Washington-Packers Q&A: How Green Bay can exploit Washington’s weaknesses

On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers return to Lambeau Field to take on Washington. Andrew York of Hogs Haven kindly volunteered to answer our questions about the Washington and provide some insight into their strengths and weaknesses.

APC: If you had to game plan against Washington, how would you attack the team on offense? On defense?

Attacking the offense, I’d use lots of disguised coverages to take advantage of the rookie QB’s inexperience. The Jets had a lot of success with this, showing blitz, then dropping back and only rushing four. I actually wouldn’t blitz too often, as Haskins has proven surprisingly elusive in the pocket. I’d also stack the box, as the Redskins offense clearly goes through the running game. And I’d double team rookie WR Terry McLaurin, who has 4.3 speed, is a polished route runner, and is looking like one of the steals of the draft. He’s our biggest passing game threat by far, as well as our only real deep threat.

Attacking the defense, I’d run a lot of play action to take advantage of the aggressiveness of our young defensive line and linebackers. I’d focus on quick passes to running backs and tight ends to exploit how terrible our linebackers are in coverage (and also to mitigate our ability to rush the passer). I’d avoid runs up the middle, as our IDL are pretty stout. I’d also focus on throwing to the slot WR, as our coverage in the slot has been very inconsistent.

We’d like to thank Andrew. Be sure to check out the rest of our Q&A session with Hogs Haven over the course of the week as well as our Q&A session over there. As always, keep your internet machines tuned to Acme Packing Company this Sunday for our comprehensive game-day coverage of Washington versus Green Bay.