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TK

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  1. TK

    Reviewing The 49ers

    By TK,

    So, with about half of a former roster coming back home this week, it feels like maybe Bruce shoulda penciled in the 49ers as Homecoming/Alumni Week. Though that whole “Homecoming” theme never really went our way, typically ending in a Redskins loss. Freshly minted first time Head Coach Kyle Shanahan brings his surprisingly 0-5 49er team to FedEx Field this Sunday. Now, there’s just no way this week I have the time to review all 5 of their games, so I’m picking two games at random. First up is their Week 2 game at the Seahawks, followed by their week 4 loss to the Cardinals. The 9ers lost both of these games by 3 points each. And both of these games were on the road, just like tomorrow’s will be for them. Here we go…
     
    AT SEATTLE
     
    First thing that stands out is the 9er Defense is kinda like wet cardboard. They allow the Seahawks to start the opening drive at their own 25 & march it all the way down to the 9ers 7 yard line before finally holding Seattle to a Field Goal. Seattle even converted a 4th & 1 at the 9ers 41 yard line during this drive. With a no gain run at the 7 yard line followed by two incomplete passes, it was more the Seahawks stalling theirselves out then it was the Defense finally making a stop.
     
    The Offense’s opening drive, Kyle surprisingly calls a run to the right to start with. It’s on 2nd Down that he calls his shot deep that goes incomplete. On 3rd & 1 they run it & get half of it. Unable to get a yard the 9ers are forced to punt. Had the deep ball been more accurate, they’d still be on the field. 
     
    Second drive, second play & the Defense gets a sack for a loss of 1. Defense holds them to a 3 & out. 
     
    On SF’s 2nd Offensive drive, it gets a bit cray cray. Here’s the Official description of what happened:
    (5:39) (Shotgun) B.Hoyer pass short middle intended for C.Hyde INTERCEPTED by B.Wagner at SF 43. B.Wagner to SF 36 for 7 yards (M.Goodwin). FUMBLES (M.Goodwin), recovered by SEA-R.Sherman at SF 36. R.Sherman to SF 36 for no gain (C.Hyde).
    Like I said, cray cray. To make it even more screwy, Russel Wilson is sacked for a loss of 8 on the Seahawks 1st Down the very next play. The Defense is trying to make a lot of substitutions this drive, Seattle responds by picking up the pace on Offense. On 3rd & 9 Seattle drops a sure TD in the end zone & are force to kick another field goal. They’re not getting TD so far but the Defense isn’t really stopping them either.
     
    One play into the 2nd Quarter & SF takes their first timeout. 3rd & 3 & they don’t convert. This Offense can’t get anything going. Seattle takes over after the punt, on their own 3 yard line. Seattle picks up 4 yards on two plays on the ground. Wilson to Lockett gets them a 3rd Down conversion. The 49ers Defense should have gotten off the field there but couldn’t. 
     
    At this point, SF has had 8 plays for 17 yards & their T.O.P. is a measly 3:57 while on the flip side, Seattle has had 34 plays for 127 yards with a T.O.P.of 15.11.
     
    Offensively, Seattle got a few more plays off before the Defense finally made a stop. 
     
    9ers next drive opens with a 14 yard pass to Kittle. Kittle’s a good sized rookie & one to keep an eye on how Kyle uses him. Hoyer throws a mistimed pass out of bounds & gets called for Intentional Grounding. Garçon’s first catch this game is for 6 yards. 9ers once again end up punting. Then the Seahawks end up running 4 plays & punt. The 9ers Defense had started out as turnstiles but have now started to tighten up a little bit. Especially in the run game.
     
    Let’s see if the 9ers can get anything going this drive….Hoyer pitches to Hyde on a run around to the left for a gain of 6. 2nd & 4 at their own 17. And there it is. Hyde, on the ground breaks loose for a gain of 61 yards. And guess who the only 49er is downfield blocking for him, our guy Garçon. Oh & it’s started raining in this game too. Seattle’s Defense holds the 9ers to 3 & out & SF settles for a field goal. 6-3 Seattle at the Two Minute Warning.
     
    Seattle goes 3 & out & San Fran finishes the first half off by hitting another field goal to tie it up at 6-6. At least it was a quick half. So far with only 2 quarters in, this is the worst Kyle Shanahan offense I’ve seen since John Beck tried to run it. Hoyer isn’t a starter. He’s been inaccurate enough to maybe be a 3rd string QB. Maybe. I wonder if Kyle tried to coax Grossman out of retirement before going with Hoyer. Hyde, an every down back with good size, is probably the best weapon they have on Offense. And Garçon has only had one target so far.
     
    The 9ers open the Second Half with seven plays, a timeout & a punt. (Res next offensive drive starts at their own 6 yard line. Hyde gets 1 yard uno the middle then Hoyer is sacked for what appeared to be a Safety but the officials spot the ball inside the 1. Hoyer then passes for a gain of 10 & are forced to punt from the 11. A bad punt put Seattle at nearly mid field. They manage to waste it & go 3 & out. 
     
    San Fran with the fair catch at their own 13. Hoyer to Garçon for 11 yards. Then it’s Hyde off the LG for 4 yards followed by Hyde getting 5 yards off of the RT but there’s a 10 yard penalty for Offensive Holding & they lose 10 yards. Hoyer’s next pass is again, incomplete. On 3rd & 16, Breida gets 10 yards up the middle & San Fran once again punts while I try to stay awake watching this disaster. 
     
    Seattle takes over with a run & two incomplete passes just so they can punt it back to the 49ers. Hoyer hits Goodwin for a gain of 12 as the 3rd Quarter ends. Hoyer starts the 4th Quarter with a 8 yard pass to Hyde that gets them to the 50. Hyde gets another 6 on the ground, Hoyer incomplete to Hyde. Next it’s Breida again for gains of 11 & 13, & 4.The 9ers take a timeout & follow it up with incomplete passes to Goodwin & Garçon.   Gould hits a 34 yard field goal & the 9ers take a 9-6 lead. 
     
