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Zornographic Material
By Biggie, Resident Stat Boy | September 15, 2008
“All in all, what we saw yesterday was an offense that is clearly a work in progress, and a defense that took a while to find its bearings but finally redeemed itself when it did. For those in the media who chomp at the bit to start their Giants love affair anew, the MVP of the game for New York was really the Redskins’ change in offensive systems. If the offense can figure out what it wants to do and start moving the ball, this is not a very bad team. The onus, however, is on them.”
I said that last week.
I was right.
Now, granted, the offense that came out in the first half of this week’s game looked a lot like the one that turned in that awful performance in the Meadowlands. All five drives the Redskins had in the first half ended in field goal attempts, and two of them were missed (yeah, yeah, I know, one was a bad hold). 43 plays, 218 yards, 18:19 time of possession, and… nine points. All three timeouts burned in the first quarter. A bit of a letdown, to say the least.
But the second half, fellow Skins fans, was something to behold.
For starters, the Redskins scored three touchdowns (20 points) in 30 minutes after trailing 10-9 at the half. How many times have they done that lately?
On top of that, the Redskins earned 25 first downs, 15 of them through the air, and 455 yards of offense. Compare that to the 11 first downs they earned last week, five of them through the air, and the 209 yards of offense. That’s what you call improvement, people.
Furthermore, the Skins held the ball for 34:14, ten minutes more than the 24:17 they held it for against the Giants. They got points on six of their drives (could have very well been eight). Compare that to one score and seven punts in Week One. Which one would you rather have?
However, by far the biggest improvement (in this humble author’s opinion) is the change in offensive tempo when down nine points in the fourth quarter (again). In fact, in order to better understand how much better the offense got between the last three drives in the two games, I’ve made a handy little chart (remember, this includes the last three drives from the Redskins’ two games this season):
|
|
Time of possession |
Plays |
Yards |
Points |
Net yards per play |
Net time spent per play (sec) |
Scoring/Scoreless drives |
|
vs. Giants |
8:31 |
24 |
109 |
0 |
4.54 |
21.3 |
0/3 |
|
vs. Saints |
7:45 |
15 |
163 |
14 |
10.87 |
31.8 |
2/1 |
(Note: For the net time spent per play, I’ve calculated only the first two drives of the three in the Saints game, because the Redskins were actively trying to take time off the clock during that drive, unlike in the Giants game. Interestingly enough, they actually spent .8 of a second less per play when you include that last drive. I included the two Jason Campbell knees and that last clock-killing game-ending drive in all other calculations.)
Let’s crunch some numbers here: Unlike the Giants game, where the offense came out in that period with all the hustle of a dead snail, the Week 2 fourth-quarter Redskins offense looked like a machine. While the Redskins couldn’t score a point in the second half of the Giants game (although the same pretty much held true in the first half), it took them only 9 plays and 4:46 to score 14 points in the fourth quarter on Sunday and complete the comeback. Including knees, the Redskins averaged nearly eleven yards per play, six yards more than the 4.5 they barely managed on opening night. Interestingly enough, it actually took them ten seconds longer to run each play this week, but considering that those plays included four passes of 15+ yards (23, 17, 25, and a 67-yard bomb on the first play of the drive to Santana Moss that scored the go-ahead touchdown, respectively), that Campbell didn’t throw an incomplete pass in any of the three drives, and that the Redskins only ran twice (netting 6 yards per carry and a touchdown doing it) in the two catch-up scoring drives, they were doing a hell of a lot more with the ball when they had it.
Now, while the first two drives were impressive in their offensive production, the third drive showed that Jim Zorn has some humongous cojones when it comes to close games. On a 4th and 2 at the New Orleans 34 with 1:58 left in the game and some of the NFL’s most dangerous offensive players staring him in the face from the other sideline, Zorn decided that he didn’t want Drew Brees and Reggie Bush to have another shot at the end zone. And so, on fourth down, the Redskins went for it – not with a run up the gut or another conservative option, but a slant from Jason Campbell to Santana Moss that required exact timing and execution to drive the dagger into NO’s heart and earn the rookie coach his first win with his new team.
And they pulled it off. Game over.
Now, of course, there were many individual performances that made for the first flowering of offense in the Zorn era. For one, Jason Campbell completed 24 of 36 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown in the game. On the team’s last three drives, Campbell was 7-of-7, threw for 157 yards, and made those two crucial passes to Santana Moss that won the game and then clinched it. Despite early offensive struggles, JC more than redeemed himself by game’s end and looked a hell of a lot more confident to boot.
