ESPN - Matthew Stafford, Lions passing game will test Redskins

[HapHaszard]

http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/27951/matthew-stafford-lions-passing-game-will-test-redskins

ASHBURN, Va., -- The Washington Redskins, not too long ago, were a team that couldn't win on the road. But dating to last season the Redskins have won five straight road games, including this season at the New York Giants and the Baltimore Ravens. To win a sixth, they'll have to contend with a Detroit Lions' offense that has clicked in the air, despite losing receiver Calvin Johnson to retirement.

But the Redskins also believe their defense has improved -- they've allowed just 16 combined points in two games. And running back Matt Jones, who has rushed for 433 yards this season, will face a defense that ranks 27th in yards per carry allowed.

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[skins island connection]

Stafford is a seasoned vet with a rocket arm and a big frame that's hard to bring down.

The Redskins line will have fits chasing him, but patience is the key, along with a secondary playing tight and alert. He will get his yards but hopefully not the touchdowns. It will be a much harder game than many think.

[zCommander]

If we can run the ball effectively like we did last week we will control the clock and keep Stafford and team on the sideline for most of the game. I don't think he is that hard to bring down plus our pass rush was good last week too. Hopefully all 3 parts of our team clicks and we will be able to easily spear them cats.

[DJD2]

Stafford to Tate is worrisome.

Detroit can be an explosive team offensively and should not be taken lightly.

[Renegade7]

1 hour ago, skins island connection said:

Stafford is a seasoned vet with a rocket arm and a big frame that's hard to bring down.

The Redskins line will have fits chasing him, but patience is the key, along with a secondary playing tight and alert. He will get his yards but hopefully not the touchdowns. It will be a much harder game than many think.

I agree.  If any team can make a comeback on us, its these guys.  Would not shock me if it comes down to the wire, this will be tough, but I believe we are the better team.

[SemperFi Skins]

It should read...

"Josh Norman, best CB in the league, Will Test Stafford's Lions Passing Game and Staffords Patience"

[Koolblue13]

Our corners should be able to lock down on their WRs just fine, like we did last week, the difference is our safeties will have to stay deep and can't come up for run support as easily or we get burned. That's a problem.

However, last week we finally started having a line of Murphy, Smith and Kerrigan, with Toler as the lone LB and a slew of DBs. That's a solid defense to lock a passing game down and get after the QB.

I think there will be a ton of points scored in this game.

What I do like, is that the field is so stinking fast, I don't see how Kirk will be able to over throw Djax and Jamo. They should be flying and the Lions secondary really isn't that great.

If we can establish the run and hold safeties, we should be able to rain bombs on them.

[melvin2345]

39 minutes ago, DJD2 said:

Stafford to Tate is worrisome.

Detroit can be an explosive team offensively and should not be taken lightly.

 

Last week the injury list was 11 people. 4 starters were out, 4 starters questionable, and 3 role players questionable. The little bit of optimism Lions fans have is being bolstered by the fact that we have some folks getting healthy, and possibly coming back this week.

Theo Riddick and Eric Ebron both missed the game against the Rams. There is a small chance they come back. The starting RG Warford might be back. There may be some healthy folks returning on defense too. Ansah missed 4 games, and was limited last week, but he should be good to go. There is a chance that the LBs get some help too via new bodies. The LBs are the main reason our defense has been so mind numbingly awful this year.

Flip side of that, they might all still be hurt, in which case the Lions limp back onto the field like they have all year.....

I'm not convinced the Lions will win, but they certainly could win if the offense keep playing quality, mistake-free football like they have been.

[grego]

48 minutes ago, DJD2 said:

Stafford to Tate is worrisome.

 

because of his game last week? 

meh. before last week, he hadnt topped 41 yards and had zero TDs all year. in six games. 

thats awful.

[melvin2345]

2 minutes ago, grego said:

because of his game last week? 

meh. before last week, he hadnt topped 41 yards and had zero TDs all year. in six games. 

thats awful.

