2025 Washington Commanders- All Things Offense

[CapsCommies]

Current wording is sticking to “offensive staff” - meaning not OC.

Maybe similar to his role on Lincoln Riley's USC staff? Definitely a far cry from what I'm sure he had in mind when he decided to leave DC

 

[skinsinparadise]

Catching up with Blough's interview on 106.7, talking about playing violently and highlighted Conerly when asked to pick a player for people to watch out for. Sounds like code for running the ball.

 

[Conn]

Funny how Blough has so clearly internalized Quinn’s personal pet peeve about Kliff’s offense not giving looks similar to most of the league. To the point that he uses the buzz phrase (in our building) “play-style that is recognizable across the NFL”.

I’m not even saying that’s NOT what I want. It’s part of why I criticized Kliff as well (although, I believed these things before we hired him, and Quinn should have as well. He got what he hired! And predictably didn’t like it. Which makes me question his judgement). But it just supports the people who are saying that Blough is clearly a guy who Quinn felt would make him comfortable with his style and preferences, and essentially follow orders. He’s even (probably subconsciously) spreading the same propaganda.

 

[heisenberg]

Funny how Blough has so clearly internalized Quinn’s personal pet peeve about Kliff’s offense not giving looks similar to most of the league. To the point that he uses the buzz phrase (in our building) “play-style that is recognizable across the NFL”.

I’m not even saying that’s NOT what I want. It’s part of why I criticized Kliff as well (although, I believed these things before we hired him, and Quinn should have as well. He got what he hired! And predictably didn’t like it. Which makes me question his judgement). But it just supports the people who are saying that Blough is clearly a guy who Quinn felt would make him comfortable with his style and preferences, and essentially follow orders. He’s even (probably subconsciously) spreading the same propaganda.

I liked the part (im paraphrasing because I dont remember the exact words) where he said he wants to make different things look the same and the same things look different.

Definitely a little cliché but I like the concept of trying to disguise everything you do whether its trying to make a run up the gut on first down look like a double reverse or vice versa.

 

[Conn]

I liked the part (im paraphrasing because I dont remember the exact words) where he said he wants to make different things look the same and the same things look different.

Definitely a little cliché but I like the concept of trying to disguise everything you do whether its trying to make a run up the gut on first down look like a double reverse or vice versa.

Definitely something that has been a very successful tactic across the league for certain guys. McVay and Ben Johnson specifically. It would definitely lead me to think we’re going to make a significant investment at TE, or it won’t really work that well.

 

[DWinzit]

Definitely something that has been a very successful tactic across the league for certain guys. McVay and Ben Johnson specifically. It would definitely lead me to think we’re going to make a significant investment at TE, or it won’t really work that well.

Fully expect that and it is APs favorite position as well

 

[Commander Wraith]

Funny how Blough has so clearly internalized Quinn’s personal pet peeve about Kliff’s offense not giving looks similar to most of the league. To the point that he uses the buzz phrase (in our building) “play-style that is recognizable across the NFL”.

I’m not even saying that’s NOT what I want. It’s part of why I criticized Kliff as well (although, I believed these things before we hired him, and Quinn should have as well. He got what he hired! And predictably didn’t like it. Which makes me question his judgement). But it just supports the people who are saying that Blough is clearly a guy who Quinn felt would make him comfortable with his style and preferences, and essentially follow orders. He’s even (probably subconsciously) spreading the same ropaganda.

For some reason, listening to that reminded me of the talk (reporting?) early in the yearthat said something to the effect of only one of our receivers being able to run the routes correctly.

 

[Conn]

For some reason, listening to that reminded me of the talk (reporting?) early in the yearthat said something to the effect of only one of our receivers being able to run the routes correctly.

Yeah I think it was in reference to the X, and it was Chris Moore 😩

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I know I'm several days late, but I listed to a the Tuesday pressers and also Logan Paulsen on Galdi, a few other things. And I got to thinking and I have a little history lesson to go into a broader point...

