Commanders rediscover successful run game formula vs Dolphins

Looking at how the Commanders went back to the run game success from earlier in the season against the Dolphins on Sunday

The Washington Commanders lost their way with the run game in recent weeks. The team started off the season on fire and were the top rushing team in the league at the start of the season. They still currently rank sixth in the NFL with an average of 138.5 rushing yards per game, and by pure total rushing yards alone, they’re still top of the league with 1524 yards on the ground. However, 455 of those yards come from quarterback runs and a decent chunk of that is scrambling yards rather than designed runs.

In reality, they’ve fallen off a bit over the course of this six game losing streak. Now part of that is down to opportunity, with the Commanders defense struggling to stop much, the team was often playing from behind which leads to more passing to try and catch up. But there have been other issues too. They got away from a formula that worked so well for them at the start of the year. When they were dominating teams up front early in the year, they often used a sixth offensive lineman in a jumbo package to overpower defenses. They also employed a healthy running back rotation with Chris Rodriguez Jr. being the lead back and rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt being an explosive change of pace back.

They got excited about Croskey-Merritt’s explosiveness and gradually gave him more carries, but he struggled to make quite the same impact with that extra workload. They also went away from the sixth offensive lineman strategy that had worked so well for them. Against the Dolphins on Sunday, however, they corrected both of those mistakes and it led to a much improved rushing attack. Chris Rodriguez led the team with 79 yards on 15 carries at a very healthy average of 5.3 yards per carry. Leaning on him early in the game is what got the offense going.

Here we have the Commanders first run of the game. They work out of 12 personnel, with one running back and two tight ends. They call an inside zone scheme with tight end John Bates sifting back across the line to block the edge defender on the right side of the line. The Commanders get some solid blocks up front, highlighted by the right side of the line. Right guard Sam Cosmi and right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. work in combination on a defensive tackle. Cosmi absorbs the initial contact from the defender while Conerly comes in and provides the thump to knock the defender backwards. Cosmi then peels off to try and work up to the linebacker while Conerly pins the defensive tackle inside.

Meanwhile, Bates sifts across to kick out the edge defender and Zach Ertz does just enough to get in the way of the linebacker and seal him outside. The combination of Conerly and Cosmi sealing off the inside and Bates and Ertz kicking out on the edge creates a lane for Rodriguez to work with. At the snap, Rodriguez takes his run to the left side of the line, as designed. He presses the run to that side for as long as possible, trying to get the linebackers to commit to that side. He then cuts his run back and finds that lane created on the right side. He bursts through the hole and fights through contact to drag himself forward for a seven-yard gain.

Rodriguez had another nice run on an inside zone scheme on the Commanders next drive.

This time, the Commanders are down in the red zone and work out of 11 personnel instead of 12. That means there’s one less tight end on the field to block for Rodriguez, but it also means there’s lighter bodies on the field defensively. The Commanders call another inside zone scheme and this time, Rodriguez hits it differently. As he takes the hand off inside, he immediately looks to get on the natural inside zone track from the shotgun. That would be to attack the A gap to the left of the center and then work back towards the right side of the line from there.

However, Rodriguez reads the linebacker filling inside to play for that cut back. Instead, Rodriguez opts to bounce his run to the left and finds a lane between left guard Chris Paul and left tackle Laremy Tunsil. He bursts through the hole and runs with that same violence to fight thought contact and fall forward, picking up another seven yards on the carry.

After getting the run game going through Rodriguez early, the Commanders began to lean on it more, getting back into a package that worked so well for them at the start of the season. The Commanders used Brandon Coleman as a sixth offensive lineman in a few different jumbo packages. Earlier in the year, Trent Scott played this role and did it well, but Scott was inactive for this game so Coleman had to step up. Coleman did step up and the offense saw some similar results to the success they had with this package earlier in the season.