Germ Theory of Offense

Like germs, balls are passed

It always sort of amused me and freaked me out at the same time that there used to be no germs. People thought disease did not pass from one to another, that it was spontaneously generated, and that when with the plagues of the 14th century more or less confirmed the notion of communicability, people still thought, baw, no need to clean surgical tools!

Then along came a bunch of 19th century guys that put together the idea that infection was caused by moving pathogens and the best way to get rid of most of them was to...wash your hands. Suddenly mortality rates fell everywhere and 160 years later you can buy antibacterial pencils so your little angel won't bring home anything from that disgusting public school.

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So now these 21st century Redskins guys out in Ashburn are pushing this wild idea that to combat a lack of scoring is as simple as...throwing it downfield. Suddenly points will go up and the team will win more games. Is this as radical an idea as saying germs can spread?

It still amuses me that the 2006 Redskins, with a pretty miserable passing game, were able to pile up 2200 rushing yards on the year, 4th best by yards, 8th best by attempts, 8th best by average, 4th by first downs. It's not that teams kept respecting the Redskins passing game because I for one noticed in the first game that Mark Brunell was anemic, no the Redskins kept lining up in the run, and running right where you thought they were going to run and you could not stop them and then they did it again and again, that's Joe Gibbs running.

But ahh, that special feeling borne of discovering something that was always there.

To put teams away, to get to that magical 21 points (op. cit.) it also takes passing and 2006 was supposed to be about Santana Moss and Brandon Lloyd streaking down the sideline for those gratuitous 40 yards through the air completion. It didn't line up that way and Mark's arm was deader than Kurt Vonnegut. So it goes.

Now it's a year later and Jason Campbell is the man, and the team realizes a guy with a live arm will touch the ball on every play. Practice those long routes my man, get those guys in sync. The offensive line simply cannot be as good this year so the passing game will have to make a larger contribution. The running game will still grind, we just need to see a little more of the opposing defensive backs getting winded in downfield coverage and a lot more passing touchdowns. An embarrassment of them. Lordy passing TDs are like love the more you have the more you have to give.



Redskins offensive coordinator Al Saunders from here. French microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur from here.