We Won Because We Executed Both Running And Passing

[Main-Maine]

I think Pierre could use another wide receiver who elite like Reggie Wayne.

[SJValleySkinz]

The routes were much more varried today with some shorter stems, especially to start out the game. When RG3 gets some completions under his belt earlier he tends to play more consistantly and more imprtantly with a lot more confidence. On the last drive he was able to make those throws because he was decisive.

[Bacon]

I agree with OP. Everything worked for all 4 quarters. Hard to argue with that. RG3 was pinpoint and the receivers balled out. Morris did what he's been doing all year. Seems to me that the biggest change here from last week was the passing game.

 

Kyle still didn't run the ball enough though. 3rd and 3 with two minutes to go and you throw the ball? GTFO.

[TSO]

I agree with the OP and, even more, I'd say that I didn't see much of a difference in the way Kyle called this game compared to pretty much every other game this year. We did add the triple option which wasn't something ANYONE asked for here.  

 

The difference, in general, was execution. We converted on third downs mainly because Robert was very good in the pocket and our receivers stepped up big time. That gave us more snaps offensively and so we got to run the ball more.

 

But, of course, the narrative here on ES from a very vocal group of posters is that Kyle needed to change everything and so now that we won they will make it like the reason we did was because he followed their advice, lol.  

 

In my opinion, Hankerson being involved was bigger than anything else because it's been obvious to me that defense's are just focusing on Reed and Garcon, and they've essentially won doing so because Robert was focusing on them too much. Against the Bears, we had Robinson step up and it made a huge difference. That, in my mind, is essentially what we need more than anything to keep this offense humming. We need another guy to step up every game other than Garcon and Reed and we need Robert to find them often enough. 

[bobisimo]

I still, after today's game, do not accept Pierre as a true number 1. He is not a vertical threat and I think he would be more dangerous as a 1b or a 2 behind a Big CJ or B Marshall type of guy. Garcon is a runt. That is just what he is. It is not going to consistantly beat man coverage against strong secondaries like in KC or Seattle. He is not a vertical threat. What he has is great body control and great hands. He lacks size and that isn't going to change. And I still don't like his going to the press with internal team business.

 

Flame shield activated.

 

In the NFL, so many players are near the same level of talent. Seems like work ethic is the only real difference. And maybe that's even a little unfair because I think anyone who's actually in the NFL and having a decent career is working their butt off.

 

And I think what we have with Garçon is a guy who is on the high end of that "average" NFL talent, but who has that amazing work ethic. He is consistently pushing himself to the limits of his physical talent. And he has the football smarts, too.

 

And while it can be said that maybe "he's not a true #1", that expression leaves a little to be desired.

 

For one, guys like Calvin Johnson or Sean Taylor who have that same amazing work ethic, and the same amazing football smarts, yet they're somehow gifted with physical talent that puts them significantly above their peers -- those kinds of guys are so incredibly rare. Maybe there's a tier between Garçon and Johnson, but I don't know that I see it.

 

For another, you don't necessarily need a "true #1" in that sense. You would take one every chance you got, and at every position if you could. I'm sure Griffin would have a stats boom like Brady did when he got Randy Moss. And I agree with you that if we had a WR who the defense could not remove from the game, we'd have a better chance on strongly-contested 3rd- and 4th-downs, and red zone plays -- especially in the play-offs.

 

But if we have three, maybe four, legitimate targets out there (and I think Garçon, Reed, and Hankerson could be that trio), then the offense is fine and will be hard to stop, even in the play-offs and high-pressure situations and against top defenses.

[Dirt]

He was third going into today, yet 16th in carries per game which is just ridiculously crazy on the OC's behalf. 

 

Hail. 

What if we had run him more this year, just to run him more... and therefore his great ypc were lower?

 

Perhaps his great ypc is because we're running him wisely...?

 

I don't have a detailed reason, but I just don't think you can force things.  Whatever the case, it's just not as simple as:  "# of Alfred carries > 30 = victory" or whatever.  There's a lot of things going on in a football game.

