Let’s Speed Up This Becking Process

I usually don’t write posts that breakdown the Redskins play-calling and X’s and O’s because quite frankly I don’t believe I’m qualified to do it. Sure, I’ve played organized tackle football but I don’t believe that my quarterbacking the Parkside Panthers back in 1987 entitles me to breakdown the Redskins game film on a weekly basis. My blog is more about dick jokes and run-on sentences. However, I do believe that after 30+ years of being a die-hard fan that I am entitled to my opinion. Of course opinions are like assholes, we all got one and they all stink.

I want to talk about John Beck and the Redskins offense or lack there of over the last 3 weeks. I see what everyone else sees, a guy who seems to be afraid of his own shadow right now. He’s got happy feet, he’s patting the ball like crazy and he can’t pull the trigger to throw the ball downfield. I’m sure he’s nervous about making turnovers, the reason he has the job right now is because the previous guy had too many turnovers. He’s late on some passes, early on others and maybe that can change with more playing time as Mike Shanahan says it will. What I think is happening right now is that Beck is thinking way too much and not getting comfortable early in games.

It appears that Beck is going to remain the starter for the near future, we have no one else to turn to unless we go back to Rex Grossman. I guess that may be an option but before we go down that road I want the Redskins to stop handling Beck with kid gloves. Tell the guy you want the ball thrown deep downfield a minimum of 3 times a game. Start next week off with a play action bomb and tell him to throw it no matter what. Use the no-huddle offense in the 1st quarter next week and see if that causes a spark. We need to get things rolling early because we are falling behind early and often since Beck took over.

In Beck’s 3 starts the Redskins haven’t scored a first half touchdown. They’ve managed a measly three field goals and have trailed the 3 games by a combined score of 9 to 33. Here are Beck’s stats in the 1st half of those games:

CAR 6-11, 47yds, 0 TD, 0 INT 1 sack 1 fumble
BUF 8-13 66yds, 0 TD, 0 INT, 5 sacks
SF 10-19 88yds, 0 TD, 1 INT

That’s a putrid 4.7 yards per pass attempt. 33% of his completions have been for 5 yards or less. Only 3 completions have been 15+ yards with a long of 23 yards. Trust me, I don’t care how many records he set, when Roy Helu catches 14 balls it’s not a good thing.

Now, let’s take a look at Beck’s stats from the 2nd half of the 3 losses…and yes I understand that the Redskins were playing from behind in these games and that the defenses were playing softer. But I also understand that Beck was getting into more of a rhythm and was also running more hurry up packages. His 2nd half stats:

CAR 16-24, 226yds, 1 TD, 1 INT 1 Rush TD 2 sacks
BUF 12-20, 142yds, 0 TD, 2 INT 5 sacks
SF 20-27, 168yds, 1 TD, 0 INT 1 sack

Again, I understand that the Redskins were playing from behind and the opposing defenses were playing softer. But the point of this post, which may have been lost in my incoherent rambling is that I want Beck running a hurry up offense and I want him throwing the ball downfield more. He was doing both of those things in the 2nd half of these games. His yards per pass attempt average was 7.6, which is in line with guys like Drew Brees and Tony Romo. 33% of his completions were for 14 yards or more, compared to 33% of 5 or less in the first half.

The offense needs a spark and we don’t have a player coming off the bench that’s going to provide one. The spark must come from Kyle Shanahan and his willingness to open things up a little more and try a few new wrinkles. Having Beck running a hurry-up and throwing the ball downfield may be just crazy enough to work.

I think the best words of advice that Kyle could tell Beck is the famous words of Crash Davis to Nuke LaLoosh. “Don’t think, it can only hurt the team”.

Cheers and Hail