Studs and Duds (offense): Redskins-49ers

LG Maurice Hurt. It’s his first start and you must keep that in mind. Maybe he progresses and perhaps he plays much better this week. But if they put you in the game, you’ll be measured as a starter. And while there is hope that Roy Helu and Leonard Hankerson can be solid starters, it’s hard to say that about Hurt based on what we’ve seen thus far. Maybe he will, but right now he looks like an emergency starter still about a year or so away. Not his fault. But this is also how he looked at the end of the summer. There were times when he showed good footwork and that’s what they’ll have to build upon. Anyway, he struggled to pick up stunts as the Niners got him twice when he got caught blocking too far outside and didn’t see the stunt come through his gap. John Beck did – and he got drilled twice. On one of those stunts, Hurt’s shoulders were perpendicular to the line. One time he lunged at his man and missed. Justin Smith was able to get too tight into Hurt’s body on a couple occasions, causing him to twice topple him. A couple times Hurt’s base was too off-balance or he didn’t bend his knees. Tough to react and to play with power in that situation. In other words, Hurt played like what he is: a rookie seventh-round pick.

QB John Beck. It can’t be considered a good day for any QB when an offense fails to reach the red zone until there’s 2 minutes, 2 seconds left in a game. Yes, the supporting cast needs improving – as coach Mike Shanahan said. That can come from experience or added talent in the offseason. Shanahan liked that Beck took a step up from the previous game, but it still wasn’t an effort that resulted in production. Baby steps, perhaps; but we aren’t talking about a 23-year-old QB in his first NFL season. We’re talking about a 30-year old who has been in NFL practices and meeting rooms since 2007.  But, yes, the changes on offense no doubt hurt Beck — just as his inexperience hurts others. And, yes, there was improvement in terms of not holding onto the ball too long. Didn’t time his throws, but I did track how far each pass went in the air (it’s in the notes section). Suffice it to say, he more than took what the defense gave him. But he also made some choices he no doubt would like back. On a fourth down in the second half, he decided before the snap, it seemed, to target Fred Davis. But Davis wasn’t really open; a few yards to the outside Jabar Gaffney was open. His man lined up 10 yards off him; Gaffney had it from the start. Davis was up against Patrick Willis, who had covered him well all game.

I didn’t like that he was a bit too cavalier with a pass from his own end zone that Justin Smith nearly intercepted. And there were a couple times when he broke the pocket and took his eyes off downfield, wanting to run right away. He then turned his eyes back upfield, but was he too late in doing so? Tough to say because you can’t see what he might have missed. Didn’t like that he threw to a covered Logan Paulsen on one bootleg (with a defender bearing down on him) when Davis was wide open a few yards inside. Gaffney was open deep on this play, but I’m not sure Beck could have set and thrown to him in time. Davis? He had him – and it would have been a first down. Paulsen is not going to run away from Patrick Willis.

There was one time in which Davis broke free on a corner route. But Hurt allowed pressure off a stunt and it appeared Beck had to throw a little too early (he opted for Gaffney deep down the middle; incomplete). On his interception, Beck did nothing to move the safety. Instead, he eyed Davis for too long and the safety made an easy read, then broke on the ball for the interception. Could Davis have made a better effort? Maybe. But there’s no doubt Beck could have done more to move the safety. Heck, he did just that on the touchdown pass to Gaffney. Beck kept his eyes down the middle of the field, where Terrence Austin was running. The safety went with Austin and Gaffney broke open in the end zone.

Beck did make some nice easy throws. I liked the back shoulder toss to Leonard Hankerson on the two-point conversion. It would help Beck tremendously if a guy like Hankerson starts making plays. Just wish there was more so you could see more of what Shanahan says he sees. Guess we’ll have eight more chances for that to happen. Perhaps one win would help Beck start to settle down and have more success. Nobody tries harder than this guy; hard to imagine anyone cares more either. Can caring so much make you play tense? Don’t know.

Final thought: If Beck and Alex Smith had swapped teams during the game the outcome would have been about the same.

LT Trent Williams. I admire that he played on a bad ankle and his performance wasn’t bad. But Williams committed a penalty that this offense can’t have. It’s one thing to make a physical mistake — holdings will occur; fumbles will occur – but it’s another to shove a guy after the play ends. And that play wipes out a first down and leaves you in third and 23. Williams had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty vs. Philly; at the time you thought it was a retaliation for a cheap shot. But there’s no proof that it was and now here comes another one. I will say, the Niners did a good job with extra shoves after plays. Maybe Justin Smith got away with a few things. But on this play Smith was engaged with Hurt; hard to tell if maybe there was a little shoving after the whistle. But this was Hurt’s issue and he did nothing – as he should. Williams then came over and shoved Smith to the ground. The Redskins would have had a first down at the Niners’ 42-yard line; instead, one play later they punted. Williams should know better.

