It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and for that I apologize. November was a crazy busy month for me, and, well, the Redskins have been sucking it up lately. It’s easy to rant about what goes wrong, but it’s much more fun to write about a team when they’re doing well.
Anyway, there have been a lot of things floating through my head since Sunday night’s debacle near Dundalk, so I figured it was time to put those things on the interweb. Below are some of my thoughts on the current state of the Burgundy & Gold -- take them for what they’re worth (not much, I’m sure)...
01. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I think Mike Wilbon is exactly right in his assessment of the Redskins’ offensive production. To put it bluntly, the offensive line stinks. Watching the game against Baltimore, the difference between the time that Jason Campbell was getting and the time that Joe Flacco was getting was astounding. My doubt of Campbell’s ability to make smart decisions is growing stronger by the week, but part of me feels that a huge part of that has to do with the pressure he faces whenever the Skins are up against a semi-decent defense.
Sure, JC’s accuracy has been questionable and his targeting of receivers before the marker on big 3rd time plays is infuriating, but how confident and relaxed can you be when it’s almost as common to get sacked as it is to have good protection? Take one look at Campbell during the last 5 games and you will see someone completely flustered -- with no time to view his options and the inability to make a few completions and get into a rhythm, a quarterback is essentially useless.
Anyway, there have been a lot of things floating through my head since Sunday night’s debacle near Dundalk, so I figured it was time to put those things on the interweb. Below are some of my thoughts on the current state of the Burgundy & Gold -- take them for what they’re worth (not much, I’m sure)...
01. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I think Mike Wilbon is exactly right in his assessment of the Redskins’ offensive production. To put it bluntly, the offensive line stinks. Watching the game against Baltimore, the difference between the time that Jason Campbell was getting and the time that Joe Flacco was getting was astounding. My doubt of Campbell’s ability to make smart decisions is growing stronger by the week, but part of me feels that a huge part of that has to do with the pressure he faces whenever the Skins are up against a semi-decent defense.
Sure, JC’s accuracy has been questionable and his targeting of receivers before the marker on big 3rd time plays is infuriating, but how confident and relaxed can you be when it’s almost as common to get sacked as it is to have good protection? Take one look at Campbell during the last 5 games and you will see someone completely flustered -- with no time to view his options and the inability to make a few completions and get into a rhythm, a quarterback is essentially useless.
Original image borrowed from the Washington Post02. People keep praising the Redskins defense for keeping the team in games, but let’s be honest: they still haven’t quite held their own against even mediocre offenses. As much as Baltimore has improved their point production this season, they still have a rookie QB under center. If a defense can put any kind of pressure on a rookie QB, they should be able to force him into some poor decisions. Unfortunately, that rarely happened on Sunday. Flacco threw an interception, but it was more LaRon Landry jumping on the pass than poor execution.
On the ground, the Redskins run defense did a pretty good job putting the kaibosh on McGahee, McClain and Rice. On the biggest plays of the game, however -- the McClain TD, the bomb to Mason -- the flaws of Greg Blache’s troops were painfully exposed.
03. Speaking of that long touchdown pass from Flacco to Derrick Mason, am I the only one that thinks Carlos Rogers could’ve had a better shot at breaking up that play? It looked to me like, after he realized where the ball was, he went after Mason’s body instead of trying to break up the pass. If he focused on playing defense instead of putting a lick on Mason (more on that in a minute), I honestly believe he could’ve prevented the biggest play of the game.
Rogers has had a pretty decent season, all things considered, but he is still insanely far from being a reliable cornerback. A few great plays every other game do not a solid defender make -- sorry.
04. Back to the “putting a lick on Mason” comment...
I love LaRon Landry, I really do. I think he has the potential to be a great safety in the NFL, and the thought of him and Sean Taylor in the backfield nearly brings tears to my eyes.
