What to expect from the Commanders’ passing game this season

Breaking down what we learned during preseason and what to expect as we enter the regular season

The regular season is finally here! It’s officially the opening week of the regular season as the Washington Commanders shift from wrapping up preseason into preparing for their first game against the Arizona Cardinals. There’s still a lot of questions to be answered with this offense as we enter the regular season, like what exactly can we expect from Eric Bieniemy’s offense? How will quarterback Sam Howell fare? Will the offensive line hold up?

Those are still fair questions to ask until we see the Commanders in action in a meaningful game. However, we did get some hints as to what to expect during the preseason. So here’s my breakdown of what I think we can expect to see from the Commanders passing attack based on what we learned during preseason. 

Quick Game Passing

We’ve heard Ron Rivera and Eric Bieniemy all offseason talk about how they want to see Sam Howell get the ball out of his hands quickly and into the hands of the various playmakers Washington has at the skill positions. In preseason, we saw the Commanders lean into that with various quick game concepts that saw Howell making sharp decisions and being efficient with the football. 

This play is a good example of one of those quick game concepts. To the left of the formation, the Commanders have two receivers running what's known as the Omaha concept. The slot receiver runs a stick route and the outside receiver runs a speed out. On the other side of the formation, the Commanders have two tight ends, Cole Turner and John Bates, running a basic stick concept. Turner aligns outside of Bates but works inside off the snap to generate a natural pick. Bates works out to the flat to force the defense to cover the width of the field, creating horizontal space for Turner to break into and sit down on his stick route. 

This is a very simple read for Howell where he can pick a side based on the coverage he’s expecting to get, secure the snap and almost instantly get rid of the ball. On this occasion, the snap is a little low which delays Howell slightly, but he does a nice job adjusting to the snap and speeding up to get back on time. He spots the edge defender peeling off with Bates to the flat while the outside corner to that side maintains his depth, leaving space for Turner on the stick route. Howell immediately pulls the trigger and finds Turner for a quick eight yard gain.

The quick game is something I think we’ll see a lot of from the Commanders this season as it suits Sam Howell’s game and it enables Washington to get the most out of their playmakers at the receiver position while also helping protect the offensive line that perhaps lacks elite talent. But you can’t live on quick game alone. 

Pre-Snap Motion, Split Field Reads

Something Eric Bieniemy’s offenses did lots of in Kansas City was pre-snap motion. We’ve seen offenses in Washington use pre-snap motion plenty before, but a lot of that was receivers motioning across the formation to change the numbers on each side of the field. Bieniemy uses motion a little differently. He’ll often align a tight end or even running back outside before motioning them back into a more traditional alignment in order to give the quarterback as much pre-snap information as possible. 

Here we have a good example from preseason of how Bieniemy likes to use motion to try and give his quarterback information about the defense. Running back Brian Robinson begins this play aligned outside wide receiver Terry McLaurin in a stacked set. From this look alone, Howell can learn plenty about the defense just by how they react. Now typically they’d be looking for the defense to send a linebacker or safety outside to follow the running back and indicate man coverage, or have the corner align over him to indicate zone. But here, the Ravens attempt to disguise their intentions. Nobody follows Robinson outside and the corner aligns over McLaurin instead of Robinson, giving nothing away. 

However, just before Howell brings Robinson in motion, you can see the corner shuffle closer to McLaurin and point outside to Robinson, perhaps indicating he expects someone else to take him. Once Robinson motions into the backfield, the linebacker and safety to that side shuffle inside slightly but do a good job hiding their intentions. 

The Commanders have a split field read for Howell. The left side of the formation has three receivers running a double stick concept, which is a concept designed to stretch and stress zone coverages. To the right, Howell has a dragon concept, which is a simple slant-flat combination designed to beat man coverage. From the pre-snap look and motion, Howell has to decide if he thinks its man or zone coverage and then work to the appropriate side of the field. 

From this look, it’s not necessarily clear if the Ravens intend to play man or zone coverage. However, the outside corner gave it away slightly with his alignment before Robinson went in motion. On top of that, Howell knows that as long as McLaurin forces the corner to follow him inside a bit, it’s going to be hard for the linebacker or safety to match Robinson in the flat without getting caught in traffic. 

As Howell secures the snap, he immediately looks out to the corner to check if he’s attaching to McLaurin or staying in the flat. The corner does indeed stay with McLaurin while inside, you can see how the linebacker signals to the safety behind him that Robinson is working to the flat and the safety needs to cover him. Howell knows that the safety has a very tough task of getting to the flat from deep while working around McLaurin’s route, so he immediately throws to Robinson in the flat. Robinson catches the pass and picks up the first down before the safety could even make up the ground. 

Bieniemy’s offense is all about giving the quarterback as much information as possible pre-snap in order to make things as simple as possible post-snap. As long as the quarterback is able to process all that information, the offense can run efficiently. Obviously Howell will face tougher tests as teams look to game plan for him specifically and show different blitzes and disguised coverages, but look for Bieniemy to try and help him diagnose as much as possible pre-snap with various different formations and motions. 

