The Washington Redskins are giving me gray hairs.
Literally.
There is a gray hair just above my left ear that was not there before yesterday’s game, and there is no other explanation for why it is there today. Stress causes them, or so I hear, and nothing creates more stress in my life than the professional football team that plays its home games in Landover, Maryland.
My thoughts on yesterday’s loss...
THE GOOD
The Skins played arguably their best game offensively of the 2007 season. Jason Campbell was finally given the chance to spread the passing game around and he took advantage, throwing for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns (and getting me 24+ fantasy points in the process). His fumble late in the game was costly, sure, but better protection equals more comfort in the pocket, and the offensive-line injuries sustained earlier in the year continue to haunt this team.
02. Clinton Portis has run for over 330 yards in the past 2 games and is beginning to resemble the stud that ignited the Redskins’ playoff push in 2005. He’s doing exactly what this team is asking him to do, which is to carry the load of the running game, hold on to the ball and find holes in the defense. Well done, Choo Choo.
03. I thought, as far as the defense is concerned, that Shawn Springs played a pretty solid game. Aside from an illegal contact penalty in the 4th quarter -- which gave the Eagles a new set of downs but could’ve been a bogus call -- he did a great job all day at putting himself between the ball and the receiver.
04. James Thrash, needless to say, had a great game as well, both offensively and on special teams. It hurt to see him leave the game early, but when asked to step in for the injured Santana Moss, nobody could’ve predicted he’d have the day he did. Let’s hope that high ankle sprain isn’t as serious as it could be...
THE BAD
01. I cannot believe how poorly this organization manages the clock. Seriously, it is un-flipping-believable. Let’s take a look at the second half in regards to using timeouts...
Timeout #1: The Redskins are stopped on a 3rd and 1 on the Eagles 5 yard-line with 9+ minutes to go in the third quarter. Leading 12-7, there was no reason to consider going for the touchdown when a field goal would’ve made it an 8-point game. So what’s the problem? Why could there possibly be any confusion? Shaun Suisham eventually kicked the field goal, but only after the team decided to waste its first timeout. Tom Boswell of the Post made a great point this morning – a smart team would’ve taken the delay of game penalty, tried the field goal from 28 yards instead of 23 and be done with it. On a perfect day with little wind, it should be a chip shot either way.
Timeout #2: More confusion. An offense should never have to call a timeout on first down, as far as I’m concerned, and that is exactly what happened. Campbell threw to Randle El for a 14-yard gain, set up for a new set of downs and called a timeout. WHY?! Do these guys not understand how important these timeouts become towards the end of the game? Apparently Jason Campbell was given more freedom to run the offense in no-huddle situations, so this timeout could’ve been his fault, but it doesn’t change the fact that on a first-and-10 with plenty of time left in a game that you’re leading by 2, you need to make decisions. A veteran quarterback knows this, so I’m willing to forgive JC in this case -- but holding 1 timeout with nearly 10 minutes to play in a tight game has “disaster” written all over it.
Someone I will not forgive, however, is the knucklehead that decided to challenge the Ladell Betts fumble with 8 minutes to go (I’m looking at you, Coach). Completely, 100% unacceptable. First of all, there was no doubt that it was a fumble, and since it was called one on the field, it would take an insane amount of evidence to overrule it. Second of all, it was a turnover, which means in the time it took Philadelphia’s offense to come on the field and get set up, someone upstairs could’ve watched the replay 3 or 4 times, seen that it was clearly a fumble and told Gibbs that challenging it was a bad idea. And third of all...
02. It is quite obvious that Joe Gibbs does not have a firm grasp on the importance of replay challenges, as he continues to make poor decisions. Fast forward to just under 3 minutes remaining, with the Redskins now trailing by one in their own territory. A wide, semi-deep pass to Keenan McCardell is ruled incomplete, as the receiver “bobbled” the ball while falling out of bounds. It was a close call, I’ll admit, but it sure looked to me like McCardell caught the ball. Unfortunately, the Redskins had no timeouts left -- and no timeouts equals no challenges. So a play that could’ve given Washington a first down, created some momentum and potentially saved the game was gone -- just like that. Next play: incompletion... the following: fumble. Game over. (Just for the record, I am not 100% sure that this play is challengeable -- but this is more for the sake of argument.)
03. The false start penalty on Chris Cooley on 3rd and Goal with 4-1/2 minutes remaining was obviously a bad mistake, as were the other 10 penalties that plagued this team yesterday. You know what, though? That wasn’t the worst part of that drive. The Redskins had six chances -- yes, as in one two three four five six -- to score a touchdown after getting a first down on the Philadelphia 7 yard-line. SIX! Remember the Giants game? Same exact thing. Stupid, stupid, stupid... a thousand times stupid. But not as stupid as handing the ball to Clinton Portis on 3rd and Goal from the 7. Hey, Joe Saunders, remember those previous 5 plays that didn’t work? Yeah, 4 of them were runs. Maybe, just maybe, you should’ve tried to send Cooley, McCardell, Lloyd, Randle El and Art Monk out wide and given Campbell, who was having a pretty damn good day, a chance to put the ball in someone’s gut. Or maybe you should’ve called a timeout to put together something good. Wait... what’s that? You didn’t have any timeouts left? Sorry -- I forgot.