I have an issue with the way Landry plays sometimes, however, and that issue is this: I think he goes after the hit far too often. I like a good bone-rattling tackle as much as the next guy, but fundamentals should absolutely always take precedence over a chance to make the highlight reels. Watch Baltimore’s defense (and Pittsburgh’s a few weeks ago) and you’ll see guys like Ed Reed and Ray Lewis break up beautiful passes by lunging hands-first, not helmet-first. I hate giving the Cowboys any credit if at all possible, but watching Terrance Newman make a great play on Sunday by doing exactly that was sweet (even if it did make me puke in my mouth). Focus on the ball first and foremost -- if you can’t break up the pass, go for the jugular.
05. I hated seeing Clinton Portis on the sidelines for almost the entire second half, especially after hearing that he thought he felt good enough to continue getting 20+ carries. If Jim Zorn is trying to make an example of CP, he needs to take a step back, put the coaching hat on the rack for a minute and think about what’s best for the team. You don’t bench one of the leading rushers in the league in a must-win situation, regardless of whether or not he’s able to practice.
There is a fine line between discipline and smarts, and if Portis was healthy enough to be out there, I think he deserved that shot (especially considering the beating he’s taken this year by putting his entire body into every play).
06. Speaking of Zorn, is it unfair to start questioning whether or not he’s the man for the job? Please note that I said “start questioning” and not “question” -- there’s a big difference. Before you go and get snippy, please allow me to explain...
First of all, Zorn is not a very good playcaller. The man who was lauded early in the season for taking chances and getting creative does neither of those things anymore, even though they could potentially cause a spark and get this reeling team back on track. When you’re on a 4-game shnide (let’s just include the Seattle win for the sake of argument), you need to start becoming more aggressive. Throwing downfield once or twice a game is absolutely pathetic, especially when there is all this talk about increasing point production being a huge priority. West Coast Shmest Coast -- you aren’t going to win many games by dinking and dunking the ball 4 yards at a time.
Secondly, the communication and game management of this team in the past 6 weeks has been nothing short of embarrassing. Calling a timeout after a delay of game penalty? Absurd. Punting on 4th and 2 or 3, in the opposition’s territory, with a little over a minute to go in the half (when you’re down by 14)? Un-fucking-believable. It’s time for Mr. Zorn to start shocking people, and I don’t mean by benching the star running back.
Lastly, one of the comments I made after Zorn’s debut against the Giants in Week One was that he looked completely terrified on the sideline. Unfortunately, it saddens me to say that he may’ve looked worse against the Ravens. Nearly every time the camera showed the coach, he was standing there silent, staring onto the field as though he had no idea what to do next. He wasn’t talking into his headset, wasn’t conversing with other coaches or with any of his players – he was simply standing there. With about 30 seconds on the clock before halftime, he couldn’t wait to get off the field and put on that nice, comfy wool hat.
Just before the Randle El touchdown, I’m pretty sure I saw Zorn say “what do we do now?” What do you do now? Your team is down by 14 points in the fourth quarter and you’re playing in a game that you absolutely must win. In other words, Einstein, you go for it.
Who knows -- maybe the pressure of being a head coach is getting to him, and he’s finding that he isn’t mentally tough enough to lead an organization. I have no doubt in my mind that Jim Zorn is a good motivator. Early in the season, when the Redskins were doing well, Zorn seemed to have all the right things to say in both good situations and bad. Now, though, it seems as though he’s keeping things “medium” just a bit too much. The last thing this team needs is another passive authority figure, one who deflects blame and doesn’t light a fire under his team’s collective ass.
07. If it’s 4th and 5, it’s cold as balls and the wind is howling, the ball is on your opponent’s 30 yard line and you have an unreliable kicker, do you go for the first down or attempt a 48-yarder?
08. Ryan Plackemeier is clearly nuggnuts. Looks like the guy is stashing a 20-piece in his cheeks, for crying out loud. Maybe if he laid off the barbecue sauce, he’d be able to get punts off quicker. Just a thought.
