Game planning for Roddy and Julio...

[takethecake]

Everyone agrees we've struggled against the pass this year so far, and this Sunday the redskins take on one of the best (if not THE best) aerial attack in the league. Teams playing the falcons have tended to fall into a "pick your poison" dilemma; doubling Julio Jones doesn't account enough for Roddy White, and you definitely still have to take Tony Gonzalez and both RBs into consideration, both as a runner and out of the backfield.

Jim Haslett has come under fire early this season, and many would argue he just isn't going to be able to do anything to stop Atlanta through the air this week. Rather than prematurely marking him for failure, is it possible for Haslett to figure out a way to mitigate the falcons' scoring ability? What does he need to do to be successful, and are there ways he could show signs of improvement even if/when the defense surrenders 20+ points?

[Kindoy]

Our best defense has to be a good offense in my mind. Long drives by RG3 & co. keeping Matt Ryan off the field and out of sync kind of like we did with Brees & the Saints early on in that game.

When our D is on the field, we can't stop them - just have to contain them. No big plays. I just hope our offense can score 35+ points.

[SmootSmack]

They need to apply more pressure from the front 7, particularly up the middle. And they need Cedric healthy

[imaskin4life]

Be unpredictable - mix it up.

Limit the big play by having two safeties deep.

Expect them to target madieu williams' side since he is the one who has been out of position the most on tape.

Relax if we dont get to the QB as much as we want to - dont overcompensate TOO much by sending the house just to get a sack - the risk and probability of getting beat is too high when we put our corners on an island.

There may be times when we have to give up the 5 yard pass because we take away the deep play. If so, tighten up in the red zone and hold them to 3.

[The Goat]

Great thread.

I'd make them compete on our terms, not theirs. Cobra package is our base defense to start with a DB and safety each on Roddy and Julio. The third DB/safety either covers the slot or roams behind the LBs, keying on Turner or hiding a blitz. This is our best shot if Merriweather is healthy. If you have to put Doughty on the fied, just take another swig of that good Irish whiskey, and think about the off-season.

[REDSKINS4ever]

I'm very concerned about the duo of Julio Jones and Roddy White. They both think they are the best wide receiver tandem in the NFL right now. DeAngelo Hall, as we well know, doesn't do well in coverage against the NFL's elite receivers. If he did, he'd be having a HOF career like Darrell Green had. Josh Wilson on the other hand hasn't played as well as he played towards the end of last season. This could very well be the game where the Redskins secondary begin to play much better than they had been playing. Still, they haven't been able to shut any receivers down through the first four weeks of the season. I really don't expect a shut down performance. I am however expecting and hoping that Hall and Wilson limit Atlanta's passing game with solid coverage all game.

[SFREDSKIN]

Skins will win in a high scoring affair. No different than playing NO with Drew Brees, Colston, Graham, etc.

[CultBrennan59]

This basically is the game itself. Julios coming off a bad week. But he is going to be better than Roddy White when his career is over. Roddy is doing consistently great. We need to man them up, play a lot of cover 2 and cover 3 over top, because don't forget, they have Tony Gonzalez. I expect Wilson on Roddy and Hall on Julio. I expect a huge day for julio similar to AJs. I expect Roddy to be a factor, but not in a catches way. More so of drawing coverage away from julio and Tony. I expect Michael Turner to get some big runs because of us playing the pass more.

I expect this game to be close, because like I said, we bring our A game against the great teams. I can see us getting to Matt Ryan causing some turnovers. But also remember that the falcons are playing great ALL around offense, not just one guy, they all are great. Defensively its going to be fun seeing Robert making huge plays against a great defense.

[VegasSkinsFan]

I think our best chance is to pull a LT and send some hookers to their hotel room.

Honestly though, it's not about stopping them as much as it is about limiting the damage they can do to us. No stupid PI calls,don't let them get huge rac numbers, and hopefully get to Ryan enough to force some turnovers. He will take chances, need to make sure those chances end up as 1st downs for us.

[That Guy]

unless we kneecap some people, i think this is going to be a long day.

[Bucket]

The biggest matchup of the game will be.....

L. Fletcher vs T. Gonzalez

[mooby]

I might be the only person who wants this to happen, but I hope we get into a massive shootout, and both Julio/Roddy have huge games. Hopefully we still win, but both of them are starters on my fantasy team, so I wouldn't be too upset if Haslett failed to stop them this week.

[Monksdown]

Gameplanning against an offense like this is similar to gameplanning against the Saints offense. You need to keep them off the field. Atlanta is 4th worst in the league, allowing 146.2 rushing yards per game. Their pass defense has only allowed just over 205 yards per game. If you want to stop Atlanta, keep doing what we're doing, leading the league in rushing(175.5 yard/game). Control the clock and convert third downs. We're currently third in the league in t.o.p. at a 33:09 avg per game clip.

They'll get theirs, we just need to mitigate our exposure to their receivers..

[takethecake]

Gonzalez is quietly having a very good year so far, so I agree that Fletcher will need to bring his A game. I'm having a hard time remembering if/how the chargers or broncos were able to generate pressure on Ryan, but just watching red zone last Sunday I was impressed how Charles Johnson seemed to always be in the backfield harassing the qb. Do they have issues at the RT position that we could exploit? Turnovers and limiting the big play seem like the keys so far

[Lotus]

We need to play Williams a step deeper to try to stop the big play.

Otherwise stopping the Falcons receivers begins up front. We need Matty Ice on his back all day long. The way to stop White and Jones is to keep the ball from coming out to begin with.