Redskins-Rams 4th quarter game review

And here is your very late 4th quarter game review. Thanks, bye week, for bailing me out.

Here's the previous quarters:

1st quarter review

2nd quarter

3rd quarter

Fourth Quarter        

3-8-SL 33 (15:00) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass short left to J.Gaffney to SL 25 for 8 yards (A.Harris; Q.Mikell).           

Gaffney sells the go route hard so that when it turns into a hitch just short of sticks the CB on him hits the ground trying to adjust and Gaff gets an easy first down.

1-10-SL 25 (14:18) R.Torain right tackle to SL 25 for no gain (R.Quinn). FUMBLES (R.Quinn), and recovers at SL 23. R.Torain to SL 23 for no gain (J.Bannan).

Torain is late and slow on his cut, which allows the DT on Lichtensteiger to play him in the gap and knock the ball out.

2-8-SL 23 (13:35) R.Torain up the middle to SL 26 for -3 yards (Q.Mikell).

The LDE gets under Jammal Brown’s pads and drives into the backfield like he isn’t there.

3-11-SL 26 (12:45) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass short left INTERCEPTED by J.King at SL 18. J.King pushed ob at WAS 31 for 51 yards (T.Hightower).

The protection works. Two DBs come through the right B gap. Hightower does what he’s supposed to do and blockes the inside guy, leaving Rex responsible for adjusting to the fact that the outside blitzer cannot be blocked. He does so. He knows he has to get out immediately, so he looks straight to Santana. The route combo works. The slot corner is playing 9 yards off the line and Davis runs the LB out of the short zone, so Santana comes wide open on the short crossing route. He seems to slip a bit coming out of the break, but regardless the pass hits him right in the hands and bounces to aDB. Rex recognized the blitz, made the appropriate adjustment, and threw an accurate ball to the right receiver – none of this is remotely his fault. Serious hustle from Hightower to save a touchdown.

St. Louis Rams at 12:34

1-10-WAS 31 (12:34) S.Bradford pass short right to B.Bajema to WAS 24 for 7 yards (R.McIntosh).

Rocky was slow getting out to the flat to cover the TE, and given that Kerrigan was blitzing from the same side you’d think he would have been prepared for such a route.

2-3-WAS 24 (12:34) S.Jackson right tackle to WAS 23 for 1 yard (S.Bowen).

Cofield controls the center and shows up in the offensive right A gap just before the RB, forcing him to cut back into traffic.

3-2-WAS 23 (11:19) S.Bradford pass deep right to D.Alexander to WAS 8 for 15 yards (D.Hall).           

PENALTY on WAS-D.Hall, Unnecessary Roughness, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 8.           

I see why they called this on DeAngelo, but in fairness the receiver was still trying to run despite the ref calling him out of bounds, so Hall would have been hard pressed just to let him go.

1-3-WAS 3 (11:05) (Shotgun) S.Jackson left guard to WAS 4 for -1 yards (R.Doughty).

Orakpo holds the edge against the TE, which prevents the pulling RG from making it around the corner. Doughty, showing off those beautiful run instincts, wastes no time getting into the backfield to clean up.

2-4-WAS 4 (10:28) S.Bradford pass incomplete short left to B.Miller.

PENALTY on SL-R.Saffold, Offensive Holding, 10 yards, enforced at WAS 4 - No Play.

Some sympathy for the LT here – he has no TE help and Orakpo is aligned very wide outside his left shoulder. The FB offset to the left releases directly up the middle into a route. The LT has no choice but to react strongly to Orakpo’s initial outside step, and of course he gets destroyed by the subsequent inside move. He then does the only sensible thing to do if you don’t want to be held responsible for the hospitalization of a second year franchise quarterback and simply tackles Orakpo from behind.

2-14-WAS 14 (10:21) S.Bradford pass incomplete short right to S.Jackson.

Doughty and Rocky both show blitz, freezing the RT and letting Kerrigan come free off the edge.

3-14-WAS 14 (10:17) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short middle to L.Kendricks.

Kerrigan stunts inside of Cofield's outside rush (from the four man front) but it takes a second too long to develop so Bradford is able to step into his throw and zip it to the TE who had split the zone between Fletcher and Atogwe. This was a very, very lucky drop for the Redskins – Bradford beat the blitz and the coverage.

