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Washington Football Team: Gregg Williams’ zero blitz reminiscent of Jim Haslett

By Jonathan Eig

New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams pictured on the field at MetLife Stadium before the Jets' disappointing loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020.Nyj Vs Lav
New York Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams pictured on the field at MetLife Stadium before the Jets' disappointing loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020.Nyj Vs Lav /
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LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 20: Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys passes against the Washington Football Team at FedEx Field on November 20, 2011 in Landover, Maryland. The Cowboys won 27-24. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – NOVEMBER 20: Tony Romo #9 of the Dallas Cowboys passes against the Washington Football Team at FedEx Field on November 20, 2011 in Landover, Maryland. The Cowboys won 27-24. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

Jim Haslett’s zero blitz

Dallas had the ball, but another botched snap left them with a 3rd and 21 on their own 30. There were 140 seconds left in the game.

Conventional wisdom would call for a soft zone. Perhaps a three-man rush with eight defenders. Keep the receivers in front of you. Break on the ball and tackle them short of the line to gain. Maybe clog up the passing lanes and prevent any completion at all.

Or perhaps you do send pressure. Maybe a fifth pass rusher to force a quick, short throw. That still leaves six defenders in coverage.

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But that’s not what WFT defensive coordinator Jim Haslett chose to do. Haslett called the same play that Williams called. A zero blitz. Eight men rush the passer. Three are left alone to match up one on one in the secondary. They shouldn’t have to cover very long because an eight-man rush ought to put immediate pressure on the quarterback.

But there are some quarterbacks – such as Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes – who routinely beat that kind of pass rush. And Tony Romo was one of those quarterbacks.

Washington sent eight, but three of them – tackles Barry Cofield and Steven Bowen, along with linebacker Rocky McIntosh, essentially stayed at the line, tying up the three central Cowboy linemen. That left five Washington defenders against four Cowboy blockers.

On the right side of Washington’s defense, edge rusher Brian Orakpo and safety LaRon Landry were coming. On the left side, it was edge Ryan Kerrigan and safety O.J. Atogwe. Each was blocked. That left linebacker London Fletcher free.

But Romo knew this. Fletcher was coming from his left, so Romo slid his protection to the right and rolled out behind them, away from Fletcher. Fletcher was a great player for Washington. But he was not especially fast. And Romo didn’t merely roll to his right. He ran backward also. Fletcher had to cover a lot of distance to reach him.

Fletcher came up about two steps short. None of the one-on-one rushers could beat their blockers. Romo ended up buying enough time to heave the ball deep downfield to where Dez Bryant had gained a step on DeAngelo Hall on an in-route. Unlike the Jets/Raiders situation, Bryant didn’t have to get behind Hall. He just had to get 21 yards. He ended up with 30.

A facemask call on Hall put Dallas on Washington’s 25. From there, Bailey would kick his sixth and final field goal, and Dallas would win 18-16.

Washington would win the following week, then go into a dive that saw them lose 10 of their final 12 games.

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