The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

The Redskins obvious biggest problem is the running game. Well I clearly remember during the preseason an interview with Rabach talking about the zone scheme and he said that it was most effective against the 4-3 and much harder to execute against the 3-4 fronts. There was also a column about it by O'Hallaren on csn.com. Rabach also reiterated that again after Dallas. While we know that the scheme clearly works against any defense when executed correctly I think it has to do with the learning curve but, look at all the teams even going back to the preseason we've faced...

3-4 Defenses
Buffalo
NYJ
Baltimore
Arizona
Dallas
Green Bay

The only decent rushing games we had were against those 4-3 fronts (St.Louis, Philly). I think were are going to start to run the ball and do it well because for the rest of the year, well only see one more 3-4 defense (Dallas Week 15). Houston was the exception but they were giving us everything through the air, so I think thats why we did'nt run. Call it optimism but I have a good feeling that getting away from these 3-4 fronts will really help the run game get off the ground. (No pun intended)[/u]

Nice theory and all but ...

... would the fact that our OL is not really stellar and we have a few holes there with mediocre backups in case of injuries may have something to do with the current situation?

Just asking ...

I wish you wouldn't do that - let the fans have their dreams


we have a very old O line group and they are not going to be able to make much happen but we'll take what we can until we get a chance to replace all these old guys as soon as possible

Nothing against Rabach, I've seen worse, but the real secret to blocking 3-4's is a center like Mangold or somebody, that allows guards to get to the linebackers. That is what you can't afford if you run a 3-4, and its happened to us numerous times already. If the zone is not effective against a 3-4, run something that is. Wham's, sweeps, whatever. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to double team 3 defensive linemen, so I wouldn't Zone a 3-4 personally.

give these guys a break - we have to be the oldest group (NOT including Trent) in the NFL - I would be surprised if any of these guys is starting next year - and maybe 1 will even make it as a back up - these guys are done

they are doing as well as they can but they are not going to be able to help much as this season gets on - these guys are old

brad7686 wrote:Nothing against Rabach, I've seen worse, but the real secret to blocking 3-4's is a center like Mangold or somebody, that allows guards to get to the linebackers..

AH manhandled Mangold, in preseason (in one play).. We all know how AH plays in pre season, I cannot wait to see the beast in the middle once he decides to play with the power. =) Rabach is getting a little long in the tooth. Our running game hasn't been the same since Randy Thomas stopped playing, we need a line that can bulldoze 1-2 yds off LOS, our backs right now have nowhere to go, they start juking at the backfield because there's always someone there. We need to get them some holes to run thru.

SkinsJock wrote:we have a very old O line group and they are not going to be able to make much happen but we'll take what we can until we get a chance to replace all these old guys as soon as possible

I can't tell you what a zone blocking scheme is, what it should look like, what type of linemen you should need or what it is effective against. What I do see is this years oline doing better than last years. Whether it is because of the zone scheme or the new players, I don't know.

There are still problems, age being one of them, run blocking being another but we all knew that this was not gong to be an overnight thing, otherwise more of us would be predicting 12 - 4 or 14 - 2 this year instead of 8 - 8 or 9 - 7.

Right now, we are 3 - 2 and have the lead in the division. We beat Dallas, the Eagles and Green Bay, 3 playoff caliber teams. Who would have guessed? Certainly not all of the "experts." Emjoy what is here!

I'm thoroughly enjoying what's happening - are you kidding me - we are 2-0 in our division and we are 3-2 overall when the 2 losses could have been wins! - we could be 5-0

I'm liking the 3-2 record a lot - we are not that good, but I'll take it, BIG TIME!


we need to get an O line AND we need to get much younger
this will not happen 'overnight' but it will happen over the next 2 years


I still think we're heading for an 8-8 or 9-7 season but if it's better than that it won't be because we're a 'better' team but more because some of the teams we play did not play as well as they should have to get the win - any given Sunday baby!!!!


I'm liking our record but I'm looking at the progress and looking forward to seeing Allen and Shanahan continue to work towards getting a consistently competitive product on the field each week, which I predict will be evident by as early as the middle of next year - this is a lot of fun and I'm enjoying the ride up

SkinsJock wrote:I still think we're heading for an 8-8 or 9-7 season but if it's better than that it won't be because we're a 'better' team but more because some of the teams we play did not play as well as they should have to get the win - any given Sunday baby!!!!

