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What are my eyes seeing with RG3 and the Washington Redskins offense?


coltsfan_nyc

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I'm not the coldest drink in the fridge, and I'm trying to become more football minded as far as formations and movement is concerned. So in stupid terms, what is Sir Robert Griffin the third doing that is so hard to stop or should I say, what is he doing that's working so well?

Are we seeing a brand new offense never seen before? What am I watching?

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I'm not the coldest drink in the fridge, and I'm trying to become more football minded as far as formations and movement is concerned. So in stupid terms, what is Sir Robert Griffin the third doing that is so hard to stop or should I say, what is he doing that's working so well?

 

Are we seeing a brand new offense never seen before? What am I watching?

 

No, nothing new...     a bit of spread option blended with Shanny misdirection/zone running principles.  ..

 

RG3 and KC are asked to make "ONE" read... . ,,,,     ONE ONLY>

 

 

Thus the horrible SKINS 3rd down%...     Indy is ....    what?

 

top 3?       I don't wanna be a hater...     but really?   The bottom line is "what do you do under pressure?"

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I'm not the coldest drink in the fridge, and I'm trying to become more football minded as far as formations and movement is concerned. So in stupid terms, what is Sir Robert Griffin the third doing that is so hard to stop or should I say, what is he doing that's working so well?

Are we seeing a brand new offense never seen before? What am I watching?

I have no idea of your "intent" .... 

 

But RG3 is an anomaly.   But IMO...  Kirk C has proven that RG3 IS not irreplaceable..  

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No, nothing new...     a bit of spread option blended with Shanny misdirection/zone running principles.  ..

 

RG3 and KC are asked to make "ONE" read... . ,,,,     ONE ONLY>

 

 

Thus the horrible SKINS 3rd down%...     Indy is ....    what?

 

top 3?       I don't wanna be a hater...     but really?   The bottom line is "what do you do under pressure?"

 

 

 

The future isn't too bright for the Skins. I do not see them doing jack crap with RGIII in the future. All those draft picks are going to haunt them if the Rams start to truly compete for division titles in the future. The Niners are already 0-1-1 against Fisher's Rams, and that's a sign right there.

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The future isn't too bright for the Skins. I do not see them doing jack crap with RGIII in the future. All those draft picks are going to haunt them if the Rams start to truly compete for division titles in the future. The Niners are already 0-1-1 against Fisher's Rams, and that's a sign right there.

 

You should look at how our mid and late round draft picks from the last two years have performed for us :)

 

No, nothing new...     a bit of spread option blended with Shanny misdirection/zone running principles.  ..

 

RG3 and KC are asked to make "ONE" read... . ,,,,     ONE ONLY>

 

 

Thus the horrible SKINS 3rd down%...     Indy is ....    what?

 

top 3?       I don't wanna be a hater...     but really?   The bottom line is "what do you do under pressure?"

 

First line is spot on but the rest is a little iffy.

 

We do not have a one read offense.  That's not even remotely true.  Griffin often throws to his first read because his first read is frequently open but he does have second, third, and fourth options to go through.  Cousins very obviously made multiple progressions on quite a few of his throws, something that I believe had even been pointed out in broadcast.

 

Not all 3rd downs are pressure situations.  Griffin is fantastic under pressure, it's the receivers and our defense that have fallen short when it counts this season.

 

I'm not the coldest drink in the fridge, and I'm trying to become more football minded as far as formations and movement is concerned. So in stupid terms, what is Sir Robert Griffin the third doing that is so hard to stop or should I say, what is he doing that's working so well?

Are we seeing a brand new offense never seen before? What am I watching?

 

Deception, speed, and unpredictability make the Redskins offense tick.  We run the ball extremely well, we fake the run extremely well, and our playcallers do a fantastic job of keeping defenses off balance.  The end result is that on about 90% of our passing plays we get the defense to hesitate which causes them to be out of position and opens up throwing lanes.

