Redskins in the Redzone vs. the Rams

Jim Zorn's play calling appears questionable

after the Redskins fail to get a touchdown

in Week 2 against the St. Louis Rams

Here was the Redskins play calling in the redzone in a 9-7 victory against the Rams. Obviously, the Redskins failed to get a TD in the redzone; many have questioned the play call down the stretch.

1.

1-10-STL19	(7:10) C.Portis left tackle to SL 8 for 11 yards (J.Laurinaitis).
1-8-STL8	(6:25) C.Portis up the middle to SL 7 for 1 yard (O.Atogwe, D.Vobora).
2-7-STL7	(5:50) (Shotgun) J.Campbell pass short middle to C.Portis to SL 3 for 4 yards (C.Ryan). Shovel pass
3-3-STL3	(5:10) (Shotgun) J.Campbell pass incomplete short middle to D.Thomas.

Zorn called 2 run plays on 1st down. The shovel pass to Portis might as well have been looked as a delayed handoff. Campbell threw a pass on the money to Devin Thomas; however, the pass had a lot of heat on which made it difficult to catch and ultimately Thomas dropped the pass.

2.

1-8-STL8	(8:55) C.Portis up the middle to SL 10 for -2 yards (L.Little).
2-10-STL10	(8:15) (Shotgun) J.Campbell pass incomplete short middle to M.Sellers (D.Vobora).
3-10-STL10	(8:10) (Shotgun) J.Campbell pass incomplete short right to A.Randle El (R.Bartell).

Campbell was hurt by a dropped pass by Mike Sellers. On 3rd down, there was pass interference on the play but because Jason Campbell threw it way over Randle El, the pass was deemed uncatchable and therefore no penalty was assessed.

3.

1-7-STL7	(8:00) C.Portis left end to SL 7 for no gain (G.Gibson).
2-7-STL7	(7:25) C.Portis right guard to SL 5 for 2 yards (W.Witherspoon, C.Long).
3-5-STL5	(6:40) Lateral from 17-Cambell C.Portis pass incomplete short right to C.Cooley. Penalty on WAS-W.Montgomery, Offensive Holding, declined.

The Redskins ran the ball two times and even when they looked to pass, Portis made the throw, not Campbell. Even worse was the fact that since it was 3rd down, the Rams had to expect some sort of passing play from the Portis toss outside.

4.

4-1-STL20	(3:47) C.Portis left tackle to SL 11 for 9 yards (J.Wade, O.Atogwe).
1-10-STL11	(3:00) L.Betts left end to SL 7 for 4 yards (J.Laurinaitis, J.Wade).
2-6-STL7	(2:20) L.Betts left end pushed ob at SL 4 for 3 yards (O.Atogwe).
3-3-STL4	(2:13) C.Portis left guard to SL 2 for 2 yards (L.Little, O.Atogwe).
4-1-STL2	(2:00) C.Portis left end to SL 4 for -2 yards (D.Vobora).

On the Redskins final drive, the Redskins chose to run it all 5 times in the red zone in an effort to kill the clock. Eventually the Rams caught on and stopped the Redskins on 4th and short.

Analysis

- Jason Campbell had 1 completions from 4 passes in the redzone. His only completion was a shovel pass to Clinton Portis which may has well been classified as a running play.

- 2 of Campbell's incompletions were the result of dropped passes. One of Campbell's throws was a throw away because of too much pressure

- The Redskins ran it 5 out of 5 times on 1st down inside the redzone.

- The Redskins averaged only 2.8 yards per carry inside the redzone.

- Redskins averaged only .57 yards per carry inside the 10 yard line on.

- The Redskins averaged .8 yards per passing play inside the redzone including Portis's pass to Cooley.

Overall, the Redskins were ineffectively a combination of the play on the field but also the play calling by head coach Jim Zorn.

Reddick vs Morrison in the NBA Finals

NBA Finals brings Back Marquee College Players- Sort of

In 2006, JJ Reddick and Adam Morrison were the two leading scorers in the nation.  Now, the two players will each have opportunity to get a ring but in much smaller roles.  Reddick's playing has diminished as Courtney Lee has returned from a broken nose.  Michael Pietrus has also essentialy relegated Reddick to the bench with his superb bench play; he alone outscored Cleveland's bench in the Eastern Conference finals.  

At least Reddick has played in 12 games and has started in 8 of those games.  Morrison, a number 3 pick, is not even on the LA Lakers active roster.  Shannon Brown, what was thought to be a throw in in the Radmonovic for Morrison deal with the Bobcats has been a pleasant surprise to the LA Lakers and has really helped their depth in the point guard position.  Brown's dunk over the Chris "Birdman" Anderson catapulted a comeback  

Morrison's biggest mark on the team has been in practive but not in a positive way.  Morrison fought with fellow teammated Sasha Vujajic in practice as described in the story below.

Vujacic and Morrison were guarding each other in the Lakers’ 4-on-4 halfcourt practice, and Morrison loudly and angrily told Vujacic that he was sick of Vujacic’s grabs and elbows. Vujacic argued that Morrison was the one who initiated the problem by wrongly using his knee. The two argued for several minutes despite teammates and coaches trying to intervene, and when play resumed the two continued to go at each other with Morrison grabbing Vujacic’s jersey and the arguments sparking anew several times later.

* * *

Sitting on the baseline, Kobe Bryant was smiling. “I wasn’t even going to move,” he said later. “A lot of meowing going on out there. The claws coming out.”

http://www.insidehoops.com/blog/?p=4244

Morrison had a reputation for being soft even when he came into the NBA.  He famously started to cry when his team was eliminated in 2006 NCAA tournament.  Here is how NBA Live chose to market him when Morrison was a rookie.

'And when I get to the NBA, more people will cry'

It will be interesting to see which former college super star can luck out and piggy-back on his team success and get that NBA ring.  

ESPN Experts Jinx?

The so called experts at ESPN have mostly picked the LA Lakers to defeat the Orlando Magic as shown below. 

However let's look at what the experts have said in the past.  Here's what the experts predicted in the Eastern Conference Finals.

To top it off, here are ESPN experts' picks for the NBA Finals in 2008 where the Boston Celtics prevailed in 6 games against the LA Lakers.

So even if the Lakers are the favorites, the game still has to played on the court and if Orlando has to like their chances.

Obama dooms Magic?

President Barack Obama has picked the LA Lakers in 6 games to beat the Orlando Magic in 6 games.  This could scare some Magic fans since Obama correctly picked the NCAA Men’s Basketball winner earlier this Spring.   This shouldn’t be shocking news considering that Obama proclaimed Kobe Bryant as the best player nearly a year ago. 

 

But maybe Obama, like most experts is underrating the Magic.  After all, Dwight Howard and company just pulled off an upset against LeBron James and the Cavaliers.  Howard has been overlooked all season long over more star powered perimeter players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwayne Wade.  It will also be up to the rest of Magic starting five and bench to continue to play solid offensively with their point shooting and solid defense.  I'm picking the Magic to win especially if they get all star point guard Jameer Nelson back.