How to beat the Commanders D-fence:

[Vinnie2u]

Spread them out. The strenth of the Skins D is the Safeties, Middle linebackers and interior linemen. We have four good Receivers and a great
tight end. Spread them all out, Keep Julius in for protecting Bledsoe. Besides Springs and the Carlos Rogers who do they have left to cover our guys. I see plenty of mismatches in the open field. As you know the Skins love to blitz their corners and Safeties. If that happens then your got a Linebacker or D-lineman on Crayton or Price. Make em pay.

 

[Tio]

The strength of this defense is the scheme and the smart players they have to run it. SPrings, Taylor and thier OLBs are the stars, than its a bunch of blue collar guys. Maybe griffin can be apart of that group.

 

[Ken]

Spread them out. The strenth of the Skins D is the Safeties, Middle linebackers and interior linemen. We have four good Receivers and a great
tight end. Spread them all out, Keep Julius in for protecting Bledsoe. Besides Springs and the Carlos Rogers who do they have left to cover our guys. I see plenty of mismatches in the open field. As you know the Skins love to blitz their corners and Safeties. If that happens then your got a Linebacker or D-lineman on Crayton or Price. Make em pay.

This is what I have been thiniking as well. Good analysis.

To me, the skins front four is bad. Their LBs are the stregth of their d. Get them off the field and match up our OL to their DL. That should be a mismatch.

Another thing this affords us is to recognize exactly where the blitz is coming from. Should the Commanders not remove their lbs, then we make them pay through the air.

Remember Julius biggest game last year came against Seatle, where we spread them out in 4 wides the majority of the game.

I also believe that BP is being coy with his talk about peerless. I think he is playing and he is just trying to keep his hand close to his chest.

Should be interesting.

 

[zagnut]

Spread them out. The strenth of the Skins D is the Safeties, Middle linebackers and interior linemen. We have four good Receivers and a great
tight end. Spread them all out, Keep Julius in for protecting Bledsoe. Besides Springs and the Carlos Rogers who do they have left to cover our guys. I see plenty of mismatches in the open field. As you know the Skins love to blitz their corners and Safeties. If that happens then your got a Linebacker or D-lineman on Crayton or Price. Make em pay.

I'm not sure how much Rogers is playing at this point. He didn't show up in the stats column. It's Walt Harris playing opposite Springs. In any case, a QB that can pass (unlike that QB God, Kyle Orton) should be able to hurt them moreso than when they had Smoot.

That said, spreading them out and going with a higher risk game plan is unnecessary in my eyes. The Skins offense can't score and they don't have dangerous returners. Their D has to win it for them. Putting the ball in the air a lot and exposing Drew Bledsoe to sacks and fumbles will play right into a scenario where the Skins could win.

It might be fun for the fans to see us open it up, but why not just let them beat themselves. I think we'll do what we usually do - run, run, very high percentage pass routes, run some more, ocassional deep pass, run even more. Smash mouth all the way. I think it's more likely our defense decides this game than theirs.

If the Skins are selling out to stop the run, then I'd be all for spreading them out a bit. I'd go 2-TE and use Witten more like a WR to keep Sean Taylor away from the line, then just run between the tackles. Their MLB needs to prove he can hold it down, Holdman is not good, and Arrington is still playing his way back. Marcus Washington is a stud, but he's the only one in the front 7.

 

[VACowboy]

I've been thinking the same thing, Vinnie. Make them keep their nickle package on the field. It could also solve the gameday roster dilemma: deactivate Polite and play three-receiver/one-TE or two-WR/two-TE sets the whole game. Utilizes the team's strength at wideout and tight end and takes the Skins' defensive strength off the field.

Just because you go three wide doesn't mean you have to spray the ball around, ala Spurrier. You can still call a balanced game. When you spread an offensive formation the defense has to respect those receivers or risk getting burned.

 

[NovaCowboy]

deactivate Polite

this wouldnt hurt my feelings at all.

When BP was saying earlier this week that some guys wouldnt dress this week that did for the opener because they werent up to speed, Polite was the first name that came to me. His blitz pickup is suspect and we're sure to get a heavy dose from the Skins.

 

[VACowboy]

Julius is good in blitz pickup, much better than Polite, but I think A-train is our best third down back because he catches the ball very well. Campbell's the best FB on the team anyway. Polite plays a lot on special teams, though, so...

 

[CowboyBlog]

Very good analysis.


The best thing to do against the Commanders defense is spread them out. I would change alot of formations at the line, put julious in motion to the blitzing side and whitten would be moving on every other play.



Whitten is the key where most mismatches will happen in this game. If they adjust to stop whitten, julious should run for 200

 

[THEHEREAFTER]

Three wides... exactly... let Crayton stay on the field... I think we need to pass first to open up the run... set up draws to JJ. This is how Indi shreaded Baltimores D last Sunday

 

[Hollywood Henderson]

Were not going to win many games featuring JJ as a guy to pickup blitzes...

We must game plan and use him to split the blitzes and win with the ball in his hands!...

A "working" screen pass, flair passes, draws and quick hitters when the blitz is coming from the outside is the way to make them pay...
I would also isolate JJ on LBers like Filthy does with Westbrook alot.

Also quick passes/slants to our guys should work before the blitz gets to Drew.

 

[Seven]

I just hope we don't give up on the run too early. I think at this early stage in the season we are better conditioned and could wear them out. If nothing else run at them hard at the end of third and through the fourth. Hit them with a dump to Witten or Julius just to keep them honest. Then choose your weapon.

 

[VACowboy]

Julius is a runninng back, not an offensive lineman, but all RBs have to block blitzers if they're coming (especially on third down). No back will play for Parcells unless he demonstrates the ability to pick up the blitz. JJ is no different.

PS: Dallas isn't going to beat anyone running screens.

 

[dbair1967]

I'm usually not over confident about winning, but in this case we are at home and we are better than them...if we dont win this game something is seriosuly wrong...

the Bears (especially offensively) arnt anywhere near as talented as we are...they have a great defensive coordinator but we'll probably make a couple of big plays on them because of the style of defense they play...our backs, receivers and TE's are all better than what Chicago has to offer, and Bledsoe is alot better than a 4th rd pick starting his 1st game on the road...on the other side of the ball, the Skins have speed at WR but dont have a QB who can stretch the field with his arm...their best OL is playing with two broken thumbs...while their run game was good last week vs Chicago, we pretty much slowed down a better back and running team on the road (and they had a better QB situation)

I'm not saying victory is guaranteed or anything, but I'd be surprised ifwe didnt win by at least 7-10...we are just better than them (contrary to what some of their moron fans want to believe)

David

 

[Future]

We will beat their defense by playing defense ourselves. Washington shouldn't be able to move the ball against us. If we can win the field position battle and keep their defense on the field for a long time, thats how we will beat them. I don't think we are going to score a lot of points starting at our own 20 yard line a lot.