Those two games from last season give us some clues as to how Sunday’s matchup could unfold, particularly as it pertains to the Washington passing game going against Philadelphia’s passing defense. Last season saw the Eagles use man-to-man coverage almost exclusively, and while they might try to disguise a few different looks and play zone, the addition of cornerback Ronald Darby and development of second-year corner Jalen Mills indicate we should see mostly man coverage from Philly on Sunday. The Eagles will look to lock down the Redskins’ receivers and send extra rushers to pressure quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Schematically, the Redskins should be able to beat those coverages, but without Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson, pressure will be on Terrelle Pryor Sr. and Josh Doctson to step up and execute those schemes. Here are four play types to be watching for on Sunday:

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Wheel routes

With the Redskins’ array of weapons on offense last season, they had no trouble finding ways to beat the heavy man coverage they saw. The use of the wheel route was particularly effective.

Against man coverage, offenses will tend to try to create traffic for defenders. On this play, the Redskins do exactly that. With three receivers to the left, the outside two receivers run slant routes while Jamison Crowder runs a wheel route from the slot.

Despite Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins playing off the line of scrimmage, the play is still effective. Jenkins is able to avoid the traffic created by the slant from Ryan Grant, but on the outside, Pierre Garcon causes him an issue. Garcon cleverly stutters his release before working inside, giving Crowder time to work outside the numbers and run around him. Jenkins gets caught up by Garcon’s route and Crowder runs wide open for an easy touchdown.

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The wheel route hasn’t been lost from the Redskins’ playbook with the departure of former offensive coordinator Sean McVay, either. In the preseason, the Redskins used the wheel route regularly.

Against the Packers, Washington uses a simple smash-wheel combination. The receiver on the outside breaks inside to take his defender with him and creates space for running back Chris Thompson on the wheel route out of the backfield. Cousins makes a nice throw as the ball drops in over Thompson’s shoulder for a big gain.

Given how much success the wheel route has brought the Redskins, particularly against the Eagles, expect Philadelphia to be prepared for it. They might try to throw in some zone coverages that should negate the effectiveness of wheel routes. However, the Redskins could be prepared for that. During the preseason game against the Bengals, Washington scored a touchdown using the wheel route as a decoy.

The Redskins align in a trips left set, with two receivers and tight end Derek Carrier to the left and one receiver to the right. At first, they appear to be running a basic slant-flat route combination, with Carrier spotting up in the middle of the field. However, those flat routes actually turn into wheel routes and Carrier fakes spotting up before pivoting back outside.

The design of the play isolates Carrier on a linebacker in the middle of the field, while other underneath coverage defenders are drawn away from that matchup. The slant routes force the corners to work inside with them, meaning the underneath coverage defenders have to follow the wheel routes as they break up the field. This creates a big area of space for Carrier to work with.

Vertical routes

The wheel route isn’t the only way the Redskins can beat man coverage, and they used multiple different concepts to get the better of the Eagles last season.

With the Eagles’ tendency to leave just one safety deep, the Redskins could look to exploit him with a sluggo-seam concept as they did last season. Here they catch the Eagles bluffing a two-deep safety look that rotates to single-high post-snap. To the right, Garcon runs a double move — this can be a slant-and-go (sluggo) or a stutter-go, like he does here — while Crowder runs up the seam from the slot to the left.

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Cousins immediately looks to Garcon and uses a pump fake to that side. That forces free safety Rodney McLeod to freeze as he rotates back to the middle of the field. This buys Cousins time to reset and work back to Crowder on the seam route. Crowder runs past the slot corner and makes the catch before the safety can recover from biting on the fake.

Underneath routes

Not all man coverage beaters have to be long throws down the sideline or up the seam. The Redskins also used some underneath concepts designed to beat man coverage.

This concept is a quick post. Two receivers stack together on one side of the field, with one driving across the middle of the field to open up space for a quick slant or post route to follow behind him.

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Crowder runs the shallow cross, taking his defender inside and grabbing the attention of any linebackers dropping into coverage underneath. Meanwhile, Garcon takes an outside release to widen his defender before cutting back inside sharply. He’s wide open for an easy throw that allows him to pick up extra yards after the catch before the deep safety manages to close the gap and make the tackle.

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Running back screens

One final concept to keep and eye out for is screens to the running back. Before becoming the Redskins head coach, Jay Gruden frequently used screens to the backs in Cincinnati, where he was offensive coordinator. The screen game was rarely used in Washington when offensive coordinator Sean McVay, now the Rams head coach, was calling the plays, but with Gruden now in charge of play-calling duties, expect plenty of screen passes to running backs, which are particularly effective against man coverage.

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We saw one of these screens during the preseason against the Bengals. Washington uses lots of decoys, sifting a tight end back across the line of scrimmage and having Ryan Grant fake an end around. This is all to grab the attention of the linebackers and distract them from the offensive line working out to block the screen. Running back Chris Thompson leaks out to the flat and receives the pass with blockers ahead of him. Guards Shawn Lauvao and Brandon Scherff, along with rookie center Chase Roullier, all make key blocks that get Thompson into the open field for a big gain.