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Washington Football Game Day discussions for 2003, 2004, and 2005
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BernieSki
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Dallas Cowboys
Although the Bill Parcells era may in Dallas might not last much longer, there is no question that in this offseason, the head coach changed the look of his team on both sides of the ball. He is adding his stamp to it, and he is going to put a team on the field that reflects his personality and his past successes. Offensively, the Cowboys will run the ball even more in 2005 than they did a year ago, because Parcells now knows he can trust second-year RB, Julius Jones, who showed a lot of durability in 2004 and already has proven that he can carry the load. Parcells also knows he has to take the pressure off his new quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, and not depend on the passing game. Big production from Jones can do not only that, but it also can keep the defense off the field while it still is in rebuilding mode.
Dallas offensive coordinator Sean Payton will oversee the passing game, while Tony Sparano will oversee the run game, but these two seem to work well together, and there should not be a lot of conflict. A lot of teams in the NFL split the duties in terms of game plans and preparations, and with Maurice Carthon gone to Cleveland, it seams to make sense for Dallas.

Look for the Cowboys to utilize the run to set up play-action matchups on the perimeter. It appears that Payton will give Bledsoe the opportunity to throw more deep balls and try to stretch the field a little bit, but it will all come off the success of the run game.
It is crucial for the Cowboys to give Bledsoe better pass protection than they did Vinnie Testaverde, because Bledsoe is absolutely a statue in the pocket with no ability to avoid pressure. The Cowboys must utilize pass schemes that allow their receivers to get better separation. That's been a problem in a past, and if it continues, Bledsoe will be forced to hold onto the ball too long. However, if Dallas has to go to max protection schemes to keep Bledsoe from being hit, it will the team's ability to make plays in the passing game. Parcells will continue to call plays on Sundays, and he has shown in the past that he has a great feel in that area.

Defensively, Dallas spent almost its entire draft -- six of eight picks -- to help speed its transition from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4. Although defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is a 4-3 guy, he will make the adjustment for Parcells and this defense will become bigger and more physical. Their problem right now, though, is that they don't have ideal 3-4 linebackers unless the young guys develop.
Parcells put up with an undersized, penetrating, one-gap defense for two years, but he finally had enough. The Cowboys' best two defensive linemen, La'roi Glover and Greg Ellis, will get fewer snaps in the 3-4, but they also should be fresher when they do play.
The one other tweak in this defense is at free safety. Roy William will move to strong safety, where he can basically creep up closer to the line of scrimmage and play in the box, almost like an extra linebacker, and the Cowboys will play a lot more Cover-3 type schemes with the free safety as a center fielder.

There is no question the new defensive emphasis will be to create a better pass rush off the edge and put a much more physical group on the field to stop the run, But the big question is, can the Cowboys protect a secondary really struggled a year ago in coverage situations?

New York Giants
First and foremost, the Giants must figure out a way to get better production in the red zone in 2005, an area in which they were awful a year ago. Offensive coordinator John Hufnagel must design better plays and matchups deep in the opponents' territory, because this is not a good enough team to win if it has to continually settle for field goals.
The other challenge for this offense is to do a better job of getting the ball to their WR's on the perimeter. Amazingly, Giants wide receivers had only two touchdown catches in 2004. They have the three biggest and most physical receivers in the game in Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, and TE Jeremy Shockey, and they will try to outmuscle defenses and give QB Eli Manning big physical targets. They should be very effective in a better designed short to intermediate passing game that controls the clock and moves the chains.

The Giants also will work in training camp on improving their pass protection, as they were 30th in the NFL a year ago in giving up sacks. While they don't want to go to max-protection schemes, with their big, physical intermediate receivers, you could see a lot more three- and five-step drops, where Manning throws high-percentage passes and uses the short passing game almost as a run game.
Defensively, the Giants also had problems in the red zone. They were dead last in red zone defense, and in 50 opportunities by opposing offenses, New York gave up 36 TDs. Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis must design better schemes, and the man-to-man coverages must tighten up in goal line situations. Lewis will use some 3-4 looks, even though the Giants are a traditional 4-3 team. And much like the Pittsburgh Steelers, where Lewis was groomed as a coach, they will use a lot of zone blitzes, will bring their corners off the edges and will play some over-and-under schemes with their defensive line alignments, really changing up their looks to confuse teams.
However, at the end of the day, they simply must play more physical run defense, and they must stop teams in the red zone. All the shifting and exotic schemes in the world won't be good enough if they don't improve in those two areas.

