Redskins-Eagles 1st quarter game review

[Ed. - sorry for the slow pace this week. I have the 2nd quarter mostly done but will have to finish it up tomorrow.]

First Quarter

G.Gano kicks 73 yards from WAS 35 to PHI -8. D.Lewis, Touchback.

Philadelphia Eagles at 15:00

1-10-PHI 20 (15:00) M.Vick pass incomplete deep left to D.Jackson.

The Eagles try to start a second consecutive game with a deep touchdown to Jackson, but Atogwe is kept very, very deep – probably in anticipation of this. Wilson is manned up on Jackson and blankets him, but its unnecessary because there is clearly a route miscommunication and Vick sails the ball straight downfield while Jackson runs a corner route.

2-10-PHI 20 (14:54) (Shotgun) PENALTY on PHI-T.Herremans, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 20 - No Play.

2-15-PHI 15 (14:54) (Shotgun) L.McCoy left tackle to PHI 15 for no gain (B.Cofield).

Redskins in the four man nickel front. Orakpo beats the TE’s kick out block and Cofield gets penetration from the backside.

3-15-PHI 15 (14:14) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass incomplete short middle to B.Celek.

4-15-PHI 15 (14:07) C.Henry punts 46 yards to WAS 39, Center-J.Dorenbos. B.Banks to WAS 41 for 2 yards (A.Jordan).

PENALTY on PHI-C.Harbor, Face Mask (15 Yards), 15 yards, enforced at WAS 41.

Banks had yards if he cut to the outside and upfield; instead he tries to cut across the field and gets almost nothing. He’s regressing.

Washington Redskins at 13:55

1-10-PHI 44 (13:55) R.Grossman pass short left to F.Davis to PHI 32 for 12 yards (N.Allen).           

Davis is an in-line TE here and sells the block well enough that the RDE blows right past him into the backfield. The only other option to cover Davis into the flat is the OLB who bites hard on the play action and takes himself out of the play.

1-10-PHI 32 (13:19) R.Torain right end to PHI 28 for 4 yards (B.Rolle; K.Coleman).

PENALTY on WAS-T.Williams, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at PHI 32 - No Play.

Lichetensteiger and Montgomery get good second level blocks to give Torain a cutback lane. Trent realizes he is giving up backside penetration to the RDT, wrestles him to the ground, and gets called for it.

1-20-PHI 42 (12:57) R.Torain left tackle to PHI 38 for 4 yards (K.Coleman; B.Rolle).

Well this one certainly wasn’t yet another inside zone/outside zone. Lichtensteiger and Montgomery double team the RDT drive him to the outside. Chester avoids the LDT completely and crosses the formation to get a second level block on the MLB. The Redskins have now built a wall to the left and Torain wants to cuts right behind Cooley’s surprise block on the LDT who ignored by Chester. But Cooley lets the hole get pinched in and Torain is directed straight into traffic.

2-16-PHI 38 (12:16) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass incomplete short left to R.Torain.

This is a pretty sloppy attempt at a screen. Lichtensteiger and Montgomery let the RDT slip past (as they should) but he reads that Torain is going to slip out of the backfield for the screen and simply grabs him to slow his release. Meanwhile Lichtensteiger and Montgomery completely fail to set up their block on the playside LB who is position to blow up Torain.

3-16-PHI 38 (12:09) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass deep middle intended for F.Davis INTERCEPTED by K.Coleman [T.Laws] at PHI 3. K.Coleman to PHI 3 for no gain (F.Davis). WAS-K.Lichtensteiger was injured during the play. His return is Questionable. PENALTY on WAS-T.Williams, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at PHI 3. 78- Right Knee Injury

Someone ran a wrong route here. Davis and Stallworth are both in the slot on the right side, and both run go routes. They are never more than a few yards apart. This must be wrong as the point of multiple downfield routes is to force the safety to choose one guy and then throw to the other one. Instead the deep safety was able to provide help on both receivers. But if either Davis or Stallworth screwed up it doesn’t excuse Rex, as he threw a pass that the coverage (probably with an assist from one of our guys) had clearly taken away.