 

The only thing that's different about us from last year and represents a bit of a departure from the league norm is our affinity for the Pistol formation.  All it is is an alignment where the QB lines up roughly halfway between under center and the shotgun with a back behind him.  We like to use it with Griffin in particular because he's more comfortable in the shotgun and this particular alignment allows us to run our full complement of rushing plays which would not be possible from a traditional shotgun.  What's more, zone read plays can't be executed terribly well from under center so we can really take advantage of Griffin's running ability in the Pistol in a way that we couldn't in any other formation that wouldn't also limit our options in the run game.

 

Hope that helps a little.  If you have more specific questions I'll be happy to answer them... but it's a pretty broad topic.

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No, nothing new...     a bit of spread option blended with Shanny misdirection/zone running principles.  ..

 

RG3 and KC are asked to make "ONE" read... . ,,,,     ONE ONLY>

 

 

Thus the horrible SKINS 3rd down%...     Indy is ....    what?

 

top 3?       I don't wanna be a hater...     but really?   The bottom line is "what do you do under pressure?"

 

 

Pretty much this entire post confirms to me that you dont watch Redskins games.

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I'm not the coldest drink in the fridge, and I'm trying to become more football minded as far as formations and movement is concerned. So in stupid terms, what is Sir Robert Griffin the third doing that is so hard to stop or should I say, what is he doing that's working so well?

Are we seeing a brand new offense never seen before? What am I watching?

Nothing new, it's ran all over the place in high school, well i can only speak for Texas high schools
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First, the pistol is a relatively new concept.   I think it's been around for less than 10 years.

 

But, more important,  it has never -- repeat, NEVER -- been used in the NFL.   Up to this year,  it's been a college level offense.

 

To your question...    you're seeing a gimmick offense which is working well, because (A) defenses aren't used to it,  and (B) they have the right quarterback to run it ©  they have a great running game which takes the pressure and responsibility off the QB (D)they don't pass nearly as much as the Colts, roughly 12-14 passes per game less than the Colts (D) they lead the NFL in most short passes (defined as 0-5 yards from the line of scrimmage)...   so RG3 is not being asked to do nearly as much as Andrew Luck.    Not even close.

 

The hi-lites you see of RG3 passing so well are there because opposing defenses have to respect the RB, Alfred Morris, who is in the top-5 in rushing, they have to respect RG3 and his ability to run by design as well as scramble on the fly, and they have to respect play action passing, because their running game has to be taken seriously.

 

It's a completely different offense.    Now, whether it can succeed for years and years is the Big Question.   It appears RG3 could get seriously hurt trying to do this for his career.    So, at some point, if they leave this offense,  what will the Redskins run?

 

But that's for another thread on another day....

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Pistol offense was developed by Chris Ault in Nevada supposedly in 2004 as a way to develop a power running game to the spread formation. 

 

Personally if I was a defensive Coordinator I would defend it by having my DE's set the edges and using one of my ILB's(Freeman or Angerer) to QB spy while bringing one or both of my OLB's to pass rush and bringing one of my Safeties up from time to time to also help with run plays-Thats if I was in a 3-4

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Pistol offense was developed by Chris Ault in Nevada supposedly in 2004 as a way to develop a power running game to the spread formation. 

 

Personally if I was a defensive Coordinator I would defend it by having my DE's set the edges and using one of my ILB's(Freeman or Angerer) to QB spy while bringing one or both of my OLB's to pass rush and bringing one of my Safeties up from time to time to also help with run plays-Thats if I was in a 3-4

Hello play-action skinny post

You're effectively conceding the middle of the field with this.

The only way to defend plays out of the pistol is with smart players. It's just like shotgun and just like under center in terms of what you have to defend, it's just harder to recognize what play is being run. It's not a gimmick as to why it's effective, but the uncertainty it causes defenders. If you can coach your players to react faster you have a chance, but otherwise you've got a RB with a full head of steam with at least three holes to cut into because he has a ton of time to set up his blocks.

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Forget about my 2 Corners and 1 of my Safeties? :thmup:

 

Teams have been doing things very similar to what you've just suggested against us for most of the season.  It has not worked.  Not even close.

