Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Redskins-Panthers 3rd quarter game review

It's funny to me how some quarters provide so much to talk about and analyze and some are total clunkers. That doesn't mean that what happens in those "bad" quarters isn't significant in terms of the outcome of the game, just that they leave me with little describe, analyze, or otherwise expound upon in these game review. The 2nd quarter was one of those dull reviews where I just couldn't find much interesting to add. Those are just as boring to work on as they are to read. Fortunately these things tend to even out, and the third quarter was much more engaging for me to write, and hopefully makes for more entertaining reading as well.

1st quarter review
2nd quarter


Third Quarter

O.Mare kicks 65 yards from CAR 35 to end zone, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 15:00

1-10-WAS 20 (15:00) J.Beck pass deep middle to J.Gaffney to CAR 48 for 32 yards (C.Godfrey).           

Perfect play action. The LBs bite which means the Mike doesn’t get downfield to take the underneath coverage on Gaffney’s route into the seam.

1-10-CAR 48 (14:20) T.Hightower right tackle to CAR 42 for 6 yards (D.Connor).

Paulsen fights through play side safety (who is then taken out by Young) then drives the LB to the outside, allowing Hightower to cut upfield.

2-4-CAR 42 (13:43) R.Torain left guard to CAR 40 for 2 yards (D.Connor).

Montgomery gets to the second level but completely whiffs and the Mike backer is free to make the stop.

3-2-CAR 40 (13:00) (Shotgun) J.Beck pass incomplete short right to T.Austin (C.Gamble).

The slot corner pretty clearly pulled on Austin’s jersey to keep him from getting into the slant on time, but no flag.

4-2-CAR 40 (12:56) (Shotgun) J.Beck sacked at CAR 47 for -7 yards (J.Anderson).

Beat by the blitz. There are blitzers coming through both A gaps. Helu picks up one correctly but his cut block in ineffective and only slows the guy slightly. The other comes clean because Cook is frozen by the DT who is head up on him… but drops into coverage.

Carolina Panthers at 12:52

1-10-CAR 47 (12:52) (Shotgun) C.Newton pass deep left to B.LaFell pushed ob at WAS 16 for 37 yards (K.Barnes).           

Doughty and Rocky are blitzing from the defensive left, so on the right Orakpo starts out on the line but just before the snap slides over to the slot receiver.  Wilson is on the X receiver with Barnes deep as a safety. It’s unlikely that he play was designed such that Orakpo would be responsible for the slot receiver deep downfield. So Orakpo tracks him into the flat but then passes him off. But Barnes is momentarily frozen when the X receiver threatens the seam, even though Wilson follows that route.  It’s at least conveicable that Wilson should have stayed outside and passed off the post to Barnes, but it looks more likely that Barnes messed up by not going straight to the sideline.


1-10-WAS 16 (12:23) (Shotgun) C.Newton left tackle for 16 yards, TOUCHDOWN.           

Three errors on this play. The first is by the announcer, who calls it an option even though there are no “options” in terms of a back for Cam to pitch it to or a receiver for him to throw to. This is simply a designed QB run.

The second one is on Orakpo, who fails to establish any kind of contain and lets himself get sucked to far inside, where he is obviously burned when Cam runs to the outside.

The third is on Doughty, and man is it a doozy. He has a good angle on the play. However, as part of the Panthers’ play design the FB who initially lined up on the right side of the backfield crossed the formation and was acting as a lead blocker to the left. Doughty should have tried to win a collision with this blocker, forcing Cam to cut inside harder than he did so that Orakpo, Fletcher or Landry would have a chance to catch him. But somehow – God only knows how – Doughty got it in his head that the lead blocker had the ball. He ends up tackling the guy. Really. Good form too – he wraps him up around the waist and drives through him. Unfortunately he drives him to the outside, which doesn’t help with redirecting Cam.

I want to be mad at Reed, as his screw up was probably the biggest (though certainly not the only) factor in giving up this touchdown. But I can’t help but appreciate the man’s contributions to physical comedy.

