The 2017 Washington Football season was a partial success. But the passing offense did not meet expectations. Can the 2018 passing game reclaim some swagger for the team?
The 2017 Washington Football team ended their season at the conclusion of the Fiesta Bowl loss to Penn State University, 35-28. That dropped the team to a 10-3 record overall, and 7-2 in the highly competitive Pac-12 conference. The team won ten games, and did so with opportunistic play on offense, and a stifling defense. We examined the team’s losses earlier. The team lost games by losing an offensive identity, letting the defense play the majority of game time on the field, and not answering back offensively in games where the defense could not carry the day.
Much of the answer lies in trusting the running game more in big games. But perhaps an even bigger answer lies in deep diving into the struggles of the Washington passing offense in 2017. While Jake Browning‘s accuracy actually improved, his passing attempts actually declined significantly. Part of the problem was the offense’s success. Washington’s ability to score quickly meant many games were decided early. And so, that usually meant Browning was pulled early too. While that helped to avoid injury, it did not allow him the opportunity to work with receivers who would eventually start.
Passing game fell apart in 2017
Compounding the matter is the fact that the team never found former-Husky wide receiver John Ross‘s replacement. Washington coaches had to manage the team’s weekly preparation despite a constant stream of injuries to key players in the receiving corps. And it showed in the statistics. Browning had a streak of 20 consecutive games with throwing at least 1 touchdown pass hard-halted at the hands of the Arizona State University Sun Devils. But they were not the only team to do so.
Browning failed to deliver a touchdown pass against UCLA as well. And once more in a critical matchup against Stanford. Then one more time in the bitter annual rivalry game against Washington State. That streak carried into the Fiesta Bowl, where Browning’s lone touchdown pass to Aaron Fuller in the third quarter with the Nittany Lions already out to a comfortable 28-14 lead in the game allowed Penn State to gamble on offense and defense.
Washington Football team injury list kept growing
The Washington receiving corps was particularly decimated with injuries in 2017. First, wide receiver Chico McClatcher dropped out on September 25 due to an ankle injury. In total, he missed ten weeks and never hauled in a score. Tight end Drew Sample lost eight weeks total, and never recorded a touchdown.
The challenge with the loss of Chico McClatcher and Drew Sample was one of continuity. After losing wide receiver John Ross, that touchdown machine, to the NFL, the plan was that everyone would pick up a little of the overall load. But after the loss of McClatcher and Sample, newcomers to the offense had to pick up that heavy load while playing for their first time (or nearly so).
Narrow at wide receiver
Wide receiver Andre Baccellia benched for five weeks, and recorded 0 TDs as well. So too, wide receiver Quiten Pounds was out for six weeks and pulled down just one touchdown. Finally, tight end Hunter Bryant missed the last five games of the season, and pulled in just one touchdown for the year.
The Arizona State game was simply the tip of an iceberg to a passing attack that was hobbled, in disarray, and too many occasions where the “Next Man Up” mantra was too often the solution and too seldom just the philosophy. When the prime targets in games become a questionmark to the fanbase, you can bet those same questions form in the mind of the quarterback. Those questions derailed the passing attack of Browning. In the first six games, Browning hurled 14 TDs in the season’s first six games. He tossed just five touchdowns in the season’s last seven games, including that Fiesta bowl game.
First pass observations about passing struggles
The first observation that jumps off the page is the lack of scoring in the second half of the season. What was the problem? Well, the initial thoughts would be the impact of attrition to injuries. And for the season, that seemed to track chronologically with the team’s lack of offensive scoring via the passing game.
For the Arizona State game, the team did not benefit from either WRs Chico McClatcher or Andre Baccellia. But the process carried over. Each week the team seemed to enter the game with one set of receivers, and exit the game with fewer and different projected starters for the following week. So that is one problem. But is there more to the story?
Blind side blindsided Browning?
One of the keys to this season, from timing of events to the sudden departure of a solid passing offense, was the loss of left tackle Trey Adams. While much is said about the exchance between a quarterback and his center, there is less follow up between a quarterback and his blind side quarterback. He fell to injury in that loss to Arizona State.
Appears to be a right knee injury for Trey Adams, UW's all-Pac-12 left tackle. This does not look good.
— Adam Jude (@A_Jude) October 15, 2017
In the aftermath, the Washington Huskies passing game was not the same for the rest of the season. So what was the underlying cause.? What about quarterback pressure? Did that play a part?