    Seattle answers with a 10 plays for 82 yards in 4:30 for touchdown but miss the extra point. Seahawks take the lead back at 12-9. After the kickoff there’s 7:01 left on the clock in the 4th. San Fran goes 3 & out. With 4:47 left, Seattle does enough to get to the Two Minute Warning, then they continue to eat the clock by taking 3 kneel downs to end it. 
     
    Like I said at the Half, worst looking Kyle Shanahan Offense I’ve seen since John Beck. Even old, broken down McNabb ran it better then this. And yeah I know SF is in a rebuild, but Kyle has enough of his guys that have been in this system long enough, a quality QB would get it going like it should. Hoyer was 15 of 27 for 99 yards passing.His longest pass was 14 yards, he had 1 INT, a completion percentage of 55.6% & a QB Rating of 48.2. Hyde had 15 attempts for 124 yards on the ground & caught 3 of 6 passes for 19 yards. Both Goodwin & Garçon had 3 catches for 26 yards each. 
     
    Let’s see if they improved any two weeks later against the Cardinals….
     
     
     
    AT ARIZONA
     
    To start off, the Cards are missing 3 of thier starting O Line so SF should, on paper, get a lot of pressure on Palmer this game. Oh & RB David Johnson is out this game for the Cards as well. 
     
    The Cards take the opening drive from their 25 to the SF 4 where on 3rd & 4 Palmer gets picked off at the Goal line for a touchback. San Fran takes over at the 20 with 8:16 left in the First Quarter. Hyde gets 2 on the ground followed by two incomplete passes from Hoyer to Garçon & Taylor. # & out & they punt. So the Cards with the mentality of “anything you can do, we can do better” are also held to a 3 & out & a punt. From their 24 Hoyer hits Goodwin for a gain of 18. Hyde gets 11 on the ground. Two positive plays in a row, could they be gaining momentum? Yeah, no. Brieda looses 3 yards & Hoyer passes incomplete. Then again…Hoyer connects with Taylor for 12 then gets 3 up the middle. Followed by incomplete passes to Paulsen & Goodwin. Hoyer to Taylor for 4 yards & the 9ers hit a 49 yard field goal. 3-0 49ers.
     
    The Cards answered with a 9 play 63 yard field goal. They had a touchdown but it was reversed.  Tied game at 3-3. Cardinals passing game is looking REALLY good so far. 
     
    San Fran starts the next drive at their 15. They pick up 6 yards on two runs, ALDRICK ROBINSON SIGHTING- Hoyer complete to Aldrick for 16 yards. SF goes No Huddle. Breida stopped on the ground for a loss of 2. Hoyer goes deep left to Aldrick for a gain of 24. Hoyer complete to Taylor for 11. Last 3 plays were No Huddle. Hoyer to Garçon for a gain of 6 & they burn a timeout. Hoyer in Shotgun & he gets sacked, loss of 11. (Res are forced to kick a 39 yard field goal, it’s good. SF takes the lead at 6-3.
     
    Arizona starts at their own 25, get to the SF 39 before stalling out & having to punt it away. SF’s Defense has started getting to Palmer. If they weren’t sacking him, they were knocking the snot outta him. (The 49ers get 3 plays off- a run, an incomplete pass, & then Hoyer throws a pick & it’s Two Minute Warning time. Three plays later the Cards tie it up with a 43 yard field goal. 6-6 
     
    Next drive, Hoyer completes to Kittle for 14 yards then has 3 incomplete passes & they punt it away. The Cards stall out with a 3 & out to end the 1st Half.
     
     
    The 49ers start the 3rd Quarter with a great drive. Hoyer to Garçon for 16, ?Hoyer to Kittle for 21 yards, Hyde for 14 on the ground, Hoyer to Juszczyk for 5, Breida for 8. Hoyer to Breida an 11 yard touchdown that gets nullified due to Offensive Pass Interference. Hoyer gets sacked on the next play for a loss of 10. Hoyer complete to Hyde for 2, then incomplete to Taylor. Gould hits the 47 yard field goal  & SF takes a 9-6 lead. 
     
    Nine plays later the Cards answer with a 50 yard field goal. Tied game at 9.
     
    SF starts at their 25. Hyde gets nothing up the middle. Hoyer complete to Aldrick for 12. QB SWITCH - HOYER OUT, BEATHARD IN- Hyde goes up the middle for a gain of 15. Hoyer back in & passes incomplete to Kittle. Breida gets 6 on the ground, Hoyer to Taylor for 12, SF called for Offensive Holding, Hoyer incomplete to Aldrick, Hoyer complete to Hyde for 7 then incomplete to Garçon. 4th Down. 48 yard field goal is good 12-9 SF leads. 
     
    The 9ers next drive starts at their 20. Hoyer incomplete to Aldrick. Brieda stopped for a loss of 1 up the middle. Hoyer incomplete pass to Brieda & they punt it away.  The Cards go 50 yards in 11 plays & kick a 32 yard field goal to tie it up at 12. Clearly these teams do not believe in touchdowns. 
     
    There’s 7:06 left on the clock & to quickly sum it up, neither team really does much of anything. This game stays tied at 12-12 & goes into OT. 
     
    SF starts OT on Offense & get a field goal to go up 15-12. Carson Palmer aint having that. Eight plays later he throws a touchdown pass complete to Larry Fitzgerald for the 18-15 win.
     