PR Brandon Banks. He’s on the roster to make big plays in the return game and he hasn’t done much of anything. Because he has special speed, the Redskins will stick with him. But he needs to make better decisions on returns. If you backpedal on a long punt, then you can justify fielding it just inside the 10-yard line. If it’s, say, a 60-yard punt – something unreal. But the one he tried to field was only 48 yards and he tried to take it at the 3. If he lets it go, the Redskins have the ball at their own 20. Instead, he muffed it and they started at the 3. He later muffed a second punt. Yeah, he’s trying to make a play. Who isn’t? But securing the ball is the job. There’s no way they can feel secure when he’s deep on punts at this point. He’s been mediocre on kick returns and really hasn’t come close to breaking anything lately. Kick returns are team efforts. The offense really needs Banks to set them up a lot more.

NOTES

…Want to know how good ends make plays on defense? By reading the little things. On the Redskins third play of the game, Hurt pulled to his right only to have right end Justin Smith shoot through center Will Montgomery’s attempt to block and make a tackle on Roy Helu for a 2-yard stop. The rest of the play was blocked OK, but Smith clearly read the play. Why? Because Hurt’s left hand was set almost even with the back of Montgomery’s left heel. On the previous run, Hurt had set his left hand at the front of his foot; he was setting light as if he were going to …. pull. And that’s why Smith is a good end; he knew that Hurt was going to pull based on his alignment. Hurt also set that way on some pass plays.

…Here’s another reason: he sometimes, uh, cheats. On at least one occasion, Smith held Hurt, preventing him from getting off the block and on to the linebacker. Had Hurt gotten off the block, he had a clear shot at the linebacker who instead filled the hole and stopped Ryan Torain for two yards. Everyone else had their blocks.

…After that particular play, Williams shoved Smith in the back and the two exchanged words as they walked back to the huddle. Two plays later… Williams’ personal foul.

… Receiver Terrence Austin might have landed on the Duds list had his fumble resulted in another Niners score; instead, the Redskins got the ball back by causing their own fumble. Austin also failed to get open on a fourth and 4 late in the game; Carlos Rogers was not fooled by his move coming off the line. Austin has good feet, but did not sell any outside move.

…TE Fred Davis padded the stats again. When the game was close or somewhat in doubt, he had no catches. All four of his 42 grabs came when the Redskins trailed 19-3. So in the last two games 114 of his 136 yards have occurred late in the fourth quarter with the Redskins down by at least two scores. I don’t want to minimize what he’s done this season, but it does show when the game is “on the line” he hasn’t produced, for whatever reason. Not putting it all on him because other issues are in play. Defenses have done a good job taking him away, but he also dropped a pass Sunday.

…Helu had 14 receptions, a function of a strong emphasis to check down. He did fine but his fumble cost the Redskins dearly right before halftime. It might not have made a difference in the end, but it was costly. Minus all the receptions – and when needed to, he was fine in protection – his day would have looked a lot different.

…Yes, the Redskins threw short quite a bit. In fact, of Beck’s 47 passes 34 traveled six yards downfield or less. The Redskins gained 179 yards on these passes.

…Beck made 13 throws that went 7 yards or more downfield. He completed eight of 13 for 88 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The problem is, six of these throws came on the final two drives of the game, when the Niners safeties were playing just a bit deeper, giving them a little more room underneath. In other words, when the game was considered in doubt, the Redskins threw sideways as much as they threw even slightly downfield. Of those 88 yards, 51 came on the final two drives.

…This does not include the tipped pass for 17 yards. It only reached the line of scrimmage, but Beck was looking to hit tight end Logan Paulsen 10 yards downfield. Also, he had to spike one pass to stop the clock.

…Until the final two possessions, Beck averaged 4.1 yards per pass attempt.

…That’s not to knock the game plan; my belief entering the game was they had to throw shorter and use short passes as a de facto running game. But it’s tough to win if you can’t threaten downfield. And that’s not an indictment on one person; that’s on the entire offense.

…The short throws obviously helped stem the Niners’ pass rush. Beck was only hit on four pass attempts – two came on the stunts through Hurt. San Francisco never rushed more than six defenders and nine times sent five at Beck. He was hit once on those nine rushes.

…The Niners sent three defenders seven times. Beck completed four of six throws for 29 yards and a touchdown in that situation, but two of those completions and 20 yards came on third and at least 12 (neither resulted in a first down). The touchdown pass did come against a three-man rush.

 …The Redskins started 11 of their 12 drives inside their own 30-yard line. Credit San Francisco’s special teams, the inability of the defense to force a three-and-out until the fourth quarter and a poor return game for that statistic. A struggling offense needs more help.

 …The Redskins actually had three seven-play drives in the first half; San Francisco had none longer than six. But the Niners had 10 points set up by turnovers (a field goal drive started at their own 40; a touchdown drive at the Redskins’ 30). Makes a huge difference.

…The offense has had little margin for error in the past three games. If they commit a penalty on offense, bad things happen. The offense has committed seven penalties in the past three games and here’s what’s happened the rest of those series: three turnovers (two interceptions, one sack/fumble), two punts, one stop on fourth down and one field goal (they already were in range when the penalty occurred).

Sunday, they had three penalties on offense and that led to a punt, an interception and the fourth down stop.

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