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Jeff George the worst play action salesman?


HailVictory

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That is one thing that I will miss about BJ- the guy performed a play action fake of Julliard proportions. That's when our running game really took off- he sold it so well you couldn't tell the difference between a running play or a passing play. On the running plays he'd hand the ball off and then do that little spin move and pretend like he was going to throw it, while SD was plowing through holes.

When George took over, his actions appeared so deliberate and robotic. No one was fooled. No wonder the guy had to thread the needle on his passes, because he telegraphed his moves before the play was able to develop.

I'm hoping Marty/Raye can improve some of his basic mechanics. Selling the play action is the key to getting Davis going.

Sometimes, it seemed like George didn't care if opposing defenses knew he was throwing at them. It was almost as if he dared them to stop him and he'd let them know exactly what he intended to do.

IMO, selling the play action will be the key to our new ball control offense. Let's hope George can polish up his acting skills rolleyes.gif

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Hail - you've brought up one of the key reasons for the success of Peyton Manning (and E. James). He sells the play action better than any QB in the league right now.

Problem with BJ was his arm after the first half of '99. His mechanics on the sell were fine, but he was sometimes quick to get jumpy in the pocket and look for his out, namely Larry Centers. I'm no big fan of George, but it will be nice to see more passes actually cross the line of scrimmage by more than a yard or two.

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great topic,& i agree,lotsa polish on brad johnson's ball handling skills. one play that always seemed to work real well is when brad&SD would start in one direction w/brad sticking the ball right out there for the defense to see,then they'd shift and go in another direction. that was good stuff.

offensively,i don't think we're going to be as deceptive as we were. i know we'll adopt that quicker pace that's a staple of air coryell(wco),but the skins won't be rushed into anything. and risk taking won't be to win,but to catch up. the skins will be a tougher,more disiplined unit & do a better job of taking care of the ball! i do feel pretty confident that the OL will be better at pass protection. hail the skins

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Doug Williams, Mark Rypien, Joe Theismann, Jim McMahon,Brad Johnson and Peyton Manning are the best I've seen also. Williams was able to "hide" the ball in exceptionally large hands, which put a huge smile on Joe Gibbs face. In addition to this top topic, I would add that John Riggins and Ernest Byner was very good at assisting the QB in selling the run.

What does this mean? Both the RB and QB MUST sell the run, thus the reason Jimmy Raye is excited about George's adjustments. I am thinking here, that Jimmy Raye saw the films, met with George and that along with shortening the routes has been the main focus for him.

Manning and James reign supreme with it now and geez, imagine covering Harrison when it works. Ouch!!!

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Since somebody brought it up, I believe that the key to a successful play action fake is the performance put on by the Offensive linemen. They must start out pass blocking, then quickly get low and hammer someone. The drop step blocking technique used by the Denver Broncos, where they take a "step in the bucket" on both running and passing plays, helps their play action fakes tremendously. It also allows them to utilized smaller faster lineman, rather than behemoths. It will be interesting to see the skins blocking technique this season.

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George does not have nearly the ball handling skills Johnson has. George also is worrisome, because he doesn't have standard steps on his drops. He is a loper and it's hard to get timing down. Reports to this point are that the team is working with George to shorten his steps and get a more standard drop out of George.

I suspect they will work with George on play action as well. But, these are the intangibles that Johnson has as advantages over George. Good footwork and play action fakes are no small part of football. Johnson's weak arm is the only thing that keeps him from being a real star player at the position.

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Doom is in the box.

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George has never had to worry about his play action fakes because he thinks he can throw the ball 80 yards and still thread a needle. Hopefully as has been suggested the coaches are working with George on play action fakes and foot work. I guess when you have a cannon for an arm you don't worry so much about the little finess things that make a complete QB.

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look, there are two things that make play action go. One as everyone has been mentioning is the ball skills of the quarterback.

but the second is having a legitimate ground threat to freeze the defenders.

Brad Johnson had a HEALTY Stephen Davis through his first 9 games last year and that presented a very real threat to the opponents we faced.

Yes, Jeff George has an unorthodox style of delivering the ball and moving around. But Bernie Kosar and John Elway did as well.

When Jeff George came in to quarterback the Skins through all save the first game against Arizona, Davis was hurt.

The Redskins had no running game against the Rams, even though we pulled the game out in the air and on defense.

Other games against the Giants and Eagles with Davis hurt showed that once the threat of a legit back was gone the offense was forced to rely on big plays in the passing game.

So, I am loathe to criticize George for not being able to make play action work effectively. Give him Davis healthy for 10-12 games as Johnson had in 1999 and again in 2000 and some healthy offensive linemen as Johnson had in 1999.

Then we can judge his abilities more fairly and accurately.

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