“We didn’t do that,” he mentioned, including that if the Commanders hadn’t stalled out simply outdoors the red zone within the first quarter, and in the event that they hadn’t fumbled on the New York Giants’ 5-yard line late within the fourth, the final sequence with questionable officiating “wouldn’t matter.”
In the 20-12 loss on Sunday evening, Washington went 1-for-3 within the red zone, the lone rating a 19-yard landing to Dotson. It’s apparent the offense has foundational weaknesses — it’s averaging 18.8 factors per sport with quarterback Taylor Heinicke, which might rank twenty second within the NFL over the complete season — and there are many questions value asking. Is this totally on the play-calling of offensive coordinator Scott Turner, or is he restricted by his quarterback and offensive line? How a lot blame does the entrance workplace deserve for constructing a poor pass-blocking line?
But it’s Week 16. It’s too late to considerably handle these issues, and this seems to be the offense on which Washington will guess its 2022 season. Sunday was kind of a rerun of each Heinicke efficiency, yo-yoing between huge miscues and inexplicable brilliance, which suggests coaches can have to take a look at the margins for enchancment. The most obtrusive downside there may be the red zone.
Washington has struggled there all 12 months, no matter quarterback. But it’s mattered extra since Heinicke turned the starter as a result of the inexplosive, run-first offense has had to depend on prolonged drives, which lowers scoring, which narrows the workforce’s margin for error. Under Heinicke, Washington has had 23 red-zone drives, tied for twentieth within the NFL, and scored a landing simply 47.8 p.c of the time, which ranks twenty fifth.
In the previous, gamers and coaches have blamed the woes on a wide range of elements, together with penalties and ineffective performs on early downs. They’ve by no means complained about one-dimensional play-calling — Turner calls 48 p.c run within the red zone and 52 p.c cross — and so they’ve by no means urged Heinicke struggles to zip passes into tighter home windows, although it appears to be an element. In a recent column for the website the 33rd Team, Hall of Fame govt Bill Polian wrote that the Commanders “strangely … do not run well in the red zone.”
On Sunday evening, a number of gamers mentioned the workforce had various issues within the red zone, however every of them independently listed a standard wrongdoer on the prime of the record.
“We just got to communicate better,” tight finish Logan Thomas mentioned.
“Miscommunication,” proper sort out Cornelius Lucas mentioned, including, “Ten people being on the same page, and one person not.”
“Everybody got to be on the same page,” receiver Curtis Samuel mentioned.
“Guys just aren’t focused,” working again Brian Robinson Jr. mentioned.
But every participant demurred when requested to present an instance.
“There’s no point in trying to put the blame on anybody,” Samuel mentioned. “We just got to execute.”
One particular space Washington might enhance: Inside what’s generally known as the low red zone. Cody Alexander, a soccer coach who writes a newsletter called “Match Quarters,” breaks the red zone into three components: excessive (25-yard line to 15), low (14 to 5) and aim line (4 to finish zone). And one troubling development that continued Sunday evening was the nearer Washington bought to the aim line, the more severe it was.
In the excessive red zone this season, Washington has gained a primary down or scored a landing on 34.1 p.c of its performs, the sixth-best fee within the NFL. In the low red zone, that determine drops to 23.3 p.c, the sixth-worst fee within the league, and on the goal-line, it’s barely worse.
The greatest culprits for the discrepancy seem to be Heinicke and Turner. In the excessive red zone, Turner’s tendency to stay about 50-50 run-pass appears advantageous as a result of Washington is efficient working and Heinicke is about league common passing, finishing 10 of 16 passes (62.5 p.c) for three touchdowns and no interceptions.
But contained in the low red zone, Turner’s steadiness appears to harm the offense. Because despite the fact that Washington nonetheless runs the ball fairly properly, Heinicke collapses.
Inside the low red zone, Heinicke has accomplished simply eight of his 24 makes an attempt (33 p.c). It is the bottom mark within the NFL by practically 10 p.c. Since 2000, out of 752 certified quarterback seasons, Heinicke’s completion proportion this 12 months is tied for 727th.
In essentially the most essential conditions, it’s even worse. On third and fourth down, Heinicke has accomplished certainly one of 11 passes (9.1 p.c). Since 2000, the one quarterback to try double-digit passes contained in the low red zone and have a worse completion proportion was Chicago rookie Justin Fields in 2021 (0-for-10).
The second half Sunday was an ideal distillation of the divide between the red zones.
On the primary drive, Heinicke marched 96 yards with out dealing with a second down, and he hit Dotson for a landing from the excessive red zone. In every of the final two drives, Heinicke struggled passing within the low red zone. In the primary of the 2, on third and 4, Heinicke dropped again to throw, noticed nobody open and tried to take off solely to in the end fumble.
On the ultimate drive, the Commanders had just one timeout, and Turner dropped Heinicke again to cross on 4 straight performs. The solely constructive achieve was a nine-yard scramble. On the final play of the sport, Heinicke couldn’t hit Samuel within the again left nook of the tip zone.
In his postgame news convention, Heinicke was annoyed. He mentioned the workforce wanted to be higher within the excessive red zone — “Let’s make things happen instead of going backwards or stalling out” — and mentioned it was a important cause the workforce entered halftime trailing.
In the locker room, Heinicke’s teammates have been equally exasperated. Samuel was requested what wants to change within the red zone.
“Positive yardage,” he mentioned. “Completed passes, good runs. Anything that’s moving the team toward getting six. We ain’t doing that right now.”