Preseason Week 2 - Redskins vs. Jets - Is it real?

Entry posted by TSO August 20, 2016

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Landover, MD - Welcome all to the Extremeskins coverage of the second preseason game. I'm TSO in the Press box providing you with the best damn coverage I and Spaceman Spiff, who will be providing coverage from the sidelines, possibly can!

1999 Redskins go 10-6 and win the NFC East. The following season? Failure.

2005 Redskins go 10-6 and nab a wildcard spot. The following season? Disaster.

2007 Redskins go 9-7 and sneak into the playoffs. The following season? Zorn.

2012 Redskins go 10-6, win the NFC East with their shiny new franchise QB. The following season? Epic collapse.

So now, here we are. The Redskins are coming off a season that saw a seismic shift occur within the Front Office, where a legitimate talent-evaluating GM was hired to take control of the scouting department and personnel. Gruden got the help he desperately needed and asked for from the Front Office. The Redskins went 9-7 and miraculously won the NFC East on the heels of a young group of draft picks and a ton of personnel hits in general.

So, the following season? :huh:

We're going to find out if this is real.

Is it? Is our newly and properly structured Front Office as organized and professional as it seems? Is it real?

Is our energetic and smart coaching staff as good for player development as they were last season? Is it real?

Is Kirk Cousins the franchise QB we've been so desperately lacking? Is he for real?

Are the young players truly developing into a core of consistent championship potential? Are they for real?

It might just be the preseason, but these games play a role (albeit a small one) in teaching us who will rise to the occasion and who won't. Who will solidify their spot on the team and who will continue to remain a question. Who will be a part of the new reality we all hope is happening right before our eyes, a hope we continue to question is real?

The hope that we're witnessing the rise of the Redskins as a perennial contender.

Let's start to find out together here on Extremeskins Gameday Coverage!

1st Quarter Analysis

Offensively, I think we finally saw the new Matt Jones (7 carries for 31 yards, 4.4 avg) we've heard about all offseason. Though the handoff gaffe was terrible, everything else was very pleasing to see. He had good vision, ran hard, and got whatever he could get on plays that the defense played well. Unfortunately, he got hurt and so his durability issues will, and should, come into question. Let's hope his left shoulder is okay.

Ryan Grant (3 for 3, 27 yards) and Jamison Crowder (3 of 4, 38 yards) also showed up well (well, on offense, Crowder's muffed punt was terrible to see but let's not forget this is his first live action of the year), but you really see why coaches love Grant. He's just very smooth and tough to cover.

Colt McCoy (7 of 9, 66 yards) looked great until the last play of the first drive, which was mind numbingly stupid. I actually think he was trying to throw it away. And that spin? Whoosh. That was fun to see.

As for the defense, the secondary keeps showing up. DHall was in on the first pass break up and Greg Toler had great coverage on the 3rd down.

I've noticed the last two games we've essentially never lined up in a 3-4. We basically have two Dlinemen inside (Reyes, Baker) and 2 OLB (Kerrigan, Preston).

The Oline looks totally different with Lauvao in terms of run-blocking. That is all.

Stay tuned for more after the half!

2nd Quarter Analysis

Dunbar was a busy bee. He gave up a bad pass against Decker on the first drive for Jets O in the 2nd. On their second drive, Dunbar makes up for it with a beautiful pass breakup. Their third drive, Dunbar gives up a 9 yard completion, but had tight coverage. Mixed bag, but certainly improved from last week's performance.

Reyes and Baker were struggling a bit on interior runs initially. 2nd drive for Jets O, Baker made a nice tackle on an interior run, so that was good. Baker also had with nice pressure causing incomplete pass on 3rd down.

Spaight has been extremely impressive to say the least. It's not just the caused fumble, he's the general of D. I've been watching him between breaks as well and he's constantly communicating with everyone, controlling the huddle. Doesn't look like a 2nd year player coming off of injury. He had a sick read on screen and tackle as well later on in the 2nd.

Jamison Crowder running more north-south on punts it seems.

Ross with a step, Colt throws deeper could've been big play on drive early in 2nd. Rashad Ross two nice plays on first TD drive. Super impressive 2nd TD from Rashad Ross, tackled head first but maintains possession, not easy for a small guy like him.