THE UGLY
01. Please, for the love of all that is right in this world, let Sean Taylor be OK. I knew the second that play was over that something was wrong, and I held my breath as the focus was on the facemask call and not on the player on the field. Taylor’s injury was huge -- catastrophic, even -- as his presence in the backfield alters gameplans. The bomb that McNabb threw and was miraculously caught by Reggie Brown for a touchdown? I don’t think that ball would’ve been thrown, or that play even called, if #21 was back there. That hurt -- it hurt real bad.
02. I’m not sure who was responsible for the miscommunication, but I believe that’s the second time this year that a snap has hit Jason Campbell in the chest on a crucial drive late in the game. If you’re running a no-huddle, hurry-up style offense, everyone needs to be on the same page. Again, a bad mistake that a veteran likely wouldn’t make, but a professional quarterback, regardless of their experience, needs to eliminate that nonsense. Wasting one of 4 downs on the last opportunity to score is completely careless.
03. Too many men on the field? Seriously?
At 5-4 and playing in a very middle-heavy NFC, the Redskins are certainly still alive in the playoff race. It’s going to take a lot for them to get their act together, though, and it all starts with the next game.
Do the Redskins have a chance at beating Dallas on Sunday? Yes, of course they do.
Will they? I hate to say this, but no.
(Believe me, I hope they prove me wrong -- I’m just not counting on it...)
Perhaps the most frustrating part about his team is the fact that there is absolutely no consistency in any facet of the game. The defense started the season strong and has been very suspect in the past few games. The offense has been in and out of sync -- they run the ball well one week, pass it well the next, but more often than not, they sputter out of the gate and fail to capitalize when the game is handed to them.
Yesterday’s loss makes it 13 in which they’ve blown a halftime lead since Gibbs returned in 2004. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, and for that I apologize, but there seems to be no fire in the hearts of these players. Sure, they came together after the debacle in New England and ran all over the Jets, but the Jets stink.
The Washington Redskins, for all intents and purposes, could easily be 8-1 right now. Unfortunately, they could also be 2-7, as they’ve allowed even the most mediocre of teams -- i.e. Miami and Arizona -- to stay in games until the final whistle blows.
Until the entire organization -- especially those in uniform and those with headsets -- develops a killer instinct, fans of the Burgundy & Gold will have to suffer through one rollercoaster season after another, and few that will produce anything more than false hopes… false hopes that, more often than not, equate to extremely unrealistic Super Bowl expectations.
Hail.
Literally.
There is a gray hair just above my left ear that was not there before yesterday’s game, and there is no other explanation for why it is there today. Stress causes them, or so I hear, and nothing creates more stress in my life than the professional football team that plays its home games in Landover, Maryland.
My thoughts on yesterday’s loss...
THE GOOD
The Skins played arguably their best game offensively of the 2007 season. Jason Campbell was finally given the chance to spread the passing game around and he took advantage, throwing for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns (and getting me 24+ fantasy points in the process). His fumble late in the game was costly, sure, but better protection equals more comfort in the pocket, and the offensive-line injuries sustained earlier in the year continue to haunt this team.
02. Clinton Portis has run for over 330 yards in the past 2 games and is beginning to resemble the stud that ignited the Redskins’ playoff push in 2005. He’s doing exactly what this team is asking him to do, which is to carry the load of the running game, hold on to the ball and find holes in the defense. Well done, Choo Choo.
03. I thought, as far as the defense is concerned, that Shawn Springs played a pretty solid game. Aside from an illegal contact penalty in the 4th quarter -- which gave the Eagles a new set of downs but could’ve been a bogus call -- he did a great job all day at putting himself between the ball and the receiver.
04. James Thrash, needless to say, had a great game as well, both offensively and on special teams. It hurt to see him leave the game early, but when asked to step in for the injured Santana Moss, nobody could’ve predicted he’d have the day he did. Let’s hope that high ankle sprain isn’t as serious as it could be...
THE BAD
01. I cannot believe how poorly this organization manages the clock. Seriously, it is un-flipping-believable. Let’s take a look at the second half in regards to using timeouts...
Timeout #1: The Redskins are stopped on a 3rd and 1 on the Eagles 5 yard-line with 9+ minutes to go in the third quarter. Leading 12-7, there was no reason to consider going for the touchdown when a field goal would’ve made it an 8-point game. So what’s the problem? Why could there possibly be any confusion? Shaun Suisham eventually kicked the field goal, but only after the team decided to waste its first timeout. Tom Boswell of the Post made a great point this morning – a smart team would’ve taken the delay of game penalty, tried the field goal from 28 yards instead of 23 and be done with it. On a perfect day with little wind, it should be a chip shot either way.
