A Phinsider Scouting Report: A Look at This Week's Matchup Against the Washington Redskins

For the past couple of weeks I've been reading a book called "Take Your Eye Off the Ball." The first chapter dealt with how coaches game plan for an upcoming matchup. As I read, the author started mentioning something about a scouting report that certain coaches do for game planning. I was pretty interested by what it had to say and so I decided to try to make my own scouting report for this week's game against the Washington Redskins.

What you will see after the jump are all of the offensive drives the Redskins had against the San Francisco 49ers last week grouped separately by the quarter each drive was played in. These drives will give you a sense of what to expect when Washington comes to town and how the Dolphins should prepare for it. With all that being said, here's a look at this week's scouting report.

Down And Distance	Field Position	Play
1st and 10	WSH 20	Helu 16-yd run
1st and 10	WSH 36	Helu 2-yd run
2nd and 8	WSH 28	Helu 2-yd run
3rd and 6	WSH 40	J. Beck inc. short middle
2nd DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 20	Helu 4-yd run
2nd and 6	WSH 24	J. Beck short pass to Helu for 2 yards
3nd and 4	WSH 26	J. Beck inc. to Helu
3rd DRIVE (After Penalty)
1st and 10	WSH 8	Helu 2-yd run
2nd and 8	WSH 10	J. Beck complete 12-yard gain to Willis
1st and 10	WSH 22	Helu 3-yd run
2nd and 7	WSH 25	Helu 6-yd gain
2nd and 2 (Offside Penalty)	WSH 30	J. Beck complete to Hankerson 8-yd gain
1st and 10	WSH 38	Helu no gain
2nd and 10	WSH 38	J. Beck pass intercepted

First of all, let me explain what this massive chart is and what I’m using it for. It’s basically a table breaking down each drive the Redskins had in the 1^st quarter against the San Francisco 49ers. "AlejandroN, I know what it is, I can see it on ESPN, what’s the point?" Well, in order for coaches and players to game plan, they have to watch film and study their opponents previous games to get some knowledge on how they play and what plays were called. So basically, this chart will show us what the Redskins offense usually looks like at the beginning of games, and as we go further into the article, we’ll examine how the ‘Skins tend to look like as their games progress.

The first chart above shows all 3 beginning drives the Redskins had starting off the game last Sunday. As you can see, on "1^st and 10" the Redskins ran the ball 100% of the time in the 1^st quarter. You can almost conclude with absolute certainty that on "1^st and 10" situations (depending on the time left on the clock) Sparano will most likely game-plan for Roy Helu running the ball all the time. It would be wise for Sparano to shift to a 4-3 scheme during these kinds of situations in order to efficiently stop the run, much like the 49ers did.

On 2^nd down, Washington threw the ball 66% of the time, however Helue was still given a sufficient amount of touches. Here it would be wise for Miami to game-plan a shallower zone-type coverage; preventing short passes down the middle, but still being able to prepare for the run. Now let’s move on to the 2nd quarter.

2nd Quarter

Down and Distance	Field Position	Play
4tht DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 21	Helu 11-yd run
1st and 10	WSH 32	J. Beck complete Helu 3 yards
2nd and 7	WSH 35	J. Beck inc. short middle
3rd and 7	WSH 35	J. Beck complete Gaffney 12 yards
1st and 10	WSH 47	Torain 2-yard run
2nd and 8	WSH 49	J. Beck inc. short middle
3rd and 23 (AFTER PENALTY)	WSH 34	J. Beck complete to Helu for 8 yards
5th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 9	Helu no gain
2nd and 10	WSH 9	J. Beck 2-yard scramble
3rd and 8	WSH 11	J. Beck inc. deep middle
6th Drive (1:50 remaining)
1st and 15	WSH 14	J. Beck 3-yard scramble
2nd and 12	WSH 17	J. Beck complete, later fumbled
7th DRIVE (1:03 remaining)
1st and 10	WSH 27	J. Beck inc. short right
2nd and 10	WSH 27	J. Beck complete for 13 yards
1st and 10	WSH 40	J. beck complete for 8 yards
2nd and 2	WSH 48	J. Beck complete for 11 yards
1st and 10, 2nd and 10	WSH 41	J. Beck incomplete

END OF HALF, SF:13 WSH: 3

In the 2^nd quarter, Mike Shanahan seemingly sticks with his regular game plan from before leaving minimal room for change. Although the Redskins ran the ball 50% of the time in the 2^nd quarter, three of the passes thrown were with less than one minute remaining on the clock and with Washington running the 2-minute drill. Sparano should stick with his run-stop personnel on 1^st downs due to the fact that with more than one minute remaining, Washington ran the ball 10/11 times, showing no element of surprise or balance whatsoever.