     
    Maaaaaaaaan…..The 49ers are not a good team, but I’d bet they could still beat the Giants. 
  2. TK

    The Olive Jar

    By TK,

    In sales, there's a saying when you just can't get one on the books. A deal is like a jar of olives. They're there. You know they're there, but they're just not coming out because they're packed in tightly in the jar. But then when you eventually get that first one out, the rest start to come out easily.
     
    Three weeks into the Season and the Redskins are still shaking their olive jar trying to get that first win. This weekend is their third Divisional game in four weeks. They're on the road and facing a rookie Quarterback in his second start. The Giants are also without their First Round running back pick from last year in Saquon Barkley. And OBJ was shipped off to Cleveland during the offseason. 
     
    Is this the week the Redskins finally take a hammer to their olive jar and smash out their first win? 
     
    Vote now! As usual, poll will close at kickoff. 
  3. TK

    It’s Always Sunny In LA

    By TK,

    Greetings from San Diego which means Whale’s va.... Wait. The Chargers moved to LA so there goes the Anchorman joke. 
     
    Take 2. 
     
    Greetings from the StubHub Center in LA. Because, you know, StubHub is the official NFL ticket resale spot. It’s currently a delightful 70 degrees with it to be in the 80s by kickoff. Be jealous snowy East Coast.   
     

     
    Today’s match up features the Burgundy & Gold going up against the Bolts. The Bolts should just permanently wear their powder blue while the Skins should never ever wear their all burgundy again. It’s not that I don’t like the all burgundy look, it’s that they’ve never won while wearing it. 
     
    Meanwhile, 15 minutes down the road at the LA Coliseum you’ve got the Eagles at the Rams. And their kickoff is 20 minuets  after the kickoff here. Who scheduled this? You’ve got the East Coast Skins & the West Coast Skins playing in the same city at the same town. Oh & I was hearing last night that the Rams/Eagles tickets were going for $200 as of last night. Plus the hotel & everywhere went last night in El Segundo seemed to be infested with imported iggle fans. Let’s hope our guy McVay puts the Eagles on the L train outta town.
     
    On paper, both the Chargers & Redskins seem evenly matched. However, the Redskins have seen this before in KC & New Orleans along with the Rams & Seahawks. Hopefully this game is more Redskins/Rams/Seahawkish then the other two. 
     
    The Redskins will need to do several things to get the W today. First is to protect Cousins against a nasty pass rush. Second is the WRs need to catch every ball. These dropped passes from the last few weeks need to be eliminated. And thirdly they can’t get away from the run even if it’s not working at times. They’ll  also need to keep their Defense off the field so they have time to actually dissect what Rivers is doing on Offense & make the proper adjustments. 
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
  4. TK
    Greetings from the dome that's so Super it should wear a cape. Last time I was here, I was actually in the mist of a four day vacation, sitting in the Club Level in the End Zone watching a former #2 pick tease all of Redskins Nation with what could have been. I vividly remember sitting there a few minutes into the 3rd Quarter  & you could hear a pin drop. There was a voice behind saying "I don't understand..." only to be answered by another voice saying "Why is this happening to us..." That was a Week 1 Opening Day game.
     
    Today, however it's a completely different team on both sides of the ball. And it's Week 11. The Saints lost their first two games only to have ripped off a seven game win streak since then. Are they due for another loss & that streak to end? Maybe. Will the Redskins be the ones to do it? Well....Here's the Injury Report from Friday:
     

     
    Three are already out, a fourth has joined the IR list, & 13 are Questionable. You have a backup Center ready to go. Trent Williams is still banged up with his knee issue & probably should have been put on IR a few weeks ago. Lauvao is had been limited all week with a stinger. Starting Center, Spencer Long is out with a knee. Pro Bowl Guard & former first round pick, Brandon Scherff has been limited all week with a knee issue that's been going on the last few weeks. Right Tackle Morgan Moses is the only starting OL that's actually been a full go at practice this week. That said, this team also went into Seattle with a patchwork OL, fought like hell & pulled off an upset. 
     
    Can they do it again this week? We’ll find out in a few hours. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     


     
     
