Why is the offense trying to be so gimmicky? And why is the 2 minute drill so non-urgent?

[redskins4ever28]

Regardlerss of if the offense has been good or bad, I think we can all agree its been a bit gimmicky. Yes, I understand they are trying to make it comfortable for RG3 and the easiest way to do that is by giving him an offense that he was used to, but come on. I think the best part about RG3 is his pocket presence and his poise, and yet we are still running a gimmick style offense. I guarantee you if you just use the same offensive playbook we had last year, and incorporate RG3 into it, he would be throwing darts all over the place. Honestly, designed runs, other than a QB draw at the goaline (which by the way, if we would have ran that yesterday instead of terrible sweeps and screens, we would have scored in the first quarter), are so ridiculous. If we were running a normal shanahan offense (or any normal NFL offense) I honestly believe wed have just the same, if not better, results. I understand injuries are setting this back, and I understand we have to tamper our expectations. I didnt have high expectations going into this season, I never would have thought Robert was going to play this good. And yes, the offense has worked, BUT, I think the reason its been slowed as of late, is because the defense has done a better job playing it. But thats the thing, they havent figured Robert out at all, and they never will. Even the past 2 weeks where he supposedly had "bad" weeks. The guy didnt throw one interception. Didnt have one fumble. He may have only had 1 touchdown and like a 55% completion, but heck with the drops, he would have had 60% at least. Its time to see what he can do in a normal pro style offense. We have to see what he can do. Gimmicky pistol formations and things of that nature just dont work forever in the NFL. Lets put him behind center and let him start reading defenses pre snap.

Which brings me to my next point, the two minute drill looked ridiculous Sunday. This I blame on the Shanahans. In the Tampa Bay game, Roberts headseat went out and he called the plays. They team looked urgent, they got to the line quick and played fast. Yesterday the two minute drill looked absolutely terrible. Robert was waiting for the coach to call in the play and it just took way too long. They need to let him run the no huddle. I think he will do a suberb job with it. Quite frankly, I think they need to just let him do his thing, run a no huddle and play a classic pro style offense. Everyones talking about Luck this week, give me a break. First of all, Luck throws 50 times a game. If robert threw 50 times a game, hed have similar stats. Secondly, the Colts have the absolute worst schedule in the NFL. Dolphins, Titans, Vikings, Jaguars, they havent played any tough defneses except the Bears, and the Packers defense sucks so Im not even saying them. Roberts had to play Giants, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Rams (yes the rams have an amazing defense), even Cincinatti. All good defenses. People are just blowing the whole week 9 Luck performance out of proportion. Yes hes great, and I think he will be a future HOFer (I think RG3 will too), but come on man, when you throw 48 times in a game, 433 yards, is what should be expected. Let Griffin run the pro. The kid takes care of the ball so well. all the other rookie QBs have double digit INT's. Grif has 3! He is smart with the ball, let him play. I think his no-huddle would be very up-tempo.

I have been a backer of Kyle Shanahan from day one, but his play calling last Sunday was abyssmal. I have no idea what hes thinking. I dont understand the goaline play calling, I dont understand the abandonment of the run in the second half. I dont understand the designed runs and I sure as hell dont understand the point of not calling a QB draw up the middle when thats been the bread and butter TD play all year for us. With that being said, I still dont think we should fire Mike or Kyle. I would like to give them one more year. However, if they do get fired, I agree with what people are saying about needing a coordinator or coach that hasnt won a superbowl yet. Andy Reids my pick. Hes always made QBs look better than what they are and if Mcnabb was a pro bowler under him, Grif would be an MVP. He hasnt won a ring yet so hes still hungry. I doubt they fire Shanny, but if they do, I hope they get Reid.