1. Remember back in 2012 when Kyle essentially brought the pistol offense to the NFL with Griffin? He took the Shanahan scheme and married it with a mobile QB and used a lot of pistol and shotgun. Why? Because it presented the QB as a run threat in a more meaningful way, simplified reads for the QB, is the formation you can run read option from. It literally took the NFL by storm and was replicated across the league, and was a big part of the league for the next 10 years.

2. The heavy use of shotgun is not a new thing. Hell, if you go back and look at "the drive" in the 1986 AFC Championship Game, Elway was in shotgun for the majority if not all of the drive. So it's not like it's a new thing. Peyton and Brady were both in shotgun a lot also.

3. The league moved to a more shotgun/pistol heavy league from 2012 through maybe 2020. Mostly because the rules shifted to be SO skewed to the pass game, the run game because a little brother. The dual threat QB + skewed rules meant going pistol/shotgun a lot was the way to go.

4. The run game started to make a re-appearance maybe 5 years ago in a real meaningful way with teams who did not have a dual threat QB. A lot of that is an evolution of the Shanahan offense. The Shanahan offense has gone through many iterations. It's always been somewhat predicated on the run, (think Terrell Davis with Mike back in the 90's as a starting point), however it's also a WCO based offense, Mike was the OC to Bill Walsh in San Francisco, so there are a lot of pass concepts in it as well. The offense has morphed a lot over the past 30 years, however the most recent iteration actually looks more like the 90's version than the 2010's version, which is interesting.

5. Now you're seeing a lot of offenses move back to more traditional under-center runs and more traditional play action. Why? Because defenses got good at taking away the more prevalent shotgun/pass heavy offenses. So offenses adjusted.

6. What's going to happen next? You guessed it, defenses are going to adjust, and then offenses will adjust again, and so on and so on and so on.

Which is why offensive coaches who have coached successfully for 20-30 years are so impressive, because they've morphed with the times, often led the morphing.

So that brings us back to what Quinn wants, which is a more traditional offense which looks more like what other teams are doing. That's fine. However, there is also something to be said for being the outlier. Because maybe you're just zagging early, and the rest of the league will eventually zag back to you. If you're zigging while the rest of the league is zagging, assuming it's successful, that's not a bad thing. As long as it works. If it doesn't work, then you're just a slave to your system and stupid.

When Quinn and Blough say they want more under center snaps, that's fine. However, by doing that, you limit the ability to present the dual threat QB you drafted second overall BECAUSE he was a dual threat QB in a position to be a dual threat QB. Just by having Daniels in pistol, if if there is no intention of running out of pistol, the defense has to consider he might run, and that puts pressure on the defense. So by formation you're reducing the effectiveness of the player you drafted because of that effectiveness. Which is odd.

However, flip side, you can take advantage of things Daniels can do as a running from under center with boots and keepers, and play action. So there are benefits.

Ideally they use some combination of everything to keep the defense off balance. Use some under center for the more traditional running game, play action stuff, pistol as a change up, and shotgun for known passing situations. What I don't want to see (which would be SO Jay Gruden) would be being under center on first downs all the time and running on the majority of first downs, and then shotgun on third down known passing situations. That's predictable and easy to stop. What I would like to see is a mixture on first and second downs. Don't be predictable. Of all the things I gave Jay a hard time about, being predictable on first down was probably the top on the list.

Logan said something I have been saying for years, which is the best offenses break tendency, which is you run out of pass formations and pass out of run formations, at least enough to keep defenses guessing. Also you run when you should pass, and pass when you should run. Not all the time, but at least some of the time.

My overall concern, and I hope Blough is good enough to do this even given his inexperience, is not just "take what works elsewhere" and try and apply it here, but do his own thing. If you follow the pack, you'll always be behind the pack. You don't want to be behind, you want to be in front. That means being the trend setter instead of the follower.

 

[HTTR]

It’s not that under center doesn’t present a QB run threat, it’s that the threat is different. Bootlegs and keepers as you say. And those type of runs are probably safer for Jayden. The capper for me though is that under center makes it easier to marry the run with the pass. So, if it’s deception you’re looking for, I think we’re getting more of it under center. Also opens up greater variety in the (RB) run game in my opinion.