     
  5. TK

    Week 1 What To Watch For

    By TK,

    »» The Redskins kicking off their 85th season in franchise history, dating back to their debut as the Boston Braves in 1932.
    »» The Redskins representing Washington, D.C., for an 80th straight season, dating back to the team’s move to the District prior to the team’s 1937 championship season.
    »» The Redskins repeating as NFC East champions for the first time since winning the division in three consecutive seasons from 1982-84. The Redskins would be the first team to repeat as NFC East champions since the 2001-04 Philadelphia Eagles.
    »» The Redskins making the playoffs in consecutive years for the first time since doing it in three straight seasons from 1990-92.
    »» The Redskins posting consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97.
    »» The Redskins winning four home games to reach 350 home wins all-time, including postseason play. Washington’s all-time home record is 346-254-11.
    »» Head Coach Jay Gruden becoming the first Redskins coach to guide the team to consecutive postseason berths since Joe Gibbs (1990-92).
    »» Gruden joining Pro Football Hall of Famers George Allen and Joe Gibbs as the only head coaches to guide the Redskins to the postseason in two of their first three seasons with the team.
    »» The Redskins exceeding 5,000 offensive yards for a 12th straight season. Only five other NFL teams have an active streak of 11 or more seasons with 5,000 yards (Green Bay, New Orleans, New England, Philadephia and Dallas).
    »» The Redskins leading the NFL in team completion percentage again to become the first team to lead the league in consecutive seasons since the New Orleans Saints across the 2010-11 campaigns.
    »» The Redskins amassing 4,000 passing yards in three consecutive seasons for the first time in team history.
    »» The Redskins throwing 30 touchdown passes as a team in consecutive seasons for the first time in team history.
    »» The Redskins allowing 30 or fewer sacks in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2006-07.
    »» The Redskins ranking in the Top 10 in the NFL in points per game in consecutive seasons for the first time since a three-year stretch across the 1989-91 seasons. Washington was 10th in the NFL in points per game in 2015 (24.3).
    »» The Redskins finishing in the Top 10 in the NFL in average kickoff return yardage allowed for the ninth time in the last 12 seasons. The Redskins finished fourth in kickoff return average against last season (20.1) and ranked in the Top 10 in the category for seven consecutive seasons from 2005-11.
    »» The Redskins posting consecutive seasons with a positive turnover differential for the first time since the 1995-97 seasons. The Redskins finished plus-five in turnover differential in 2015.
    »» The following players appearing in enough contests to reach 100 career regular season games played: center Kory Lichtensteiger (10) and defensive end Ricky Jean Francois (seven).
    »» Cornerback Bashaud Breeland recording multiple interceptions to become the first member of the Redskins since Sean Taylor (2004-05) to open a career with multiple picks in each of his first three NFL seasons.
    »» Quarterback Kirk Cousins chasing Pro Football Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen’s team record of 23 consecutive games with a touchdown pass. Cousins’ active streak stands at 17 games, including 16 in the regular season. All 23 of Jurgensen’s qualifying games came in regular season play.
    »» Cousins (69.8 in 2015) leading the NFL in completion percentage again to become the first NFL quarterback to lead the league in consecutive years since Drew Brees in 2010-11.
    »» Cousins becoming the first Redskins quarterback to lead the NFL in completion percentage in consecutive seasons since Sonny Jurgensen in 1969-70.
    »» Cousins (12) chasing No. 2 Joe Theismann (14) and No. 1 Sonny Jurgensen (15) for the most career 300-yard passing games in team history.
    »» Cousins (950) throwing 114 passes to move past No. 10 Robert Griffin III (1,063) on the team’s Top 10 list for career pass attempts.
    »» Cousins (619) chasing No. 8 Robert Griffin III (679), No. 7 Gus Frerotte (744) and No. 6 Billy Kilmer (953) on the team’s all-time pass completions list.
    »» Cousins (7,196) chasing No. 11 Jay Schroeder (7,445), No. 10 Eddie LeBaron (8,068), No. 9 Robert Griffin III (8,097), No. 8 Norm Snead (8,306) and No. 7 Gus Frerotte (9,769) on the team’s all-time passing yardage list.
    »» Cousins (7,196) passing for 2,804 yards to become the seventh player in team history to reach 10,000 career passing yards with the Redskins (Joe Theismann, Sonny Jurgensen, Sammy Baugh, Mark Rypien, Billy Kilmer and Jason Campbell).
    »» Cousins (47) chasing No. 8 Gus Frerotte (48), No. 7 Jason Campbell (55) and No. 6 Eddie LeBaron (59) on the team’s all-time passing touchdowns list.
    »» Cousins repeating his 4,000-yard passing performance from a season ago to become the first player in team history with multiple 4,000-yard passing seasons.
    »» Cousins entering the season having 232 consecutive pass attempts at home without an interception dating back to Week 1 vs. Miami, the longest such home streak in team history according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He also threw an additional 46 passes without an interception in the NFC Wild Card Round last year.
    »» Cousins posting a 100.0 or better passer rating to become the first Redskins quarterback to post multiple 100-rating seasons (min. 100 attempts).
    »» Cousins adding to his active streak of six consecutive regular season games with a passer rating of 100.0 or better, the longest streak by a Redskins quarterback in records available back to 1960.
    »» Tight end Vernon Davis (461) catching 39 passes to become the 12th tight end in NFL history to record 500 career receptions.
    »» Davis (5,841) gaining 467 receiving yards to pass No. 10 Steve Jordan (6,307) and enter the Top 10 in career receiving yards by a tight end in NFL history.
    »» Davis (55) chasing Nos. 5 Jason Witten and Jerry Smith (60), No. 4 Shannon Sharpe (62) and No. 3 Rob Gronkowski (65) on the NFL’s receiving touchdowns list among tight ends.
    »» Davis (148) playing in two games to reach 150 career regular season games played. Davis (140) also can reach 150 career regular season starts with 10 more starts.
    »» Wide receiver Pierre Garçon catching 65 or more passes for a fourth consecutive season, which would tie the longest streak in team history (Art Monk, 1988-91).
    »» Garçon (485) catching 15 passes to reach 500 career receptions.
    »» Garçon (297) making three catches to become the ninth player to record 300 career receptions with the Redskins (Art Monk, Charley Taylor, Santana Moss, Gary Clark, Chris Cooley, Jerry Smith, Ricky Sanders and Bobby Mitchell).
    »» Garçon (3,508) gaining 773 receiving yards to pass No. 10 Michael Westbrook (4,280) and enter the Top 10 in career receiving yards in team history.
    »» Garçon reaching 100 career regular season starts with his next start.
    »» Defensive lineman Kedric Golston (140) playing in 10 games to reach 150 career regular season games played.
    »» Safety DeAngelo Hall (five) returning a fumble for a touchdown to tie Jason Taylor (six) for the most career fumble return touchdowns in NFL history.
    »» Hall improving upon his 43 career interceptions, most among active NFL players.
    »» Hall (23) chasing No. 9 Ken Houston (24), Nos. 7 Pat Fischer and Mark Murphy (27), No. 6 Paul Krause (28) and others on the Redskins’ all-time interception list.
    »» Kicker Dustin Hopkins (114 in 2015) scoring 100 or more points to become the first member of the Redskins to post back-to-back 100-point campaigns since Graham Gano in 2010-11.
    »» Wide receiver DeSean Jackson (7,814) gaining 186 receiving yards to become the eighth active player to reach 8,000 career receiving yards (Andre Johnson, Steve Smith Sr., Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Jason Witten, Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson).
    »» Jackson (42) recording eight receiving touchdowns to reach 50 career receiving touchdowns.
    »» Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan reaching 7.5 sacks for a sixth consecutive season to become the fifth player in NFL history to post at least 7.5 sacks in the first six seasons of a career. Only Jared Allen, Derrick Thomas, DeMarcus Ware and Reggie White have accomplished the feat since the NFL made sacks an official statistic in 1982.
    »» Kerrigan (47.5) recording 2.5 sacks to become the third player in team history to reach 50 career sacks since 1982 (Dexter Manley and Charles Mann).

