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HogsHaven: Source - Raheem Morris was calling defensive plays in the 4th quarter

Lanky Livingston

Guest
Very interesting, if so. Haslett on a short leash?
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As we try to move forward with our season and put the awfulness of the Rams game behind us for good, there appears to be a huge storm brewing on our team that, quite frankly, has caught me a bit off guard. I mean, we lose Adam Carriker and Brian Orakpo and you assume that is as bad as it will get for our defense...this week.

Think again.

I was told yesterday that Raheem Morris, the newly minted defensive backs coach here in D.C., actually called the defensive plays in the fourth quarter. This strikes me as somewhat newsworthy, given he is not the defensive coordinator and has been on staff for less than a year. After an argument between Jim Haslett and Raheem on the sidelines during the game--ostensibly due to the lack of adjustment made by the defense against Sam Bradford's dissection of our zone scheme--Morris emerged with play-calling duties. This decision was made by head coach Mike Shanahan.



When I first heard this, I thought, "You know...things weren't working, so why wouldn't Shanahan try to give his team a spark by allowing a man with a fresh take to step in and try to get things jump-started?" I leave it to folks with brighter football minds than I possess to drive their trucks through the holes in that logic. Is it possible for a defense in as much disarray as Washington was in on Sunday to take their marching orders from two separate coaches during the same game and then move on under Haslett the following week like nothing happened? Further, if the move to Morris as a play-caller resulted in players feeling like they were put in a better position to succeed on the field, going back to Haslett the following week would breed a certain amount of...discord, to put it mildly. In other words, this could get worse.

It gets worse. Players are starting to take sides.

Morris wanted to play more man coverage to respond to what the Rams were doing with Danny Amendola, specifically. It seems that Haslett was bent on employing his zone schemes. We have to be fair here and speculate that he was reeling from the losses of Carriker and Orakpo, and was trying to cover up other deficiencies in our defense. That said, even the announcers calling the game commented on the lack of adjustment made by our defense against the St. Louis offense. Members of the secondary were begging to go man on the opposing receivers.

Click link for the rest.
 
On one hand, this makes me happy, because Haslett is blah. But on the other hand, this simply REEKS of old-school Snyder-run Redskins incompetencies, where things happen like a retired bingo-caller get brought in to run the offense. Ugh. I really don't know what to think.
 
My first questions would be, who the **** is this guy?
And, why should we believe him?
 
Adjustments should be a nearly automatic way of life in the NFL. It should not be a tail of two halves but a tail of many drives. Offensives coaches tend to keep doing things till the defense stops them (or they should do that, anyway). Defensive coaches should be tinkering with the scheme from drive to drive until the find something that works and forces the offense to adjust.

Having said all that, what we saw from Haslett on Sunday, even in the first half, was the very definition of insanity, namely, doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. It wasn't working and he wasn't changing. In fact, he violated one of the most basic principles of football by staying conservative with his play calls when the team had a 15 point lead.
 
My first questions would be, who the **** is this guy?
And, why should we believe him?

No idea who Mr. Source is. He's a very hard fellow to track down, and is often wrong. Just ask Jason LaCanfora, who's been burned by Mr. Source more times than I can count.

I just thought it was interesting, and in light of the switch to man-to-man defense in the 4th quarter, it makes sense that there was a change in playcallers as well.
 
This backs up what a few of the insiders have been saying since Morris was hired. Haz is on his way out at some point whether it be before the season ends or shortly thereafter.

Also, this info was not meant to be public knowledge. However, you just know that a player or two will speak with anonymity when given the chance.

Look at what the Rams did in the 4th quarter on offense. Nada. Just saying.
 
I hope to good this isn't true simply because Haslett hasn't been fired yet this week. If true, he was emasculated, and has to have so little respect in the locker right now. If true, Shanny should have fired him on the plane trip back, not tried to reinstate him without any balls.
 
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I hope to good this isn't true simply because Haslett hasn't been fired yet this week. If true, he was emasculated, and has to have so little respect in the locker right now. If true, Shanny should have fired him on the plant trip back, not tried to reinstate him without any balls.
Agreed. If true, it's another version of the bingo caller. Whether or not he did a better job isn't the point. It's dysfunctional.
 
Agreed. If true, it's another version of the bingo caller. Whether or not he did a better job isn't the point. It's dysfunctional.

That's my main problem with it. I think now that its out there, we'll see Haslett getting the axe sooner rather than later.
 
Assuming there is any truth to it, that is.
 
Interesting. Most of us knew going into the season that the strength of this defense was going to have to be the front seven and specifically their ability to put pressure on opposing QBs. Our secondary was never going to be the strength of the team anyway.

As you guys mentioned, going with a soft zone defense against a team like the Rams and sticking with it as long as we did after it was clear what the Rams were doing to beat it was just foolish. Twelve catches for Danny Amendola in the first half? Are you kidding me? I kept yelling at the TV for the Skins to bring pressure but somehow my basement to Haslett communicator was on the fritz and he never got the message.

If I can see it and you can see it I’m sure the players and Shanny had to see it. What was Haslett thinking? I can’t even make a guess. Is it the old norv Turner “What we do works” syndrome? We can only guess. What I don’t have to guess about is that we currently tied for 30th in passing defense and 28th overall. Those are the kind of numbers that get coaches replaced.
 
I hope to good this isn't true simply because Haslett hasn't been fired yet this week. If true, he was emasculated, and has to have so little respect in the locker right now. If true, Shanny should have fired him on the plane trip back, not tried to reinstate him without any balls.


Spot on Goal.
 
According to Chris Russell, and Chris Campbell, team insiders for 980, it's total BS.

Ban HogsHaven.
 
Sheehan, Campbell etc. on 980 say that there is no merit to this story.

Unless the "sources" tapped by these insiders are in coverup mode it looks like HogsHaven is incorrect.

Guess we'll need to see how it plays out.
 
Not saying its true or false, but as to that, this was an interesting Justin Partlow tweet from 2 hours ago that predicted this:

"That @HogsHaven article is not false at all. What you’ll see today is people shooting it down to cover it up"
 
Who is Justin Partlow?
 
Who is Justin Partlow?

Writer for Hogs.net and he's been on the Sons of Washington podcast.

Can't comment on the validity of the report. It's probably not something the team would like to reach the public.
 

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