 

[Bulldog]

Blough: 'A play style that is recognizable around the NFL'

 

[Primus Porcus]

It’s not that under center doesn’t present a QB run threat, it’s that the threat is different. Bootlegs and keepers as you say. And those type of runs are probably safer for Jayden. The capper for me though is that under center makes it easier to marry the run with the pass. So, if it’s deception you’re looking for, I think we’re getting more of it under center. Also opens up greater variety in the (RB) run game in my opinion.

It's so funny how cyclical the NFL is. It's literally like the Earth rotating around the Sun. Just hold on long enough and game plans will come back around.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

It’s not that under center doesn’t present a QB run threat, it’s that the threat is different. Bootlegs and keepers as you say. And those type of runs are probably safer for Jayden. The capper for me though is that under center makes it easier to marry the run with the pass. So, if it’s deception you’re looking for, I think we’re getting more of it under center. Also opens up greater variety in the (RB) run game in my opinion.

I actually disagree with this. Putting does not present the QB as a run threat. In order to have a designed QB run, they have to get entirely to the outside OR go backwards first, then go forwards. You're not designing many plays with the QB as the primary runner from under center.

Running a boot gives the QB a run/pass option on the outside, but it also cuts the field in half from a passing perspective because it's really hard for the QB to throw back across their body to the opposite direction they are rolling to. Some QBs can do it sometimes, but it's dangerous, and you need a QB to have time to set and throw.

However, it does put pressure on the defense because the outside contain defender has to respect the QB's ability to run, and can't just drop into coverage. However, keep in mind, Elway (and others) were doing this 40 years ago. Defenses have seen it for generations, they have a plan for it.

What you're doing from under center is really focusing on the run game with the running backs, and using motion from the QB to change the launch point, and IF there is an opening, the QB can "scramble" and take advantage of what the defense gives them.

That's different than presenting the QB as a run threat.

One thing for clarity: I'm not opposed to any of this. As I've said a bunch, my favorite offense of all time was the Colt's offense in the mid 00's. They ran a lot of stuff from under center, and one of my favorite plays was a play action where Peyton would sprint to the outside for an outside stretch run. He would either hand it off, or pull the ball for PA. Then there were 2 options, he would either set and throw from that spot or he would loop around roll the other direction. It was magical. And even peak Peyton had the mobility of a banana slug. They would run a ton of different route combinations and plays out of this base set. But it moved the pocket, so defenses didn't know exactly where Peyton was going to be, so just that by itself slowed the pass rush.

** The only coach who really figured out any way to stop it was Belichick. What he would do is basically have his outside rushers rush to a point up field and let the PA happen, then start pinching in when they figured out what Peyton was going to do. But that defense was LOADED with talent and they could pull it off. He sacrificed speed to QB trusting his CBs to jam the receivers and slow things down to allow the rush to get there. Which was brilliant.

And I bring this up to state, I'm not opposed to under center types of offense, I think they can be extremely effective. However, I also think shotgun/pistol can be extremely effective. All offenses are trying to do the same thing, which is get matchups and make reads easy for the QB. Different offenses use different methods of doing that. Some can be no-huddle/hurry-up, presenting QB as dual threat, Play Action, motion, different formations, etc. All of those techniques are available, different OCs use them in different ways to get to the same result.

 

[HTTR]

I actually disagree with this. Putting does not present the QB as a run threat. In order to have a designed QB run, they have to get entirely to the outside OR go backwards first, then go forwards. You're not designing many plays with the QB as the primary runner from under center.

Running a boot gives the QB a run/pass option on the outside, but it also cuts the field in half from a passing perspective because it's really hard for the QB to throw back across their body to the opposite direction they are rolling to. Some QBs can do it sometimes, but it's dangerous, and you need a QB to have time to set and throw.