    »» Kerrigan (five) joining Manley (seven) as the only players in franchise history to record at least six seasons with 7.5 or more sacks.
    »» Kerrigan adding to his streak of five consecutive seasons with 16 starts. From 2011-15, Kerrigan became one of only three players in team history to open his career with 16 games played in each of his first five seasons (Jon Jansen and Champ Bailey).
    »» Tight end Jordan Reed (11 receiving touchdowns in 2015) recording 10 or more receiving touchdowns to join Bobby Mitchell (two) as the only players in Redskins history to post multiple 10-touchdown receiving seasons.
    »» Reed catching 10 or more touchdowns to become the first player in franchise history to record double-digit receiving touchdowns in consecutive seasons.
    »» Reed leading the team in receptions to become the first Redskins tight end to do so in consecutive seasons since Chris Cooley (2006-08).
    »» Reed leading the team in receiving yards to become the first Redskins tight end to do so in consecutive seasons since Bill Anderson (1959-60).
    »» Reed leading the team in receiving touchdowns to become the first Redskins tight end to do so in consecutive seasons since Jean Fugett (1976-78).
    »» Reed (182) catching 18 passes to join Chris Cooley (429), Jerry Smith (421) and Don Warren (244) as the only tight ends in team history to reach 200 career receptions with the team.
    »» Reed (14) chasing No. 4 Clint Didier (19) and No. 3 Jean Fugett (21) on the team’s all-time receiving touchdowns list among tight ends.
    »» Guard Brandon Scherff starting all 16 games to become the third offensive lineman in team history to open a career with consecutive 16-start seasons (Jon Jansen in 1999-2000 and Chris Samuels in 2000-01).
    »» Linebacker Preston Smith repeating his 8.0-sack campaign from 2015 to join Brian Orakpo (2009-10) as the only players in franchise history to begin their careers with at least eight sacks in each of their first two NFL seasons.
    »» Returner Rashad Ross recording his second career kickoff return touchdown to tie the team record for career kickoff return touchdowns. Andy Farkas (1938-44), Eddie Saenz (1946-51), Bobby Mitchell (1962-68) and Brian Mitchell (1990-99) are tied for the franchise lead with two each.
    »» Punter Tress Way (two) averaging at least 45.0 yards per punt to join Pro Football Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh (eight) as the only players in team history to record three or more seasons with a punting average of 45.0 or more yards.
    »» Tackle Trent Williams appearing in 15 games to reach 100 career regular season games played and starting 16 games to reach 100 career regular season starts.
    »» Williams earning a fifth consecutive Pro Bowl selection to join Ken Houston (7, 1973-79), Len Hauss (6, 1967-72) and Chris Hanburger (5, 1972-76) as the only players in franchise history to record the honor in five consecutive years.
    »» Williams making the Pro Bowl to become only the eighth player in Redskins history to record at least five career Pro Bowl selections (Chris Hanburger, 9; Charley Taylor, 8; Darrell Green, 7; Ken Houston, 7; Chris Samuels, 6; Len Hauss, 6; Gene Brito, 5).
     

    »» The Redskins opening the season on Monday Night Football for the 11th time since the introduction of the broadcast package in 1970.
    »» The Redskins seeking their first season-opening Monday night win since defeating the Dallas Cowboys, 35-16, in Week 1 of 1993.
    »» The Redskins improving upon their 40-40-4 all-time record in season openers, including a 24-22 record in openers since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
    »» The Redskins opening the season against an AFC opponent for the third straight year for the first time since the formation of conferences following the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The Redskins opened against the Houston Texans in 2014 and Miami Dolphins in 2015.
    »» The Redskins opening a season at home for a second straight year, marking the first time the franchise has played consecutive season openers at FedExField since 2010-11.
    »» The Redskins improving upon their 17-12 record in Week 1 home games since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. Washington is 8-4 all-time at FedExField on Kickoff Weekend.
    »» The Redskins adding to their 30-16 record in home openers since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The Redskins have won 11 of their last 16 home openers, including most recently in 2014 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
    »» The Redskins attempting to snap a current five-game losing streak against the Steelers and earn their first victory against Pittsburgh since 1991.
    »» The Redskins scoring 30 or more points in a fourth consecutive regular season game (dating back to last season) for the first time since Weeks 1-4 of the 1991 season.
    »» The Redskins setting a team record with a fourth consecutive regular season game with 400 yards of offense (dating back to last season), surpassing three-game streaks in 1949, 1981-82, 1983 and 2013.
    »» The Redskins recording four or more sacks in a fourth consecutive regular season game (dating back to last season) for the first time since Weeks 5-8 of the 1992 season.
    »» The Redskins posting zero turnovers in a third consecutive regular season game (dating back to last season) for the first time since Weeks 8-11 of the 2012 season.
    »» Quarterback Kirk Cousins adding to his streak of 17 consecutive games (including 16 regular season games) with a touchdown pass. The streak is already the second-longest in team history (23, Sonny Jurgensen).
    »» Cousins entering the game having 232 consecutive regular season pass attempts at home without an interception dating back to Week 1 last year vs. Miami, the longest such home streak in team history according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He also threw an additional 46 passes without an interception in the NFC Wild Card Round last year.
    »» Cousins recording his 13th career 300-yard passing game, including postseason. Cousins is two 300-yard passing games shy of tying Joe Theismann (14) for second-most in team history.
    »» Cousins continuing his active six-game streak of consecutive regular season games with a passer rating of 100.0 or better (dating back to last season).
    »» Cousins (950) attempting 50 passes to become the 12th quarterback to attempt 1,000 career passes with the Redskins.
    »» Cousins (7,196) throwing for 250 yards to pass Jay Schroeder (7,445) for 11th-most career passing yards in Redskins history.
    »» Cousins (47) throwing one touchdown to tie or two touchdowns to pass Gus Frerotte (48) for eighth-most career touchdown passes in Redskins histiory.
    »» Cousins (47) throwing three touchdown passes to join Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgensen, Joe Theismann, Billy Kilmer, Mark Rypien, Eddie LeBaron and Jason Campbell as the only quarterbacks in team history to throw 50 career touchdown passes.