09. One of the few bright spots on Sunday, I think, was the play of Mike Sellers. Not only is Sellers looking like he could be a legitimate Number 2 back in this league, he also showed more passion than the rest of the offense combined. He fought his guts out -- excuse the Gibbsism -- and wanted everyone else to do the same, regardless of how low morale was. Sellers doesn’t have the physique or stamina to be a starting back in this league, but I’d love to see what he could do with more than 10 carries in a game.
10. The Redskins, after starting the season 6-2 and sitting very comfortably in second place in the toughest division in the league, are now 7-6 and staring at a brutally-long offseason. They’d have to run the table from here on out and get help from a slew of other teams to make the playoffs, and I just don’t think it’s going to happen. There are too many questions and too few answers on both sides of the ball.
So what do we do now? Do we watch the remaining few games in the off chance that our beloved team will provide a third holiday-season miracle in 4 years? Or do we reduce the stress in our lives by focusing our attention elsewhere? One of the first little tidbits I wrote about the Redskins last season was their amazing ability to toy with my emotions. Never has it been more evident than this year. It’s one thing to be a fan of a team like the Bengals or Lions, both perennial losers who very rarely show any signs of progress. It’s another to be sucked in year after year, only to have your hopes dashed midway through the season by a lack of effort and some serious underachieving.
If the Washington Redskins lose the last 3 games and end up 7-9, so be it. But if they do it without taking chances, without playing smart football and without displaying an outrageous amount of passion, it’ll leave a really bitter taste in my mouth, one that might be a little too hard to rinse out before the 2009 campaign.
On the ground, the Redskins run defense did a pretty good job putting the kaibosh on McGahee, McClain and Rice. On the biggest plays of the game, however -- the McClain TD, the bomb to Mason -- the flaws of Greg Blache’s troops were painfully exposed.
03. Speaking of that long touchdown pass from Flacco to Derrick Mason, am I the only one that thinks Carlos Rogers could’ve had a better shot at breaking up that play? It looked to me like, after he realized where the ball was, he went after Mason’s body instead of trying to break up the pass. If he focused on playing defense instead of putting a lick on Mason (more on that in a minute), I honestly believe he could’ve prevented the biggest play of the game.
Rogers has had a pretty decent season, all things considered, but he is still insanely far from being a reliable cornerback. A few great plays every other game do not a solid defender make -- sorry.
04. Back to the “putting a lick on Mason” comment...
I love LaRon Landry, I really do. I think he has the potential to be a great safety in the NFL, and the thought of him and Sean Taylor in the backfield nearly brings tears to my eyes.
I have an issue with the way Landry plays sometimes, however, and that issue is this: I think he goes after the hit far too often. I like a good bone-rattling tackle as much as the next guy, but fundamentals should absolutely always take precedence over a chance to make the highlight reels. Watch Baltimore’s defense (and Pittsburgh’s a few weeks ago) and you’ll see guys like Ed Reed and Ray Lewis break up beautiful passes by lunging hands-first, not helmet-first. I hate giving the Cowboys any credit if at all possible, but watching Terrance Newman make a great play on Sunday by doing exactly that was sweet (even if it did make me puke in my mouth). Focus on the ball first and foremost -- if you can’t break up the pass, go for the jugular.
05. I hated seeing Clinton Portis on the sidelines for almost the entire second half, especially after hearing that he thought he felt good enough to continue getting 20+ carries. If Jim Zorn is trying to make an example of CP, he needs to take a step back, put the coaching hat on the rack for a minute and think about what’s best for the team. You don’t bench one of the leading rushers in the league in a must-win situation, regardless of whether or not he’s able to practice.
There is a fine line between discipline and smarts, and if Portis was healthy enough to be out there, I think he deserved that shot (especially considering the beating he’s taken this year by putting his entire body into every play).
06. Speaking of Zorn, is it unfair to start questioning whether or not he’s the man for the job? Please note that I said “start questioning” and not “question” -- there’s a big difference. Before you go and get snippy, please allow me to explain...
