old article on McVay’s redzone scoring issues in Washington

Note. McVay called the plays there as the coordinator in 2016. That year Washington ranked 30th according to this stat: Team Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only). Yet in 2016 the Washington offense ranked 3rd in offensive yards.

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A closer look at the Redskins’ red-zone problems and how to fix them

Mark Bullock
September 28, 2016

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/football-insider/wp/2016/09/28/a-closer-look-at-the-redskins-red-zone-problems-and-how-to-fix-them/

One of the biggest problems for Washington and its offense this season has been scoring in the red zone. Moving the ball between the 20s has been fine, but Washington has scored on just 21 percent of its trips to the red zone (inside the 20-yard line) this season, ranking 31st in the league. Last season, Washington ranked 11th in this category, coming away with a touchdown 58 percent of the time. That’s quite a significant drop off, especially given the fact that Washington didn’t lose any key pieces on offense and actually added first-round pick Josh Doctson at wide receiver.

Against Dallas in Week 2, Washington became overly reliant on the fade route, trying to force it to Doctson. While the fade route can be very effective in the red zone, and has been for Washington in the past, they can’t resort to just throwing a fade route every time they enter the red zone. With Doctson and tight end Jordan Reed, Washington has two terrific options who should win the majority of jump balls thrown their way, but that can’t be the only plan in the red zone.

This week, Washington attempted a few new plays in the red zone, some of which were well designed. But none of them were successful.

This play came towards the end of the first half. Washington had wide receivers Ryan Grant and Jamison Crowder join tight end Reed in a bunch formation to the right. Grant runs an underneath crosser designed to distract the linebackers while Crowder sneaks in behind them. Reed runs an option route in behind Crowder. To the left, wide receiver Pierre Garcon clears space with a fade route while running back Chris Thompson works out into the flat.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins initially looks to Reed on his option route. The Giants have that well covered, so he moves on to his second read, Crowder. Crowder gets the better of Giants safety Nat Berhe, crossing his face into open space in the end zone. Cousins spots Crowder, but has pressure around him, forcing him to throw off his back foot. That results in an inaccurate pass that Crowder can’t quite reach.

It’s a solid play design that should have resulted in a touchdown, but with Reed covered on the first read, Cousins was pressured as he moved on to the second read and that caused the incompletion.

On the next play, Washington came back with another pass, knowing it only had a few seconds left on the clock before the half.

Here, Washington opts for one of its more common plays from last season. They have a double stick route combination from slot receivers Grant and Crowder, designed to beat zone coverage. To the left of the formation, Reed is isolated on a safety and runs a slant route designed to beat man coverage.

Off the snap, Cousins works to his right, presumably anticipating zone coverage from the Giants. But the Giants do a good job taking away both stick routes, forcing Cousins to hesitate and hold on to the ball. Cousins begins to look back to his left, where Reed is open, but pressure arrives and Cousins is forced to scramble before eventually being brought down.

Like before, this could have resulted in a touchdown. If Cousins had worked to his left off the snap, he had an easy throw to Reed. But his pre-snap read took him to the opposite side of the field, which is just the design of the play.

On Washington’s next trip to the red zone, it went back to Crowder.

Crowder and Garcon run a corner-smash route combination, designed with the intent to create traffic for the defenders and get at least one of the receivers open.

But cleverly, the Giants have their corners pattern match, meaning the slot corner plays for the route that breaks inside while the outside corner plays for the route that breaks outside. This takes away the chance of creating traffic for the defenders and gives Cousins no real option on the throw. He throws the corner to Crowder anyway, but Crowder has no chance of getting there.

With nothing working, Washington ran a quarterback draw on the next play.

Quarterback draws have been successful in Washington since Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins were drafted in 2012. The call often gives the quarterback the ability to change to a draw if the defense gives them the right look. With the linebackers split and no safety in the middle of the field, Washington gets the right look. The problem comes with the execution. Cousins doesn’t even fake the throw. He takes one step back and looks to take off the moment his back foot his the ground. Up front, the interior offensive line struggles to clear Cousins a lane and the play ends up a bust.

Failing to score in the red zone is one of the most frustrating issues for a team, but Washington should be able to fix this problem. The first way to fix it is to run the ball more. Rarely has Washington called a conventional running play in the red zone so far this season. Running the ball is a threat itself, especially if Washington is creative with different looks and formations. But the threat of running the ball is key. If defenses believe Washington will run the ball, then they’ll become vulnerable to the play-action game, which is what made Washington so successful last season.

In Week 17 last year, Washington got into the red zone and scored multiple times against Dallas in the first quarter alone. The first time, they used a play-action bootleg, using Crowder to bait the second level defenders inside while Grant leaks to the flat.

As Grant motions from left to right, a Cowboys cornerback follows him. That tells the offense that it’s man coverage and gives Crowder an idea of what depth he needs to run his route to in order to create traffic. Grant leaks freely out into the flat for an easy touchdown catch.

Teams so far this season have been more alert to the bootleg concept, given the success Washington had with it last year. But I can’t recall Washington even trying it in the red zone this season. Teams might not key on it quite so much if Washington also begins to run the ball more in the red zone.

Washington also had success passing the ball in the red zone last year. They did a great job against man coverage, creating traffic for defenders and getting receivers open.

Here, Crowder and Grant run a pick play. Grant runs up the field, looking to block the path of the inside corner and allow Crowder to get open in the flat.

Grant manages to create traffic without drawing a penalty, leaving Crowder wide open in the flat for another easy touchdown.

While the red-zone offense has been poor to start the season, there is still a long way to go. If Washington can begin to establish the running game in the red zone, that should improve the scoring percentage on red-zone trips. With that established, the play-action game becomes more of a weapon. With a variety of things for defenses to think about, opportunities for the fade routes to Reed and Doctson will open up, and I don’t doubt those will be effective for Washington this season. Being multidimensional is key and should help Washington score more often in the red zone.