However, it does put pressure on the defense because the outside contain defender has to respect the QB's ability to run, and can't just drop into coverage. However, keep in mind, Elway (and others) were doing this 40 years ago. Defenses have seen it for generations, they have a plan for it.

What you're doing from under center is really focusing on the run game with the running backs, and using motion from the QB to change the launch point, and IF there is an opening, the QB can "scramble" and take advantage of what the defense gives them.

That's different than presenting the QB as a run threat.

One thing for clarity: I'm not opposed to any of this. As I've said a bunch, my favorite offense of all time was the Colt's offense in the mid 00's. They ran a lot of stuff from under center, and one of my favorite plays was a play action where Peyton would sprint to the outside for an outside stretch run. He would either hand it off, or pull the ball for PA. Then there were 2 options, he would either set and throw from that spot or he would loop around roll the other direction. It was magical. And even peak Peyton had the mobility of a banana slug. They would run a ton of different route combinations and plays out of this base set. But it moved the pocket, so defenses didn't know exactly where Peyton was going to be, so just that by itself slowed the pass rush.

** The only coach who really figured out any way to stop it was Belichick. What he would do is basically have his outside rushers rush to a point up field and let the PA happen, then start pinching in when they figured out what Peyton was going to do. But that defense was LOADED with talent and they could pull it off. He sacrificed speed to QB trusting his CBs to jam the receivers and slow things down to allow the rush to get there. Which was brilliant.

And I bring this up to state, I'm not opposed to under center types of offense, I think they can be extremely effective. However, I also think shotgun/pistol can be extremely effective. All offenses are trying to do the same thing, which is get matchups and make reads easy for the QB. Different offenses use different methods of doing that. Some can be no-huddle/hurry-up, presenting QB as dual threat, Play Action, motion, different formations, etc. All of those techniques are available, different OCs use them in different ways to get to the same result.

Makes sense. I just don’t want many ‘designed runs’ and definitely not QB draws up the middle. Good point about cutting the field in half when he rolls out, but those can be run options where the sideline can be his best friend. I want to see if he can still be great while only using his legs as a situational weapon, not as a crutch. If he can’t then we can always turn him loose again and just pray he stays healthy.

In the end though, no reason why we can’t have both shotgun and under center plays. Looking forward to seeing what Blough puts together

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Makes sense. I just don’t want many ‘designed runs’ and definitely not QB draws up the middle. Good point about cutting the field in half when he rolls out, but those can be run options where the sideline can be his best friend. I want to see if he can still be great while only using his legs as a situational weapon, not as a crutch. If he can’t then we can always turn him loose again and just pray he stays healthy.

In the end though, no reason why we can’t have both shotgun and under center plays. Looking forward to seeing what Blough puts together

This is the same debate we had in 2012, the Read-Option runs where the QB is reading the DE/Edge/Outside defender are probably the safest runs a QB can have. They're looking right at the person they have to avoid, and determining if they are going to get tackled or not. And that happens out of gun/pistol. If they think they're going to be tackled, they just hand the ball to the RB.

Almost all QBs get hurt either in the pocket or scrambling on non-designed runs. OCs aren't stupid, they don't design runs for QB that takes them into harms way, except maybe Hurts with the tush push. Otherwise, all QB runs, even middle draws, are designed to keep the QB safe.

However, athletic QBs get hurt when they run around extending plays and then get wholloped. ** Daniels had a real bad luck rib injury last year on a designed run. He broke the pocket and gained like 30 yards before being touched and then fell awkwardly and hurt his ribs. Not much you can do about that.

Kliff actually didn't call a lot of middle QB draws. From time to time, sure. However, I think Daniels had the ability to get out of those plays if he wanted to. The reason you call middle draws for the QB is if you've set up the defense to always think the QB or play is going outside, it sometimes leaves the middle WIDE open, so you can make defenses pay for that transgression. Think of the number of times you see Lamar Jackson taking the snap and having the red sea part and have a 20 yard run right up the middle before he's touched. That can happen if you set it up.

