Welcome back to another edition of the Washington Redskins Vortex of Terror. I'll be your host. Today, we will be looking at some of the issues that plagued the Redskins on Sunday against the St. Louis Rams and quite frankly, plagued them all year. Now, I do film breakdowns every single week. Win, lose or draw, I have the privilege of reviewing film and publishing it here for your viewing pleasure. One of the most common questions I'm asked each week is, "Paul, at 3-6, 3-7, 3-8, 3-9, and 3-10, how are you able to motivate yourself to even watch the film?" My answer? There are hundreds of different ways to look at film. You just have to keep changing the angle. This week, I looked at film through a different set of eyes. Here are the real problems of the Washington Redskins....
1. "Sources close to the situation" say the Rams show a single high safety. Colt McCoy should be alerted to either Cover 1 or Cover 3. At the bottom of the screen, Pierre Garcon has a stick route and the CB is playing far off.
Colt McCoy dumps the ball off to Alfred Morris. You may think Pierre Garcon is open at the bottom of the screen, but you'd be mistaken. He's actually just alienating himself from the rest of the field and tearing apart the locker room.
2. "Unnamed sources" say this is a toss right. The Redskins are in I-Formation. If you are not aware of what I-Formation means, the I stands for informant here.
Basically, a player gets a piece of information.....
....then tells anyone willing to surround him.
3. "Several high-ranking officials" say this is a run to the right with a backside block to contain backside pursuit.
The RB gets to the 3rd level before Ryan Clark makes a tweet tackle.
Oh!! You thought I meant SWEET tackle? No, I meant tweet tackle. It's when you miss a tackle, then go on twitter and argue with beat writers via tweets about assignments, who is eligible to define such assignments, etc. If you do it correctly, it should lead to tension between players and media in open locker rooms.
4. "One source" says the Rams want to go deep on this play. The honorable Jim Haslett calls a Backstabber Zone.
A Backstabber Zone is where three NFL players purposely vacate a zone to honor a former player who commonly played that zone. This week, the players vacated the middle of the field in honor of London Fletcher who used to try and carry seam routes up there.
I think the point was lost though as London Fletcher was busy making television appearances and arguing with Jim Haslett's son.
5. "Two sources have told me" that the Rams are running an Ameoba defense here. You've heard of a Slide protection, right? Well, this is a Snitch protection. Basically, someone points out the snitch.....
...but no one is ever able to stop the snitch. Doubly, it's usually aimed at our quarterback....
.....and it usually hurts our quarterback.
6. "People I've spoken to" have told me this is a common West Coast staple. You have the go route on the outside, with double out routes by the slot WR and TE. The RB will also leak out into the flat late.
Colt McCoy ends up hitting the out route to Jordan Reed for a marginal gain. The leak was WIDE open so how come McCoy doesn't hit the leak out into the flat? Because leaks here don't stop in the flat. Our leaks go until theyre on ESPN just hours before kickoff.
7. "Someone close to the team" told me the Redskins are running a double crosser here. One shallow, one deep.
Why doesn't Colt McCoy throw it to the receiver circled? Because no one likes a "shallow double-crosser."
8. "Someone with knowledge of the situation" tells me Kenny Britt is running a deep route here. Bashaud Breeland is lined up over him and Phillip Thomas is lined up inside. The Redskins are in a Tattle 2 coverage.
A Tattle 2 coverage is two guys getting burned, blaming each other for the blown coverage and then tattle to other members of the seconday (when they're communicating) about who blew the coverage.
9. Then Robert Griffin III makes his long awaited return to the field....
...and he's still focused on San Francisco.
On a serious note, when you watch the tape, you can't tell me that all the ridiculousness that happens during the week hasn't gotten to the players. It's showing up on the field week after week after week.