 

Part of that was the team adjusting to not having Calvin Johnson. With Boldin, Jones, Ebron, Riddick and Tate all being legitimate options, Stafford was simply taking what defenses gave him. That's why Jones was leading the league in yards up until last week. Teams focused on Tate as the #1, and that gave Jones an opening. Teams started focusing on Jones, now Tate is getting his.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Anquan Boldin is scary.  He will still be scary when he's 80 years old.

[Thinking Skins]

So, I was looking at some metrics this morning and the Lions OL is not rated too high (https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-lines-entering-week-5-2/)

Quote

15. Detroit Lions (22)

Starters: LT Taylor Decker, LG Laken Tomlinson, C Travis Swanson, RG Larry Warford, RT Riley Reiff

Rookie Taylor Decker has been okay at tackle so far this season, allowing three sacks and 13 total pressures while being asked to pass block 187 times already. The weak link so far has been G Laken Tomlinson, whose run blocking has been poor, but he’s actually been solid in pass protection—which has been more important for a team passing far more than they are running. Riley Reiff has been performing well as a run blocker, but has been only average in pass protection.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/o

 

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?role=TM&offensiveStatisticCategory=OFFENSIVE_LINE&tabSeq=2

[melvin2345]

2 hours ago, Thinking Skins said:

So, I was looking at some metrics this morning and the Lions OL is not rated too high (https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-lines-entering-week-5-2/)

 

I won't argue tat the offensive line has been a weak spot for some time. The biggest problem, as mentioned above, is Laken Tomlinson. He is the starting LG. Dude just isn't playing well. Graham Glasgow came in for him in the Philly game and did really well. Glasgow started LG against the Rams because the starting RG (Warford) was hurt, so Tomlinson got moved to RG. Warford may be back on Sunday, and I would be very surprised if Glasgow wasn't starting in place of Tomlinson. 

Justin Rogers breaks down how the o-line did against Aaron Donald last week. Pretty common theme here, everyone did decent except for Tomlinson. http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2016/10/18/film-review-how-lions-slowed-aaron-donald/92361120/

Basically, if we have Glasgow at LG and Warford back at RG, the o-line is actually pretty good. If Tomlinson is playing, that position immediately becomes the exploitable weak link.

[NoCalMike]

After seeing what the defense did to Philly last week, I really am sort of baffled at what to expect week to week. The defense has been getting better every week since their abysmal performance against Dallas in Week 2, but I never expected them to do what they did to Philly with the current personnel.  

[Thinking Skins]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2016/10/18/matthew-stafford-is-having-his-best-season-ever-thanks-jim-bob-cooter/

Quote

Of course, this jump in accuracy that coincided with Cooter’s ascension to the offensive coordinator role has also correlated with Stafford throwing shorter passes. It might come as a surprise, but the quarterback most often associated with his powerful arm is throwing as short as any QB in the league.

His average depth of target this season is 7.1 yards downfield, which is tied with Kansas City’s Alex Smith for the shortest average in the NFL — and last year he tied for the league low with Smith at 6.8 yards downfield. He only attempts passes of 20 or more yards downfield on 8.5 percent of his throws, which is the second-lowest rate in the league. That’s a significant drop from earlier in his career, when 11 to 12 percent of his attempts used to be of the deep variety.

 

[Nfcbeasts4721]

6 hours ago, zskins said:

If we can run the ball effectively like we did last week we will control the clock and keep Stafford and team on the sideline for most of the game. I don't think he is that hard to bring down plus our pass rush was good last week too. Hopefully all 3 parts of our team clicks and we will be able to easily spear them cats.

Good call...Good call...I do give credit where credits due on Stafford..big arm scrambles good...jus hope he brings an extra jersey...dooohhhhh hahaha.

6 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

Our corners should be able to lock down on their WRs just fine, like we did last week, the difference is our safeties will have to stay deep and can't come up for run support as easily or we get burned. That's a problem.

However, last week we finally started having a line of Murphy, Smith and Kerrigan, with Toler as the lone LB and a slew of DBs. That's a solid defense to lock a passing game down and get after the QB.

