Redskins vs. Texans 3rd quarter review

First quarter game review
Second quarter game review

THIRD QUARTER

G.Gano kicks 71 yards from WAS 30 to HST -1. S.Slaton to HST 15 for 16 yards (L.Alexander).

Houston Texans at 15:00, (1st play from scrimmage 14:55)


1-10-HST 15 (14:55) A.Foster right end to HST 16 for 1 yard (A.Carriker; R.McIntosh).

Carricker fights through a RG-RT double team to stuff the play. I’m liking Carricker more and more.

2-9-HST 16 (14:23) M.Schaub pass deep right to K.Walter to HST 37 for 21 yards (R.Doughty).

Doughty has Walter well covered, but Schaub throws a perfect pass.

1-10-HST 37 (13:48) A.Foster right end to HST 42 for 5 yards (R.Doughty, D.Hall).


2-5-HST 42 (13:09) M.Schaub pass short right to V.Leach pushed ob at WAS 43 for 15 yards (R.McIntosh).

Landry and Orakpo blitz from the offensive left. Landry speeds around the LT, and Orakpo gets past the LG’s outside shoulder (Foster should have picked him up but recognizes it too late). Schaub is forced out of the pocket with both blitzers and then Adam Carricker closing in, but he notices the FB in the flat and lofts it just over Andre Carter’s hands for the first down.

1-10-WAS 43 (12:39) A.Foster right tackle to WAS 41 for 2 yards (V.Holliday).

Carter stands up the fullback in the backfield, forcing Foster back up the middle. The Redskins linemen are getting manhandled and Orakpo is sealed to the outside by the TE, but Landry reads the play and comes in to trip him up.

2-8-WAS 41 (12:02) M.Schaub pass short middle to A.Johnson to WAS 34 for 7 yards (L.Fletcher).

Landry lets the whole world know he’s blitzing, so the Texans line adjusts and he runs straight into the LT.

3-1-WAS 34 (11:26) M.Schaub up the middle to WAS 32 for 2 yards (B.Orakpo, V.Holliday). QB Sneak

Oh this is good. It’s 3rd and short, so naturally Haslett sends his guys out there with one linemen again. The C and RG easily clear Holliday out of the way, and the LG has an easy path to Lorenzo Alexander who is a yard off the ball and, obviously, standing up. This is the easiest QB sneak of all time.

1-10-WAS 32 (10:53) A.Foster right end to WAS 31 for 1 yard (D.Hall).

So DeAngelo Hall, that corner of our who allegedly fears contact, crushes the lead FB to deny Foster the corner and force him back inside.

2-9-WAS 31 (10:15) M.Schaub pass short left to A.Johnson to WAS 29 for 2 yards (L.Landry).


3-7-WAS 29 (9:32) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass incomplete short middle to J.Jones.

1-5-5. Orakpo attacks the RT to the outside while Carter takes a hard step towards the RG and then works inside. This is supposed to open up a lane for Rogers to blitz, but the RG passes off Carter to the C and Rogers is shut down. The WR has Doughty beat on this route, the pass is a little ahead of him and low.

4-7-WAS 29 (9:27) N.Rackers 47 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-J.Weeks, Holder-M.Turk.


HST 10 WAS 20, 11 plays, 56 yards, 5:38 drive, 5:38 elapsed


N.Rackers kicks 74 yards from HST 30 to WAS -4. D.Thomas to WAS 28 for 32 yards (S.McManis). PENALTY on WAS-C.Cooley, Illegal Block Above the Waist, 8 yards, enforced at WAS 16.

PBP says four yards deep, but I think Thomas is about 6 yards into the end zone when he fields this. Byron Westbrook, his lead blocker, tries to hold him up at the goal line but Thomas ignores him. The return is not as good as it looks, because the guy who Cooley illegally blocks in the back probably would have taken Thomas down at the 14.

Washington Redskins at 9:22, (1st play from scrimmage 9:15)


1-10-WAS 8 (9:15) D.McNabb pass short left to J.Galloway to WAS 15 for 7 yards (Z.Diles).

Trent Williams cuts Mario Williams to open up the passing lane. Lichtensteiger is back in at LG and although he handles his DT just fine Portis goes looking for something to block but seems disappointed Lichtensteiger doesn’t get beat and ends up hitting him in the back.

2-3-WAS 15 (8:38) PENALTY on WAS-A.Hicks, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 15 - No Play.


2-8-WAS 10 (8:15) D.McNabb pass incomplete short left to S.Moss (M.Williams).

Moss is wide open on a quick slant, but McNabb is forced to throw behind him because Mario Williams fills the passing lane.

3-8-WAS 10 (8:12) (Shotgun) D.McNabb pass short middle to S.Moss to WAS 21 for 11 yards (J.Nading).

Texans only rush three, so the LDE drops into coverage and cuts off Moss’ slant from a trips bunch. Trent Williams and Lichtensteiger adjust well to a stunt, giving McNabb time to slide out of the pocket while Moss eventually slips away from the DE.

1-10-WAS 21 (7:26) D.McNabb sacked at WAS 14 for -7 yards (M.Williams).