Philadelphia Eagles at 12:02

1-10-PHI 18 (12:02) (Shotgun) PENALTY on PHI-C.Harbor, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at PHI 18 - No Play.

 1-15-PHI 13 (12:02) M.Vick pass short left to L.McCoy to PHI 16 for 3 yards (R.McIntosh).

Really good pursuit by Rocky versus the screen.

2-12-PHI 16 (11:21) (Shotgun) M.Vick Aborted. J.Kelce FUMBLES at PHI 16, recovered by PHI-M.Vick at PHI 0. M.Vick pass incomplete short left. PENALTY on WAS-R.McIntosh, Roughing the Passer, 15 yards, enforced at PHI 16 - No Play.           

Orakpo had unstoppable momentum, so the call seems borderline. But he did hit Vick high and we all know that the benefit of the doubt goes to throwing the flag, so I guess it’s not a totally blown call.

1-10-PHI 31 (11:15) M.Vick pass incomplete short right to D.Jackson.

2-10-PHI 31 (11:09) M.Vick pass deep middle to D.Jackson to WAS 46 for 23 yards (O.Atogwe).           

OK, there’s clearly some confusion in the pass rush here. Cofield rushes to his left, drawing the center that way. But Fletcher is trying to blitz through the B gap and Cofield’s rush pushes the RG right into his path. It gets worse when both of them totally fall for the play action and abandon their rush thinking that the RB has the ball. Kerrigan, to his credit, probably would have hit Vick before the throw if he wasn’t slowed by an uncalled hold.

1-10-WAS 46 (10:28) (Shotgun) Direct snap to L.McCoy. L.McCoy right end to WAS 45 for 1 yard (K.Barnes, R.Kerrigan).

It’s the four man nickel front and the two true DLs, who in this formation are basically 4-3 defensive tackles, win the day. Cofield is at LDT and rides the RG down the line to force McCoy to cut inside, and Bowen beats the LG to force him to make another cut at the line of scrimmage, and even though he misses the tackle the multiple cuts slow McCoy down enough that Barnes and Kerrigan can close.

2-9-WAS 45 (9:46) (Shotgun) L.McCoy up the middle to WAS 38 for 7 yards (R.McIntosh; L.Fletcher).

3-2-WAS 38 (9:04) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass incomplete short middle to B.Celek (L.Fletcher) [B.Cofield].

Cofield blows right past the center and lands a direct hit on Vick but the ball is out quick – fortunately Fletcher gets away with very blatant PI.

4-2-WAS 38 (8:59) M.Vick pass short middle to J.Avant to WAS 20 for 18 yards (K.Barnes, O.Atogwe).           

Barnes tries to make an aggressive jam on the slot WR but fails, which is bad because of course he is then left in the dust. With one ILB blitzing and the other manned up on the TE, and the safeties deep, there is no one else left to cover the slant.

1-10-WAS 20 (8:23) L.McCoy left end to WAS 9 for 11 yards (J.Wilson).           

Carriker, at RDT in the four man front, takes an inside rush against the LG and gets penetration. But this is bad since Rob Jackson at ROLB (basically RDE in this formation)  rushes to the outside, and McCoy has a huge hole. The LT, who lets Jackson get upfield because he knows it will spring the runner, absolutely levels Atogwe downfield.

Timeout #1 by PHI at 07:37.

1-9-WAS 9 (7:37) (Shotgun) L.McCoy left end to WAS 7 for 2 yards (L.Landry).

Good tackle by Landry at the corner.

2-7-WAS 7 (6:58) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass incomplete short left to D.Jackson (B.Orakpo).

Both ILBs blitz, and both OLBs rush as well from the four man front. Atogwe is slow to track the WR into the flat but Orakpo gets under the LT’s outside shoulder and bats down the pass.

3-7-WAS 7 (6:55) M.Vick pass short left to B.Celek for 7 yards, TOUCHDOWN.           

