Redskins vs. Texans 1st quarter review

FIRST QUARTER

N.Rackers kicks 70 yards from HST 30 to end zone, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 15:00

1-10-WAS 20 (15:00) D.McNabb pass short left to M.Sellers to WAS 42 for 22 yards (B.Pollard, K.Jackson).

Twins WRs left. From the left slot Moss runs a slant and not only clears out his DB but ends up blocking an OLB, allowing Sellers to run for big yards after making an easy catch in the flat.

1-10-WAS 42 (14:22) D.McNabb pass short middle to S.Moss to HST 45 for 13 yards (G.Quin; B.Pollard).

1-10-HST 45 (13:45) C.Portis right end to HST 43 for 2 yards (X.Adibi).

Draw play, and either it was poorly designed or someone missed an assignment. Jammal Brown drops back into (fake) pass pro and even though he blocks the LDE poorly Portis is already past before he can make the play. Cooley, from RTE, heads outside and blocks a DB. When Sellers leads through the hole he is faced with two LBs, and obviously can only block one. My prime suspect for the culprit here is Casey Rabach, who was slow getting to the second level and blocked (poorly) the backside OLB instead of one of the two playside guys Sellers was faced with.

2-8-HST 43 (13:07) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short left to S.Moss to HST 34 for 9 yards (X.Adibi).

Redskins start in trips bunch left, but Armstrong motions to the right side just before the snap. This is a screen to Moss; Trent Williams, Derrick Dockery, and Casey Rabach all do a good job getting to the outside. Galloway was on the LOS while Santana was a yard off, but he was ineffective as a blocker and Moss made the yards largely due to his elusiveness.

1-10-HST 34 (12:21) D.McNabb pass short right to M.Sellers to HST 24 for 10 yards (B.Pollard).

Same as the first play of the game but to the opposite side – Moss runs a slant and clears the flat for Sellers. You can’t see it on camera, but it is possible to infer that Anthony Armstrong, the other receiver to the right in the twins formation, put a pretty serious block on his DB to leave Sellers lots of running room.

1-10-HST 24 (11:44) C.Portis left end to HST 24 for no gain (J.Nading).

Both Dockery and Williams go straight to the second level, leaving the RDE unblocked.

2-10-HST 24 (11:02) D.McNabb pass short right to M.Sellers to HST 23 for 1 yard (Z.Diles).

3-9-HST 23 (10:20) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short right to S.Moss to HST 23 for no gain (K.Jackson, B.McCain).

Eight plays in and this is the second case of a play repeated identically but to the opposite side – this time the screen to Moss with Armstrong in motion. Once again Galloway fails to block anyone, and this time Trent Williams is slow getting outside.

4-9-HST 23 (9:42) G.Gano 41 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-J.Bidwell.


HST 0 WAS 3, 9 plays, 57 yards, 5:23 drive, 5:23 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 70 yards from WAS 30 to HST 0. S.Slaton ran ob at HST 1 for 1 yard.

This was just outstanding. Gano kicks it about a yard deep in the end zone but very near the sideline, so Slaton is at a dead sprint to catch it and ends up running out of bounds inside the one.

Houston Texans at 9:37, (1st play from scrimmage 9:36)

1-10-HST 1 (9:36) M.Schaub pass deep middle to K.Walter to HST 25 for 24 yards (R.Doughty; D.Hall).

Doughty and Hall get named in the play by play, but this actually goes on the ILBs – both Fletcher and Rocky, who bite on play action and can’t recover before the Texans exploit the hole in the middle zone.

1-10-HST 25 (8:54) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short right to D.Anderson to HST 26 for 1 yard (A.Carter).

The first sighting of the dreaded (by me at least) 1-5-5 defense tonight. This time it accomplishes something. Carlos Rogers is unblocked on a blitz from the slot. Schaub sees it coming but he has an empty backfield so he’s forced to go hot to the WR in the flat who is covered.

(8:09) M.Schaub pass short middle intended for O.Daniels INTERCEPTED by C.Rogers at HST 37. C.Rogers to HST 32 for 5 yards (J.Dreessen). PENALTY on WAS-L.Landry, Illegal Block Above the Waist, 10 yards, enforced at HST 32.

This interception has to go on Schaub. The Texans lined up with 3 TEs to set up play action. Owen Daniels is covered by London Fletcher, which is of course a mismatch for Houston, but Schaub doesn’t see that Rogers passed off the WR he had on a go route and was lurking to jump the route.

