NFL Philosophy: Redskins Roster Evaluation

A pretty incredible effort here. The kind of thing you could read for 3 hours. A must-read for Skins fans.

Washington Redskins 2014 Roster Evaluation | NFL Philosophy

OK, I started reading it but when it just kept mentioning players not even on the team any more I had to wonder what this has to do with the 2015 redskins? What do I care about his evaluation of Ryan Clark or Brian Orakpo?

What does a 2014 eval of Chris Baker have to do with the fact that his best friend Knighton is now lining up next to him and he feels rejuvenated?

Definitely highlights many things all of us thought: Defense was bad, what was good on it was used wrong, and the QB needs to play better to succeed. Lots of in depth information though, an interesting mental exercise for the guy to be sure.

I found that interesting. Thanks. Just because it's not 100% relevant to the new season doesn't mean it's of no value at all.

Call me crazy, but... I'm not looking to only read things that are all rainbows and unicorns here.

well, you are crazy.

I don't really see the value of looking at 2014 when its 2015, we have a different group of players, different coaches, different mentality. its like getting in to a new relationship and remembering back to the last time you were in one and comparing it. it's just not the same. Clark left and we have MAJORLY upgraded our speed/coverage. Rak is long gone and we now have 2 players competing that have already shown they have more to offer than him. Bowen is gone and replaced with Pot Roast who is easily one of the best NT's in the league.

but, call me crazy if you want

Many players that are still here are detailed there.

You don't see value in that, I do.

Most in the skilled position that failed aren't.

We can agree to disagree. I'm cool with that.

we heard repeatedly after last season (from defensive players) that the defense was severely impacted by poor coaching: both from a tactics and a technique pov. new talent + coaching that...so players are saying....allows them to play to their strengths suggests that this defense is going to be much better.

not sure 2014 means much for defense other than as a baseline to demonstrate just how much improvement has occurred.

as for offense...yea..Tampa game was bad. so?

Chris said:

I found that interesting. Thanks. Just because it's not 100% relevant to the new season doesn't mean it's of no value at all.

Call me crazy, but... I'm not looking to only read things that are all rainbows and unicorns here.

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I'm with you brother. This eval is spot on so what if its dated. Shows even more that what happened was what many people were calling to happen. I'm not sold on Barry, I mean how could you be? But this defense just needed CPR and some fresh air has the potential to reap big rewards.

This was a defense that lacked a good front line and had poor safety play. It was also poorly schemed and had a lot of guys doing things that they weren’t good at. Be]er preparation, coaching, and play calling could make an immediate impact on this defense, but the defensive line and safeties have to be upgraded. I would on from Bowen, Cofield, and Jenkins. Also, I would consider cu\ng Hall as he’s expensive, aging, and would simply just take snaps from younger players that could use the reps. He’s not good enough in run support and is a poor tackler so he’s not a great candidate to move to safety (though if his contract proves prohibitive to cut him, it’s worth a shot).

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I can't wait for the day Meangelo is no longer an NFL player. Love that he called out Hall for not being a candidate for safety like so many people crowed about. If a balls not thrown right to him he's useless.

Mike for someone who always acts like that rainbow and puppy dog guy you are just simply hating on anything posted by someone you have a prior issue with. This is a good read, especially in the doldrums of July.

Thanks for the link. Nice to not read something about Griffin's favorite ****ing hamburger toppings.

Was the author's name Captain Obvious?

The overwhelming majority of his team analysis has little, if any information, not already known to most Redskins fans. I personally don't need a pat on the back, and a "you were right" confirmation. I know what I saw. I couldn't quote the statistical numbers he does, but then they're useless anyway. Only the stats for the upcoming season matter now.

True, it's readable. But at the end of the day, it does nothing for me.

I think I'd find it more compelling if, for one thing, we knew when he'd written it? The post is dated 7/15/15, but there's no indication on the evaluation itself when he assembled it. Or how much actual game tape he reviewed in analyzing schemes and players.

I don't begrudge anyone putting in the time to produce something like that, but overall I have to agree with Ax. Nothing in there I saw while skimming through that doesn't sound like it could have been culled pretty easily from existing reports and synopses.

Not sure I quite understand what the author is looking for in posting that now.

