Play Calling?

[Elephant]

Look, I didn't have the chance to watch the game, had to listen to it on the radio (Poor Sam needs to get yanked off the air) so I have little to say, but there is one thing that irks me to no end!

We hold 5 point lead just over 5 minutes left with our QB has been getting annihilated all game long, why are we throwing it on second down? I like aggressive, dagger in the heart play, but they have been calling these plays all season long! Anyone watching tape knows they won't hesitate to throw in those situations!

Run some clock out! Run the ****ing clock out!!! Don't call a foolish pass play that hasn't worked all game long! Run the clock out!!!

Please feel free to add to this:

 

[Alaskan]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong Elephant. Our line was getting owned all day long on both running and passing downs. Running would have just resulted in a 3 and out.

No change in play calling is going to fix what is wrong with this team. It's going to take 3 or 4 drafts to fix it.

 

[Elephant]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong Elephant. Our line was getting owned all day long on both running and passing downs. Running would have just resulted in a 3 and out.

No change in play calling is going to fix what is wrong with this team. It's going to take 3 or 4 drafts to fix it.

I did not say run on all 3 downs, maybe on 3rd depending on what you got on 2nd. There is absolutely no excuse for throwing that ball on 2nd down with 5 minutes left in the game and a 5 point lead. I mean, you saw the result! It was 2 fold: you didn't take time off the clock by running and you risked a stupid turnover when you have a 5 point lead giving the opponent the turnover opportunity, which they took advantage of.


Regardless of our deficiencies, all season long Kyle or Pops has been calling late game pass plays and most of the time it results in an incompletion with no time taken off the clock giving the opponent more of a chance to score against us.


And why are we going for 2 points so early in the game? We didn't need a 2-point conversion in those situations. 20-14 would have sufficed at that point in the game, just as 26-20 would have sufficed with 5 minutes left in the game. That is coaching scared. They say only take the 2 if you need them. At that point we had leads both times!

 

[Goaldeje]

El, I agree with you, i thought play calling was a real weakness this afternoon. Something they need to get straightened out quickly, the Lions were 27th against the run, and Torain had 10 carries in the first half before he got injured. That is not going to cut it. I know our line is no where near as good as the halcyon days, but I wish our coaches had The fortitude to at least try to establish the rush.

I know this has been noted elsewhere but not sure why we didn't try McNabb in the bootleg, or something to get him out of the pocket. The plays he made with his legs were great, and showed the Lions aren't great against the run, so why not run it more?

And yes, the two point conversion call was horrendous.
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[McD5]

The play calling, as Goldeje mentioned above, has been questionable. The young Shanahan appears to be in over his head at the moment.

Did anyone else see Kyle and McNabb talking to each other on the sideline after that interception?

Now maybe that is when Kyle told McNabb that he was being benched--at least I hope it was. Because McNabb's body language implied that he thought Kyle was a joke. I don't believe the players respect him yet.

 

[Ax]

On the other hand, the plays they're calling might be brilliant, if only the open receiver were being spotted more often. For all we know, there is someone running free on every play, and McNabb, for whatever reason, isn't seeing them.

But yeah, even if you go 3 and out, then punt, you've still eaten more clock, and likely given them a longer field to travel for a score, than a rookie like interception did.

Although, our special teams gave them great starting field position ALL...DAY...LONG!

 

[Sarge]

Seems like Kyle just mailed in the gameplan this week

 

[Ax]

Seems like Kyle just mailed in the gameplan this week

Or maybe McNabb, and the rest of the offense, were not doing what was called.

I remember once before the snap, they showed a shot of Kyle looking out at the formation, raising hands with a "WTF are they doing" look on his face.

It's doubtful they will completely through him under the bus, but my guess is McNabb is doing a lot more wrong, than he is right.

 

[Goaldeje]

Uhhh, I think they pretty much threw him under the bus when they benched him.

I think there is more to this tha meets the eye, but from the outside looking in, it looks like a complete cluster ****.
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[Ax]

Uhhh, I think they pretty much threw him under the bus when they benched him.

I think there is more to this tha meets the eye, but from the outside looking in, it looks like a complete cluster ****.
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Agreed. Although my meaning of not completely throwing him under the bus is, they won't come out and say, "We're calling one play, and he's lining them up in something different, because he doesn't know what he's doing in this offense yet.

i.e. he be dumb.

 

[Yusuf06]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong Elephant. Our line was getting owned all day long on both running and passing downs. Running would have just resulted in a 3 and out.

No change in play calling is going to fix what is wrong with this team. It's going to take 3 or 4 drafts to fix it.

I think it was a little bit of the above along with a poor gameplan.