Safety on Spencer Long, hands seemed more on the shoulders lifting up the jersey right under the chin so it looked bad, nice play to Maurice Harris got nullified, a shame for a young guy like him. But Harris comes back and gets a 19 yard gain on a nice catch off play action.

Ihenacho on ensuing kickoff with nice tackle. Continues to show up on Special Teams.

Another Ryan Grant catch.

Golston veteran move on run with about 3:25 left in 2nd, just goes down to cause pile up and trips RB.

Blackmon savvy INT from Safety, don't know what Geno Smith was thinking, but Trail was close to applying pressure... could be Geno felt it.

Dashaun Phillips and Spaight nice zone trade off on drive late in 2nd quarter.

All in all, a very positive quarter for a lot of Redskins. Spaight (1 FF), Rashad Ross (4 on 5, 58 yards, 2 TD) and Colt McCoy (13 of 16, 159 yards, 2 TD) killed it.

Stay tuned for more!

3rd Quarter Analysis

Not a whole lot to see here, but I was excited about Stephen Paea coming on back to back plays to start the 3rd quarter off. He got good penetration on run and then a sack on the next play. Then, Paea on the ensuing drive again penetrates nicely on back to back plays with solid rushes. He's a player I was hoping would improve from last game and I discussed that in length here:

Speaking of players I noticed, Anthony Lanier seems to have moved up on the depth chart as he was often playing with 2nd team in the 3rd quarter if my eyes didn't deceive me.

Reiter continues to impress. On run play where Marshall went for about 9 yards with slightly under 3 minutes left in the 3rd, he gets his first block accomplished and then passes him off and lands his second block, opening up a nice lane up.

Stay tuned for the 4th Quarter update!

4th Quarter Analysis

Again, not much to discuss other than the obvious (Sudfeld with an awesome drive to win the game)... but here are a couple things I thought were interesting.

Fuller gives up long pass play to start the 4th but then recovers with three nice plays. He breaks up two passes and then makes the tackle on a 3rd and 2 to stop the Jets drive and force a FG.

Garvin continues to make plays, with a nice pass break up and then a pressure that resulted in an errant throw to force a Jets punt. Recovers fumble caused by Deshazor Everett on Jets drive that was moving easily by hustling. As mentioned in my previous blog, he's been impressive.

Anthony Lanier with the sack to finish the game, love that guy!

Final impressions:

So today's game clearly didn't go a long way in determining if this Redskins' resurgence is for real (or as much as any preseason game possibly could), considering many of the players who will play a massive role in said resurgence didn't play, but we did get to see who might potentially add their hats to the discussion.

And who are those guys?

Aside from the obvious answers in Rashad Ross, Ryan Grant, Colt McCoy, Matt Jones and Martrell Spaight who absolutely killed it, there were guys like Anthony Lanier (check out the exclusive interview) who seemed to play a bigger role today on the Dline after showing up really well last week.

Stephen Paea improved significantly upon his performance last week as well, often finding his way in the backfield of the opposition. Other players who improved from last week were Keith Marshall, Will Blackmon, and Morgan Moses.

Reiter continued to impress as did Maurice Harris who continues to be used with the second stringers, making him an interesting roster decision to follow considering how much depth there is at his position.

Unfortunately, there are some guys who continue to be questions moving forward and are nowhere near a "yes" on the "is it real" scale. Kuandjio continues to be a mixed bag who has a tough time finding any consistency as does Quinton Dunbar, though he had a lot more positive happen than last week. Fuller had himself a mixed bag of a game as well, but his rookie status makes it much more forgiving.

So as we move forward and into the third preseason game where we're expected to get a much closer glimpse of the team's "is it real" factor, let's hope to see continued improvement from the players we need to play significant roles in this resurgence... that is, if it's real this time.

Click here for ES Exclusive Game Photos ~ courtsey of Spaceman Spiff

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HapHaszard

Posted August 20, 2016

Nice job TSO

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TSO

21 minutes ago, HapHaszard said:

Nice job TSO

Thanks you sir!

Mr. Sinister

Good stuff, buddy

zoony

Posted August 21, 2016

Spiff and TSO, our new pro bowlers of game coverage

Awesome pictures and write up guys

Really appreciate the kind words fellas, it truly means a lot. I really wanted to do right by ES, so any suggestions or constructive criticisms I'm all ears. Consider me your humble servant.