    »» Wide receiver Pierre Garçon starting his 100th career NFL regular season game.
    »» Garçon catching a touchdown pass in a fourth consecutive regular season game (dating back to last season) for the first time in his career. It would be the first such streak by a member of the Redskins since Fred Davis in 2009.
    »» Safety DeAngelo Hall (five) returning a fumble for a touchdown to tie Jason Taylor (six) for the most career fumble return touchdowns in NFL history.
    »» Hall (three with Washington) returning another fumble for a touchdown to break the team record for career fumble return touchdowns (three by Chris Hanburger and Brad Dusek).
    »» Hall improving upon his 43 career interceptions, most among active NFL players.
    »» Hall intercepting a pass to tie Ken Houston (24) for ninthmost in team history.
    »» Hall maintaining his lead among active players in career nonoffensive touchdowns (10).
    »» Wide receiver DeSean Jackson (7,814) gaining 186 receiving yards to become the eighth active player to reach 8,000 career receiving yards (Andre Johnson, Steve Smith Sr., Larry Fitzgerald, Brandon Marshall, Jason Witten, Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson).
    »» Jackson (24) recording a 50-plus-yard touchdown to tie Steve Smith, Sr. (25) for fourth in total touchdowns of 50 yards or more in the NFL since the 1970 merger.
    »» Jackson (20) recording a 60-plus-yard touchdown to tie Devin Hester (21) for second-most total touchdowns of 60 yards or more in NFL history.
    »» Jackson improving upon his 33 career regular season receptions of 50 yards or more, the most in the NFL since he entered the league in 2008.
    »» Jackson maintaining his 19.7-yard average on receptions since joining the Redskins in 2014, the best among qualified NFL players in that time frame.
    »» Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan recording 2.5 sacks to become the third player in team history to reach 50 career sacks since 1982 (Dexter Manley and Charles Mann).
    »» Tight end Jordan Reed (1,916) gaining 84 receiving yards to become the sixth tight end in team history to record 2,000 career receiving yards with the team (Jerry Smith, Chris Cooley, Bill Anderson, Don Warren and Fred Davis).
    »» Returner Rashad Ross recording his second career kickoff return touchdown to tie the team record for career kickoff return touchdowns. Andy Farkas (1938-44), Eddie Saenz (1946-51), Bobby Mitchell (1962-68) and Brian Mitchell (1990-99) are tied for the franchise lead with two each.
     


    ... be the Redskins’ fifth consecutive regular season win, dating back to last season, the team’s longest streak since 2012 (seven).
    ... improve the Redskins to 43-32-3 all-time against the Steelers.
    ... make the Redskins 21-12-3 all-time at home against the Steelers.
    ... snap a five-game losing streak to the Steelers and give the Redskins’ their first victory against them since 1991.
    ... give the Redskins three consecutive wins against AFC North opponents dating back to 2012.
    ... push the Redskins to 41-40-4 all-time record in season openers and 25-22 record in openers since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
    ... give Head Coach Jay Gruden his first career win on Kickoff Weekend.
  6. TK

    This Game Could Get Chippy

    By TK,

    During pre game warmups there was some trash talking from both teams as they went at each other on the far side of the 50. It didn’t last long before it was broken up.
     