On the personnel side, we had Heyer playing at RT most of the game. We also played most of the game without Torrain, who you'll recall is our 2nd string RB. When he went down, pretty much any chance we had at running the ball went down with him. Unfortunately for us with regard to personnel/depth, the cupboard is bare. Very bare. Everyone say "Thanks again Snyderatto".

The numbers of players we need to be a real contender simply can't be added in one offseason, especially with the limited number of draft picks we have. On the bright side, as I've said before we can be competitive with the addition of a few good players at key spots.

The playcalling/gameplan side of things completely baffles me though. I mentioned in my Blognostication post that Cunningham runs a bit of an odd defense with the DEs set wide, which is designed to funnel runs to the middle. It seemed to me that this alignment gave them an advantage in setting the edge against our stretch plays. The few times we tried them, it also seemed to disrupt our bootlegs as well, though that might have been due more to poor play from our tackles.

So since Shanny has faced off against Cunningham before, why wasn't the inability to use the stretch runs/bootleg taken into account in game planning? Why wasn't there a plan B and why no adjustments? OTOH, maybe that's what McNabb was screwing up.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I'm sorry, but you are wrong Elephant. Our line was getting owned all day long on both running and passing downs. Running would have just resulted in a 3 and out.

No change in play calling is going to fix what is wrong with this team. It's going to take 3 or 4 drafts to fix it.

All we really need to do is massively upgrade at center, and our OL will improve greatly. We could have been on our way this offseason - should have drafted Pouncey from UF. I wanted him really badly, and he is showing why. Dominating in Pittsburgh this season. OT was probably a bigger need, but I think trading back and picking up an additional first, and using it on Pouncey was the right way to go. The kid is an unreal talent.

 

[Goaldeje]

I dunno Lanky, the idea of having TWill on the left end for the next 10 years is pretty damned thrilling. You're assuming we could have found someone to trade down with, and even if we had, who knows if our line would be playing any better? Seems to me we got a keeper with Trent, and we can pick up a center in the off season.

Having said all that, it should be at the top of our priority list.

 

[riggins44]

Have to put much of the blame on the OL. They made Suh and Avril look like All Pros.

My question is why Dockery inactive and 'Can't block a Lich' playing RT? Dockery is a better pass protector and has played with Rabach enough they probably have better communication.

Heyer and Brown rotation is a joke with Heyer being the punch line.

As said earlier...it will take 3-4 drafts to fix our problems. Rare did McNabb throw a pass and was still standing. The INT wasn't his fault. Replays showed his hand being hit by one of the Lions (take your pick who).

Basically we were out coached, especially our offense against their D.

 

[servumtuum]

Have to put much of the blame on the OL. They made Suh and Avril look like All Pros.

Frankly, I think they both are serious Pro-Bowl level players. Our admittedly "the fix is still in the works and will take some time and effort" OL isn't nearly at the level to compete with DLs of that caliber.

I'm still looking at the Redskins as an average-not playoff level-team. Teams in the 7 to 9 win range ocassionally lose to teams generally considered "weaker" than they are and occasionally beat teams considered "stronger" than they are.

This game didn't really surprise me any more than beating Philly and Vick in Philly or the Packers or Bears did.

 

[Elephant]

Basically we were out coached, especially our offense against their D.

That is what I am questioning. I don't care if it was Donovan's fault or not, in that situation he should not have been passing the ball on 2nd and 10 with under 5 minutes left in the game. There was no need to try for 2 points either, we were in the lead.

And Lanky, a lot of us agreed with your scenario of trading down, it's too late for that. Hopefully, an interior lineman or two will get addressed in the off season.
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[Lanky Livingston]

Yeah, I hate hindsight posts...my apologies. Salt was just rubbed in the wound last night, seeing the feature on Pouncey.

 

[Ax]

Rare did McNabb throw a pass and was still standing. The INT wasn't his fault. Replays showed his hand being hit by one of the Lions (take your pick who).

Not sure how his hand getting hit created the triple coverage he threw into.

Or the dropped pick 6.

Oline, Punting, and Punt coverage all SUCKED!
McNabb played good enough to lose.

 

[Elephant]

Yeah, I hate hindsight posts...my apologies. Salt was just rubbed in the wound last night, seeing the feature on Pouncey.

Well his brother is coming out in next year's draft as one of the top rated interior lineman. Ugh! I hate having to look at next year's draft at only the half way point of the season.
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[riggins44]

McNabb didn't have a good game, but after constantly being hit and pressured it is hard to put a lot of blame on him.

Yesterday they said in our offense the first read is deep, then middle depths, and then short throws. If you don't have time for deep reads, then the OC can help by calling shorter routes. This will help the OB and OL. Heyer probably has windburn from everyone blowing by him.