Random Commanders Thoughts

[Neophyte]

 

[Boone]

 

[MikefromOH]

This is the kind of shit my friends would use against me. This corny ass rap would play every time I walked in to one of their homes just so they could laugh.

 

[Boone]

In case anyone would like to make a small donation on behalf of Dolores Rivera, Coach Rivera's mom. For those of us lucky to have one in our lives (and I don't take that for granted), the loss of a mother is devastating.

 

[Neophyte]

If you donate, check to see if your company has a matching policy. Mine does and it only took a minute to do.

 

[Neophyte]

Maybe just me but watching this breakdown of the Dolphins' offense, I feel like a lot of it could be adapted by Washington with our current personnel. Most of these balls aren't too long for Heinicke and don't require more velocity than he can get. Then there is the receiving corp - Miami has Hill and Waddle. Washington arguably has double that in McLaurin, Samuel, Dotson, and Brown.

Thoughts SilentThreat? You watch more film than I do.

 

[Primus Porcus]

i'm watching the film from the game vs the Vikings to see if Heinicke's arm could fit in that offense and i keep finding myself mad at Scott Turner.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Live footage of ST watching film:




SCOTTTTTT!!!

 

[DieselPwr44]

Jokes aside,

Just what exactly is the offense's identity?

IMO,they don't have one and that's on Scott and some of it's on Ron for not laying out a vision of what he wants.

10 weeks in? Not good.....

 

[Primus Porcus]

Look at this nonsense

4th and 1. Ultimately Taylor puts the ball on Terry and the defender makes a great play, but the nonsense before that its inexplainable.

Heavy package, McLaurin at the top, Gibson in the backfield, 3 TEs (i believe) stacked at the bottom of the screen... It's an obvious run look (which is fine). Minnesota with 9 guys in the box, man to man on Terry with safety help over the top. OBVIOUS play action possibility if you dont want to run (though you'll see if they had handed the ball to Gibby it's a first down.).

The ENTIRE LINE IS BLOCKING LIKE IT'S A RUN TO THE LEFT. Taylor takes the ball from under center and turns to his LEFT as if it's a run left. Where's Gibson going? TO THE RIGHT!! As soon as that happens, EVERY GUY CIRCLED IN BLUE KNOWS IT'S NOT A RUN, because the QB and line are going one way, while the RB is going a different. It's POSSIBLE Gibson went too the wrong side, it's also possible Taylor went the wrong way, but if you're going to actually Play Action Fake, you need to sell it by at least sending your RB BEHIND THE OFFENSIVE LINE. This was not a misdirection or cutback, Gibson went STRAIGHT to the right side of the line.

As you'll see, the original LOS was the 37 yard line, had Taylor handed it to Gibson, he's at the 39.5, with the closest defender at the 36, being picked by Armani Rodgers on his pass route. The guy at the bottom of the screen is a DB and chances are Gibby can get the 1 yard down to the 36 necessary to convert.. but whatever. You'll also notice that now the 5 disengaged defenders have now changed their direction of attack, and you have Terry and Rodgers going essentially against 5 defenders....

Like i said, Taylor put the ball on Terry, but he was blanketed.

The defense has had a chance to recover because NOBODY actually fell for the run fake... and youll now see that there are 6 white jerseys covering 3 black ones below... the play was OK, but it didnt' fool anyone.

btw, Rodgers i open but Taylor doesn't have the arm rolling to his right to be able to thread the needle, it would have been picked imho

 

[Primus Porcus]

Maybe just me but watching this breakdown of the Dolphins' offense, I feel like a lot of it could be adapted by Washington with our current personnel. Most of these balls aren't too long for Heinicke and don't require more velocity than he can get. Then there is the receiving corp - Miami has Hill and Waddle. Washington arguably has double that in McLaurin, Samuel, Dotson, and Brown.