Santana Moss, Campbell’s favorite target in the game, also turned on the burners. Santana had 7 catches for 164 yards, and he caught 3 of those for 100 yards and a touchdown (and the fourth-down conversion) in the fourth quarter. He also had a 27-yard reverse, totaling for 191 yards of total offense (by comparison, the Saints had 250 as a team). Moss had three catches of 20+ yards, including the 67-yard touchdown strike. Where was this last week?
Chris Cooley, after catching one ball for seven yards against the Giants, caught five times that many for ten times as many yards on Sunday, hauling in 5 for 72 yards and showing all of that bowling-ball tackle-breaking greatness that makes us all love him so much. The performance was even more impressive considering the off-the-field distractions he had to contend with.
Clinton Portis, after taking a few shots at his offensive line and the team’s run blocking in the week before the game, apparently found holes a bit easier to come by against the Saints. Portis ran 21 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.6 yards a carry. His counterpart, Mr. Reggie, got a whopping 28 yards and 2.8 yards per carry on the ground, and the Saints as a team got 55.
Last but not least, I need to talk about a little-known rookie named Chris Horton. A seventh-round pick who looked good in preseason, Horton was in the right place at the right time all day on Sunday. The Redskins defense had three turnovers and he picked up all of them. Between intercepting two balls from Drew Brees and snatching up a Jeremy Shockey fumble, Horton now has three more turnovers to his name than the man he was filling in for has had in his entire career (as in Reed Doughty has never had one). And yet, for some reason, Doughty is getting his starting gig back next week. Nevertheless, on a day when the defense gave up only 250 yards to one of the league’s best offenses (short-handed or not), Horton was a star.
Before I leave off for this week, it shouldn’t be forgotten that this victory was far from flawless. For example, in the first half, the team burned all three of its timeouts in the first quarter. Fortunately, this kind of timeout-misuse didn’t earn us a 15-yard penalty like it did the last time we did it (two in a row, anyone?), but it was still one of the most mind-numbingly stupid things I’ve seen this season.
I’d also like to give a very unspecial mention to punter Durant Brooks. Besides screwing up a hold on a field goal and booting a kick that Reggie Bush easily took back for a 55-yard score, Brooks cost the Redskins ten points on his own. That in itself might make this the worst performance by a Redskins punter in years, except for the fact that he also averaged only 33 yards a punt and that the Redskins gained about 5.5 yards of field position out of each punt. Translation: he might as well have kicked the ball five yards for all the good he did. That would have been better, actually, as opposed to giving the Saints a touchdown untouched.
Anyways, it was a good win if not a comfortable won, folks. Zorn got his first W, Jason looked a lot better, and the offense clicked in a way that seemed impossible just 10 days before. If the Redskins can keep improving on offense and stay consistent in their pass rush and ability to force turnovers, look for them to have a good go of it against Arizona next week. No matter how you feel about how things went yesterday, there is no denying that this team is getting better.
Topics: NFL, Redskins, Sports | 7 Comments »
September 15th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Great post.
Skins got a great opponent on Sunday to get their offense some reps. The Saints D is absolutely awful. One of the worst tackling units I’ve seen in my entire life. No way do they make a playoff run with that Defense.
As another member of PGH pointed out to me today….that defensive display is why Drew Brees lead the NFL in pass attempts last year and it’s why the Saints have to throw for 400-500 yards per game in order to win.
September 15th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I’m not giving Brooks the entire blame for the missed FG. Albright snapped the ball way inside (almost in Brooks’s gut), which made handling more difficult. A more experienced holder probably does fine there, but there wasn’t one man who messed up there.
At least he didn’t have the breakdowns like in the Cincy/Tennessee game yesterday. Punting and kicking was a chore in that wind.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:32 am
I really really hope that this wasnt just because the Saints secondary was so banged up
September 16th, 2008 at 2:23 am
A whole lotta hay was made that the Saints had three Defensive starters out, well the ‘Skins had two out themselves (Washington and Doughty) and granted Colston was out on the sidelines, but thems the breaks, no one cried for the ‘Skins last year when their OL lost the starting right side. Suddenly even Payton Manning looks damn near pedestrian with guys in his grill all day long, having starting OL guys out will do that to ya.
September 16th, 2008 at 5:15 am
It was also nice to see the defensive front 4 generating pressure on the QB all day long. Don’t know if that says more for the quality of the defensive line or the lack thereof of the offensive line, but the DT’s were consistantly getting pressure in Brees’ face.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
They lost more corners as the game went on, I believe… hence why they were forced to cover Moss with a rookie
September 18th, 2008 at 11:21 am
amen, pirate dan. amen.