Redskins at Falcons, 3rd quarter review

1st quarter review
2nd quarter review

WAS elects to Receive, and ATL elects to defend the East goal.

M.Koenen kicks 70 yards from ATL 30 to end zone, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 15:00

1-10-WAS 20 (15:00) J.Campbell pass incomplete short middle to S.Moss.

An inexcusable drop by Santana, and the ball is nearly intercepted after bouncing off of his hands. We were that close to losing this one quarter of competent football.

2-10-WAS 20 (14:56) L.Betts left end to WAS 25 for 5 yards (S.Nicholas).

3-5-WAS 25 (14:16) (Shotgun) J.Campbell scrambles up the middle to WAS 44 for 19 yards (J.Abraham).

The pocket degrades slowly rather than collapsing completely, so Campbell has time to escape (his one dumpoff option – Santana on a drag route out of the slot – is well covered). Heyer almost gets beat inside with a spin move, and if he had adjusted to it successfully it would have cut off Campbell’s escape route up the middle. Instead, Heyer bear hugs the guy and carries him all the way to the other side of the play, clearing Campbell’s running lane. That’s not the first appalling hold the Redskins have gotten away with – it’s almost as if the referees are feeling sorry for Campbell too.

1-10-WAS 44 (13:38) R.Cartwright right tackle to WAS 49 for 5 yards (S.Nicholas).

Sellers kicks the DE outside. I can’t see it too clearly, but I strongly suspect both Mike Williams and Casey Rabach of holding to keep the DT from beating Williams to his outside and cutting off Rock’s running lane, as the guy ends up getting spun around to his right.

2-5-WAS 49 (13:09) R.Cartwright left end to ATL 47 for 4 yards (C.Lofton).

3-1-ATL 47 (12:28) J.Campbell pass short right to M.Sellers pushed ob at ATL 36 for 11 yards (M.Peterson).

Play fake to Rock fools everybody, especially the LB who was supposed to pick up Sellers out of the backfield. Easy first down throw for Campbell.

1-10-ATL 36 (11:48) J.Campbell pass short left to M.Mitchell to ATL 25 for 11 yards (C.Houston).

Hey look, it’s Marko Mitchell! Remember August? Those were good times. Feels like years ago.

1-10-ATL 25 (11:10) L.Betts left tackle to ATL 23 for 2 yards (V.Walker).

The blocking was there for this play to go 5 yards or so but I think Betts tripped over Dockery’s foot as he hit the hole.

2-8-ATL 23 (10:29) PENALTY on WAS-M.Sellers, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at ATL 23 - No Play.

2-13-ATL 28 (10:02) J.Campbell pass short left to L.Betts to ATL 5 for 23 yards (E.Coleman).

Screen. Dockery, Montgomery, and Rabach are the blockers and this time get outside in a timely fashion so Betts is directly behind them when he catches the ball. Rabach is immediately taken on by a LB who drives him backwards and almost stuffs the play, but Betts makes an agile move to dodge Rabach and can then follow Montgomery and Dockery who are running clear downfield.

1-5-ATL 5 (9:15) J.Campbell pass short left to M.Kelly to ATL 1 for 4 yards (C.Houston)

The Falcons rush four, in the form of two pairs of stunting linemen. The Redskins adjust nicely to both and stonewall the rush. Campbell has plenty of time, which is nice because he spends all of it looking around frantically for somebody, anybody to get open. Fortunately Devin Thomas has the presence of mind to realize that Campbell needs somebody to give up on the endzone and come back towards him to avoid a coverage sack. Thomas is tightly covered, but Campbell sticks it in there with a rifle throw.

2-1-ATL 1 (8:35) R.Cartwright right tackle to ATL 1 for no gain (C.Lofton).

Lorenzo Alexander and Mike Sellers are lined up as TEs to the right and Rock wants to run behind them, but Will Montgomery gets blown away and the penetration causes Rock to hesitate in the backfield, so he has no momentum when he hits the line.

3-1-ATL 1 (7:57) R.Cartwright up the middle to ATL 1 for no gain (K.Biermann).

The line gets some push, but Yoder gets pushed to the ground and fails to hold the edge, so Rock gets taken down from the side even though he had enough space up the middle that he probably could have gotten it in the end zone.

4-1-ATL 1 (7:14) L.Betts left guard for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.

Dockery gets low and with the good leverage punches a hole in the line. Rabach (shockingly) gets no push at all which leaves space open for a LB to fill the hole opened by Dockery, but Sellers takes him out and Betts follows Dockery into the end zone.

S.Suisham extra point is GOOD, Center-E.Albright, Holder-S.Paulescu.

