead from continuing to score.

This is what the league wants. Exciting, high scoring games that go to the wire. It keeps fans in the stadiums, spending money on food and drinks. It keeps fans watching on TV, so advertisers can reach more audience longer, and the league can charge the advertisers more per commercial.

[MumboSauce]

You don't see the relevance of this observation on the NFL as it relates to what we are experiencing and its merit as a separate discussion? Really?

What I was going to say. Good supported data. There is a trend going on. I miss old smashmouth run the ball, stop the run, set up the deep pass football. oh well. Hopefully the Redskins coaches will come together, review, and make adjustments after the bye

[SkinsFTW]

They stacked it so bad that Torain got us a first down that allowed Rex to take a knee at the end of the game.

When your running game is hot and you ride it to a 17-3 advantage, you don't abandon it on 3rd and 1 to throw a 3 yard pass to Moss in traffic.

The Cowboys kept throwing the ball up 24 points and it bit them in the butt.

We almost did the same thing.

Exactly and the thing is, the Redskins DID DO THE SAME THING.

Our Picks just weren't returned for scores because Hightower chased down a CB and our LT chased down a linebacker, and of the 2 picks the Rams scored 3 points. If those were pick 6's guess what? They'd have scored 21 on us.

Also, our 17 point lead was with around 12 minutes left in the game.

Dallas led by 24 with 10+ left in the 3rd so over 25 minutes of game left and they were playing a very good team at home too, where a major mistake WON"T bring the crowd back into it.

I'd say that us throwing the ball around in that situation is AT LEAST as dumb as Dallas doing it, especially on the road.

[darrelgreenie]

Did anyone notice the change in the Bears playcalling?

I think we would be well served to have a similar if not as drastic paradigm shift in playcalling.

Lovie must have called Martz on the carpet.

Cutler didn't throw a pass until mid-way through the second qtr.

Wow.

Neither here nor there but:

They run some ZBS too and had a nice play design on one TD: outside zone run except they pull their OGs.

I would love to see that type of variation in our run game and our OL is just as if not more athletic.

[Commander PK]

Dad should interject more late in games.

If he hasn't been. I agree it's time. Discreetly would be best. No need to drum up controversey, and he doesn't need to call the game. However, "gently nudging" his son in the right direction before he forgets himself in the 4th would not be a bad idea.

[paloosa]

I completely agree with the OP, and I have been very critical of Kyle's playcalling. It seems, at times, that he lacks situational awareness. I'd like to see a greater committment to the ground attack when we have a lead in the fourth. I'd like to see us burn some clock when our defense has come off the field and needs a rest. Too many times already this season, it seems to me that his lack of situational awareness has put us in difficult situations and we've had to rely heavily on our defense to bail us out. As a separate matter, I'd be curious to see us operate in the hurry-up from time to time. I think it's a very under-utilized method to keep a defense off balance and slow down a pass rush. In any event, there's certainly a lack of committment to the ground game generally in the NFL these days. Looking at the Eagles loss, I find it hard to believe that the gave the ball to McCoy only 9 times against a porous 49ers defense. There's really no excuse for that.

I am just curious, what if we committed to the ground game when we had a lead, would you call him too conservative if we didn't gain anymore and then lost the game? It seems to me that if Kyle Shanahan throws the ball to try to win games by trying to score more points. He doesn't know how to close games out. If he runs the ball at the end of games to burn up clock but doesn't gain enough yardage to get first downs and ends up losing games then he is called be too conservative. It seems like to me you and a lot of these guys who don't want either one put him in a situation of he is "damned if he does and damned if he doesn't." So what is the solution since you and everyone on here knows what to do at the end of games. You are a NFL Head Coach or some type of Offensive Guru, right?

[mike42]

I think the rule changes that have made todays NFL look more and more like Arena Football is a big reason why you are seeing these comebacks. In the case of the Lions, Megatron is basically uncoverable.

Agreed 100% It is far more difficult to play defense in the nfl, when comparing football 10-20 years ago with today.

[grego]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d822d75c6/article/jones-laments-cowboys-secondhalf-playcalling-in-defeat?module=HP11_headline_stack

didnt see this posted yet- looks like we arent the only ones pissed at pass happy OC's.

Jason Garrett is the Cowboys' head coach, and he also calls the plays on offense. Once the Dallas lead swelled to 27-3 in the third quarter, logic dictated a more conservative approach that chewed the clock. But Garrett decided to keep slinging the football, and Romo sits to pee made him regret it.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones didn't hide his disappointment with his team's play-calling Tuesday.

"We needed to use clock with that kind of lead," Jones said, according to The Associated Press. "You can make the case that if you run the ball a few times and punt it, run the ball a few times and punt it, the stats show that you can't lose it."

[veteranskinsfan]

Both the Redskins and the Cowboys did a poor job of running out the clock in recent games. Gibbs was good at knowing when to run out the clock in the 4th quarter. With Rex at quarterback we need to be conservative when playing Eagles, Giants and Cowboys-divisional teams.

[allannis]

Agreed. We need to draft a franchise QB like Sam Bradford, so the Redskins can finally enjoy success like the Rams.

Oh wait. Sorry. Wrong thread. I saw SkinsHokieFan and just started typing.

If his Recievers could catch they probably would have beat us. Proof that you need more than just a franchise QB.