As for HAslett, he needs to go. this defense is a joke. Injuries or not, it doesnt amtter, theres no excuse for the play calling. He barely blitzes, when blitzing is the way to go. then when we shouldnt blitz, he blitzes. Honestly, I am one of those people that always back coaches play calling because they know more than fans and its why they are in the NFL in the first place, but seriously, Haslett is just mentally challenged anymore. I have no idea what hes doing anymore. We cant get any pressure. Plus we are playing 7 guys back to try to make up for the bad secondary but all that does is gives QBs more time to pick us apart. Hes been so bad at managing this defense. We must get rid of him. There is no reason he should still be on this team at the end of the year. What we must do is get a d coordinator that has a proven track record of turning chicken s*** into chicken salad. My vote is for Wade Phillips as D coordinator. Offer him more money then Houston and he would jump ship. I still believe in keepinmg Shannys another year, but if we dont, Id love the team of Reid/Phillips, and hire an up and coming coach as O coordinator but let Reid do most of the work.

[wilco_holland]

I also have nu clue what the o is doing. I understand the triple option plays...but that much? I rather have a thid reciever on the line running a route....but if he also drops the pass. -_-

[Skinz4Life12]

they need more balance on offense. more traditional sets, mixed with the zone read. also, when we need to incorporate the hurry up offense when we have a defense back peddling and let RG3 throw the ball into the end zone when we are in the red zone.

i really want to see RG3 have a 4 TD (passing) performance against the eagles

[Stugein]

The "hurry up" offense lack of urgency has really gotten to me the last two weeks. We wasted a ton of time during the 4th Q of this past game and the Pittsburgh game. other teams I see running to the line. With the 'skins I see one or two guys run to the line while everyone else just sort of casually saunters up. It's frustrating to watch.

[Saqs]

I think it's because the offensive brains are still in "new toy" mode honestly. I dont blame Griffin because he's just as excited to show what he can do and how he can be different from other QBs.
Until Kyle and crew lose that mindset, we will continue to see odd formations & trickery over just solid play design.

[Boss_Hogg]

I for one would like to see more traditional offensive play calling. We all know Robert has the tools, brains, and intangibles to do this. Maybe this is Mike and Kyle's way of breaking in a rookie QB who wasn't known for running a pro style offense at Baylor.

I'm sure Mike and Kyle will make some adjustments over the bye week.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I think it's because the offensive brains are still in "new toy" mode honestly. I dont blame Griffin because he's just as excited to show what he can do and how he can be different from other QBs.
Until Kyle and crew lose that mindset, we will continue to see odd formations & trickery over just solid play design.

I really think that's the case.

The Steeler game especially felt like a case of Kyle trying to show how clever he was. Did we have a series without some kind of "trick" play? It's not the Steeler front seven has been dominant this year. You should be able to block them and run on them without running all kinds of fakes and throwbacks and such. If anything, that played into their hands because while they are not athletic any longer in the front seven, they are extremely disciplined and we were just running into defenders who had not bit on anything.

[DM72]

I agree with what you guys are saying. People don't want to hear this, but this is exactly what McNabb was saying when he said RG3 might not excell under the Shanahans. And that is one if the main reasons I would like to see Shanahan fired at the end of the season.

[redskins4ever28]

I think it's because the offensive brains are still in "new toy" mode honestly. I dont blame Griffin because he's just as excited to show what he can do and how he can be different from other QBs.
Until Kyle and crew lose that mindset, we will continue to see odd formations & trickery over just solid play design.

Thats possible, but still a terrible reason. Everyone has given Kyle credit for how hes put Rg3 in good plays, but I think the opposite. I think if Rg3 was running, for example, the offense last year, we would be looking at an amazing player. I think the Gimmick crap is killing him. They are always expecting run because of the designed runs. Let him drop back and pass a lot so that way when he drops back and sees no one open, he takes off for a 25 yd gain, instead of a designed run for 5 yards. I just dont get it. I will say this, I love Griffins heart. That 4th down play Sunday where he jumped and got hit for the first down, was just awesome. Hes got more heart than anyone.

[RandyHolt]

Nice rant OP

There were maybe 1 or 2 moments when it looked like the players were trying to hurry up this past game. RG3 looking at the sideline, it was barely hurried up. Watch Brady run it, and see how quickly they get to the line. Agreed they should just let RG3 call plays, especially when the OC guru can only muster 6 points, littered with very questionable play calls.

