during the season
Russ Grimm Jersey , and aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.The importance of field positionWinning field position; flipping field position; pinning the opponent deep in their own territory; red zone offense; driving a short field... these phrases all relate to an important concept in NFL football.Long, sustained offensive drives are hard to muster consistently.NFL teams tend to be so evenly balanced that it is difficult for an offense to come on the field time and time again and drive 75+ yards to score a touchdown.Teams that can frequently force the opposing offense to begin drives inside their own 20 yard line will give an advantage to their defense.Teams that can consistently begin drives outside their own 30 or 35 yard line to enjoy a relatively short field will give an advantage to their offense.But the field position game is primarily a defensive game.After all, it’s no good pinning the opposing offense deep on their end of the field if your defense can’t keep them there.For the past several seasons, we’ve seen how fruitless it was to try to contain the opposition with Redskin defenses that couldn’t stop a drive or force a 3 & out consistently.Things have changed in 2018John Keim - ESPN
http://www.espn.com/blog/washington-redskins/post/_/id/37470/redskins-have-formula-that-can-work-in-tight-nfc-eastSpecial Teams impact Strong kickoffs by Dustin Hopkins mean that teams are generally starting at the 25, or even further back on nearly every post-kickoff drive.Incredibly selfless and accurate punting by Tress Way, combined with outstanding coverage by the punt coverage units, is another huge factor in winning the battle of field position.A major change from 2017This superior special teams play is a huge turnaround from a year ago.In December — just over 10 months ago — I wrote an article titled, Special Teams haven’t been very special this season.I perused the play-by-play reports of all the 2017 games up to that point and itemized the Special Teams failures.It was a long, ugly and undignified list.This is how I ended that article:I, myself, was calling for special teams coordinator Ben Kotwica to be sacked.James, as you can see above, expected him to be the off-season sacrifice to atone for the Redskins losing season.I saw a number of reporters in the mainstream press suggest that Kotwica might end up the scapegoat for the larger failures of the team and coaching staff.But that’s not what happened.Jay Gruden stood up in support of Ben Kotwica in January, February and March.He publicly expressed confidence in him and said that the issues with special teams had to do with roster construction and injuries.Jay committed that Special Teams would get more priority in free agency, draft, and final roster decision making in 2018.In fact, Jay went so far as to say this:Jay doubled down on this time and time again through the offseason, saying repeatedly that players who could excel on special teams would have an advantage over those who couldn’t, and that it might even mean the less talented offensive or defensive player getting a roster spot over his more talented rival for the position who did not contribute as much to special teams.The evidence suggests that Jay was true to his word, and that Ben Kotwica has done a good job reversing the terrible ST performance of 2017.Special Teams have been more than simply adequate this season.They have been good overall, with the punt coverage team, in particular, doing an outstanding job, and we’ve seen the results reflected in the outstanding field position advantage that the Redskins have enjoyed.What’s that you say about field position advantage?I looked to James Dorsett’s incredible Snaps & Stats articles from this week for a little quantification of Redskins field position.Stats & Snaps - Dustin HopkinsStats & Snaps - Tress WayDallas basically started every post-kickoff drive at the 25 yard line, 75 yards away from the Redskins’ goal line.As per James Dorsett
Paul Richardson Jersey , the average field position following punts was near the 18 yard line, putting them about 82 yards away from the Redskins goal line.In short, the Cowboys were having to go between 74 and 89 yards on every drive of the game but one if they wanted to score a touchdown.Jay Gruden’s thoughtsHere are some comments about the power of field position from this week’s press conferences:Stats & Snaps - OffenseJames Dorsett says that the Redskins offense — unlike the opposing team — is enjoying great field position these days:So, opposing offenses are having to start drives from the 18 yard line after punts, and the 25 yard line after kickoffs, while the Redskins offense is launching drives from the 33.This 10-yard advantage is significant, and it gives the Redskins defense an edge, and means that the offense, on average, only has 67 yards to travel for a touchdown.Stats & Snaps - DefenseD-E-F-E-N-S-EStifling defense by Greg Manusky’s crew, led by the Alabama Wall, Smith and Kerrigan, and backed by fiery play by Mason Foster, Zach Brown, Josh Norman, DJ Swearinger, and a group of young and developing defensive backs has been a formula that has led the Redskins to allow only 20.2 points per game overall, and just 14.25 points per game in their 4 victories.Sudden Impact: Winning the turnover battleTurnovers are a huge factor in field position.Instead of punting or kicking the ball across half the field or more to back your opponents up, the ‘sudden change’ of turnovers give a team a motivational lift and, usually, an advantage in field position.The Redskins, by minimizing fumbles and interceptions lost by the offense, are keeping one of their greatest weapons in play.That weapon is named Tress Way.When a Redskins drive stalls, Way is booting the ball with great skill and more than half the time the coverage team is downing it inside the 20 — and often inside the 15.Turnover differentialMeanwhile, the Redskins defense is forcing turnovers.The defense has 11 takeaways in 6 games
