Jump to content

Craig Hoffman’s Three & out: Redskins-Packers post game quick hits


turtle28

Recommended Posts

Quote
 
  • Where Jay Gruden is good – There aren’t many coaches better in the league in the first 15 plays than Gruden. Coaches often script their first few plays in order to get the defense to show how they’re going to defend certain personnel groups and formations. They also have some idea based on previous games on how they’re going to do those things, which means they can dial up certain plays with specific outcomes in mind.

    Gruden and his staff clearly saw something on tape that gave them the idea that they could get Paul Richardson deep and they took advantage. Good throw. Good catch. Six points. The onslaught continued right through the first half and the Redskins led 28-10. That’s a bigger differential than the final against Oakland last year, which is widely considered one of the Redskins best performances of the Gruden era.
     
  • Where Gruden gives everyone a heart attack – The self-scouting on the Redskins second halves is going to be intense over the bye week. The Skins haven’t scored a second-half touchdown this season, despite being thoroughly dominant in their two wins, and needing touchdowns desperately in their one loss. Gruden has failed to find a balance of trying to keep the clock moving and not being predictable, and thus ineffective. He said afterwards that he could’ve called a few more shots. Clearly, he was playing the clock. In the end, though, it worked. The game was never in doubt.
     
  • Gruden is calling the second half like he has a good defense, and that’s because he does. Though at times it felt stressful as Aaron Rodgers had forever and three days to throw, the defense held more often than not. They blew one coverage, which looked to be one of the safeties not taking the deep third of the field and leaving Josh Norman out to dry, but other than that kept things in front of them. The Packers scored, on two other drives, but they had to earn it.

    The defensive line got home enough to matter. Matt Ioannidis had his third sack in as many games. Jon Allen and Daron Payne also tallied sacks. In the end, the Redskins held Rodgers and company to 240 yards in the air on a whopping 45 attempts. They did net 100 yards rushing, but Washington’s total defense sat 4th overall in the league after the early window of games closed. That’s going to effect how the offense is called. It should. Gruden would be the first to admit it can be better, but 2-1 after three weeks with two thoroughly dominant performances isn’t exactly terrible.
     
  • WE ARE GOING FOR IT ON 4TH DOWN!!! A three-and-out first!

    Simple point that I discussed with Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch post-game. He brought it up first, so he gets the credit: this makes last week even more mystifying. Yes, the win is good and if the games had flipped no one would bat an eye at being 2-1, but if this team is capable of this, how in the world are they capable of that?! [throwing deep and putting up long TDs vs the Colts]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was thinking of starting a thread for post-game reactions, but I guess this a good place for them. 

Good

▪️ Gotta give credit to Tony Bergstrom and Chase Roullier. They had a tall order in there with Daniels and Clark, and they really held their own. And then some. Roullier really continues to impress.

▪️ Ty Nsekhe is a great run blocker.

▪️ Quinton Dunbar and Fabian Moreau have been absolutely outstanding so far. Given the season they got out of Kendall Fuller last year, in addition to these guys emerging early on here, I think we’ve gotta tip the cap to the defensive staff for their development of these young CBs.

▪️ Great to see the interior pass-rush show up today. With those two OTs, we needed the inside push, and we got that fairly frequently. We’ll likely continue to need those guys to wreak a little havoc.

▪️ Matt Ioaniddis with what had to be the most impressive sack the Redskins have had in years. That was some grown man stuff.

▪️ Jordan Reed has to be, at worst, one of the top 3 receiving TEs in football when he’s healthy. And call me crazy, but I think his blocking has been a little better too. Nice to see them find a way to work VD in there on offense too, he’s a weapon we need to keep using more.

▪️ It’s still great to watch Adrian Peterson when he’s feeling fresh. He’s one of the most explosive, angriest runners I’ve ever seen.

▪️ Paul Richardson and Jamison Crowder both gave us what we need from them today, for the most part. We’re really just one (important) piece short from an offensive skill position standpoint, both this year and long-term.

Bad

▪️ It’s starting to look like Ty Nsekhe is not ever going to be an effective pass-blocker on the right side. He just can’t effectively reverse the footwork from the other side. It seems so painfully obvious to install him at LG next to Roullier that I really can’t understand why they aren’t doing it.

▪️ Outside pass-rush still isn’t getting home. Bakhtiari is an excellent pass blocker, and to be fair Kerrigan was beating up on the backup RT most of the 2nd half, but they’ve gotta finish some of these pressures with sacks.

▪️ Speaking of finishing, too many missed tackles. Especially from the secondary. They’re in position to make these plays, gotta get the guy on the ground. I do appreciate that they haven’t had any penalties from illegal hits, that is good coaching. But they can’t just be going low or grabbing at guys who are physical or good after the catch. 

▪️ As good as the run game has been at times when it’s clicking, it’s still not that “line up and blow them off the ball” type of irresistible force that you can lean on entirely to salt a game away. When the opposing defense knows the run is coming, they can shut it down pretty well. Gonna have to continue to be a little creative in those late-game scenarios.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only really important thing, though, is that the last time the Redskins won two of their first three by at least two scores was...1991. 

There’s only one NFC team with a better point differential than the Redskins at this point, and that’s the LA Rams (who everyone seems to believe is the best team in football at this point). 