Quarterback pressures and sacks
Part of that was the surge of pass rush facing Browning. Here are the sacks breakdowns per game:
Rutgers – 1
Montana – 0
Fresno St – 1
Colorado – 0
Oregon St – 3
California – 1
Arizona St – 5
UCLA – 0
Oregon – 0
Stanford – 2
Utah – 2
Wash St – 1
Penn St – 4
The data is inconclusive from this sole consideration. While we can see plenty of pressure in the bookend games of Arizona State and Penn State, no such pressure got to quarterback Jake Browning in the UCLA and Washington State games. So there must be something more to it. Let’s go deeper.
Secondary passing targets
So let’s look at the passing game results. Passing attempts will translate the team’s commitment to the pass. And receptions by position will, indirectly, help us to understand the play outcomes. On one hand, we will view passes to wide receivers as completed to a primary target. On the other hand, if the pass aimed at a tight end, we’ll presume secondary target. And finally, If the receiver was a running back, we will interpret that as an outlet, or tertiary receiver.
Games Passes attempted WRs TEs RBs
Rutgers 30 6 4 7
Montana 28 17 6 1
Fresno St 28 16 4 5
Colorado 21 9 2 0
Oregon St 34 17 6 3
California 42 5 10 2
Arizona St 30 9 5 3
UCLA 12 4 1 4
Oregon 19 8 1 2
Stanford 23 12 3 2
Utah 35 13 3 10
Wash St 17 8 2 1
Penn St 28 11 3 5
Now that we have this broken down, what does this tell us? Well the picture is starting to come into focus. From the Oregon State game, a trend began – away from wide receivers and towards alternate receivers. It truly began to rip into the offense in the UCLA game, where a mere nine passes completions was the low point of the season.
Offensive planning
The Washington Huskies offense has far too many offensive weapons to be neutralized in any single game. Even when the passing game felt stymied, there are ways to respond which not only provides ample quarterback protection, but improves the passing accuracy to get shaken quarterbacks some of the confidence back at crucial moments of the game.
One such course of action is that quick hitch pass. In short, stack receivers to one side, and send a lone fast receiver to the other side. Fake the pass to the stack side, then pivot and turn to the lone receiver, who by this point and completed a quick hitch. If he is open, send the ball. If he is covered, go back to the stack group and read through the progressions.
Three tight-end sets
Another area of opportunity lay with the Washington roster. Last season, the team had three tight ends who could catch passes. In a stretch of three games, tight ends accounted for 21 receptions, or 43 percent of the pass receptions. That ratio dropped considerably after the Arizona State loss. The reason? More tight end staying in to help block after left tackle Adams fell to injury.
What the team did not try very often is three tight end sets, and stunt the blocking tight end to confuse the defense. That is a difficult offensive set to implement mid-season, yes. But once learned, it could pay dividends for the rest of the season. And then, as the offensive line stabilized, turn into a great run pass option formation.
Trey Adams is back
Of course, the most obvious fix to the passing game is shoring up the pass protection. And that is on track with the return of left tackle Trey Adams. With him comes wide receivers Chico McClatcher, Quinten Pounds, and Andre Baccellia. Tight end Hunter Bryant also joins in on the fun this season. That’s a great jumpstart to the offense in one paragraph. But the team must refocus on filling wide receiver roles, not just slots. And the team loses center Coleman Shelton to the NFL this year. Let’s focus on the center role first.
Early reports name sophomore Nick Harris to the center role. Harris is 6-foot-1 and weighs in at 287 pounds. He may find competition in the form of 6-foot-5 285 pound junior Matt James. But I don’t like a 6-foot-5 center in the field of vision of the quarterback, so I’ll lean towards Harris for now.
Wide open competition for wide receiver
Normally, the Washington hierarchy is to sit a rookie in his first season and slowly work him into playing with the starters. That may be the case this season, but I think the results of the 2017 season spell new tactics. And for right now, there is simply too much talent inbound with that class of 2018 to sit them for a year. And so, in my mind, the spring training is open competition for playing minutes this year.
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I think Chico McClatcher will get plenty of playing time in some wide receiver role. But I love the speed of 6-foot-3 Marquis Spiker, the route running of 6-foot-3 Austin Osborne, and the soft hands that catch everything near him of 6-foot-5 Devin Culp. One of the three will crack the starting lineup, and I can envision more than one scoring multiple touchdowns this season. In the end, that 2017 Washington Football passing game was sub-par. But there may not be much required to set it back on track. We’ll know more in the spring. But for now? There is room for some optimism.