4-14-WAS 14 (10:13) Josh.Brown 32 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-J.McQuaide, Holder-D.Jones.

WAS 17 SL 3, 7 plays, 17 yards, 1 penalty, 2:25 drive, 4:51 elapsed

Josh.Brown kicks 66 yards from SL 35 to WAS -1. B.Banks to WAS 14 for 15 yards (B.Miller).

Washington Redskins at 10:09, (1st play from scrimmage 10:03)

1-10-WAS 14 (10:03) R.Torain left tackle to WAS 21 for 7 yards (B.Leber).

Very nice combo block here by Mongtomery and Lichtensteiger. Montgomery controls the RDT well enough the Lichtensteiger can get to the second level, and keeps the guy from playing the outside gap. Lichtensteiger then drives the MLB right out of the play while Cooley leads from FB and, while he fails to fully neutralize the WLB, gets him off balance enough that Torain drives through him for seven yards after contact.

2-3-WAS 21 (9:26) R.Torain left end pushed ob at WAS 21 for no gain (J.Hall).

Davis fails to control the edge, and Trent Williams is too slow to the second level to cut off the playside OLB.

3-3-WAS 21 (8:47) (Shotgun) R.Grossman pass incomplete short middle to T.Hightower.

Rex beats another blitz but is again penalized by his teammate’s bad hands. He has to get it  out quick because of a safety blitzing through the left B gap (Cooley picks it up but fails to land a solid block) so he hits Hightower on an angle route that finds the hole in the zone at the sticks.

4-3-WAS 21 (8:43) S.Rocca punts 40 yards to SL 39, Center-N.Sundberg. Q.Porter to SL 40 for 1 yard (N.Paul).

Another example of a relatively weak punt from Rocca (3.9 seconds, 34 yards) that has a beneficial outcome because the returner is playing so deep out of respect for his leg strength.

St. Louis Rams at 8:32

1-10-SL 40 (8:32) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short right to A.Pettis pushed ob at WAS 48 for 12 yards (K.Barnes).           

1-10-WAS 48 (8:07) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to D.Alexander to WAS 42 for 6 yards (J.Wilson).

Landry lines up over the slot receiver but may as well hold up a big blinking neon sign that says “I’M BLITZING” and draws that ever-frustrating finger point from the WR. This of course dictates an easy throw to the outside hook against soft coverage.

2-4-WAS 42 (7:41) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short left to D.Alexander.

Either Bradford misses the throw or the WR cuts the wrong way, which is lucky since Wilson is playing way off and Orakpo is slow getting outside to take the underneath coverage on this route.

3-4-WAS 42 (7:38) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short middle to A.Pettis to WAS 34 for 8 yards (L.Fletcher).           

Haslett blitzes Barnes from the slot and Fletcher up the middle. Either Rocky or Landry (who lines up in the box) screws up here as both follow the TE downfield so the slot WR is wide open over the middle for Bradford to beat the blitz. Pretty sure it’s Landry because he looks lost before the snap and Rocky can be seen trying to shove him into proper position.

1-10-WAS 34 (7:10) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short right to M.Sims-Walker to WAS 28 for 6 yards (D.Hall).

2-4-WAS 28 (6:44) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short right to M.Sims-Walker.

Redskins stack eight at the line so Bradford thinks he has soft man coverage against both his X and his slot receiver. Rocky and and Fletcher blitz, but Atogwe and Landry don’t.  Atogwe cuts off the inside angle on the X receiver’s post and Landry is all over the slot guy’s shallow cross, so Bradford loses his blitz beating routes and Bradford has to throw it away.

3-4-WAS 28 (6:37) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to A.Pettis to WAS 20 for 8 yards (J.Wilson).           

Redskins again crowd the line, and again Atogwe and Landry drop back to cover the quick routes (as well as Fletcher who is on the TE). Landry cheats to the inside to cut off the anticipated shallow cross from the slot WR and gets beat when he works back to the outside.

1-10-WAS 20 (6:03) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short left to S.Jackson [R.Jackson].

PENALTY on WAS-R.Jackson, Roughing the Passer, 10 yards, enforced at WAS 20 - No Play.           