Thoughts SilentThreat? You watch more film than I do.

here is a throw Taylor flat out does not make. The DB has inside leverage, the DB outside. The WR gets a clean break off the line but decent coverage by the DB to stay with him. Back is turned and Tua knows it so he throws him open. This is by design, a part of an explosive offense that we do not have in our pocket. It may be possible that we have the design there, but we don't see that executed.

 

[Primus Porcus]

Here's another one. Ball is already out as the WR is breaking in.. the FS in the Endzone has to hesitate just a smidge because of the WR in the middle of the field running a skinny post. This ball has to be throw hard, fast, and early in order to put it where it needs to be, and it has to be chest height or lower because there's literally a triangle formation breaking on the ball.

 

[Primus Porcus]

As a reference, here was what I thought may have been the best playcall of the game.. the jet sweep to Armani Rodgers. Logan Thomas comes in motion and sets up off the Left Tackle, essentially in the slot area. The Minnesota defense has literally 6 guys in the box to the right. The whole offensive line blocks like it's going to be a run to the right, and Gibson fakes that way... The 3 defenders off the ball to the right are hesitant, 2 of which are absolutely flat footed questioning the jet sweep action while Gibson is heading right toward them. The MLB is set to take away the cut back from Gibson if it's a hand off to the RB with a misdirection.

In the 3rd screen grab you see no. 7, circled in purple hasn't moved 4 steps into the play. Bates has blocked off the other rusher from the backside. The MLB has come through the hole, but Rodgers is already past him. Logan Thomas has 'rubbed' the DE and has not moved on to the safety. As long as Rodgers can beat the DE, the play is wide open (and he does.). I'll point out the weak block effort from Leno to keep in mind as the play develops. That's him facing back toward Rodgers about to 'engage' the DT of the Vikings... in the screen grab below you'll see that defender beats Leno and its out in front of him.

Rodgers breaks the tackle from the DE and now you've got 2 blockers for 2 defenders, with that pesky little DT about 5 yards behind him in pursuit. Below you'll see Rodgers in the open, Thomas engaged with his defender, and the DB just now realizing what's going on 15 yards down field in coverage of Terry McLaurin. Good ol' 92 is huffin and puffin into the play while Leno is jogging. If you look at the left sideline, Rodgers has just now actually crossed the LOS, but there's room to run.

92 has now fully recovered and is able to get hands on Rodgers enough to spin him around, ultimately getting tackled. THAT split second of not 'completing' a block was the difference between a really good play, and a Touchdown. The next play was the flea flicker from hell, followed by a short run from Gibby, then Taylor getting sacked on 3rd down where we got gifted a facemask penalty. Robinson runs down to the 5, then Heinicke hits Milne for the TD.... so no harm no foul.

 

[Neophyte]

No, not everything. And I don't mean where the throw requires serious velocity.

But some of the innovative route running here has guys so wide open that one of my kids could hit them with a pass. In NFL terms, some of these routes have guys open in an HoF kind of way. And when they are that open, you only need a QB with a decent head on his shoulders, not a world-class arm.

Admittedly, some of these throws might be more than I've seen Taylor do.

However, while Tua is okay, he doesn't possess an arm like Rogers, Herbert, Mahomes, Carr, or, honestly, even Cousins. He is playing this with his head more than his arm and I like Taylor's football brain (most of the time).

Or maybe I'm just having wet dreams about Terry, Curtis, and Jahan catching the ball with that much space to operate.

*shrug*

 

[Primus Porcus]

No, not everything. And I don't mean where the throw requires serious velocity.

But some of the innovative route running here has guys so wide open that one of my kids could hit them with a pass. In NFL terms, some of these routes have guys open in an HoF kind of way. And when they are that open, you only need a QB with a decent head on his shoulders, not a world-class arm.

Admittedly, some of these throws might be more than I've seen Taylor do.

However, while Tua is okay, he doesn't possess an arm like Rogers, Herbert, Mahomes, Carr, or, honestly, even Cousins. He is playing this with his head more than his arm and I like Taylor's football brain (most of the time).

Or maybe I'm just having wet dreams about Terry, Curtis, and Jahan catching the ball with that much space to operate.