 

It's not really our scheme that's so dangerous, it's our level of execution within the scheme that makes us a top offense.  We run block well and Morris runs even better than his blocking.  Griffin is one of the fastest players on the field but he is also one of the most accurate passers in the NFL and he makes very few bad decisions with the ball (with his body is a different story altogether, of course).  Our team speed is fantastic.  Most teams don't have enough players on their roster that can keep up with the amount of trustworthy speed we can put on the field all at once.

 

First, the pistol is a relatively new concept.   I think it's been around for less than 10 years.

 

But, more important,  it has never -- repeat, NEVER -- been used in the NFL.   Up to this year,  it's been a college level offense.

 

To your question...    you're seeing a gimmick offense which is working well, because (A) defenses aren't used to it,  and (B) they have the right quarterback to run it ©  they have a great running game which takes the pressure and responsibility off the QB (D)they don't pass nearly as much as the Colts, roughly 12-14 passes per game less than the Colts (D) they lead the NFL in most short passes (defined as 0-5 yards from the line of scrimmage)...   so RG3 is not being asked to do nearly as much as Andrew Luck.    Not even close.

 

The hi-lites you see of RG3 passing so well are there because opposing defenses have to respect the RB, Alfred Morris, who is in the top-5 in rushing, they have to respect RG3 and his ability to run by design as well as scramble on the fly, and they have to respect play action passing, because their running game has to be taken seriously.

 

It's a completely different offense.    Now, whether it can succeed for years and years is the Big Question.   It appears RG3 could get seriously hurt trying to do this for his career.    So, at some point, if they leave this offense,  what will the Redskins run?

 

But that's for another thread on another day....

 

A few quibbles:

 

1. Calling it a gimmick is a bit questionable.  The wildcat was a gimmick as it was wildly different from the norm but it had very distinct disadvantages that rendered it as only situationally useful at best (i.e., a trick play) once teams had film on it.  It took teams less than a full season to figure out how to dramatically scale back its effectiveness.  The Pistol is merely a formation that has the potential to be gimmicky but can also be run like any of the NFL's old stalwart run formations or the shotgun.  The zone read is what you should actually be questioning the future viability of, if anything.  The Redskins have proven that they don't need the zone read to be successful, though, and our offensive coaching staff has a pretty fantastic record of adapting their schemes to the ever-changing landscape of the NFL.

 

2. The "the Redskins throw WAY more short passes than everyone else which means Griffin has it easier" thing was debunked some time ago.  As a percentage of total passes thrown our short targets are consistent with many of the more established high powered offenses with elite QBs.  We are less inclined toward the short pass than the Patriots and about the same as the Packers and Saints, to name a few off the top of my head.  Most football fans would justifiably chastize you for saying the same things about those teams.  Where Luck stands in relation to Griffin as a result of this is a much more complicated subject than you seem to indicate and, frankly, is irrelevant to this thread.  Unless, of course, you'd like to see the thread hijacked and turned into a worthless debate full of people on both sides who know jack all about the other team and/or football in general.

 

3. Griffin's health is more an issue of Griffin's attitude toward the game and general fearlessness than it is the scheme.  I hope he stays healthy but it's almost entirely up to him to go down just a little bit sooner than he has been to avoid the big hit.  He very rarely takes shots that are out of his power to prevent (e.g., from missed blocks or from the scheme exposing him to risk) and he's been well-coached to minimize risks.  You can't always stop a guy from going all out in important situations when he has a do-or-die attitude, though.

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Teams have been doing things very similar to what you've just suggested against us for most of the season.  It has not worked.  Not even close.

 

It's not really our scheme that's so dangerous, it's our level of execution within the scheme that makes us a top offense.  We run block well and Morris runs even better than his blocking.  Griffin is one of the fastest players on the field but he is also one of the most accurate passers in the NFL and he makes very few bad decisions with the ball (with his body is a different story altogether, of course).  Our team speed is fantastic.  Most teams don't have enough players on their roster that can keep up with the amount of trustworthy speed we can put on the field all at once.