Case Keenum Jersey , and the Redskins rank 4th in the NFL in turnover differential, at +6 through six games.By taking the ball away from the opposition 11 times while the offense has given it away only 5 time, the Redskins are taking away, on average, one scoring opportunity per game from their opponents, giving that opportunity to the Redskins offense, and usually giving the offense a short field to boot.This is complementary football.This is winning football.But it’s also the kind of statistical football that doesn’t get much attention.We all want to know yardage for every running back, receiver and tight end.We carefully keep track of 100-yard games, TDs scored, and quarterback stats like TD:INT ratio, passer rating and QBR, but who logs the numbers for field position and turnover differential in their memory for handy reference?We pay attention to sack totals, but don’t carefully keep track of the number of 3 & outs by the defense.We may be aware of average punting distance by our team’s punter, but few people keep close tabs on the number of times he pins the opposition inside the 15 or 20 yard line.The Field position battle is generally not a top-of-the-mind part of the game for most fans, but it’s an one of the more important battles to win.For the fist time in a long time, the Redskins are winning it, and that fact is reflected on the scoreboard.Time of possessionHere’s what Greg Manusky said this week about Time of Possession:The lesson here is that the Redskins’ ability to run the ball, control the clock, and keep their offense on the field will physically wear down the opposing defense and dishearten them.Adrian PetersonRight now, Adrian Peterson is providing a powerful weapon in the Time of Possession war.Here’s what Jay Gruden had to say about AD this week:Jay’s being a bit modest.The Redskins — or more specifically, Adrian Peterson — has rammed the ball down the throat of the opponents in the 4 victories, where AD has averaged 103 rushing yards per game, and hasn’t rushed for less than 96 yards in any single win this season.Peterson’s ability to run effectively and move the chains consistently is helping the Redskins put opponents under duress.Shutting down the opposing runnersI wrote this last week:Winning football usually means establishing the run.But it is equally critical to stop the opposing team from rushing the ball.So far in 2018, the Redskins have been extremely successful at stopping opposing running games despite facing some very talented runners.Washington is ranked 3rd in the NFL in rush defense, allowing just 87.3 rushing yards per game.No single back has rushed for more than 61 yards against the Redskins this season
Adrian Peterson Jersey , and after being gashed repeatedly in 2017, the Redskins have not given up a single run of 20+ yards in 2018.We'll see if they can keep it up against the ‘boom or bust’ rookie running back of the Giants, Saquon Barkley, but so far this season, they’ve done well against a pretty good list of talented ball carriers.The benefits are many.By shutting down the running game, the Redskins force the opposing offense to become one-dimensional, and take away the other team’s ability to control time of possession.It basically leaves just one way for the other offense to score;specifically, this kind of football puts the responsibility for winning the game on the opposing quarterback’s throwing shoulder. Not many quarterbacks are up to the challenge.Drew Brees was, but Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton and Dak Prescott have all fallen short.Redskins football in 2018Redskins football in 2018 is defensive football.It is ball control football.It is time of possession football.It is low giveaway, high takeaway football.It is field position football.It is field goal football.And, at 4-2, right now, it is winning football. The 2018-2019 NFL playoffs continue today with a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Colts defeated the Texans last week in Houston to move on to the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs.The Chiefs finished the year tied with the Chargers for the best record in the AFC at 12-4. Kansas City won the division and the #1 seed. Patrick Mahomes finishes his first year as a starter, and led a potent Chiefs offense to a division win and a first round bye.Who: Indianapolis Colts(11-6) vs Kansas City Chiefs(12-4)Date: Saturday January 12, 2019Game Time: 4:35 pm ETLocation: Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, MOTV Channel: NBCAnnouncers: Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (color), Michele Tafoya (sideline)Streaming: Fubo | NFL.com GamePass (audio only during game), Yahoo Sports(mobile)Odds: Chiefs -4.5, O/U 55Prediction: Chiefs 36 - Colts 33SB Nation blogs: Stampede Blue | Arrowhead PrideNFL News twitter feed:Tweets from
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