The Commanders had a more balanced offense in Atlanta, with 28 dropbacks and 22 runs (counting sacks in the former and kneeldowns in the latter) in the game, so 60-40 pass at worst. The problem? Those 22 runs accrued 72 rushing yards, so yeah, even with the kneeldowns, they weren’t really chewing it up on the ground.
The question, both from Sunday and overall, is why, with an offense that has two bangers and a guy with great hands, are the Commanders averaging 4.3 yards per carry but only have 124 attempts so far?
And it’s one, it seems, that has both good and bad answers?
“The first half of the game was encouraging, I think they generated 135 yards in the first half…but they only had 200-something for the game,” JP said. “On the road, when you have to win, protect the ball.”
“They did a lot of good things in the game, but this is one thing I think people get caught up with; when we're losing at halftime, people say you gotta make adjustments, but you know what you got to do when you’re winning at halftime, too? Make adjustments, because you know the other team is going to” Brian replied. “If you don't make adjustments, you're basically sitting there telling them, ‘hey, we feel we could keep doing this,’ and when they change and catch up with what you're doing, you should do something else at that point. And I think that's the ultimate thing where you have to make sure you are always trying to change up what you're doing, so they can't catch up to what you're doing.”
That led the guys to open the phones, and Chris in Hyattsville had to take the running game as a whole to task, and this was Brian’s answer about why it’s struggling:
“I think the backs are unbelievable, I just don't think that is always space, and I think in a league today where everything is catered for the passing, if you're not having a lot of success from the running game, you go away from it,” BMitch said. “Rodriguez had three carries for 20-something yards, all in the second half. But they only had 22 or 23 running plays, and three or four of those were Sam running.”
And that’s when Brian had to put on his old school hat to explain some things.
“You know what our problem is in this town? We are accustomed to the Redskins running the football when they got a lead, but this team hasn’t been that team in a long time,” BMitch said. “This team hadn't been that team in a long time. We haven't had offensive lineman that will get you four or five yards a carry, so when you get one or two, you're going to throw the ball.”
“In their second possession in the second half, they ran the ball,” JP added, going through that drive. “You flipped field position, and they only ran two pass plays after three straight runs, but Sam takes a bad sack. They didn’t get away from the run as much as everybody thinks.”
Brian’s response:
“I think what has happened now, I'll say it every week: it's a narrative that has been presented, and I think that's the first thing people go to instead of watching the game,” he said. “Watch the game and look at it and you'll see it's not just an automatic, let me just forget about the run.”
“Obviously, they got away from the run in the Bears game. They called 55 straight pass plays, but they also had a big old deficit,” JP said. “I thought yesterday was balance was right, and they were allowed to be balanced because they didn’t have a monster deficit…and it helps when the other guy keeps throwing it to the wrong team too!”
