If they want to win, the Skins need to SELL that to the fans
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At the urging of a good friend from Richmond, I have decided to try and dissect what went wrong during Sunday's Redskins and Packers game.
The game definitely had some similarities to the fourth quarter melt-down against the Giants; running when they should have passed and passing when they should have run. If we can look at a couple of plays from the game at Lambeau one thing will become clear, that the personnel on the field is often wrong or under-utilized.
In the fourth quarter with the Skins already down 17-14 — the eventual final score — the offense faced a third-and-one at its own 36 yard-line with under 13 minutes to go. With any already injury-plagued offensive line that was getting little push against a Green Bay defensive front, that weighs on average more than 301 pounds, offensive coordinator Al Saunders decides to run Clinton Portis. Don't get me wrong Portis is as tough a back as there is in the NFL, but he's 5-foot-11 and weighs 223 lbs. That size matters when you have a fullback in Mike Sellers who stands at 6'3" and weighs a whopping 284 lbs., 14 heavier than the Packers left end Aaron Kampman who anchors that left side Portis ran to.
It must have just slipped the minds of Saunders and head coach Joe Gibbs that Sellers converted two of three one-yard conversion attempts just one week earlier against Detroit. Oh and he gave them a rushing and receiving touchdown, apparently not indication enough that he is definitely a top play maker on a team with maybe too many.
Another instance happened in that same quarter against the Packers, just two possessions later. Portis had fumbled on the first possession after the failed third-and-one, but Green Bay couldn't get any offense going and gave Washington ample opportunity to equalize the score or take the lead.
After two first downs and Campbell finding the reliable veteran hands of recent free agent pick-up, Keenan McCardell, the Redskins had the ball on the Green Bay 41 yard-line. On first down Portis picked up four, but instead of keeping it on the ground or moving the ball on mid-range passes that were working, Campbell looks deep and overthrows Brandon Lloyd, who has caught one ball all year. This brings up third-and-six and Campbell finds Cooley for four yards on a route that should have been called the play before. So in what Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen described as a long fourth-and-1 on the radio, the Redskins once again don't utilize the size of their bruiser, Sellers. Instead Ladell Betts runs his route in front of the sticks and is stopped shy. At least if you want to give Betts the ball, for goodness sake run him behind the lead block of Sellers.
But then again who knows where Betts would have gone. Flashback three weeks to the Giants game and when the Skins ran on fourth-and-1 on the goal line, Betts neglected to follow the lead block of Sellers and decided to cut back the opposite way. The result the same as Sunday; no first down, no touchdown and another squandered opportunity for the Redskins.
This team has a plethora of playmakers, but the coaching staff needs to decide quickly who the go-to guys are going to be. Following the Detroit game Gibbs spoke of how Sellers is always asking for the ball. When they gave it to him good things happened, just ask Lions' defensive back Kenoy Kennedy who was absolutely leveled by the Walla Walla Community College alum. Sure Portis and Betts are your every down backs, but Sellers needs to be the man with the ball in short yardage situations because if the Redskins continue to play in close NFC battles, they can't afford to be miscalling plays late in the game.
Take a look at the play by play from this season's games and tell me the Redskins aren't looking at a serious problem when it comes to play calling and personnel.