Traditional West Coast Offense Concepts

Another thing to expect to see a lot from this offense is plenty of traditional concepts from the west coast offense. Bieniemy comes from the Andy Reid coaching tree and Reid’s offense has sprouted from the west coast offense. I’ve written pieces this offseason breaking down various west coast concepts like Drive, Sail and Arrow, all of which we saw in preseason from the Commanders. But perhaps the one we saw most is known traditionally as Bow, but in the Reid coaching tree it’s often referred to as Tampa Bay. 

On this play, the Commanders align in a two by two formation and motion tight end in tight to the formation after starting him out wide (remember the last section about giving the quarterback information pre-snap). To the right side, the Commanders run their Bow or Tampa Bay concept. This consists of a basic cross from the tight end, an arrow route from receiver Jahan Dotson and the running back working out to the flat. 

On the left side, Terry McLaurin and Curtis Samuel both run what are called Thunder routes. Thunder is a five yard hitch route that converts into a fade against press coverage. Samuel in the slot doesn’t get press coverage, so he runs his hitch route while McLaurin on the outside is pressed, so he converts his route into a fade down the sideline. 

Off the snap, Howell looks to his left and wants to hit Samuel on his hitch route. However, the linebacker inside manages to widen out and take away the throwing window to Samuel. Howell doesn’t panic and works back across to his right with the Tampa Bay concept. As he works to his right, he spots Dotson spotting up behind a linebacker working out to the flat. He can also see that the safety inside sinks back to match the tight end on the basic cross, while the outside corner has yet to match Dotson. He shows off his quick release again and gets the ball to Dotson in a hurry, who’s then able to turn outside and try and pick up additional yards after the catch. 

Layering Concepts

Something else we’ve seen from Bieniemy this preseason is the ability to layer concepts in order to help build up a young quarterback in Sam Howell. What I mean by layering concepts is that Bieniemy will start with a basic concept that he installed early in the offseason and then build on top of that by tweaking different parts of it. That way a core feature of the concept remains familiar to the offense and especially Howell, but Bieniemy can add new layers to it in order to attack defenses differently and help Howell grow. Let’s take a look at an example. 

This play comes from the preseason opener against the Browns. It’s a simple Shallow Cross concept with a little bit of window dressing from the formation and motion. The core of the concept is run by tight end Cole Turner and receiver Jahan Dotson. Dotson in the slot to the left runs a deep hook, working to the middle of the field and then looking to sit down over the ball. This is designed to create traffic for the defenders in the middle of the field. 

The reason to create that traffic is so that Turner can use it to break free on his shallow crossing route. Against man coverage, Dotson’s route creates a natural pick that gets in the way of the defender running with Turner. Against zone coverage, Turner’s shallow cross forces zone defenders to widen to him, opening a hole in the middle of the field for Dotson to sit down in. 

That is the core part of the concept. The Commanders also have other receivers running routes, with McLaurin on a deep post that can be alerted by the quarterback against certain coverages, while Samuel runs a curl on the other side. But really the concept is designed to go to the shallow cross to Turner or the hook to Dotson. 

On this play, the Browns happen to be in man coverage and you can see how the defender running with Turner has to be careful to avoid Dotson’s route as he trails Turner. This buys Turner just a step or two, but that’s all he needs. Howell finds him with a simple throw and Turner picks up the first down. 

The Shallow Cross concept is a very basic play that every team in the league will have installed and you’ll see it every week in the NFL. What Bieniemy does well is build on top of basic concept by tweaking things slightly. 

The following week against the Ravens, we saw a reappearance of the Shallow Cross concept but with a twist. Obviously the look has changed a bit with the three receivers switching positions. This time McLaurin aligns inside and runs the deep hook instead of Dotson, who shifts outside and runs the deep post. Samuel doesn’t go in motion this time and instead aligns between Dotson and McLaurin. He runs out to the flat before bursting down the sideline on a wheel route. 

Now remember, while the look changes, the core of the concept remains the same. The Commanders still have a receiver running a deep hook and tight end Cole Turner running the shallow cross underneath. They even retain the deep post from the outside receiver. All that has really changed here is that Samuel doesn’t go in motion to run a curl route, instead he stays where he starts and runs a wheel route. But that change is enough to build another concept into the play. 

Howell now has a post-wheel combination to read as well as the basic Shallow Cross concept we’ve already seen. Off the snap, he looks to his left to read the post-wheel combination, but the Ravens cover it well with the outside corner and deep safety picking up the post route and the slot defender running with the wheel route. Howell decisively moves on and works back to that Shallow Cross concept. This time he spots the Ravens sitting in zone coverage, so he finds McLaurin sitting down in a hole between two zone defenders for another first down pick up. 

The ability to make small tweaks in order to layer concepts and help build up Howell’s confidence and knowledge of the system is smart coaching from Bieniemy and should help Howell develop quicker.