Washington Redskins at 7:59

1-10-HST 42 (7:59) D.McNabb pass deep left to C.Cooley to HST 7 for 35 yards (X.Adibi).

The line slides left, which sets up McNabb nicely for his play action bootleg to the right. Mario Williams is still coming at him because Sellers blew his attempt at a cut block, but McNabb gets the ball out in time to hit Cooley who has gotten wide open deep on a nicely executed corner route. He really makes safety Bernard Pollard look silly.

1-7-HST 7 (7:17) C.Portis right tackle to HST 11 for -4 yards (S.Cody; A.Smith).

Both Rabach and Jammal Brown are completely overwhelmed and Portis barely has a chance to get the ball in his hands before he is stuffed.

2-11-HST 11 (6:38) (Shotgun) C.Portis right guard to HST 9 for 2 yards (S.Cody).

A draw from the shotgun. Cooley gets blown off the edge by the LDE, and interferes with an attempted pull by Lichtensteiger (in at LG this drive).

3-9-HST 9 (5:56) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass incomplete short middle to C.Portis.

Just one of those missed throws we know to expect out of McNabb. Portis was open, although several yards short of the end zone. No chance he would have scored even if the pass hadn’t been high and behind him.

4-9-HST 9 (5:52) G.Gano 27 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-J.Bidwell.

HST 0 WAS 6, 5 plays, 33 yards, 2:11 drive, 9:12 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 67 yards from WAS 30 to HST 3. S.Slaton to HST 23 for 20 yards (C.Horton; H.Blades).

Devin Thomas is unblocked and has an angle on the returner at about the 17, but inexplicably hesitates and lets him get past for several more yards.

Houston Texans at 5:48, (1st play from scrimmage 5:44)
1-10-HST 23 (5:44) A.Foster right end pushed ob at HST 27 for 4 yards (C.Rogers).

Carter comes hard off the edge but the RT is able to take him to the outside and let the RB cut inside him. A TE attempts to seal Carricker inside, but Carricker blows past him but isn’t quite quick enough to catch up to the RB before he gets outside.

2-6-HST 27 (5:21) M.Schaub pass deep middle to A.Johnson to HST 45 for 18 yards (L.Landry).


1-10-HST 45 (4:43) M.Schaub pass short left to K.Walter to HST 49 for 4 yards (C.Rogers; B.Orakpo).

Houston goes to the hitch because Rogers is playing off a bit and take their 4 free yards.

2-6-HST 49 (4:08) A.Foster right end to WAS 47 for 4 yards (R.McIntosh; L.Fletcher).

Carter avoids both the RTE and the FB and has a chance to stuff Foster for a 4 yard loss, but Foster makes a cut in the backfield and does a nice job sifting through traffic to turn something into nothing. He is helped by the fact that the C drives Maake off the line one on one.

3-2-WAS 47 (3:31) A.Foster left tackle to WAS 44 for 3 yards (M.Kemoeatu).

I know it’s no surprise that Arian Foster is pretty good, but very impressed by his vision and hard cuts.

1-10-WAS 44 (2:55) S.Slaton right end to WAS 39 for 5 yards (L.Fletcher; A.Carriker).

Carricker stand up a RG-RT double team because Carricker is kind of badass that way, and Fletcher attacks the pulling LG hard enough to force the RB to cut back inside of traffic. Carter has a chance at him at the LOS but misses the tackle and flies past him.

2-5-WAS 39 (2:17) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short middle to A.Johnson to WAS 25 for 14 yards (R.Doughty).

Redskins blitz Landry and Fletcher, but as is becoming commonplace the protection quickly adjusts to account for each. Rogers is in man coverage on Andre Johnson in the left slot, and is unable to get inside to cover Johnson’s slant because of a natural pick created by the LTE’s route.

1-10-WAS 25 (1:36) M.Schaub pass short right to O.Daniels to WAS 16 for 9 yards (L.Fletcher; D.Hall).


2-1-WAS 16 (:57) A.Foster right tackle to WAS 5 for 11 yards (R.Doughty).

Okay, Arian Foster really is very good. Orakpo beats the LT with ease and has Foster squared up in the backfield, but Foster makes a hard cut and escapes him to shoot through a small hole created by the RT sealing Philip Daniels to the inside and kicking out Carter.

1-5-WAS 5 (:23) A.Foster right tackle to WAS 5 for no gain (L.Landry, A.Carter).

The TE slips past Carter to get to the second level, which is great because then Carter can crush the FB, forcing Foster to cut inside into a gap that Landry read all the way.

END OF QUARTER

Play by play info taken from the NFL Gamebook.