TE screen beats the blitz. The TE lets Orakpo beat him to the outside then sets up to take the pass, and has a clear path to the end zone because Rocky can’t shed the TE’s block.

A.Henery extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Dorenbos, Holder-C.Henry.

PHI 7 WAS 0, 11 plays, 82 yards, 1 penalty, 5:12 drive, 8:10 elapsed

A.Henery kicks 69 yards from PHI 35 to WAS -4. B.Banks to WAS 25 for 29 yards (C.Anderson; M.Fokou).

Washington Redskins at 6:50, (1st play from scrimmage 6:44)

1-10-WAS 25 (6:44) R.Torain right end pushed ob at WAS 27 for 2 yards (J.Parker).

Cooley is an in-line TE here and can’t control the LDE well enough to keep him from racing down the line and denying Torain the corner.

2-8-WAS 27 (6:14) R.Torain right end to WAS 33 for 6 yards (M.Patterson).

Cooley is at RTE again and this time gets a pretty good block on the LDE (it helps that it's an inside zone this time so Cooley is trying to keep the guy from coming back inside rather than getting to the outside) while Brown gets a good block on the playside OLB, opening up a good cutback lane. But the LDT blows up Montgomery and is in the backfield, and takes down Torain from behind before he can take advantage of the miles of open space in front of him.

3-2-WAS 33 (5:32) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass short left to C.Cooley to WAS 32 for -1 yards (N.Asomugha). WAS-C.Cooley was injured during the play. Right Ankle injury

Rex immediately turns his head to Cooley on the swing route and Asomugha reads this and blows Cooley up.

4-3-WAS 32 (5:03) S.Rocca punts 40 yards to PHI 28, Center-N.Sundberg, downed by WAS.

Short hang time – I think it was about 3.5 seconds but I had a hard time timing it due to a change it camera angle just before it hit the ground – but Rocca was trying to avoid a return by DeSean Jackson and succeeded. A 40 yard net is a win any day.

Philadelphia Eagles at 4:55

1-10-PHI 28 (4:55) M.Vick pass short right to J.Maclin to PHI 35 for 7 yards (D.Hall; O.Atogwe).

2-3-PHI 35 (4:21) M.Vick pass short right to J.Maclin to PHI 45 for 10 yards (O.Atogwe).           

Hall is playing well off the X receiver to prevent the deep route, and Atogwe is too slow getting outside to cover the hook.

1-10-PHI 45 (3:43) L.McCoy left tackle to WAS 49 for 6 yards (L.Landry).

Rocky overpursues and leaves a big hole for McCoy to cut back into, though I find these things more forgivable in this game since McCoy is simply one hell of a running back.

2-4-WAS 49 (3:04) (Shotgun) L.McCoy right end to WAS 47 for 2 yards (R.McIntosh, R.Kerrigan).

Hall tries to go low and take out the pulling guard but kind of misses and McCoy has room to cut upfield.  Fortunately Kerrigan stands up to a double team well enough that McCoy runs into the TE’s back just after crossing the LOS.

3-2-WAS 47 (2:22) (Shotgun) M.Vick pass short left to D.Jackson pushed ob at WAS 35 for 12 yards (J.Wilson).           

1-10-WAS 35 (1:41) M.Vick pass short right to J.Avant to WAS 29 for 6 yards (K.Barnes).

2-4-WAS 29 (1:02) L.McCoy up the middle to WAS 8 for 21 yards (J.Wilson).           

I’m not sure what Bowen was doing here- he jumps hard inside way too fast for it to even be a reaction to this counter play. The LT easily walls him inside, the RTE crosses the backfield to keep Orakpo to the outside, and Rocky is slow to read run and abandon his coverage on the TE.

1-8-WAS 8 (:16) (Shotgun) D.Lewis right tackle for 8 yards, TOUCHDOWN. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling, and the play was REVERSED. (Shotgun) D.Lewis right tackle to WAS 1 for 7 yards (B.Orakpo; L.Fletcher).

Atogwe and Orakpo are unblocked off the left edge but the RB is too quick through the hole created when Rob Jackson is driven off the line by the LT.