Timeout #2: More confusion. An offense should never have to call a timeout on first down, as far as I’m concerned, and that is exactly what happened. Campbell threw to Randle El for a 14-yard gain, set up for a new set of downs and called a timeout. WHY?! Do these guys not understand how important these timeouts become towards the end of the game? Apparently Jason Campbell was given more freedom to run the offense in no-huddle situations, so this timeout could’ve been his fault, but it doesn’t change the fact that on a first-and-10 with plenty of time left in a game that you’re leading by 2, you need to make decisions. A veteran quarterback knows this, so I’m willing to forgive JC in this case -- but holding 1 timeout with nearly 10 minutes to play in a tight game has “disaster” written all over it.
Someone I will not forgive, however, is the knucklehead that decided to challenge the Ladell Betts fumble with 8 minutes to go (I’m looking at you, Coach). Completely, 100% unacceptable. First of all, there was no doubt that it was a fumble, and since it was called one on the field, it would take an insane amount of evidence to overrule it. Second of all, it was a turnover, which means in the time it took Philadelphia’s offense to come on the field and get set up, someone upstairs could’ve watched the replay 3 or 4 times, seen that it was clearly a fumble and told Gibbs that challenging it was a bad idea. And third of all...
02. It is quite obvious that Joe Gibbs does not have a firm grasp on the importance of replay challenges, as he continues to make poor decisions. Fast forward to just under 3 minutes remaining, with the Redskins now trailing by one in their own territory. A wide, semi-deep pass to Keenan McCardell is ruled incomplete, as the receiver “bobbled” the ball while falling out of bounds. It was a close call, I’ll admit, but it sure looked to me like McCardell caught the ball. Unfortunately, the Redskins had no timeouts left -- and no timeouts equals no challenges. So a play that could’ve given Washington a first down, created some momentum and potentially saved the game was gone -- just like that. Next play: incompletion... the following: fumble. Game over. (Just for the record, I am not 100% sure that this play is challengeable -- but this is more for the sake of argument.)
03. The false start penalty on Chris Cooley on 3rd and Goal with 4-1/2 minutes remaining was obviously a bad mistake, as were the other 10 penalties that plagued this team yesterday. You know what, though? That wasn’t the worst part of that drive. The Redskins had six chances -- yes, as in one two three four five six -- to score a touchdown after getting a first down on the Philadelphia 7 yard-line. SIX! Remember the Giants game? Same exact thing. Stupid, stupid, stupid... a thousand times stupid. But not as stupid as handing the ball to Clinton Portis on 3rd and Goal from the 7. Hey, Joe Saunders, remember those previous 5 plays that didn’t work? Yeah, 4 of them were runs. Maybe, just maybe, you should’ve tried to send Cooley, McCardell, Lloyd, Randle El and Art Monk out wide and given Campbell, who was having a pretty damn good day, a chance to put the ball in someone’s gut. Or maybe you should’ve called a timeout to put together something good. Wait... what’s that? You didn’t have any timeouts left? Sorry -- I forgot.
THE UGLY
01. Please, for the love of all that is right in this world, let Sean Taylor be OK. I knew the second that play was over that something was wrong, and I held my breath as the focus was on the facemask call and not on the player on the field. Taylor’s injury was huge -- catastrophic, even -- as his presence in the backfield alters gameplans. The bomb that McNabb threw and was miraculously caught by Reggie Brown for a touchdown? I don’t think that ball would’ve been thrown, or that play even called, if #21 was back there. That hurt -- it hurt real bad.
02. I’m not sure who was responsible for the miscommunication, but I believe that’s the second time this year that a snap has hit Jason Campbell in the chest on a crucial drive late in the game. If you’re running a no-huddle, hurry-up style offense, everyone needs to be on the same page. Again, a bad mistake that a veteran likely wouldn’t make, but a professional quarterback, regardless of their experience, needs to eliminate that nonsense. Wasting one of 4 downs on the last opportunity to score is completely careless.
03. Too many men on the field? Seriously?
At 5-4 and playing in a very middle-heavy NFC, the Redskins are certainly still alive in the playoff race. It’s going to take a lot for them to get their act together, though, and it all starts with the next game.
Do the Redskins have a chance at beating Dallas on Sunday? Yes, of course they do.
Will they? I hate to say this, but no.
(Believe me, I hope they prove me wrong -- I’m just not counting on it...)
Perhaps the most frustrating part about his team is the fact that there is absolutely no consistency in any facet of the game. The defense started the season strong and has been very suspect in the past few games. The offense has been in and out of sync -- they run the ball well one week, pass it well the next, but more often than not, they sputter out of the gate and fail to capitalize when the game is handed to them.
Yesterday’s loss makes it 13 in which they’ve blown a halftime lead since Gibbs returned in 2004. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, and for that I apologize, but there seems to be no fire in the hearts of these players. Sure, they came together after the debacle in New England and ran all over the Jets, but the Jets stink.
The Washington Redskins, for all intents and purposes, could easily be 8-1 right now. Unfortunately, they could also be 2-7, as they’ve allowed even the most mediocre of teams -- i.e. Miami and Arizona -- to stay in games until the final whistle blows.
Until the entire organization -- especially those in uniform and those with headsets -- develops a killer instinct, fans of the Burgundy & Gold will have to suffer through one rollercoaster season after another, and few that will produce anything more than false hopes… false hopes that, more often than not, equate to extremely unrealistic Super Bowl expectations.
Hail.
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