 

 

A few quibbles:

 

1. Calling it a gimmick is a bit questionable.  The wildcat was a gimmick as it was wildly different from the norm but it had very distinct disadvantages that rendered it as only situationally useful at best (i.e., a trick play) once teams had film on it.  It took teams less than a full season to figure out how to dramatically scale back its effectiveness.  The Pistol is merely a formation that has the potential to be gimmicky but can also be run like any of the NFL's old stalwart run formations or the shotgun.  The zone read is what you should actually be questioning the future viability of, if anything.  The Redskins have proven that they don't need the zone read to be successful, though, and our offensive coaching staff has a pretty fantastic record of adapting their schemes to the ever-changing landscape of the NFL.

 

2. The "the Redskins throw WAY more short passes than everyone else which means Griffin has it easier" thing was debunked some time ago.  As a percentage of total passes thrown our short targets are consistent with many of the more established high powered offenses with elite QBs.  We are less inclined toward the short pass than the Patriots and about the same as the Packers and Saints, to name a few off the top of my head.  Most football fans would justifiably chastize you for saying the same things about those teams.  Where Luck stands in relation to Griffin as a result of this is a much more complicated subject than you seem to indicate and, frankly, is irrelevant to this thread.  Unless, of course, you'd like to see the thread hijacked and turned into a worthless debate full of people on both sides who know jack all about the other team and/or football in general.

 

3. Griffin's health is more an issue of Griffin's attitude toward the game and general fearlessness than it is the scheme.  I hope he stays healthy but it's almost entirely up to him to go down just a little bit sooner than he has been to avoid the big hit.  He very rarely takes shots that are out of his power to prevent (e.g., from missed blocks or from the scheme exposing him to risk) and he's been well-coached to minimize risks.  You can't always stop a guy from going all out in important situations when he has a do-or-die attitude, though.

Do you look at passing splits often?

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Teams have been doing things very similar to what you've just suggested against us for most of the season.  It has not worked.  Not even close.

 

It's not really our scheme that's so dangerous, it's our level of execution within the scheme that makes us a top offense.  We run block well and Morris runs even better than his blocking.  Griffin is one of the fastest players on the field but he is also one of the most accurate passers in the NFL and he makes very few bad decisions with the ball (with his body is a different story altogether, of course).  Our team speed is fantastic.  Most teams don't have enough players on their roster that can keep up with the amount of trustworthy speed we can put on the field all at once.

 

 

A few quibbles:

 

1. Calling it a gimmick is a bit questionable.  The wildcat was a gimmick as it was wildly different from the norm but it had very distinct disadvantages that rendered it as only situationally useful at best (i.e., a trick play) once teams had film on it.  It took teams less than a full season to figure out how to dramatically scale back its effectiveness.  The Pistol is merely a formation that has the potential to be gimmicky but can also be run like any of the NFL's old stalwart run formations or the shotgun.  The zone read is what you should actually be questioning the future viability of, if anything.  The Redskins have proven that they don't need the zone read to be successful, though, and our offensive coaching staff has a pretty fantastic record of adapting their schemes to the ever-changing landscape of the NFL.

 

2. The "the Redskins throw WAY more short passes than everyone else which means Griffin has it easier" thing was debunked some time ago.  As a percentage of total passes thrown our short targets are consistent with many of the more established high powered offenses with elite QBs.  We are less inclined toward the short pass than the Patriots and about the same as the Packers and Saints, to name a few off the top of my head.  Most football fans would justifiably chastize you for saying the same things about those teams.  Where Luck stands in relation to Griffin as a result of this is a much more complicated subject than you seem to indicate and, frankly, is irrelevant to this thread.  Unless, of course, you'd like to see the thread hijacked and turned into a worthless debate full of people on both sides who know jack all about the other team and/or football in general.

 

3. Griffin's health is more an issue of Griffin's attitude toward the game and general fearlessness than it is the scheme.  I hope he stays healthy but it's almost entirely up to him to go down just a little bit sooner than he has been to avoid the big hit.  He very rarely takes shots that are out of his power to prevent (e.g., from missed blocks or from the scheme exposing him to risk) and he's been well-coached to minimize risks.  You can't always stop a guy from going all out in important situations when he has a do-or-die attitude, though.