Some say we didn't need to run it, that we were"only down 2 scores". We were down 15, and could only muster 6 points running non hurry up all day long. Sure enough, we failed to score on one of the "must score" drives, playing as slow as we were.

If we had run hurry up on the same drive, wouldn't we theoretically had a LOT more time when Banks decided to do his me me me final dance with 18 seconds left?

On that drive, passing to him with 18 seconds left was stupid stupid stupid. Why not try and throw a 10-20 yd down and out, or 2, or at least try? You know coverage would be deep. Try a huge deep pass and hope for a PI sell job. No, we did the fail mary screen to banks instead, even though we had time to try a few plays.

The fact is we don't run hurry up. When the players take it upon themselves to do it (my opinion), we look disorganized and slow. You know we cant be wasting practice time on it. It goes right into the 2 minute offense. Without RG3 improvising / prevent, our 2 minute offense would be laughable. And may be yet.

[Voice_of_Reason]

When they go straight traditional, they aren't very effective. Lots of reasons for this.

When they go with more of the pistol look, they are more effective.

I like the pistol look, but I think that when they put 4 guys in the backfield, you might get some nice runs and medium passes, but you've clogged everything up behind the LOS, so it's a little harder to stretch the field.

The problem is that RGIII isn't used to working from under center, surveying a field, making the adjustments, and then making accurate throws. He's never done it. So, the coaches have to try and do some stuff he can do well, as they slowly bring him along with all the other stuff.

[planter]

Partly because we lack the horses to run between the tackles, partly because of uniqely-skilled QB, and partly due to desperation.

[redskins4ever28]

When they go straight traditional, they aren't very effective. Lots of reasons for this.

When they go with more of the pistol look, they are more effective.

I like the pistol look, but I think that when they put 4 guys in the backfield, you might get some nice runs and medium passes, but you've clogged everything up behind the LOS, so it's a little harder to stretch the field.

The problem is that RGIII isn't used to working from under center, surveying a field, making the adjustments, and then making accurate throws. He's never done it. So, the coaches have to try and do some stuff he can do well, as they slowly bring him along with all the other stuff.

I dont know, Ive seen him look pretty effective from under center. And even if hes not "as effective" let him run it so he gets some confidence and practice. Not only that, but I would just tell him, look to your reads, if no ones open then run. (And by the way, no one is ever open because the WRs are so bad and even when they are open they drop balls, who would have thought Paulsenw as going to be the best receiver on the team) He needs practice under center. Its time to start giving it to him. They say the kids a genius, they say he learns fast, so LET HIM.

[Skinz4Life12]

also, how about on short yardage situations where we need to get a first down or a TD, we don't run plays behind the line of scrimmage that can get blown up in the backfield and lose yards. ie, the screens to banks, and stretch plays with morris/griffin. Either pound the ball between the tackles or throw the ball past the marker or into the end zone. why is it that hard?

[DCsportsfan53]

I'm sure this will be taken as sacrilege but here goes. From my perspective the weaknesses in rg's game right now are all relative to the drop back passing game and there's a reason why almost all plays where the ball travels more than 10 yards in the air come off well sold play action. His timing with his eyes, use of eyes to look defenders off and trust in his reads to put balls into tight windows with anticipation are a work in progress and that is NOT a slight to him at all, he's been absolutely amazing. You can't change the fact, however that this is the first season of his life he's been asked to do a lot of this stuff. Right now he's most efficient and effective when his reads are limited, we max protect and he's given either or passing plays. The shanys, who I'm frustrated with from a roster standpoint like everyone else, have really done a masterful job of putting him in positions to be successful and limiting his exposure to the particulars of the NFL passing game he's not quite ready for. I think it will all come in time and I think we all know he's smart enough, dedicated enough and a quick enough learner/thinker that it will come. We are, however, seeing what people talked about when they said luck was more NFL ready. Even with that said, because of his mental acuity, the coaches plan and his raw ability he's still been as effective a qb as we've seen around here in God knows how long.

Additionally, if we had any legitimate passing options for him or anything other than the worst defense in the league we wouldn't even be having this conversation and we'd be comfortably above .500.