Philadelphia Eagles
This is a well-coached team that won't have a lot of changes on either side of the ball in 2005. Andy Reid does a great job of play calling on Sundays, and he gets tremendous input from offensive coordinator Brad Childress and assistant head coach Marty Mornhinweg. These guys know what each other wants, and they are very comfortable with this offense. The Eagles run a pass-first, run-second, West Coast scheme, and they do a great job of dictating matchups, especially in the red zone. In 2004, Philadelphia converted 47 opportunities in the red zone into 30 TDs, third in the NFL.
The team will continue to feature Brian Westbrook in the passing game and will move him around more than any other back in the NFL. He could be lined up in the I-formation, in the slot, on the perimeter, on the wing, and he could go in motion, but they will work to get him preferred matchups in both the running game and the passing game. The team hopes Correll Buckhalter will return from a 2004 injury and be healthy enough to do the dirty work between the tackles.
The problem with this pass-first, run-second mentality is that it doesn't eat up a lot of clock and leads to more three-and-outs than the Eagles would prefer. They were 26th in the NFL a year ago in time of possession, but that's an area they will work on in training camp.
Defensively, Jim Johnson is one of the most innovative and aggressive coordinators in the NFL, and not a lot will change for him, either. He will continue to utilize a 4-3 scheme, but he will have multiple blitz packages out of those schemes and will attack from every direction on the field. Johnson's defense notoriously gambles a lot. The Eagles will give up some big plays to make some big plays, but they believe that as long as they don't give up points, they can take a lot of chances in the middle of the field.
This is a defense that needs a lot of smart players who can run, and they have that type of personnel. Jevon Kearse will play both DE positions, but he will also stand up as a linebacker and use a "spy" technique, especially when playing vs. mobile QB's like Michael Vick, who can run outside the pocket. This defense also loves to use a wave rotation, especially on the defensive line, where they have better depth than any other team in the NFL, and they will shuttle guys in and out to keep them fresh.
Also look for the Eagles' outstanding corners, Lido Sheppard and Sheldon Brown, to be a little more aggressive, jumping routes and trying to outguess opposing quarterbacks. They have great safeties behind them with a lot of Cover-2 schemes that can prevent the big play if they guess wrong.

Washington Redskins
Although 2004 was understandably a learning year for head coach Joe Gibbs and his staff, you get the feeling they will make the necessary adjustments heading into the 2005 season. They still will utilize a lot of one-back and two-TE sets with motion and also will use their TE's on a lot of blocking schemes, but they will change a little bit of their run game philosophy with Clinton Portis.
Portis really struggled to run the Redskins' traditional "counter trey" a year ago, because it requires a lot of patience on the part of the running back to give it time to develop. Portis is a speed back who likes to hit the hole on the run, and patience is not his strength. For a guy who has explosiveness and big-play capabilities, he only averaged 3.8 yards a carry. That's not good enough, and we will see the Redskins utilize more stretch plays and straight-ahead running plays in order to maximize his skills.

The Redskins have a new offensive coordinator, Bill Musgrave, a proponent of the West Coast offense, and he will use a fairly safe, conservative passing game to move the chains. The challenge for the Redskins, though, will be that they may again be forced to use a lot of max-protection schemes like they did a year ago to protect QB Patrick Ramsey, and that limits their ability to spread the field. Also, their receivers are small and not very physical, and they will struggle vs. press coverages, so we may see a lot more motion and shifting of their WR's in an effort to get away from the jam.

This is an offense that needs to run the football to let the defense rest and to play smarter than it did a year ago, when Washington was the most penalized team in the NFL. We will see fewer counter-trey and trap plays, but there is a lot of work to be done in training camp.
Defensively, coordinator Gregg Williams did a tremendous job a year ago with only average personnel. He utilized a philosophy that emphasized blitzes from all over the field and also did a lot of pre-snap shifting along the defensive line to confuse offensive blocking schemes. After the snap, the team played a lot of one-gap penetrating techniques. The end result was a defensive line that played much better than its talent level indicated.

In the secondary, the Redskins will play a lot of Cover-1 schemes and will blitz their corners off the edge more than you might think to try to bring pressure.
This defensive unit should be good again, especially if the offense can control the clock. The pressure will be on offensive coordinator Musgrave to make the offense more efficient and accomplish that.
BernSki
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