    The Chiefs are currently huddled up at their 10 while the Redskins are back to running drills inside their 20.
  8. TK
    With tomorrow's first Divisional match-up against Dallas, I wanted to take a look a few things & see if anything stood out. Going by the stats from Week 1, here's what I think I'm thinking.
    First thing that stood out is that Witten continues to be a QBs best receiving weapon. Followed by Beasley. And Dez? Last week he was at the bottom of their receiving list, with 1 pass out of 5 for a whopping 8 yards, only beating out the RBs. Take a look.
    DAL - RECEIVING TAR NO YDS AVG LG TD J.Witten 14 9 66 7.3 17 0 C.Beasley 12 8 65 8.1 15 0 T.Williams 4 3 34 11.3 14 0 G.Swaim 1 1 21 21.0 21 0 B.Butler 2 1 16 16.0 16 0 L.Dunbar 2 1 16 16.0 16 0 D.Bryant 5 1 8 8.0 8 0 E.Elliott 2 1 1 1.0 1 0 A.Morris 1 0 0 -- 0 0 Going by these stats from last week, I think Witten will continue to be a match up problem for us tomorrow. I also think that Beasley & Williams will have trouble with Norman & Breeland, whether one is assigned to cover the same guy all game or just a side of the field all game. In past match-ups, Breeland has owned Dez and Dez is no A. Brown. Dallas should have a hard time passing on us tomorrow.
    Speaking of passing, there's not that much film on Prescott yet. That said, he's still a Fourth Round picked Rookie & last week against the Giants, he played like it. The thing that stood out to me watching him last week (for perspective though I was watching 3 different games at once) his footwork is atrocious. He does that same RG3 thing where he'll pass while in the air after completely leaving the ground. Though Prescott's playing behind perhaps the best Offensive Line in the League, he gets the time to at least find & dump it off to Witten. Still though, his numbers last week were pretty pedestrian. The decent thing was putting up over 200 yards passing with no INTs, 
    DAL - PASSING ATT CMP CMP% YDS YD/AT SK/YD TD LG INT RT D.Prescott 45 25 55.6 227 5 0/0 0 21 0 69.4  
    They also protected him by only having him run twice. For 12 yards. And that brings me to their rushing attack here:
    DAL - RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD E.Elliott 20 51 2.6 8 1 A.Morris 7 35 5.0 13 0 D.Prescott 2 12 6.0 11 0 K.Smith 1 3 3.0 3 0 A first round pick in Elliot averaged 2.6 yards a carry. I don't think that's going to get it done in the NFL. Though he did score their only touchdown, so he's got that. Morris in limited action clearly was able to run better though. I think I wouldn't be surprised if Dallas actually featured Morris against us tomorrow, at least for quarter. Averaging 5 yards a carry is what gets it done in the NFL so Elliot should be taking notes when Alf is in. 
    So with 101 yards rushing & 227 yards passing they proved they can move the ball with a rookie QB & RB. Tomorrow should prove different though. I think they'll struggle to complete passes over 12-15 yards but get the dump off, underneath stuff to Witten. And they'll have success in the run game, especially if they feature Morris, but I doubt Jerruh would allow the rubbing that salt in the wound move instead of showing off his shiny new first round pick in Elliot. 
    Anyways, that's what I'm think I'm thinking. 
    I think.
    Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments below, but one thing I know is 
     
     
  9. TK

    Skinsgiving

    By TK,

    Happy Thanksgiving from deep in enemy territory. The Redskins continue to sport the Championship uniform off the white jersey/burgundy pant combo on the road. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are departing from their normal throwback uniform to wearing their bad luck blue jersey. Here's to their continued back luck wearing it today. 
     
     ANNOUNCEMENT OF INACTIVES
     The Redskins declared the following players as inactive: 
    o   No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld
    o   No. 19 WR Rashad Ross
    o   No. 31 RB Matt Jones
    o   No. 57 LS Nick Sundberg
    o   No. 68 T Blaine Clausell
    o   No. 74 G Arie Kouandjio
    o   No. 98 DE Matt Ioannidis
     
     KEYS TO VICTORY 
    The Defense must stop Beasley. Joe Barry didn't have an answer for him back in Week 2. Let's hope he's learned from that.
    Feed Reed. To many times Reed will get off to a decent start only to have the offense go away from him after a quarter.
    Control the clock. Dallas is currently ranked 3rd at T.O.P.  The Redskins can pretty much score at will once they get their rather going, however, the the best defense is an offense that keeps them off the field. 
     
    One thing I have to do though is give props to the Cowboys organization. They put out one heck of a Thanksgiving Day spread for those of us that are here covering this game instead of being home with families. 

     
    End of Pre Game

     
     First Quarter 
    The Skins miss the coin toss but Dallas chooses to receive. Which works for us because we tend to defer to the second half anyways. 
    Opening play the Defense is burned on a 15 yard end around play. Elliot destroys them for a gain of 20 on the third play. Had space for days & a hole you could sail a battleship though. UGLY starting drive for the Defense. Elliot stopped up the middle after a gain of seven on the Red Zone & he scores on the next play. Gonna be a long day at the office. 
    RUSHING ATT YDS TD LG E.Elliott 5 38 1 20 L.Whitehead 1 15 0 15 PASSING CM/AT YDS TD INT RT D.Prescott 2/2 17 0 0 102.1 RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG C.Beasley 1 1 13 0 13 E.Elliott 1 1 4 0 4       Redskins offense feeds Vernon Davis for a short gain to open, then converts with a Fat Rob catch. Rob grinds for three. Cousins on the run connects to DJax for 19. Great play by Kirk. Fat Rob to the left for no gain. Kirk connects to Reed for 3 yards. Third down with a LOUD crowd that Jordan Reed shuts up with a 12 yard gain. Kirk incomplete pass but Dallas is called for holding. Thompson stopped for a loss of three. Kirk under pressure throws it incomplete to avoid a sack & the OL is called for holding. 2nd & 23. Thompson up the middle for 3. Dumb call as it says we're gonna play for the field goal. Kirk connects with Crowder for 1 yard. 4th & 16. Hopkins on for a 43 yard FG attempt. Redskins take a time out. Kick is wide left & no good which is weird because Hopkins was nailing 40-50 yard kicks in warm ups.

     
    RUSHING ATT YDS TD LG R.Kelley 2 3 0 3 C.Thompson 2 3 0 6 PASSING CM/AT YDS TD INT RT K.Cousins 6/6 49 0 0 100.7 RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG D.Jackson 1 1 19 0 19 J.Reed 2 2 15 0 12 R.Kelley 1 1 8 0 8 V.Davis 1 1 6 0 6 J.Crowder 1 1 1 0 1  SECOND QUARTER
    Redskins start the 2nd quarter in the Red Zone. They go three & out & Jordan Reed is Down in the back of the End Zone. Reed is helped up & walks off on his own. I exhale the breath I'd been holding. Hopkins in for the field goal & its good from 24 yards out. Redskins have got to start getting into the end zone if they're gonna pull out the upset here. Reed is questionable with a left shoulder injury. 
    Redskins Defense seems to have tightened up some. Dallas is no longer running for huge chunks of yardage. Mid drive the Defense gets a sack & Dallas is called for holding. 3rd & 14. Defense gets torched by Beasley. I was worried about Fuller being on him & he got toasted for a gain of 18. Barry needs to make an adjustment here pronto. Prescott overthrows Butler in the end zone. 3rd down again. Norman drops a defected Pass to Dez.  Cowboys take the field goal & its 10-3 in a game that feels like it should probably already be tied up at 21. 
    TEAM STATS WAS DAL First Downs 7 8 3rd Down 2-4 2-4 Total Net Yards 130 117 Off Plays 19 21 Avg Gain 6.8 5.6 Rushing Net 16 60 Passing Net 114 57 Penalties (Yds) 1 (10) 1 (5) Turnovers 0 0 Punts (Avg) 0 (--) 1 (53.0) TDs 0 1 FGs 1-2 1-1 TO Remain 2 3 Time of Poss. 10:55 11:08  