Mario Williams gets Jammal Brown to plant his feet, then speeds around him for the sack. Trent Williams was beaten badly by his DE too but Portis was there to crush the guy. Unfortunately, even Portis can only bail out one lineman per play.

2-17-WAS 14 (6:51) D.McNabb pass short middle to K.Williams to WAS 21 for 7 yards (Z.Diles; G.Quin).


3-10-WAS 21 (6:10) D.McNabb pass deep middle to A.Armstrong to WAS 41 for 20 yards (G.Quin).

Bad decision by McNabb. He is well protected and has Moss wide open on a shallow cross, but he forces it deeper to Anthony Armstrong, who has to lunge and make a great play to keep it from getting intercepted.

1-10-WAS 41 (5:29) L.Johnson right end to WAS 44 for 3 yards (Z.Diles; K.Jackson).

This is a counter play. Fred Davis lines up at LTE but comes off the line and is supposed to lead around the right edge, the DLs having been duly lured out of the way by the slanting line. But he is blown up by a LB and the LOS, so Johnson is forced to take the play farther outside, where a DB who has a free shot trip him up.

2-7-WAS 44 (4:46) D.McNabb pass short middle to R.Williams to HST 22 for 34 yards (E.Wilson) [R.Denney].

Great throw by McNabb with intense pressure in his face, and I think the pressure is due to Casey Rabach failing to recognize a blitz. The LDE drops into pass coverage, so the OLB blitzes from the opposite side. He is picked up by Williams, but this opens up a lane that is broadened by the RDE attacking Lichtensteiger’s inside shoulder. Lichtensteiger (enough of this, from here on out he’s Kory) sees that the MLB is blitzing so he tries to pass the RDE off to Rabach. Rabach is blocking a DT, but Dockery is unoccupied and looks like he is expecting Rabach to pass that DT off to him. He doesn’t, so Lichtensteiger is forced to try and block two guys, which of course doesn’t go very well.

1-10-HST 22 (3:59) D.McNabb pass short right to C.Cooley for 22 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Pretty, pretty play. The line, McNabb, and Larry Johnson all convincingly sell play action to the offensive right, but the McNabb bootlegs out in the opposite direction. A couple DLs recover from the fake and are closing in on McNabb, but he makes a perfect throw off his back foot to Cooley, who has gotten wide open due to a nicely run post-corner route (Cooley seems to be especially good at this route – he attacks the middle of the field so convincingly before cutting back outside).

G.Gano extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-J.Bidwell.
HST 10 WAS 27, 9 plays, 92 yards, 5:31 drive, 11:09 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 73 yards from WAS 30 to HST -3. S.Slaton to HST 22 for 25 yards (L.Alexander; H.Blades).


Houston Texans at 3:51, (1st play from scrimmage 3:45)


1-10-HST 22 (3:45) M.Schaub pass short left to A.Johnson to HST 35 for 13 yards (R.Doughty, R.McIntosh).

TE motions to the left and sucks Rogers into the flat, allowing Johnson to get open. If it’s that easy to get Andre Johnson uncovered then there’s something wrong with Haslett’s coverages. This is not the first time the Texans spring Johnson with a simple complementary route.

1-10-HST 35 (3:09) M.Schaub pass short middle to K.Walter to HST 49 for 14 yards (L.Landry).


1-10-HST 49 (2:25) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short middle to A.Johnson to WAS 48 for 3 yards (R.Doughty, R.McIntosh)[B.Orakpo]. WAS-R.Doughty was injured during the play. His return is Probable.

The Fletcher-Rocky inside blitz that has already been called 800 times this season works! Here’s what I think the difference is: Carricker, not Holliday, is lined up over the C. The RG can’t pass Fletcher off to the C (as Dallas did routinely) because Carricker is busy storming through the opposite A gap and its all the C and LG can do to contain him. So the RG is stuck with Fletcher and Rocky has a clean lane to blitz through, forcing Schaub to get rid of it over the middle for just 3 yards.

2-7-WAS 48 (1:55) M.Schaub pass deep right to A.Johnson to WAS 24 for 24 yards (D.Hall). PENALTY on HST-A.Johnson, Illegal Touch Pass, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 48 - No Play.


2-12-HST 47 (1:23) (Shotgun) M.Schaub sacked at HST 44 for -3 yards (B.Orakpo).

Orakpo is initially carried too far upfield by the LT, but Schaub clearly has no one open and despite adequate protection is eventually flushed out of the pocket. Orakpo is able to recover and uses his raw speed to chase Schaub down from behind.

3-15-HST 44 (:52) (Shotgun) M.Schaub pass short middle to A.Foster pushed ob at WAS 6 for 50 yards (L.Landry; D.Hall).

The screen works to perfection. The LG and C are set up nicely in front of Foster when he gets the ball, and the C in particular shows great hustle – he manages to stay ahead of Foster and is blocking Landry 30 yards downfield.

1-6-WAS 6 (:23) M.Schaub pass short middle to K.Walter for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

The entire defense bites on the play action and subsequent bootleg, so Schaub is unpressured and has a receiver open at the 3. Doughty tries to close and stop him short of the goal line, but he misread the angle a bit and the WR slips past him.

N.Rackers extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Weeks, Holder-M.Turk