First of all, Zorn is not a very good playcaller. The man who was lauded early in the season for taking chances and getting creative does neither of those things anymore, even though they could potentially cause a spark and get this reeling team back on track. When you’re on a 4-game shnide (let’s just include the Seattle win for the sake of argument), you need to start becoming more aggressive. Throwing downfield once or twice a game is absolutely pathetic, especially when there is all this talk about increasing point production being a huge priority. West Coast Shmest Coast -- you aren’t going to win many games by dinking and dunking the ball 4 yards at a time.
Secondly, the communication and game management of this team in the past 6 weeks has been nothing short of embarrassing. Calling a timeout after a delay of game penalty? Absurd. Punting on 4th and 2 or 3, in the opposition’s territory, with a little over a minute to go in the half (when you’re down by 14)? Un-fucking-believable. It’s time for Mr. Zorn to start shocking people, and I don’t mean by benching the star running back.
Lastly, one of the comments I made after Zorn’s debut against the Giants in Week One was that he looked completely terrified on the sideline. Unfortunately, it saddens me to say that he may’ve looked worse against the Ravens. Nearly every time the camera showed the coach, he was standing there silent, staring onto the field as though he had no idea what to do next. He wasn’t talking into his headset, wasn’t conversing with other coaches or with any of his players – he was simply standing there. With about 30 seconds on the clock before halftime, he couldn’t wait to get off the field and put on that nice, comfy wool hat.
Just before the Randle El touchdown, I’m pretty sure I saw Zorn say “what do we do now?” What do you do now? Your team is down by 14 points in the fourth quarter and you’re playing in a game that you absolutely must win. In other words, Einstein, you go for it.
Who knows -- maybe the pressure of being a head coach is getting to him, and he’s finding that he isn’t mentally tough enough to lead an organization. I have no doubt in my mind that Jim Zorn is a good motivator. Early in the season, when the Redskins were doing well, Zorn seemed to have all the right things to say in both good situations and bad. Now, though, it seems as though he’s keeping things “medium” just a bit too much. The last thing this team needs is another passive authority figure, one who deflects blame and doesn’t light a fire under his team’s collective ass.
07. If it’s 4th and 5, it’s cold as balls and the wind is howling, the ball is on your opponent’s 30 yard line and you have an unreliable kicker, do you go for the first down or attempt a 48-yarder?
08. Ryan Plackemeier is clearly nuggnuts. Looks like the guy is stashing a 20-piece in his cheeks, for crying out loud. Maybe if he laid off the barbecue sauce, he’d be able to get punts off quicker. Just a thought.
09. One of the few bright spots on Sunday, I think, was the play of Mike Sellers. Not only is Sellers looking like he could be a legitimate Number 2 back in this league, he also showed more passion than the rest of the offense combined. He fought his guts out -- excuse the Gibbsism -- and wanted everyone else to do the same, regardless of how low morale was. Sellers doesn’t have the physique or stamina to be a starting back in this league, but I’d love to see what he could do with more than 10 carries in a game.
10. The Redskins, after starting the season 6-2 and sitting very comfortably in second place in the toughest division in the league, are now 7-6 and staring at a brutally-long offseason. They’d have to run the table from here on out and get help from a slew of other teams to make the playoffs, and I just don’t think it’s going to happen. There are too many questions and too few answers on both sides of the ball.
So what do we do now? Do we watch the remaining few games in the off chance that our beloved team will provide a third holiday-season miracle in 4 years? Or do we reduce the stress in our lives by focusing our attention elsewhere? One of the first little tidbits I wrote about the Redskins last season was their amazing ability to toy with my emotions. Never has it been more evident than this year. It’s one thing to be a fan of a team like the Bengals or Lions, both perennial losers who very rarely show any signs of progress. It’s another to be sucked in year after year, only to have your hopes dashed midway through the season by a lack of effort and some serious underachieving.
If the Washington Redskins lose the last 3 games and end up 7-9, so be it. But if they do it without taking chances, without playing smart football and without displaying an outrageous amount of passion, it’ll leave a really bitter taste in my mouth, one that might be a little too hard to rinse out before the 2009 campaign.
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