Skins are running on empty in red zone

Published September 24, 2009 4:00am EST



The weekly ritual occurred again Wednesday, with Jason Campbell defending the offense. He’s done it as well as opposing defenses have. Campbell points out the differences from last year; the success moving between the 20-yard lines; and the progress.

But he stops short in one area.

“I won’t defend us in the red zone,” Campbell said.

He can’t. The Redskins are tied for 30th in the NFL – with the Giants of all teams — with two touchdowns in eight red zone trips. One came with less than two minutes remaining; the other was a fake field goal.

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“I don’t know if a lot of guys have anything to say,” tight end Chris Cooley said, “because all of us are saying, ‘What in the world is going on?’”

Three reasons why they’ve struggled:

The run game » The Redskins have carried the ball 11 times for 15 yards inside the 20-yard line. Seven runs have been directly to the left; two have gone right. It’s clear the Redskins are one-dimensional.

“The best teams in the red zone are teams that run the ball well,” said Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz.

Right tackle Stephon Heyer missed a block on one run vs. New York, leading to a six-yard loss. Cooley missed a block vs. the Rams, leading to a two-yard loss. Backside blocks were missed vs. the Rams, preventing a cutback lane.

And on the fourth and 1 from the 2-yard line vs. St. Louis, at least three blockers on the left side failed to handle their man; two of them got knocked back, forcing Clinton Portis to run wider than desired and it strung out the play.

Passing game » Campbell has completed four of eight passes in the red zone for 29 yards. The only wide receiver to have caught a pass here is Santana Moss — on a screen pass that lost two yards.

The better they run, the more they’ll face eight-man fronts — and solo coverage on the outside. They have called the fade; but, for a variety of reasons, it hasn’t been thrown.

But two passes have been dropped, by fullback Mike Sellers and receiver Devin Thomas, though Thomas’ would have been a nice catch.

Playcalling » The pass play that Sellers dropped was a good call; Cooley, lined up tight on the right side, ran straight and then broke to the right, clearing the middle. Sellers came in behind him to the opening. But even Zorn admitted on his radio show Tuesday the halfback option should have been called on first or second down and not third, when there’s no element of surprise.

Also, there have been six times the Redskins either lined up in I-formation or sent the fullback or tight end in motion, with a back remaining in the backfield. They’ve run five times from this formation (the halfback option being the lone pass). Those five runs have lost a combined three yards. Perhaps it’s too predictable.

Zorn said he made his mind made up before one series that he wanted to run it in vs. St. Louis. The first two runs gained two yards and the third down was the halfback option.

“If I had do it all over again, because we didn’t have success in those two runs, would I do something different? Yeah,” he said. “If I knew the future… but I didn’t know the future.”

But they used multiple receiver sets seven times vs. the Rams and ran three times. With less defenders in the box, those plays have gained nine yards.

Zorn goes into games with approximately 25 red zone plays; some teams, he said, have around 50.

“When we run down there it’s like they need to throw the ball more,” Portis said. “And when we throw it’s, ‘You need to run.’ Our coach has to call what he feels is going to work and eventually it will work. I can call out three plays [last week] that was 21 points if we execute.”

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