I think there will be a ton of points scored in this game.

What I do like, is that the field is so stinking fast, I don't see how Kirk will be able to over throw Djax and Jamo. They should be flying and the Lions secondary really isn't that great.

If we can establish the run and hold safeties, we should be able to rain bombs on them.

Umm jamo..Jamison Crowder?

[bobandweave]

Anquan Boldin is being used quite a bit now and has gotten a ton of targets lately. Marvin Jones, Anquan Boldin, and Golden Tate make for a pretty formidable task to cover. Thank goodness there RBs are Justin Forsett and Zach Zenner who are pretty awful so they don't have to worry about them so much

[Darth Tater]

5 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

Anquan Boldin is scary.  He will still be scary when he's 80 years old.

Tyler Jenkins, enough said

[Darth Tater]

3 hours ago, NoCalMike said:

After seeing what the defense did to Philly last week, I really am sort of baffled at what to expect week to week. The defense has been getting better every week since their abysmal performance against Dallas in Week 2, but I never expected them to do what they did to Philly with the current personnel.  

It might have been as much about Philly not even getting a chance.  Remember, from approximately the second quarter to midway in the third, we ran 39 plays to Philly's 1.  Overall, Philly just ran 48. Our best defense may arguably have been as much about the keep away game we were doing on offense.

[Koolblue13]

56 minutes ago, Nfcbeasts4721 said:

Good call...Good call...I do give credit where credits due on Stafford..big arm scrambles good...jus hope he brings an extra jersey...dooohhhhh hahaha.

Umm jamo..Jamison Crowder?

Yes. Jamison is my name, everyone calls me Jamo. I like that.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

29 minutes ago, Darth Tater said:

It might have been as much about Philly not even getting a chance.  Remember, from approximately the second quarter to midway in the third, we ran 39 plays to Philly's 1.  Overall, Philly just ran 48. Our best defense may arguably have been as much about the keep away game we were doing on offense.

 

Agreed - we should aim for more pick-sixes and kickoff return touchdowns! 

[Diehard Otis]

Perhaps it's time to dust off an old strategy for beating Dome Teams; namely, beat 'em up.  Trying to Win a shootout in Detroit would be playing right into the Lions' hands (sure we might Win a track meet with them, but that would be the wrong way to go here).

Instead, I hope Jay Gruden elects to beat 'em up.  What I mean by that is giving them a heavy dose of the 3-headed monster in the Backfield, Play Action off of that, & mix in some deep shots.  On Defense, go after Stafford ALL DAY!  If we can manage to negate their Rushing Attack, then bodyslam Stafford onto the turf until he screams 'uncle'.

In addition (& this is critical), control the Field Position.  As long as Tress Way is Punting like he usually does, that will set our Defense up for success, since Defending a long field takes the pressure off them.  And of course limit the Penalties/Turnovers, but that's the goal every week.

Kick the Lions ass on Sunday.  Literally.  Be the meaner, nastier, more physical team.  If we do that, then we should Win - comfortably.

[SkinsGuy]

3 hours ago, Darth Tater said:

It might have been as much about Philly not even getting a chance.  Remember, from approximately the second quarter to midway in the third, we ran 39 plays to Philly's 1. 

 

And that "1" for the Eagles was just a kneel down to end the half.

[RedBeast]

@Diehard Otis like the game plan, but we need to also be smart, as well as fold in a few new wrinkles on both sides. The most important thing is not to be predictable IMO. Thats all 3 phases of the game.

No penalty fests, injuries or sloppy gameplay. Execute; fiercely.

[skins island connection]

 

  This could be the Niles Paul show on sunday.

 If Detroit commits to playing heavy in the secondary, that leaves the door wide open, and I mean wide open, for Paul to have a career day and then some.

Once they begin to rotate coverage to slow him down, that opens the door for DJax , and if you're reading this Jackson, you will have opportunities to very big scoring plays, so no case of the dropsies this week, mkay?