I actually think Kliff did a really good job protecting Daniels. Not perfect, and I do think there might have been some plays where Kliff had to protect Daniels from himself. But pretty good. I don't think Daniels did a great job protecting Daniels. And of the injuries Daniels has gotten the last 2 years, 3 of them I think were just rotten luck:

1. Rib injury on a WIDE open run on the first snap of the game (if memory serves) where he just fell awkwardly.
2. Elbow injury 1st time, he was scrambling to make something happen and just landed weird. He should have thrown the ball away. If you want to pick on the play call, you can, but Daniels could have just handed this ball off, he chose to keep it.
3. Elbow injury the 2nd time, he was hurt after throwing an INT.

Not much anybody can do about any of that. You want your QB to be a competitor. But also smart.

 

[HOF44]

It seems to me JD makes the wrong choice on a lot of read options. I’m not sure that’s a strength for him.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

It seems to me JD makes the wrong choice on a lot of read options. I’m not sure that’s a strength for him.

That has been something which has been mentioned by a bunch of people who cover the team.

Which is somewhat odd.

I am sure they're going to look at that, though the read option will probably be less of a focus of the offense.

 

[KDawg]

It seems to me JD makes the wrong choice on a lot of read options. I’m not sure that’s a strength for him.

That has been something which has been mentioned by a bunch of people who cover the team.

Which is somewhat odd.

I am sure they're going to look at that, though the read option will probably be less of a focus of the offense.

I don't necessarily think it's always (though, I do think he sometimes misreads) that he is making the wrong read.

I think its that he is putting the team on his back and trying to do it all himself because he doesn't have confidence in some of the surrounding talent.

And he'd NEVER say that. Because he isn't that guy. And this is a guess. It could be that he just stinks at making zone reads.

But I'm not sure that is true.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I don't necessarily think it's always (though, I do think he sometimes misreads) that he is making the wrong read.

I think its that he is putting the team on his back and trying to do it all himself because he doesn't have confidence in some of the surrounding talent.

And he'd NEVER say that. Because he isn't that guy. And this is a guess. It could be that he just stinks at making zone reads.

But I'm not sure that is true.

I think you're right it could be he was just trying to do everything he could. I remember hearing people commenting about the wrong read in 2025, not so much in 2024. But that also could be that it kindof got lost in the shuffle of all the good things he did.

Tough to know. It's a question I would put to Bullock: compare read option decisions between 2024 and 2025. It's something which I think he could do. Heck, I might tweet at him or something.

 

[Anselmheifer]

I don't necessarily think it's always (though, I do think he sometimes misreads) that he is making the wrong read.

I think its that he is putting the team on his back and trying to do it all himself because he doesn't have confidence in some of the surrounding talent.

And he'd NEVER say that. Because he isn't that guy. And this is a guess. It could be that he just stinks at making zone reads.

But I'm not sure that is true.

I agree with this. If we drafted Love or signed Hall, he’d be more inclined to had that ball off, and the defense would also be more stressed by the read option because they would have to worry about a big play RB. Not to mention that the coaches would make utilizing one of those guys a point of emphasis.

Jayden’s decision making in general would be very positively impacted by adding more weapons at WR, TE, and RB.

With regards to shotgun vs pistol vs under center, we don’t have to choose. We will still run shotgun and maybe pistol. We would be adding another dimension that has been most heavily utilized by some of the top offenses, and best teams in the league.

Playing under center will absolutely help our play action game. But it will also help marry the running game and the passing game. It will make it easier to make the same things look different, and make different things look the same.

I really was not a big Kliff Kingsbury fan. Half as many plays under center as the team that was next to last in the league at utilizing that formation? No motion? Terry basically always lines up in the same place? More running game carries for the QB than the running backs? Cool. No wonder the better defenses just started suffocating us.

Blough is going to be able to get Terry those targets by scheming him open. Lining him up all over, including the slot. Sending him in motion etc. I’m nervous about having such an inexperienced OC, but I’m thrilled by the changes that it seems like he will be making to the offensive scheme.