 

 

Good post.   And please don't take my comments about what Washington is doing to be disrespect.    On the contrary, my comments are said with respect and admiration.    I wish Arians tailored an offense to Luck as the Shannahan's tailored to RG3.

 

My one quibble with one of your quibbles is about the length of the passes.   At some point beyond halfway through the season, it was that RG3 had the most short passes from the LOS, defined as 0-5 yards.   Now maybe that has changed since then,  but when it was offered here someone linked a website with the stats.    So, I'm not sure what there is to debunk except -- as I mentioned -- if that has now changed.    If Washington is now mixing in more medium and longer passes,  good for them.   But for roughly the first half of the season,   the offense was spoon feeding things for RG3.    Again,  not a knock, just an observation.

 

And quite the opposite for Luck.   Who was and is being asked to do more than any rookie QB and I don't think it's close.   I can't think of a young QB who being asked to do more with less.    

 

Just my two cents...  

 

Happy Holidays to you....

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Good post.   And please don't take my comments about what Washington is doing to be disrespect.    On the contrary, my comments are said with respect and admiration.    I wish Arians tailored an offense to Luck as the Shannahan's tailored to RG3.

 

My one quibble with one of your quibbles is about the length of the passes.   At some point beyond halfway through the season, it was that RG3 had the most short passes from the LOS, defined as 0-5 yards.   Now maybe that has changed since then,  but when it was offered here someone linked a website with the stats.    So, I'm not sure what there is to debunk except -- as I mentioned -- if that has now changed.    If Washington is now mixing in more medium and longer passes,  good for them.   But for roughly the first half of the season,   the offense was spoon feeding things for RG3.    Again,  not a knock, just an observation.

 

And quite the opposite for Luck.   Who was and is being asked to do more than any rookie QB and I don't think it's close.   I can't think of a young QB who being asked to do more with less.    

 

Just my two cents...  

 

Happy Holidays to you....

 

No disrespect taken.  I just try to set the record straight where I can.

 

I think the problem back then was that people didn't bother to look around the league when they pulled those stats on Griffin because nothing dramatic has changed about the depth of his passes over the course of the season.  They simply wanted to confirm a bias they had (no doubt created by initial impressions from our success against the Saints with the screen game) and ignored the fact that most passes in this league are short passes.  There was a phenomenal ESPN Insider article published around the time you're speaking of that detailed why some of the prevailing such arguments used as knocks on Griffin were flawed at best.  I can't dig it up at the moment but I can provide some current numbers... 56% of Luck's passes are to within 10 yards and that's with him throwing a relatively low percentage of short balls compared to most QBs around the league (in fact, Cam is the only other guy who I believe falls below 60%).  Griffin, Rodgers, Brady, Romo, Schaub, and Dalton all throw ~66% of their passes within 10 yards just to name a few.  Peyton is a little on the low side at 60% and Ryan is on the high side at 70%.

 

Now, it's conceivable that Griffin still throws more balls within 5 yards than the other 66 percenters do.  However, the difference between a 4 yard throw and an 8 yard throw in terms of difficulty is pretty negligible, especially if you consider that we've tended to get enough YAC on those throws to make up for the difference.  The long and the short of it is that I stand by the fact that it was always a bad argument to use as a strike against Griffin (a strike against Arians, on the other hand...) ;)

 

Happy Holidays to you, too.

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I think what is not really being taken into consideration is the total number of throws between the two

 

Luck-599 (not counting the number of passes he threw vs KC) with 174 against a blitz 76 getting knocked down

Robert Griffin-375 total passes (70 against the blitz, 60 of those times getting knocked down)

 

 

Both players have done wonders for there teams respectively however

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I did hear Merill Hodge say today the Redskins D is playing outstanding. They to me are hitting on most cylinders it seems. Seem like a very solid team though I do think its going to be a slug fest with Dallas this weekend.