O.Mare extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Jansen, Holder-J.Baker.

WAS 6 CAR 16, 2 plays, 53 yards, 0:35 drive, 2:43 elapsed

O.Mare kicks 72 yards from CAR 35 to WAS -7. B.Banks to WAS 18 for 25 yards (J.Hines; J.Williams).

Washington Redskins at 12:17, (1st play from scrimmage 12:12)

1-10-WAS 18 (12:12) J.Beck pass short right to F.Davis to WAS 40 for 22 yards (C.Godfrey).           

The safety bites on play action, and thanks to Davis’s speed he is unable to recover sufficiently and Davis gets open.

1-10-WAS 40 (11:34) J.Beck pass short right to L.Paulsen to CAR 36 for 24 yards (C.Godfrey).           

I love this: Every time Paulsen catches a pass its because the defense flat-out forgets to cover him. It apparently never occurs to the Panthers’ safeties or LBs that Paulsen could do anything other than block, so he just runs past them.

1-10-CAR 36 (10:54) T.Hightower left guard to CAR 32 for 4 yards (D.Connor). WAS-T.Hightower was injured during the play. His return is Questionable.

2-6-CAR 32 (10:27) J.Beck pass short middle to L.Paulsen to CAR 8 for 24 yards (J.Anderson; J.Phillips).           

Again! Paulsen is taken so unseriously as a receiver that no one even thinks to cover him. Unfortunately he’s the second tight end now, so this trick won’t work much longer.

1-8-CAR 8 (9:47) R.Torain left end to CAR 15 for -7 yards (J.Anderson, D.Connor).

And this is why some people (including me) have doubts about Torain despite all the fun broken tackles. There was no need for this loss to be so severe. He runs past two cutback lanes that would have resulted in minimal gains, or maybe even small losses, but instead runs sideways to the sideline despite the fact that the corner is clearly denied by the LB beating Fred Davis’ block.

2-15-CAR 15 (9:03) J.Beck pass short left to F.Davis to CAR 4 for 11 yards (C.Munnerlyn).

Helu picks up the blitzing safety, and Montgomery keeps his feet moving but maintains his balance to adjust to a spin move. Gaffney is barely open and Beck fires the ball to the sideline route perfectly. I’m pretty sure Rex can’t make this throw.

3-4-CAR 4 (8:20) J.Beck scrambles left end for 4 yards, TOUCHDOWN.           

And here’s another thing Rex doesn’t do – when Brown tries but fails to cut the LDE, Beck is able to flee him on foot and exploit the inside rush of the RDE to create a touchdown.

G.Gano extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Sundberg, Holder-S.Rocca.

WAS 13 CAR 16, 7 plays, 82 yards, 4:03 drive, 6:46 elapsed

G.Gano kicks 65 yards from WAS 35 to end zone, Touchback.

The one-man kamikaze rush is still happening from Carolina kickoff unit. Really wish I knew what was going on there.

Carolina Panthers at 8:14

1-10-CAR 20 (8:14) C.Newton pass deep left to S.Smith to WAS 47 for 33 yards (J.Wilson).           

The lack of pressure isn’t a mystery – a four man rush against a seven man protection isn’t goint to get you anywhere.

1 1-10-WAS 47 (7:44) D.Williams right tackle to WAS 46 for 1 yard (R.Doughty, L.Fletcher).

Very nice play by Doughty. The run is up the middle, but Bowen and Orakpo collapse the line. Doughty stays home on the (defensive) left and is in position to make the tackle when the RB tries to bounce it outside. And as an added bonus, this time the guy he tackles is actually holding a football.

2-9-WAS 46 (7:04) (Shotgun) C.Newton pass short right to S.Smith to WAS 31 for 15 yards (D.Hall).           