This is a new front. Cofield is head up on the center, Bowen has a wide alignment outside the LTE, and Kerrigan is wide outside the RT – and that’s it on the line of scrimmage. Rob Jackson is in the game for Orakpo but begins the play floating about 3 yards over the LG. He puts a great move on the LG and blows by him to land a solid hit on Bradford. The problems is that Bradford does not go down immediately and Jackson keeps driving him well after the throw, hence the flag.

1-10-WAS 10 (6:03) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short middle to S.Jackson.

More Rob Jackson, but this time in the standard nickel front. He avoids a chip from the RB and bounces inside of Bowen but the RG recovers and slows him down enough that Bradford can get the ball out. Wilson makes a nice break on the route to force the incompletion.

2-10-WAS 10 (5:54) (Shotgun) PENALTY on SL-L.Kendricks, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 10 - No Play.

2-15-WAS 15 (5:54) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short middle to L.Kendricks.  

Orakpo gets around the edge but Cofield and Bowen don’t collapse the middle of the pocket so Bradford can step up and step into his throw but he just misses the TE who is wide open in the seam because both Fletcher and Landry cover the same guy.

3-15-WAS 15 (5:50) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short left to S.Jackson for 15 yards, TOUCHDOWN.           

Orakpo blows this one. He clearly has responsibility for the RB and is probably supposed to read whether he will release into a route or stay into block. But Orakpo begins the play rushing all out and is unable to recover as the RB gets wide open on him on a wheel route.

Josh.Brown extra point is GOOD, Center-J.McQuaide, Holder-D.Jones.

WAS 17 SL 10, 10 plays, 60 yards, 1 penalty, 2:47 drive, 9:15 elapsed

Josh.Brown kicks 73 yards from SL 35 to WAS -8. B.Banks, Touchback.

Washington Redskins at 5:45

1-10-WAS 20 (5:45) R.Grossman pass short middle intended for S.Moss INTERCEPTED by J.Laurinaitis at WAS 34. J.Laurinaitis to WAS 19 for 15 yards (T.Williams).

I understand the argument that the Redskins should be running here to kill the clock, but I also understand why Kyle Shanahan would be tempted to run the play action and attack downfield when the Rams aren’t expecting it. Unfortunately the MLB isn’t fooled by the play action drops back to cut off the inside angle of Moss’ post route, and we all know that Rex is completely incapable of seeing LBs who are cutting off the inside angle on post routes. It was an outstanding play by Laurinaitis, but Rex keeps failing to see the same coverage again and again and it is a real problem.

St. Louis Rams at 5:30

1-10-WAS 19 (5:30) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short middle to D.Alexander.

Orakpo gets his left shoulder under the LT and uses pure strength to run through him and hit Bradford.

2-10-WAS 19 (5:25) (Shotgun) S.Jackson up the middle to WAS 16 for 3 yards (R.McIntosh).

PENALTY on SL, Illegal Shift, 5 yards, enforced at WAS 19 - No Play.

2-15-WAS 24 (5:06) (Shotgun) S.Bradford sacked at WAS 34 for -10 yards (S.Bowen).

Not to take anything away from Bowen, but Orakpo gets him this sack. Orakpo lines up two yards off the line of scrimmage over the RG. At the snap he crosses behind Cofield at the nose, attacks the LG’s outside shoulder, and drives through him to knock the LT off his feet. Bowen is then free to bounce inside and get a free shot at Bradford.

3-25-WAS 34 (4:42) (Shotgun) S.Bradford sacked at WAS 39 for -5 yards (B.Orakpo).

Orakpo takes a wide alignment, forces the LT to drop way into the backfield, then wins the contact seven yards behind the line of scrimmage and drives through the blocker for the sack.

Timeout #1 by SL at 04:35.

4-30-WAS 39 (4:35) D.Jones punts 37 yards to WAS 2, Center-J.McQuaide, downed by SL-D.Curry.

Washington Redskins at 4:27

1-10-WAS 2            (4:27) R.Helu right guard to WAS 6 for 4 yards (B.Poppinga). 

The RDT beats Lichtensteiger and controls the outside gap, but because Trent keeps first the RDE and then the WLB to the outside Helu is able to run through the tackle and pick up some breathing room despite being tripped up.

2-6-WAS 6 (3:50) R.Helu left tackle to WAS 9 for 3 yards (J.Bannan; J.Laurinaitis).

Montgomery gets a good second level block, but neither Chester and Lichtensteiger can control their DTs. Once again it is the second level block that allows Helu to drive forward and gain yards aftetr contact.