On 2^nd downs the inconsistency and lack of balance between the run and pass was very relevant as 100% of the 2^nd down plays were an intended pass. In this case, Sparano may want to send out his "nickel package," making it easier to stop the pass. He should carry this on to the 3^rd down situations as well, mainly because Washington threw it 100% of the time as well.

If Miami plays half as good on defense against the Redskins than they did against the Chiefs in the 1^st half last week they should have no difficulty with this predictable Washington team.

3rd Quarter

Down and Distance	Field Position	Play
8th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 20	J. Beck sack
2nd and 13	WSH 17	Helu 1-yard run
3rd and 12	WSH 18	J. Beck complete for 8 yards
9th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 19	J. Beck 4-yard scramble
2nd and 6	WSH 23	J. Beck inc. short-middle
3rd and 6	WSH 23	j. Beck short pass complete for 12 yards
1st and 10	WSH 35	J. Beck inc. deep middle
2nd and 10	WSH 35	J. Beck complete for 7 yards
3rd and 3	WSH 42	J. Beck screen for 17 yards
1st and 10	SF 41	Torain (-4) yard gain
1st and 25 (After Penalty)	WSH 44	J. Beck complete for 8 yards
2nd and 17	SF 48	J. Beck complete for no gain

You can notice after the first drive that Shanahan’s half-time adjustment was to shift to a passing gamell. There were "0" runs on 1^st and 10 situations this quarter after running the ball 90% of the time in the previous two quarters. The Redskins completely flipped the game plan around by throwing the ball 83% of the time, probably because of the score and the fact that the run game was just not being efficientt.

So, the key to this happening on Sunday is for Miami to shut down Roy Helu and Ryan Torrain in the 1^st half and forcing John Beck to make throws in the second half. Let’s take a look at the final quarter.

4th Quarter

9th DRIVE CONTINUED
3rd and 17	SF 48	J. Beck screen for 15 yards
4th and 2	SF 33	J. Beck inc. short right
10th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 24	J. Beck complete for 10 yards…then fumbled
11th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 44	J. Beck complete short-middle for 6 yards
2nd and 4	At 50	J. Beck complete for 7 yards
1st and 10	SF 43	J. Beck complete for 6 yards
2nd and 4	SF 37	J. Beck inc. short middle
3rd and 4	SF 37	J. Beck inc. short middle
4th and 4	SF 37	J. Beck inc. short right
12th DRIVE
1st and 10	WSH 28	J. Beck complete for 16 yards
1st and 10	WSH 44	J. Beck complete 7 yards
2nd and 3	SF 49	J. Beck inc. short middle
3rd and 3	SF 49	J. Beck complete for 4 yards
1st and 10	SF 45	J. Beck complete for 7 yards
1st and 10	SF 34	J. Beck complete for 3 yards
2nd and 7	SF 31	J. Beck complete for 12 yards
1st and 10	SF 19	J. Beck 0-yard scramble
2nd and 10	SF 19	J. Beck complete 9 yards
3rd and 1	SF 10	J. Beck complete for 1 yard
1st and Goal	SF 9	J. Beck TOUCHDOWN for 9 yards

FINAL SCORE: SF: 19 WSH: 11

It’s obviously demonstrated that it was 4^th quarter desperation time in Washington. Unfortunately for the Redskins, the only good drive they had was when all hope was already lost. The Redskins threw the ball 100% of the time in the 4^th quarter and were able to matriculate the ball down the field for a last minute score.

Shanahan’s game plan was exploited throughout the game. He had a run-first 1^st half and a pass 1^st desperation-time 2^nd half. After the big win in Kansas City, the Dolphins have a lot of momentum coming into this week (even for a 1-7 team). This game on Sunday is a very winnable game; Washington does not yet trust in "The Mormon" and will continue being a run first team until it gets to hurry-up mode, where they are still not very efficient. The key to the game is to score efficiently in the 1^st half while stopping the Washington run and then force them to throw the ball in "hurry-up" mode the in 2^nd half.

P.S: This is my first scouting report, and it might seem a little sloppy so bare with me. If you have anything that you would like me to post on an up-coming post, please just let me know. Thanks guys.