Redskins Offense: Room for Improvement

If the final four regular-season games of 2007 showed us anything, it's that the Redskins had the talent on offense to be a Super Bowl contender. So if the team could beat the playoff-bound Cowboys and the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants to get a wild-card berth, why did they only finish the season 9-7?

Offensive philosophy—the great Vince Lombardi once postulated that if you can carry a 28-point lead into the fourth quarter, you have won the game. So far he has never been proved wrong.

So, unless you’re ahead by 28 points in the fourth quarter, you should try to score every time you have the ball. Now I don’t mean go for it on fourth down when you’re up 35 points, but last year's team seemed to lay off after it was only up by 14 at halftime.

Two words: Chris Cooley—Now I know you can’t always throw the ball to Cooley, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t throw to him at all.

He seemed noticeably absent last year, even though his stats don’t support that. What his stats do support is that he averages over 10 yards per reception, and anybody who has watched him knows that he typically earns those yards by being tough to bring down.

It’s a rare thing for Cooley to drop a pass that hits him in the hands, and even more rare that he’s tackled by the first player who hits him.

K.I.S.S.—I don’t mean "Detroit: Rock City," I mean "Keep It Simple Stupid."

The Redskins’ offense tried to confuse defenses with too much pre-snap motion, which typically only seemed to confuse themselves. I understand what they were trying to do, but it didn’t seem to work.

What it did seem to do (very well) was burn up all of the play-clock, and result in a lot of "false start" and "delay of game" penalties. The offense should snap out of the huddle, get to the line, give the QB time to look at the defense (and change the play if necessary), and snap the ball.

The faster they get to the line and get the play off, the less time the defense has to figure out what they are going to do next.

Have a Sense of Urgency—The Redskins seemed to be at their best last year when they were in the "no-huddle" offense.

There were two reasons for this. Firstly, they got the defenses on their heels. Secondly, Jason Campbell was able to be creative with the play-calling. Now I’m not saying they should go "no-huddle" all the time, as going "no-huddle" just as easily can produce the quickest three-and-out drive as it can a scoring drive.

What I am saying is that the team should use some of that magic by getting to the line quickly and allowing Campbell the creative freedom to change the play.

A Show of Hands—Jason Campbell had an above 60 percent completion percentage last year, but it’s hard to believe it was that high. I don’t know about anybody else, but there were times where it seemed like nobody wanted the ball.

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