Timeout #2 by SL at 03:38.

3-3-WAS 9  (3:38) R.Grossman pass incomplete short right to S.Moss.

Rex doesn’t have a clear passing lane because Chester is pushed back, so he throws high.

4-3-WAS 9 (3:34) S.Rocca punts 63 yards to SL 28, Center-N.Sundberg, downed by WAS.

This was quite possibly a game-saving punt.  It travels 44 yards before bouncing but, more importantly, is in the air a solid five seconds. Why the returner didn’t simply fair catch it is a mystery, but any sort of return was out of the question.

St. Louis Rams at 3:20

1-10-SL 28 (3:20) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short right to L.Kendricks to SL 35 for 7 yards (R.McIntosh).

Orakpo is in a wide alignment and runs a very slow-devleoping inside stunt rather than just being allowed to beat the LT like a drum, so Bradford is given too much time and the TE gets open on Rocky.

2-3-SL 35 (2:58) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short left to D.Alexander (B.Cofield).

Cofield sees he’s not going to beat the double team, so he steps back and times his leap perfectly to deflect the pass.

3-3-SL 35 (2:54) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass short middle to L.Kendricks to SL 42 for 7 yards (O.Atogwe).           

OK, it is always hard to tell coverage assignments. We’re not in the meetings, et cetera et cetera. But this is the third time this quarter that I strongly suspect LaRon Landry of blowing his coverage on a blitz. Barnes follows the slot receiver into the flat… and so does Landry. An apparently startled Atogwe has to react to the TE’s hook and can’t get there in time.

1-10-SL 42 (2:31) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete deep left to D.Alexander.

Nickel front, and again the two Des (this time Cofield and Carriker) fail to squeeze the pocket appreciably. Bradford is allowed to step into his throw, and he’s going for the jugular. Wilson fell and the Redskins are incredibly lucky that this was overthrown.

2-10-SL 42            (2:26) (Shotgun) S.Bradford sacked at SL 39 for -3 yards (A.Carriker).

Penalty on SL-R.Saffold, Offensive Holding, declined.

Rocky blitzes and fights his way through a hard block from the RB, which forces Bradford to his left where Carriker would have been able to shed his blocker and take him down if not for the holding. As it is Bradford sees Orakpo closing and goes down anyway, though not due to Carriker’s contact.

3-13-SL 39 (2:20) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete short middle to A.Pettis.

Carriker muscles the LG to the ground and leaps over him to hit Bradford.

Timeout #2 by WAS at 02:16.

4-13-SL 39 (2:16) (Shotgun) S.Bradford pass incomplete deep right to A.Pettis.

I believe it’s Nield in on this play, though I can never get a close enough look to be sure it’s not Cofield. Whoever it is caves in the RG enough to discomfit Bradford drives the LF into the backfield so Bradford has to throw high. This probably saves the day as the WR had split Landry and Barnes downfield.

Washington Redskins at 2:11

1-10-SL 38 (2:11) R.Torain left tackle to SL 37 for 1 yard (J.Bannan).

It is now becoming a pattern that when it is time to ice a game the Redskins drop the ZBS and revert to old fashioned power blocking. Paulsen drives the RDE inside very nicely, but the pulling Chester and leading Cooley both zero in on the OLB and neither accounts for the safety off the edge.

Timeout #3 by SL at 02:07.

2-9-SL 37 (2:07) R.Torain left tackle to SL 31 for 6 yards (J.Laurinaitis).

Paulsen again seals the RDE inside, and Chester and Cooley again lead to the left. The gain is realy secured by Niles Paul, who aligns tight and drives the playside safety.

Two-Minute Warning

3-3-SL 31 (2:00) R.Torain left guard to SL 27 for 4 yards (J.Laurinaitis).           

Trent seals the RDE (easy, since the guy was selling out to the inside gap anyway). Paulsen is at LTE and goes straight to the second level to blow up a safety. Paul keeps the playside OLB outside just enough to keep a lane open. Chester pulls again and – with Cooley – buries the other safety. First down; ballgame.

1-10-SL 27 (1:16) R.Grossman kneels to SL 28 for -1 yards.

Victory formation.

2-11-SL 28 (:36) R.Grossman kneels to SL 29 for -1 yards.

Again.