I hate to break the bad news to everyone, but the Redskins might not be a bottom feeder. They might not even be a bad team ??‍♂️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, e16bball said:

Was thinking of starting a thread for post-game reactions, but I guess this a good place for them. 

Good

▪️ Gotta give credit to Tony Bergstrom and Chase Roullier. They had a tall order in there with Daniels and Clark, and they really held their own. And then some. Roullier really continues to impress.

▪️ Ty Nsekhe is a great run blocker.

▪️ Quinton Dunbar and Fabian Moreau have been absolutely outstanding so far. Given the season they got out of Kendall Fuller last year, in addition to these guys emerging early on here, I think we’ve gotta tip the cap to the defensive staff for their development of these young CBs.

▪️ Great to see the interior pass-rush show up today. With those two OTs, we needed the inside push, and we got that fairly frequently. We’ll likely continue to need those guys to wreak a little havoc.

▪️ Matt Ioaniddis with what had to be the most impressive sack the Redskins have had in years. That was some grown man stuff.

▪️ Jordan Reed has to be, at worst, one of the top 3 receiving TEs in football when he’s healthy. And call me crazy, but I think his blocking has been a little better too. Nice to see them find a way to work VD in there on offense too, he’s a weapon we need to keep using more.

▪️ It’s still great to watch Adrian Peterson when he’s feeling fresh. He’s one of the most explosive, angriest runners I’ve ever seen.

▪️ Paul Richardson and Jamison Crowder both gave us what we need from them today, for the most part. We’re really just one (important) piece short from an offensive skill position standpoint, both this year and long-term.

Bad

▪️ It’s starting to look like Ty Nsekhe is not ever going to be an effective pass-blocker on the right side. He just can’t effectively reverse the footwork from the other side. It seems so painfully obvious to install him at LG next to Roullier that I really can’t understand why they aren’t doing it.

▪️ Outside pass-rush still isn’t getting home. Bakhtiari is an excellent pass blocker, and to be fair Kerrigan was beating up on the backup RT most of the 2nd half, but they’ve gotta finish some of these pressures with sacks.

▪️ Speaking of finishing, too many missed tackles. Especially from the secondary. They’re in position to make these plays, gotta get the guy on the ground. I do appreciate that they haven’t had any penalties from illegal hits, that is good coaching. But they can’t just be going low or grabbing at guys who are physical or good after the catch. 

▪️ As good as the run game has been at times when it’s clicking, it’s still not that “line up and blow them off the ball” type of irresistible force that you can lean on entirely to salt a game away. When the opposing defense knows the run is coming, they can shut it down pretty well. Gonna have to continue to be a little creative in those late-game scenarios.

Dont forget Smith. He did well yesterday 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, e16bball said:

Good

▪️ Ty Nsekhe is a great run blocker.

Bad

▪️ It’s starting to look like Ty Nsekhe is not ever going to be an effective pass-blocker on the right side. He just can’t effectively reverse the footwork from the other side. It seems so painfully obvious to install him at LG next to Roullier that I really can’t understand why they aren’t doing it.

I point to @e16bball's very accurate points on Nsekhe. It's also why I always harp on not moving players out of position. Muscle memory is a major part of these guy's ability to function at a professional level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Thaiphoon said:

Dont forget Smith. He did well yesterday 

I agree, he did play well. 

I just didn’t include him because that’s what I expect. He’s a good QB, I expect him to play well most times out. Kinda like I wouldn’t usually include guys like Trent, Scherff, Norman, Kerrigan, even Reed and CT, unless they were particularly great in a game. It’s more noteworthy to me when he has a bad patch (like the 4th quarter against IND) than when he plays well.

But I probably should have given some credit to him (and to the game plan) for being aggressive and taking shots. That was an important step. Especially putting the ball right back up in the air after the INT, as I was worried that might make him a little gunshy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, e16bball said:

▪️ Great to see the interior pass-rush show up today. With those two OTs, we needed the inside push, and we got that fairly frequently. We’ll likely continue to need those guys to wreak a little havoc.

▪️ Matt Ioaniddis with what had to be the most impressive sack the Redskins have had in years. That was some grown man stuff.

We've got three good-to-great, young defensive tackles on the roster.

Unfortunately, none of them is a true 3-4 NT, and unless we believe one of them can transition to a LDE, we're probably going to have to talk about trading one of them/letting them walk (likely, Ioannidis). I don't like it, and I wish we had a more imaginative defensive coordinator to maximize all of the talent, but I just don't see a way around it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only problem with this:

10 hours ago, e16bball said:

The only really important thing, though, is that the last time the Redskins won two of their first three by at least two scores was...1991. 

There’s only one NFC team with a better point differential than the Redskins at this point, and that’s the LA Rams (who everyone seems to believe is the best team in football at this point). 

I hate to break the bad news to everyone, but the Redskins might not be a bottom feeder. They might not even be a bad team ??‍♂️

is this:

10 hours ago, e16bball said:

▪️ As good as the run game has been at times when it’s clicking, it’s still not that “line up and blow them off the ball” type of irresistible force that you can lean on entirely to salt a game away. When the opposing defense knows the run is coming, they can shut it down pretty well. Gonna have to continue to be a little creative in those late-game scenarios.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...