Agreed. If we were all still wondering, "what happened last year", then it would be nice to read about it to find out. But everything he talked about, along with everything from every season, has been covered here already, daily, while it was happening.

I'm as anxious as anyone for news about our team. And I know this is the time when new news is hard to come by. But old news is old news.

Honestly, to me it looked like the author was just doing this as a mental exercise to compare against what McLovin does, and posted his thoughts on his blog. This doesn't appear to be the standard website clickbait, just appears to be a guy's blog on which he shares his amusement. I could be looking at it wrong though.

Lost me when he started talkin about how good it would be to have a player like Rak.....

Alfred Morris isn't a downhill back?

I think this article is awesome for a bunch of reasons, and have rarely seen another effort quite like it. Here are a few things that stand out:

1. The author has absolutely no bias. He's not a Redskins fan. He doesn't have an axe to grind against RG3, nor does he have to worry about getting an interview from D Hall when training camp opens. He doesn't care about who wrote what on twitter. He evaluates without fear of potentially angering a fan base, and without any emotion. That's hard to find.

2. The amount of time invested boggles the mind. He watched every single play, from every single game, from every single player over the season. With the aid of all 22 and regular film, in total, he watched each of our games roughly 15 times or more. It took him over a month to prepare this piece.

3. He's obviously very knowledgeable, and it shows. His attention to detail is not found with the regular beat writers. From the overall breakdowns of our offense and defense to individual player scouting reports. "Washington used 21 personnel on 3rd and short only 4 times all season. Used 22 personnel 11 times in the same situation. There were 0 "Wildcat" formations, 4 end-arounds, 1 reverse, and the Redskins rarely used 6 OL. Except for week 12, there were no plays with 6 OL after week 5." Crazy attention to detail.

4. Just look at the report on Chris Baker as another example. He tells you not only that he's better against the pass than the run, but exactly why that is. Then suggests that the coaching was bad.

5. He's a fan of McLovin. That's why he wrote this article. He then took all of those critiques and tried to compare them to what Scot would do, based upon his former stops in SF and Seattle. And then made suggestions as to who he would cut, and who he would keep. On offense: "I would focus on rebuilding the right side of the offensive line and finding a running back that can function in a power run game." What did McLovin do? Hello Scherff and Matt Jones.

6. And finally, fans should look at this article and rejoice about how far we've come. Could anyone here do the same evaluation on the Tennessee Titans right now? Could you imagine what it would look like if Vinny or Bruce Allen tried to do such an evaluation? Lol. We finally have some real football minds in the organization. Things are looking up.

CounterTrey said:

Alfred Morris isn't a downhill back?

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No, he's not. Think Frank Gore. That's a downhill back.

It may be a little more boring to watch, but it will definitely be more of a power football scheme, which will hopefully also kill the clock.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/2000854/matt-jones

WTF does 'downhill back' even mean? Alfred Morris is one hell of a tough, hard-nosed running back. He's the kind of back any team would be beyond lucky to have. That's the only definition that matters.

Boone said:

WTF does 'downhill back' even mean? Alfred Morris is one hell of a tough, hard-nosed running back. He's the kind of back any team would be beyond lucky to have. That's the only definition that matters.

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Alfred is tough as hell. No one should question that. But what's the first thing he typically does when he gets the ball?

He runs sideline-to-sideline waiting for a hole to open up. Then he makes one cut, and tries to get through the hole. He runs more east-west. That's great for a zone-blocking scheme. That's part of the reason why he lasted until the 6th round--few teams use that scheme.

We've seen how great that scheme can be, but it also has its downfalls. Smaller, more athletic linemen aren't so great for pass protection. The QB can suffer.

Scot prefers a power running scheme. We're being molded like SF and Seattle.

1. A huge emphasis on defense. Both SF and Seattle had great defenses.

2. Power running on offense. Bigger blockers. RBs who go north-south, not east-west. Guys who run forward when the ball is snapped. Frank Gore, Marshawn Lynch and Brandon Jacobs types.

Alfred isn't a power runner? Bullshit.

He's known for not falling backwards and hitting people harder than they hit him.

Your selective memory is not going to work this time. Morris can hit holes, sweep wide, or take it to the house. And he has for a few years now.

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