One of the more interesting comments from Martin Mayhew and Ron Rivera’s season-ending press conference Tuesday concerned the team’s run/pass ratio.
In discussing Washington’s offense early in the season, he talked about the lack of a running game. Here’s what Mayhew said.
“Didn’t have B-Rob [Brian Robinson Jr.],” Mayhew said. “Didn’t have the run game going the way that, that we wanted it going. We were two to one pass run, which is not our formula.”
Fair enough. The Commanders did struggle to run the football early in the season but seemed to find their stride around Week 7 in a win over the Green Bay Packers.
In Washington’s Week 18 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Commanders passed the ball 19 times and ran the ball 41 times. That’s two-to-one going in the other direction, which is what Mayhew wants to see.
“As you saw this last game, we were two to one run pass, for every time that we threw the ball, we ran the ball twice,” Mayhew said. “That’s how we want to play. We weren’t able to play that way early in the season with Carson.”
First of all, you didn’t trade for Carson Wentz for him to hand the ball off 40 times a game. You traded for him to take advantage of your outstanding skill position talent, specifically at wide receiver. It didn’t work. It’s ok, you tried your hand at playing modern football, but you swung and missed. That doesn’t mean you quit trying.
And you wonder why the Commanders play in so many 17-16 games that come down to the last minute? It’s this specific mindset. You can be a physical, tough team and successfully move the football through the air. This isn’t the NFC East of the 1980s with Joe Gibbs, Bill Parcells and Buddy Ryan on the sidelines.
As far as Sunday’s win over the Cowboys, you can’t play 17 games each season running the ball twice as much as you throw it. It’s impossible. Some weeks, the running game will struggle. Against some opponents, you’ll need the passing game to open up the running game.
Mayhew said this on the same day that the Commanders fired offensive coordinator Scott Turner. Turner had his issues at times, but he certainly understood the need to have a quality passing offense.
This mindset is concerning. Rivera is heading into his fourth season in 2023, needing a new offensive coordinator. There is also the prospect of a new owner soon. Could you find a quality candidate in such a situation?
All eyes are on Rivera to make a quality hire, but it will be interesting to see the background of Washington’s new hire.
