Redskins Stuck in Neutral

A season that started off so poorly, then began to look promising has suddenly begun to look like so many recent seasons for the Washington Redskins. The burgundy and gold's offense has been stuck in neutral the past five weeks averaging a paltry fourteen points per game. The defense has been outstanding during the same period, yielding only sixteen points per game.

What's wrong with the offense? Where shall I start? The play calling is unimaginative. You can't keep calling screen passes if you don't stretch the field first by throwing deep passes. You can't keep running draw plays on second and long. You can't even call a deep pass route if your offensive line can't pass block although not every sack is the O-line's fault though. Jason Campbell tends to hold the ball too long and the 2nd and 3rd string running backs don't pass block well.

The offensive woes cannot be traced to a single issue. It's a combination of predictable play calling and poor execution. After ten games, the league has plenty of film on Jim Zorn's offense. In the NFL teams will keep doing the same thing until you prove you can stop it. The Redskins can expect opposing defenses to apply heavy pressure on Jason Campbell and play tight press coverage on the receivers until he proves he can complete some long passes.

The Washington Redskins fans can expect a once promising season to end again without a playoff berth if the offense doesn't begin to pull its weight. The time is now with six games remaining, four of which are against teams with little hope of making the playoffs. Hopefully coach Jim Zorn will take his foot off the brake, put the Redskins' offense in gear and drive them into the playoffs.

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