The Panthers adjust nicely to the blitz – the LG stays home to pick up Fletcher and the RB accounts for Rocky on the delay. Cofield does get past the RG with a nice swim move but Cam makes an accurate throw despite the impending hit.

1-10-WAS 31 (6:19) S.Smith left end to WAS 25 for 6 yards (L.Fletcher). End around

Simply outstanding by Fletcher, who reads the end-around despite the misdirection and somehow manages to chase down Steve Smith in a foot race to the sideline.

2-4-WAS 25 (5:34) D.Williams left guard to WAS 22 for 3 yards (R.McIntosh).

Golston holds the point of attack well enough that Rocky is kept clean.

3-1-WAS 22 (4:55) J.Felton up the middle to WAS 19 for 3 yards (R.McIntosh; L.Fletcher).           

Bowen, Cofield, and Carriker hold their ground at the line and Fletcher and Rocky rush into the gaps, but just good old fashioned running from the FB turns this into first down yardage.

1-10-WAS 19 (4:18) (Shotgun) C.Newton left end to WAS 17 for 2 yards. Lateral to D.Williams to WAS 12 for 5 yards (L.Landry).

Ok, now this is an option play as Cam has the (ahem) “option” to keep it himself, but since Fletcher and Landry have angles on him he pitches to a trailing RB hoping he can take advantage of the WR’s solid block on Wilson.

2-3-WAS 12 (3:38) D.Williams left guard to WAS 4 for 8 yards (R.Doughty).

The formation gives away this run. Bowen is head up on the LG, meaning the LT and both of the twin TEs are uncovered except for Orakpo with a wide split and Fletcher and two DBs all several yards off the line. Unsurprisingly, a hole is created.
           
1-4-WAS 4 (2:59) J.Stewart up the middle to WAS 2 for 2 yards (B.Orakpo).

Nield driven way back, but Golston plays some good two-gap which lets Rocky get into the hole and make the play.

2-2-WAS 2 (2:21) (Shotgun) J.Stewart right guard for 2 yards, TOUCHDOWN.           

Unabalanced line. The LT lines up next to the RT and seals Carriker inside, and Rocky is taken out by a pulling guard. And the Panther’s found a nice way to neutralize Kerrigan – they lined up a trips bunch on the play side and forced him to cover one of them.

O.Mare extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Jansen, Holder-J.Baker.

WAS 13 CAR 23, 10 plays, 80 yards, 5:57 drive, 12:43 elapsed

O.Mare kicks 65 yards from CAR 35 to end zone, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 2:17

1-10-WAS 20 (2:17) J.Beck pass incomplete short right to A.Armstrong.

This was a challenging catch, but Armstrong still struggles to make enough of the challenging catches.
 I find myself saying “well, it would have been a great catch…” a little too often with Armstrong – a NFL starter should make at least some of those.

2-10-WAS 20 (2:12) J.Beck pass incomplete short right to F.Davis.

That same safety lets Davis get open by biting on play action, but Davis just commits a bad drop.

3-10-WAS 20 (2:07) (Shotgun) J.Beck pass short left to T.Austin to WAS 28 for 8 yards (S.Martin).

4-2-WAS 28 (1:46) S.Rocca punts 37 yards to CAR 35, Center-N.Sundberg, fair catch by A.Edwards.

When is a relatively short 37 yard punt still a good punt? When a 4.8 second hang time precludes any possibility of a return. Of course it helps that Niles Paul continues to regularly beat his blockers and find himself standing right on top of returners as the make the catch.

Carolina Panthers at 1:39

Can we call it night? I’m calling it a night.

1-10-CAR 35 (1:39) D.Williams right tackle to CAR 35 for no gain (R.McIntosh).
PENALTY on CAR-B.Bell, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at CAR 35 - No Play.

1-20-CAR 25 (1:15) J.Stewart left guard to CAR 28 for 3 yards (L.Fletcher).

2-17-CAR 28 (:29) C.Newton pass short right to S.Smith to CAR 46 for 18 yards (J.Wilson).

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