Super bowl, what can the Redskins learn

The elder statesmen puts into perspective what the Redskins can learn from the Superbowl winning teams.

Rich Tandler does and excellent break down over at CSN, on some of the notes Redskins should be taking on the Superbowl winners.

5 Things The Redskins Can Learn From Super Bowl XLIV

You can be a 4-3 defense and a 3-4 defense—One of the reasons that the Saints held Peyton Manning and company to just 17 points was the constantly-changing defensive looks that Gregg Williams gave Manning. Although New Orleans runs the 4-3 look as its base defense, they seamlessly moved from that alignment to the 3-4 and back again. In the early going, Williams called the defense according to the situation, going with a four-man front on running downs and with four linebackers on passing downs. As the game went on, Williams mixed it up, confusing Manning with different fronts at different times, sometimes going to a 3-3-5 look with an extra defensive back in the lineup. As the Redskins transition to the 3-4 look, Jim Haslett would be well advised to examine Williams’ maneuvering and keep elements of both defenses in the game plans.

This is the key note for me because tradition is important and the Redskins run a 4-3 defense, just like NO ran a base 4-3 defense..without running a 4-3 defense.  I read a quote one time from Williams that he had a defense which had "0" linebackers...it's about flexibility.

Game changers: The ones "some" want to draft or sign in Free Agency didn't seem to impact the game.  Even the Running game itself seems to be lacking

The big play is overrated—There is a feeling that the Redskins need a playmaker, someone who can score every time he gets his hands on the ball. Maybe they don’t. The Saints beat the Colts without the big offensive play. Drew Brees threw deep once in the Saints’ first series, and the pass fell incomplete. But after that, it was slants and screens. The longest pass of the game came on a short pass that Marques Colston turned into a 27-yard gain. There were no big gains in the running game, either, with Reggie Bush’s 12-yard run being the Saints’ longest of the game. The Saints won with small ball.

The running game no longer wins championships—Actually, it may be a bit early to make this statement, but the trend is moving towards passing being the dominant factor in the big game. Three years ago, the Giants, who possessed a strong running game, ran for just 91 yards in their Super Bowl win over the Patriots. Last year the Steelers won with 58 yards on the ground (the Cardinals almost pulled it out while rushing for 33 yards). The downward trend in rushing totals for the Super Bowl champs continued on Sunday as the Saints ran for just 51 yards.

Agressive play is not overated and remains a key:  In my opinion the Colts lost the game when near the end of the half after stopping the Saints from scoring, A big gamble by the Saints on 4th down, the Colts didn't use it against them and decided to run 3 stright running plays in an attempt to get a first down, not calling one play for the offenses biggest weapon, conservative play calling spelled the doom for the Colts while aggressive play calling proved succesful for the Saints because the Colts failed to match the aggresive play.  A little different twist than Rich uses.

An aggressive play can be the smart play—The onside kick to start off the second half was a calculated gamble that paid off big for the Saints. Some studies have shown that while an onside kick in a desperation situation late in the game is successful only about 20 percent of the time, the kicking team recovers a surprise onside kick about 60 percent of the time. So while there was an element of gambling in Sean Payton’s call to open the second half with the onside kick, the odds were in his favor. And going for the touchdown on 4th down near the end of the second quarter wasn’t such a big gamble either.

Redskins building the line, developing a core group and establishing an identity will help the Redskins be the team of the Decade 2010-2020, of course if the world exists after 2012