I agree that this team is better than last year, particularly when you consider the transition to different offense and defense. But it is not a Playoff contender team YET. It is getting there step by step and we all agree that it takes a bit of time, good Drafts and FA choices to fix the damage.

As to teams not playing to their potential, every team is who they are on the field any given Sunday ... and, this time, we are not letting them off the hook ...

.... with apologies to D. Green for deliberate plagiarism

We will be fine as long as Allen / Shanahan remain keeping the Danny out of football operations.

Yeah. Not too sure if the theory will play out. We really don't have the OL pieces right now. And with the running game, the OGs are what make it happen; and that is our weakest group. I don't care much about what defense we see; we should play our game.

SkinsJock wrote:I'm thoroughly enjoying what's happening - are you kidding me - we are 2-0 in our division and we are 3-2 overall when the 2 losses could have been wins! - we could be 5-0

While I see your point, we had NO CHANCE in the STL game. They were the better team that day. So, even though we are better than STL generally, STL was better that day; they didn't steal that game from us. We lost fare and square. The HOU game is a different story though.

so true RiC - we have for too long not taken advantage of other team's mistakes and we now seem to be doing a better job of that - I totally agree that from what we have seen this season there are a couple of teams playing great defense (none are on our schedule) but for the most part our team can get a win by just making the most of the few opportunities that come along each game and there are no really dominant teams

The Colts are one of the best teams in the NFL and they lost to the Texans who are not in the top half of the NFL IMO - we might not beat them this week but they will know they've been in a fight after this Sunday night game if all facets of our game can play together for a whole game



hopefully Snyder is going to continue to be a non event in anything to do with the football operations at Redskins Park

Redskin in Canada wrote:I agree that this team is better than last year, particularly when you consider the transition to different offense and defense. But it is not a Playoff contender team YET.

Says you. I happen to disagree. I think we win the NFC East this season.

markshark84 wrote:we had NO CHANCE in the STL game. They were the better team that day. So, even though we are better than STL generally, STL was better that day; they didn't steal that game from us. We lost fare and square. The HOU game is a different story though.

We had a lead in the 4th quarter. How can you say we had NO CHANCE? I agree that we lost fair and square, and that the Rams were better that day, but we also staked them to a 14 point lead in the first 5 minutes of the game. So I think it's a little much to say we had no chance.

Deadskins wrote:

markshark84 wrote:we had NO CHANCE in the STL game. They were the better team that day. So, even though we are better than STL generally, STL was better that day; they didn't steal that game from us. We lost fare and square. The HOU game is a different story though.

We had a lead in the 4th quarter. How can you say we had NO CHANCE? I agree that we lost fair and square, and that the Rams were better that day, but we also staked them to a 14 point lead in the first 5 minutes of the game. So I think it's a little much to say we had no chance.

I agree also - we lost because we played so badly on defense, on offense and on special teams - a complete breakdown and yet we led in the 4th quarter - the Rams are not a good team

no question that they deserved to win but if we played them 10 times this year that would be the only game they would win

we are good enough this year to win some games we might not have won in the last few years

I'm not saying that we aren't a good team - my point this whole year has been that IMO we are not a consistently good team - we are an old team and we have some areas of concern but we have come a long way back from the depths of where we were last year, that's for sure

Deadskins wrote:

Redskin in Canada wrote:I agree that this team is better than last year, particularly when you consider the transition to different offense and defense. But it is not a Playoff contender team YET.

Says you. I happen to disagree. I think we win the NFC East this season.

x2
We already won more division games then last year and we might get a clean sweep if we progress every week like I am confident we will. Teams will finally know they played us w Osakpo LL Fletcher crushing ball carriers and moss ey AA getting rhythm w Dmac hopefully Torain and eventually portis (as a 3rd down back) racking up points and running people over. I love how physical and pist we are getting. Finally the morale and attitude is gonna make a name for them selves and an impact on opposing teams. We are not as far off as some like to think from teams getting antsy when they see our name on the schedule.

HAIL