 

I do want more PA boots tho.  Too many failed runs could hurt, but RG3 is just MADE for boots.  He will get away from the initial rush, he can run, he can pass.  Anything to open up multiple possibilities.  But again, coaches have their reasons, and I still refuse to call any of them morons or idiots about playcalling.

[Lavarleap56]

The routes were much more varried today with some shorter stems, especially to start out the game. When RG3 gets some completions under his belt earlier he tends to play more consistantly and more imprtantly with a lot more confidence. On the last drive he was able to make those throws because he was decisive.

Exactly... The best thing the offense did was vary the route concepts & spread out their formations more. The compact formations were kills ng the offense for awhile.

[HAILSKINSNYC]

I still don't understand why the screen pass is not a staple of this offense...in particular with Helu.

 

I hated the 3rd and 3 call at the end of the game....Kyle is very predictable in certain situations...3rd and 2 or 3 is always a pass.

An out route was foolish, because even if they got a 1st down, the clock would have stopped because Garcon was head out of bounds.

[JoeWolf990]

the run sets up the pass

WE had shorter 3 down situations and RG3 was really accurate today.

Probably the best the team has played offense all season.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Today, SD started out the game by stuffing the run. They put extra guys in the box, and forced the 'Skins to pass on them.

Alfred's first 3 rusn were 1, 1, and 0 yards. That was on the drive that ended with the missed FG. Young had a run in there for 3 yards. Apart from an option play to Reed which went for big yardage, those were the only runs.

However, Robert and the passing game were able to pass the chargers out of that defense. Because they walked right down the field on them using the passing game, SD was forced to adjust, and that opened up the running game.

In most cases, this is a run first team. However, today, they had to pass to set up the run. Which they did, and it worked.

All credit to Kyle for seeing that and calling it. He called a pretty good game today. The one play I would pick on is the 3rd down and 6 at the end of the game. I would have preferred to get Robert on the move there instead of just a fade to Garcon.

Robert also had to execute better in the passing game, or else SD would have just forced 3-out on every possetion. And he did. So kudos to him as well.

[Ynot]

Actually, it was the catching more than the passing. Garçon made quite a few circus catches of some poorly thrown balls. Griffin's passing was hot-&-cold, and his inaccuracies stifled several drives.

I think Griffin is going to have to work very hard this off-season to improve his passing, as well as learning to spot his receivers just as they start breaking free. He needs to hit more receivers in stride too. That would help open up the entire offense.

Our receivers save the day.   We probably do not even go to over time if RGIII hits Garcon in stride he makes the first down instead he falls backwards while going forward and makes a one handed circus catch...    if lead he makes the first down easily.   Instead he makes a terrible read on coverage on third down and throws the ball away instead of making another read or running with the ball or reading the defense and changing the call at the line.

 

Love RGIII but he is not as good as we thought last year that is because we thought way to highly of him.  Don't get me wrong still love him but he is not the pocket passer or read progression QB yet.....

 

GO Skins

[Hooper]

Execution was the difference. Same passing plays in almost the exact same situations that didn't work last week worked for the most part this week. And when they didn't, it was usually because RG3 -- who had a great game overall -- made a bad throw to an open receiver. 

 

The criticism Kyle Shanahan gets is just insane to me. He's not perfect, he makes his fair share of boneheaded calls, but he's the best OC we have had in ages. Personally I hope he's here for a long time. Because once RG3 really gets all aspects of being a pocket passer down, it will be a downright nasty combo with Kyle's aggressiveness.

 

Seriously, by year's end the Skins offense will probably be ranked in the top 5 in every statistical category -- they are fourth in yards and third in rushing right now! Do stats tell the whole story? Of course not. But still... give the guy a break. 

[Matugi]

It was definitely a better gameplan than last week's.  I hated, hated that call on 3rd-and-3, though.  Pierre is awesome, but he's more of Isaac Bruce and we're in need of a Torry Holt.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

I actually really wanted us to go for it on 4th down.  I didn't have faith our D could stop them, and they drove all the way down the field and forced OT (although that goal line stand was nuts).

 

I wish we went for it on 4th, but I can't complain too much.  A wins a win, and credit for the continued FB Dive plays.  The Chargers had no answer to it.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

People hated the 3rd and 3 call because it didn't work.  I had no problem with the call.

