Redskins: Five reasons to be optimistic about the Scott Turner hire
By Ian Cummings
No. 4 – Scott Turner manufactures touches
Some offensive coordinators don’t bother adding their own wrinkles of creativity, or pushing the limits of what their players can do. Some offensive coordinators don’t have the flexibility to change things up and keep the defense on their toes. Scott Turner might not be “some offensive coordinators”.
The Athletic’s Josh Norris brought up this point on Twitter after Turner was officially hired by the Redskins. In his post, Norris said: “Obviously, [Scott Turner] has learned from Norv, but added his own wrinkles since taking over as OC in Carolina, including utilizing Curtis Samuel in the backfield and manufacturing touches”.
Bingo. There’s the key, right at the end of that statement. Manufacturing touches. It’s a fancy way of saying: “Get the ball in the hands of your playmakers, by any means necessary”. Now, you can’t force-feed Steven Sims by throwing fades to him on every play. It’s more complicated than that. You have to keep the defense off-balance, while allowing your playmakers the opportunity to exploit that imbalance, find space, and use it.
We saw a little bit of this with Kevin O’Connell, who went out of his way to get the ball in Steven Sims’ hands with things like jet sweeps and diverse offensive sets. It didn’t always work due to execution, but the idea was there, and Turner can help build on it in Washington. As this Twitter thread by Pro Football Network’s Matt Valdovinos evidences, Turner is proficient at scheming up plays and using his players in diverse ways to set up progress.