*shrug*

I agree with you. I think our offense is way too traffic driven, relying on crossing patterns, as well as having multiple WR in the same area to try and create confusion. Problem is, it aint really confusing, it runs covered WRs into areas where open ones are... thus closing the windows.

To your original point.. Taylor has the skillset to execute a lot of that offense. You see a lot of plays that don't require a howitzer, so yes I agree with you... I don't see much within that Miami offense that we wouldn't be able to execute. I don't think we have a comparable weapon to Tyreek Hill, but there's only one of that guy currently playing in the NFL, so... yeah.

Sorry, i was partaking in some adult beverages last night and went off on a bout 4 different tangents.

 

[Boone]

But is Heinicke capable? I'm not so sure. I've soured on him a lot, and that's primarily because I've seen him with multiple wide open receivers elect to go downfield to guys who are not wide open. He's a poor decision maker. I'm with you on Scott Turner, so that's not what I'm getting at. But at some level, it doesn't matter what the play call is, if the QB doesn't make good decisions, you're pretty much ****ed. And I guess my question would be, how many games would we have won EVEN running a flawed Scott Turner offense if we had a QB who a) can make NFL throws and b) makes good decisions. I'm thinking it's enough for us to be a playoff team.

 

[Primus Porcus]

But is Heinicke capable? I'm not so sure. I've soured on him a lot, and that's primarily because I've seen him with multiple wide open receivers elect to go downfield to guys who are not wide open. He's a poor decision maker. I'm with you on Scott Turner, so that's not what I'm getting at. But at some level, it doesn't matter what the play call is, if the QB doesn't make good decisions, you're pretty much ****ed. And I guess my question would be, how many games would we have won EVEN running a flawed Scott Turner offense if we had a QB who a) can make NFL throws and b) makes good decisions. I'm thinking it's enough for us to be a playoff team.

Physically speaking, I think he's got the tools.

Executing the 'correct' throw is the problem. I highlighted the throw where Tua throws the WR open. That's not a club Taylor has in his bag. We dont see back shoulder fades, or Taylor throwing guys open...

About how many games... We talked about it on the podcast, and I do want to adjust my point. I said "QB isn't our biggest problem," and while i still believe that to a point, yes I'll agree with you that a top half of the league QB (forget aiming high like Mahomes or Allen) then the offense looks different, because a QB can mask an offensive scheme issue to a point. They can throw guys open, or they can be much better at manipulating the defense both pre and post snap with their body language and their eyes. Taylor TRIES it, you see it on film.. but it's not effective enough, and top tier arms don't need a big window, just a split second. Taylor doesn't have that club in his bag either. I think he knows it which is why he misses high in traffic, but low in space. When there's traffic, he's putting his body behind it to try and fit it in, and a lot of the time it sails. When there's an RB in the flat, WIDE OPEN, he's throwing it at their knees because he's trying to settle it down and take a little off.

 

[Boone]

He has mechanical issues and physical limitations, but I'm more focused on the decisions he makes. I can't defend Scott Turner at this point. But the truth is, on almost every Turner play called, there are guys open. I'll put our WR and RB corps up against almost any team in the league. We just don't have a QB who can get them the damn ball. Until we do, I'm not sure it matters who our OC is or what our scheme is. Again, that's not to say that the offense couldn't be more effective if they would just acknowledge the QB's weaknesses and try to run an offense that mitigates them. I think that is possible. But we have bigger problems than just the playcalling and scheme imho.

That's why I'm so vocal about getting Sam Howell in there. I think it's possible that, even as a rookie, he may be a better decision-maker and have more physical skills than either of the guys in front of him on the depth chart.

 

[DieselPwr44]

They are saving Howell until new ownership changes the name to some form of Wolves. Howling for Howell!



Seriously though, I think Ron believes they are still playoff competitive and won't go to Howell...even though that may be the best move.

 

[Primus Porcus]

Wentz has NOT taken his last snap as QB of the Commanders