Three things the Redskins can learn from the 2020 playoffs

No. 3 – Execution is ultimately key

Execution goes hand-in-hand with flexibility, but it’s an important enough step in the process to get its own slide. The Redskins have lacked in cultural strength and flexibility over the years, but the product that gets scrutinized after the underperformance off the field is the team’s on-field execution.

Execution is ultimately the module through which teams win in the NFL. Kyle Shanahan can concoct a master game plan and utilize scripts that confound the defense, but if his team can’t execute those plans, then it’s all for naught. If Derrick Henry’s offensive line doesn’t move defenders so that he can hit open space, then that rushing attack doesn’t get very far.

It’s a simple conclusion, but it still deserves to be spoken. Execution is ultimately key, and the Redskins can learn something from the teams in the playoffs, in this regard. If your NFL team can be elite at something, anything, then you have a chance, because you have the ability to execute where the other team might not. The Titans elite running game executed. The Chiefs elite passing game executed. The Packers elite defense executed in crunch time versus Seattle. The teams who can execute in multiple phases, or be flexible, ultimately have the greatest chance of success.

Under Ron Rivera, the Redskins have a clean slate of sorts, and they also have more growth potential than they’ve had in quite some time. Rivera can establish a strong culture. He can create flexibility with his coaching staff and his personnel. And he can establish a standard of execution where past Redskins coaches have failed. It all goes hand-in-hand, and as the Redskins can learn from the playoffs, there’s no working around these areas. Teams need this to win.