Going Downfield
June 6, 2019
By Jay Evans
The Redskins offense finished 29th in points and 28th in total yards last season and the biggest reason they will improve upon those rankings is their new offensive coordinator’s desire to push the ball downfield. Relatively unknown outside of football circles, Kevin O’Connell is an up and coming coach with an impressive resume, which includes guiding quarterback Josh Johnson to victory, and is the most important “addition” to the offense this offseason.
Kevin O’Connell grew up in Carlsbad, California, and is a former two sport athlete who excelled in football and basketball and attended his hometown university at San Diego State as a quarterback. A four-year captain at SDSU, O’Connell finished his collegiate career in 2007 ranking in the top ten of most statistical categories in school history. His impressive college career culminated with the 2008 NFL draft where he was selected 94th overall by the New England Patriots.
In the ensuing years, Kevin maneuvered throughout the league immersed in the NFL’s best offenses and backing up the likes of Matthew Stafford and Philip Rivers. Following Kevin’s retirement in 2012, his own coaching career began a few years later in 2015 as the quarterbacks coach in Cleveland. After a one year stint with the 49ers, Kevin was hired by the Redskins in 2017 eight days after Sean McVay left for the Los Angeles Rams.
After McVay departed for the Rams, the offensive coordinator position was filled by Matt Cavanaugh. O’Connell spent the past two seasons as quarterbacks coach and in 2018 added passing game coordinator to his resume in 2018. At the age of 62, Cavanaugh (also a former quarterback drafted by the New England Patriots) was relegated to senior offensive assistant coach as Kevin O’Connell was promoted this offseason to offensive coordinator.
Kevin ascended through the Redskins coaching hierarchy, similar to Sean McVay, and over the past two seasons in Washington his profile grew enough that he was considered a strong candidate to land an offensive coordinator position this past offseason. As the rest of the league searched for the “next” McVay, the Redskins stopped other teams from interviewing O’Connell and officially promoted him to offensive coordinator in January.
When Jay Gruden began his first season as head coach, he was reluctant to cede play calling responsibilities, which some speculated may have been too much for the head coach, eventually relinquishing control of the offense to McVay the following season.
Jay appears to be grooming Kevin’s play calling duties and game plan development at a controlled pace, similar to that of the aforementioned McVay. Gruden withheld play calling duties from McVay during his preliminary season as the offensive coordinator in 2014 and won’t thrust too much of the responsibilities on O’Connell until he is fully prepared, which seems more likely to occur in 2020.
Understanding his role, O’Connell said to reporters after the second day of OTAs, “[c]oach Gruden’s going to call those plays, and if he ever needs a call I’ve learned really quickly to have a call ready for him. I’m always trying to develop and being around some of the coaches that I’ve got to be around as a player and a coach; it gives me that opportunity to give us every day to learn.”
Mike Jones wrote in 2015, “[t]he Redskins’ play-calling process has become an area of great interest.” Under Jay’s guidance, Kevin O’Connell, with Matt Cavanaugh and Bill Callahan, both coaches who remain from the 2015 offensive staff that featured McVay, will scheme collectively to return the Redskins to the playoffs for the first time in four years, but a clear delineation of responsibilities may not be clear.
Expect subtle changes in Kevin O’Connell’s first season as the offensive coordinator. Preparing two new quarterbacks, Case Keenum and rookie Dwayne Haskins, two rookie wide receivers and at least one rookie offensive lineman for significant production is a daunting task for any coach.
Last season Kevin received a thorough coaching tutorial in the extreme difficulties of the job. “The room I was coaching last year, I remember coaching some formations, teaching the guys what trips right and double right meant in December.”
Jay Gruden is in a pivotal career year and is therefore unlikely to lean heavily on a rookie offensive coordinator, but O’Connell’s influence could be the difference in an offense in dire need of some explosive plays. If the offense overachieves their modest expectations, it would signify growth both on the field and the sideline.
The primary difference with Kevin at the helm of the offense might be realized on first and second down play calls. The Redskins ran the ball on first down 34.29% of the time, good for eighth most in the league, a stark contrast from the pass dominant league.
O’Connell wants to make the Redskins a more dangerous team early on downs. “First and second down to me has been a goal…to get back to some explosive passes,” O’Connell said.
As the Redskin passing game coordinator last season, Kevin had the near impossible task of working with four different quarterbacks, which was a Redskins record. After the tribulations from last season, the opportunity to further his career with a potential franchise signal caller in Haskins makes the possibilities of 2019 all the sweeter.
“I’ve been really impressed with his ability to go through [quarterbacks] Coach [Tim] Rattay’s individual drills and really not waste any time out there, knowing that every moment matters.”
Kevin went on to add his early impressions of Haskins, “we’ve got to make defenses defend the entire field, not only vertically but sideline-to-sideline. [Haskins’ has] got the ability to really stretch the field,” adding Haskins ability to “throw the ball beyond the numbers,” a weapon the Redskins lacked at the end of last season.
“The spring’s a great time for teaching, but also, there’s an end game in mind in getting all these guys [prepared] to compete for the job.” referring to his new quarterbacks and offense.
The offseason has brought a number of additions to the Redskins offense and the comparisons of O’Connell to McVay are bittersweet for Redskins fans, but the most prudent move the team made was promoting another rising coach with the potential to propel the Redskins offense down the field.