 

Our offense looked in sync today for the first time.  Our guys simply played better football today.

 

Shoutout to Amerson for keeping Woodhead out of the endzone.  I still can't believe they didn't punch it in.

 

A win is a win is a win is a win.  Let's get Minny on Thursday before we go to Philty for a little payback.

[Rpredskins]

People hated the 3rd and 3 call because it didn't work.  I had no problem with the call.

 

 

Maybe. I found it odd that you'd call a fade, which is a relatively low percentage play. Especially with stuff over the middle was open all day.

[Wyvern]

Garcon made two catches that saved the pass.

What about the other 21 pass that Robert made? Please explain the laser/perfect ball placement in the 4th Qtr.

Wasn't he the 4th rated passer in the NFL in completion percentage in 2012 @66%?

... Come see me when we have games like this one where we don't flat out drop a minimum of 6 pass.

Please forgive me if I'm coming off harsh as my angst is not directed at you,.. however there is this funky narrative that has seem to permeate the majority of the RS nation. It goes a little like this: "We no longer have a legit QB that performed amazing progressive QB (pass throwing) plays as 1st year player... and that crazy knee surgery thing.. whatever man.."

Hot-&-cold means Griffin can string a few passes together, like he did in overtime. However, I'd note that in the 4th quarter, when we were leading by 3', Griffin's passing went cold and we couldn't mount a drive to close out the game. For whatever reason, those were inaccurate passes or throwaways in a crucial time. This season, when teams have challenged Griffin to beat them with the pass, he couldn't and there were a lot of stalled drives.

Griffin now seems to be doing well on the short-to-medium passes, that are not timing/crossing patterns. (He's more frequently throwing behind his receiver on those kinds of patterns) Sadly, He's still been sailing a few passes high, especially the medium-to-long passes... Then, there are the other times when he's throwing hard flat passes which are harder to catch, harder for his receivers to pick up, and often easier to block. Also I don't see as much touch on his passes (remember "pancakes?") or him dropping long passes in the bucket as he did last year. Considering the injury, that is understandable.

This isn't to say these passing issues are permanent; in fact he's looking slightly better each week. However, Griffin is going to have to put a lot of time in this upcoming off-season to regain the muscle-memory and footwork that allowed him such a wide range of passes that scared a defense away from stacking the box against the running game. Whatever he lost during the long rehab, and was not able to work on during his light preseason, is hard to gain back under fire in the regular season. (...Especially with the Skins O-line not reliably maintaining an effective pocket for him).

BTW, I don't take your well-written rebuttal of my post personally. I do see how people tend to over-react to the ups-&-downs in Griffin's performances and cast judgements in concrete. I'm only stating what I thought I saw, from the limited glimpses of the game that TV provides us. But I suspect that my first impressions will be borne out, even after watching NFL Rewind -- Griffin is still struggling in this season's version of the Skins' passing game.

[Lavarleap56]

Execution was the difference. Same passing plays in almost the exact same situations that didn't work last week worked for the most part this week. And when they didn't, it was usually because RG3 -- who had a great game overall -- made a bad throw to an open receiver. 

 

 

 

Execution was better overall.. Redskins ran some of the same concepts but did it from different formations which made a big difference. The offense benefited from spreading out the defense more than they have all season.Less compact formations led to easier reads for Robert and more space for the skill positions.. 

[MartinC]

I still don't understand why the screen pass is not a staple of this offense...in particular with Helu.

 

I hated the 3rd and 3 call at the end of the game....Kyle is very predictable in certain situations...3rd and 2 or 3 is always a pass.

An out route was foolish, because even if they got a 1st down, the clock would have stopped because Garcon was head out of bounds.

 

3rd and 2 plus is a passing down league wide - a run call in that situation is the exception not the norm. Now there are different kinds of pass you call in that situation but we have been throwing a lot of shorter passes - normally either the quick out to Moss or the skinny post to Reed out of some kind of bunch formation - so I was fine with us breaking a tendency.

[darrelgreenie]

Kyle basically admitted to his mistakes in his press conference last week.