 

The Redskins D has been playing better and have been making key plays lately, something they had not been doing earlier in the season.  They are still far from outstanding, though.  Our pass rush remains pitiful and our secondary play remains extremely suspect.

 

I think what is not really being taken into consideration is the total number of throws between the two

 

Luck-599 (not counting the number of passes he threw vs KC) with 174 against a blitz 76 getting knocked down

Robert Griffin-375 total passes (70 against the blitz, 60 of those times getting knocked down)

 

 

Both players have done wonders for there teams respectively however

 

Looking at the numbers Luck gets about 46.4 plays a game (pass attempts + runs + sacks) while Griffin gets 37.2 plays a game.  The difference between those two numbers is accounted for almost EXACTLY by the difference in the number of incompletions per game (Griffin has 9.0, Luck has 18.3).  So basically the difference between them in terms of load can be accounted for by the difference in efficiency between them.  This is essentially true even if you disregard plays that result in runs entirely (29.1 att/gm vs. 42.6 att/gm).

 

Teams stopped blitzing us heavily early in the season because RG has been phenomenal against the blitz.  You guys have struggled with it thanks to your route concepts and questionable blocking.

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Teams have been doing things very similar to what you've just suggested against us for most of the season.  It has not worked.  Not even close.

 

It's not really our scheme that's so dangerous, it's our level of execution within the scheme that makes us a top offense.  We run block well and Morris runs even better than his blocking.  Griffin is one of the fastest players on the field but he is also one of the most accurate passers in the NFL and he makes very few bad decisions with the ball (with his body is a different story altogether, of course).  Our team speed is fantastic.  Most teams don't have enough players on their roster that can keep up with the amount of trustworthy speed we can put on the field all at once.

 

 

A few quibbles:

 

1. Calling it a gimmick is a bit questionable.  The wildcat was a gimmick as it was wildly different from the norm but it had very distinct disadvantages that rendered it as only situationally useful at best (i.e., a trick play) once teams had film on it.  It took teams less than a full season to figure out how to dramatically scale back its effectiveness.  The Pistol is merely a formation that has the potential to be gimmicky but can also be run like any of the NFL's old stalwart run formations or the shotgun.  The zone read is what you should actually be questioning the future viability of, if anything.  The Redskins have proven that they don't need the zone read to be successful, though, and our offensive coaching staff has a pretty fantastic record of adapting their schemes to the ever-changing landscape of the NFL.

 

2. The "the Redskins throw WAY more short passes than everyone else which means Griffin has it easier" thing was debunked some time ago.  As a percentage of total passes thrown our short targets are consistent with many of the more established high powered offenses with elite QBs.  We are less inclined toward the short pass than the Patriots and about the same as the Packers and Saints, to name a few off the top of my head.  Most football fans would justifiably chastize you for saying the same things about those teams.  Where Luck stands in relation to Griffin as a result of this is a much more complicated subject than you seem to indicate and, frankly, is irrelevant to this thread.  Unless, of course, you'd like to see the thread hijacked and turned into a worthless debate full of people on both sides who know jack all about the other team and/or football in general.

 

3. Griffin's health is more an issue of Griffin's attitude toward the game and general fearlessness than it is the scheme.  I hope he stays healthy but it's almost entirely up to him to go down just a little bit sooner than he has been to avoid the big hit.  He very rarely takes shots that are out of his power to prevent (e.g., from missed blocks or from the scheme exposing him to risk) and he's been well-coached to minimize risks.  You can't always stop a guy from going all out in important situations when he has a do-or-die attitude, though.

 

 

Yea, I dont understand how people can call the Redskins offense gimiky.  If you want to call the zone read option gimiky, thats fine, but we've ran that play a total of like 3 times in the last 3 games. 

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The Redskins D has been playing better and have been making key plays lately, something they had not been doing earlier in the season.  They are still far from outstanding, though.  Our pass rush remains pitiful and our secondary play remains extremely suspect.

 

Ah, with ya on that right there..

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