WAS 10 ATL 24, 13 plays, 80 yards, 7:50 drive, 7:50 elapsed

S.Suisham kicks 67 yards from WAS 30 to ATL 3. E.Weems to ATL 22 for 19 yards (L.Alexander).

Atlanta Falcons at 7:10, (1st play from scrimmage 7:04)

1-10-ATL 22 (7:04) M.Turner left tackle to ATL 25 for 3 yards (R.Doughty).

2-7-ATL 25 (6:28) M.Ryan pass short right to T.Gonzalez to ATL 31 for 6 yards (R.Doughty).

3-1-ATL 31 (5:50) A.Stecker left end to ATL 31 for no gain (L.Landry).

The LT immediately pulls the outside. This allows Orakpo (at RDE for this play) to shoot into the backfield before realizing he’s been duped and he's hopelessly out of position to stop the pitch to Stecker. The TE takes out Landry, and that pulling tackle forces Carlos Rogers out of what otherwise would have been a good pursuit angle. This could have been a big gain if not for an impressive display of speed from LaRon Landry.

4-1-ATL 31 (5:09) M.Koenen punts 48 yards to WAS 21, Center-B.Pittman. D.Hall to WAS 19 for -2 yards
(S.Nicholas).

Instead of heading straight upfield to claim the 6 yards that were freely available, Hall runs all the way across the field to lose 2. It’s called “Pulling an Antwaan.”

Washington Redskins at 4:55

1-10-WAS 19 (4:55) J.Campbell pass short right to F.Davis to WAS 35 for 16 yards (E.Coleman).

This was a dumpoff pass caught at the line of scrimmage, so all 16 of those yards were gained after the catch. I’m sure it came as a surprise to Fred Davis that he gained all of those yards without trying to leap over anyone. Seriously, not even one person. I hope he remembers this.

1-10-WAS 35 (4:22) L.Betts left tackle to WAS 38 for 3 yards (M.Peterson).

2-7-WAS 38 (3:43) L.Betts left tackle to ATL 47 for 15 yards (T.DeCoud).

So it turns out runs to the left are more successful when you don’t have to count on Stephon Heyer to block anyone. The Falcons are thinking a pass and came with a zone blitz – a DB blitzes from the non-play side - so the RDE backs off of Heyer to get into pass coverage as soon as the ball is snapped. Heyer ends up doing pretty much nothing, which is a huge relief to most everyone (especially Heyer, I would imagine). Dockery drives one DT straight back off the line. Rabach goes straight to the second level and takes out the LB. The other DT almost comes over to fill the gap but Montgomery, while losing the physical battle, slows him down just enough that Betts can make it through the hole.

1-10-ATL 47 (3:03) S.Moss left end to ATL 41 for 6 yards (E.Coleman).

Rock takes a fake hand-off an pretends to run behind the RG. This sucks the LBs to that side, and Rabach and Heyer do a good job of getting to the second level to seal them there. Santana, of course, takes an end-around in the opposite direction. Devin Thomas is the wideout on that side, and once again fails to even try to block the DB lined up over him. Fortunately Santana puts on a spin move that leaves the DB on the ground and probably very embarrassed.

2-4-ATL 41 (2:27) R.Cartwright right tackle to ATL 34 for 7 yards (M.Peterson, S.Nicholas).

Well blocked. Mike Williams and Fred Davis team up on the LDE and push him off the corner, then Fred Davis sheds off and lays a solid block on the SLB. A DB tries to come around the edge but Sellers is lead blocking and knocks him on his butt.

1-10-ATL 34 (1:52) R.Cartwright up the middle to ATL 34 for no gain (T.Lewis).

Will Montgomery is carried into the backfield, then the DT give him a shove to knock him out of the play and makes an easy tackle on Rock.

PENALTY on WAS-M.Williams, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at ATL 34 - No Play.

1-20-ATL 44 (1:32) J.Campbell pass short left to S.Moss to ATL 29 for 15 yards (C.Houston).

2-5-ATL 29 (:55) L.Betts right tackle to ATL 27 for 2 yards (J.Babineaux).

3-3-ATL 27 (:12) (Shotgun) J.Campbell pass short right to A.Randle El pushed ob at ATL 19 for 8 yards P12
(M.Peterson).

Campbell throws off his back foot because Mike Williams gets beaten off the edge and Stephon Heyer gets carried into the middle of the backfield so Campbell can’t step up.



Tune in tommorow night (or just maybe really late tonight) for the 4th quarter review - I can guarantee you a Redskins touchdown in the first 5 plays.

Play by play info from the NFL Game Book.