Pass protection has been a problem for the Redskins all season long. Coach Jay Gruden hoped that a switch at quarterback to a quicker-thinking Colt McCoy over Robert Griffin III would get the ball out earlier and help take some pressure off the offensive line. But with the running game going backwards and the Redskins finding themselves in constant third-and-long situations, McCoy has to hold the ball longer to allow the deeper routes to develop. This has led to further exposure of the Redskins’ poor pass protection.

Gruden opted to bench his starting right tackle Tyler Polumbus for backup Tom Compton in the middle of the season, but Compton struggled mightily against the Rams.

St. Louis brings a five-man rush, mixing in a stunt and dropping a defensive tackle into coverage to try and confuse the Redskins’ offensive line. Compton, at right tackle, has defensive end Chris Long lined up against him, stunting inside to allow linebacker James Laurinaitis to rush in behind him.

With Long stunting inside and Laurinaitis coming in behind, Compton should be passing off Long inside to right guard Chris Chester, who is available to block him.

But Compton is slow to pass off Long inside, making him late to pick up Laurinaitis, who runs right by him.

McCoy has nowhere to go with the ball and is sacked by Laurinaitis.

That wasn’t the only sack Compton surrendered.

This time, Compton faces Long’s backup, William Hayes, who uses an inside move to beat Compton.

Hayes takes Compton up the field, getting him to overset for the speed rush before cutting back inside.

Compton has time to recover, but instead lunges at Hayes.

Chester does his best to help Compton out, but Hayes ends up getting through.

McCoy attempts to scramble, but can’t get past Hayes, who makes the sack.

Defensive tackle Aaron Donald also managed to get in between two offensive linemen and cause pressure.

On this play, Donald lines up directly over Redskins center Kory Lichtensteiger, but attacks the A gap to Lichtensteiger’s left.

Donald uses a good swim move to beat left guard Shawn Lauvao and get in between him and Lichtensteiger.

Lauvao is beaten, but Lichtensteiger does his best to try and recover the block. But Donald bursts through and forces McCoy off the spot.

McCoy does an excellent job sliding to his left to avoid Donald and buy himself enough time to offload the ball to wide receiver Andre Roberts. McCoy bails out his offensive line on this play, as that should have been a sack.

The offensive line weren’t the only players at fault for the poor protection. Running backs Roy Helu Jr. and Alfred Morris each gave up sacks.

Here, the Rams bring a safety blitz. Defensive end Robert Quinn, with his hand in the dirt, stunts inside towards left guard Lauvao while outside linebacker Alec Ogletree comes off the edge. Safety Mark Barron stunts inside between Quinn and Ogletree.

Washington has tight end Niles Paul chip Ogletree on the outside rush to help left tackle Trent Williams, leaving Helu to step up into the hole and block Barron.

Helu sets up with poor technique. He lunges at Barron and bends from the waist rather than the knees.

That allows Barron to simply take a step back outside to get past Helu.

Barron slips off Helu’s block attempt with ease and brings down McCoy for another sack.

After Helu failed, Washington went to Morris.

This time the Rams show a blitz, causing the Redskins to slide their protection to the right side of the offensive line. That forces Morris to pick up the block on the back side.

But Morris takes a poor angle, allowing defensive end Eugene Sims to work back outside of him.

Morris tries to dive to try and desperately slow down the rush, but he fails.

Sims is turned free on to McCoy as Morris is left on the ground. McCoy gets sacked yet again.

The Redskins are now up to second in the league in sacks allowed with 46 so far on the season. Only Jacksonville, with 54, has allowed more. They are also tied for third in the league with the Colts for quarterback hits surrendered, with Redskins quarterbacks taking 86 hits so far.

The quarterback play hasn’t been great for the Redskins this season, and there are some sacks that could have been avoided. But clearly, Washington’s troubles stem from more than just the quarterback. Fixing the problems on the offensive line should be high on the list of priorities for the Redskins in the offseason.

Mark Bullock is The Insider’s Outsider, sharing his Redskins impressions without the benefit of access to the team. For more, click here or here.

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