Mike in his pressee openly stated we needed to use more roll outs and more read option and we did.

We saw those improvements in the gameplan and play calling.

But if you didn't notice the difference you probably didn't notice the mistakes.

Either way kudos to the staff for the adjustments. I just wish they would have happened 2-3 games ago.

[MrJL]

I still don't understand why the screen pass is not a staple of this offense...in particular with Helu.

 

I hated the 3rd and 3 call at the end of the game....Kyle is very predictable in certain situations...3rd and 2 or 3 is always a pass.

An out route was foolish, because even if they got a 1st down, the clock would have stopped because Garcon was head out of bounds.

 

 

mostly because screen passes for us tend to result in the loss of several yards 

[Son of Gadsden]

I've been to three Redskins games, each in the last three years.

 

Redskins v. Cardinals

Redskins v. Vikings

Redskins v. Chargers

 

We're undefeated every time that I go.

 

I think we won because of me. xD

[Darrell Green Fan]

Garcon made two catches that saved the pass. 

What about the other 21 pass that Robert made? Please explain the laser/perfect ball placement in the 4th Qtr.

Wasn't he the 4th rated passer in the NFL in completion percentage in 2012  @66%? 

 

We need to stop acting like Robert has to be perfect on every pass to meet some unobtainable ''Acceptable Quarterback" threshold that no one else in the NFL is adhering to. 

 

Come see me when we/skins can spend an extra 18 mil like the other 31 teams and we can have not only "good character guys".. but also some "bull nosed rollers" on the front line as well.   Come see me when we have games like this one where we don't flat out drop a minimum of 6 pass.

 

Please forgive me if I'm coming off harsh as my angst is not directed at you,.. however there is this funky narrative that has seem to permeate the majority of the RS nation.  It goes a little like this: "We no longer have a legit QB that performed amazing progressive QB (pass throwing) plays as 1st year player... and that crazy knee surgery thing.. whatever man.." 

 

This was my take as well.  No question Griff has not been as accurate as last year.  But his receivers have dropped far more passes then they have bailed him out with great ones.  Like 15 to 1.  Fans need to stop questining our QB and come to understand that by my count he is 3 for 3 on game deciding drives (yesterday, Bears game, Tampa Bay last year).  He may in fact have that invaluable it". 

[Probos]

I agree from an overall standpoint -- the offense was the most balanced it's been all year.  The run game looked strong, pass game looked "good", not great but good.  Griff's accuracy came and went.  Garcon is amazing, and at this point in the season he's the MVP of the team IMO.  Reed continues to impress, Hank looked decent as well.  Defense played with a lot of heart but overall I saw the Charges OL mostly dominate the our DL, especially pass protecting.  The lack of pass rush is troubling, and there were still a lot of missed tackles,....pisses me off.  The specail teams are just dreadful, but we all know that.

 

But there were things that happened that could have easily swung the game yesterday -- odd penalty calls, a big drop by Keenan Allen (that might have been 6) and the play calling by the Chargers when they're 1st and goal at the 1/2 yard line,.....we lucked out there.

 

Anyway, glad we got the win.  Hopefully they can go to Minnesota on a short week and take care of business.

[RandyHolt]

What I found interesting was Kyle running Morris up the gut to start the game. To no avail, but he stuck with it. I was pining to stretch wide, not straight on run block where we struggle. I figured he was setting them up for boots or something else, maybe just confirming they would be stacked up to stop the run. Kyle stuck with it, and Morris broke one, and presume RG3 made some nice throws because of play action.

 

I am still surprised we don't run defenses sideline to sideline more, and play action pass out of a stretch fake.

 

While running up the gut early was not successful, it likely still had a positive effect. It reaffirmed to SD yes we would run keep loading up for it, and then directly related or not, we had some nice passing plays.

 

But regardless if you run to pass, pass to run etc. Kyle has to keep defenses not knowing what we will do, and he did that. In fact, being unpredictable seems to be one of his strengths. From the days he goes toss happy, run up the gut happy, triple option to Reed, ft Helu or Young on the goal line, no read options... he is all over the board.