     
     AT THE HALF
    After each team's opening drive of the Second Quarter, both offenses seem evenly matched. The only big difference is Dallas is getting the bulk of their yards on the ground while the Redskins are getting theirs through the air.  The big story here so far is the Redskins inability to get into the end zone. Three drives in the first half & they settle for field goals, where they missed 2 out of 3 of them. Leaving points on the field, on the road, against a Divional rival is completely unacceptable. The Defense got carved up on the opening drive, but tightened up after that. They still allowed several chunk yardage plays, but they kept them more limited on completing those after the opening drive where they were gutted at will. Then the Two Minute Warning happened & they unloaded the next play for a touchdown to take a 17-3 lead with 1:45 on the clock. Skins best bet is to play the sidelines for chunks, put the ball in the end zone for 7 & run out the clock, going to the locker room down only by 7 since they get the ball to start the 2nd half. Almost. They managed everything but the touchdown & again settle for a field goal. At least they managed to make that one. It's 17-6 Dallas at the half.
    RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD R.Kelley 6 18 3.0 8 0 C.Thompson 3 6 2.0 6 0     PASSING ATT CMP CMP% YDS SK/YD TD LG INT RT K.Cousins 26 18 69.2 216 0/0 0 38 0 94.4 RECEIVING TAR NO YDS AVG LG TD J.Crowder 6 4 60 15.0 38 0 D.Jackson 4 2 45 22.5 26 0 V.Davis 5 3 40 13.3 22 0 P.Garcon 3 3 40 13.3 27 0 J.Reed 3 2 15 7.5 12 0 M.Harris 2 2 11 5.5 6 0 R.Kelley 2 2 5 2.5 8 0 C.Thompson 1 0 0 -- 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD E.Elliott 9 45 5.0 20 1 D.Prescott 2 16 8.0 18 0 L.Whitehead 1 15 15.0 15 0 A.Morris 1 12 12.0 12 0 PASSING ATT CMP CMP% YDS SK/YD TD LG INT RT D.Prescott 14 9 64.3 87 1/5 1 18 0 105.4 RECEIVING TAR NO YDS AVG LG TD C.Beasley 4 3 36 12.0 18 0 D.Bryant 4 3 33 11.0 14 0 T.Williams 1 1 10 10.0 10 1 E.Elliott 1 1 4 4.0 4 0 J.Witten 1 1 4 4.0 4 0 B.Butler 2 0 0 -- 0 0      THIRD QUARTER 
    Redskins can't get anything going to open this half. However, Jordan Reed is returning to the game. On the Cowboys first drive, the Defense leaves a gaping hole underneath & Witten makes them pay for it. Dallas starts picking up 9 & 10 yard chunks again. A holding call backs them up to their 46 & its 1st & 20. Written picks 8 & the Redskins burn their first time out. A turnover would help. Skins need some kind of spark to get back into this. Only down by 11, this offense can overcome that if they can get into a good rhythm. Down, 18, that's a different story. Bree land breaks up a deep sideline shot to Williams on 3rd down. Dallas forced to punt with Crowder back to receive. Fair catch, Skins at the 10. HAVE to get 7 here. Skins get to midfield, hit a 4th & 2, convert it, continue to march into field goal range & chew up the clock. Kirk hits the fade to Reed for a first down at the 3. A touchdown here & it's a football game. A field goal & it could be the season. Skins have chewed up over 10 minutes in this quarter.

     
     FOURTH QUARTER
    TOUCHDOWN JORDAN REED!!! We got a football game now. Skins down by 5 go for 2. The attempt is picked off by Sean Lee. It's 17-12 Dallas with 14:54 left. Elliot gets a 21 yard chunk of burnage followed by a catch for 19 yards & Dallas is at the 35 in two plays. Elliot finally stopped for a gain of 1. Beasley burns the D for 12. Dallas scrambles, knocked out of bounds by Breeland. Dez over the middle, tackled by Norman after a gain of 13. Ball at the 6. Day runs it in for the touchdown. Dallas struck quick & efficiently in answer to the Redskins time consuming last drive. 75 yards in under 5 minutes to the the Skins 90 yard 10 minute drive. 24-12 Dallas. 10:49 left on the clock.

    DJAX ****es!!! Helluva throw by Cousins 67 yards down the sideline touchdown DJax, kick is good & Skins are back to being down by 5. Skins just went 3 plays 75 yards in under 2 minutes for that score. Skins with the onsides kick, Dallas recovers.

    9:21 on the clock. If there was ever time for a Norman pick six, this would be it. Instead Dallas runs it to keep the clock running. They pick up a personal foul penalty & two plays later, Elliot is in the end zone, but wait, Dallas gets called for holding.  2nd & 10. Foster with the duplex takedown on Elliot, no penalty & the Dallas media behind me is crying about it. And then Elliot is in the end zone again two plays later. It's 31-19 Dallas with 6:29 left. Skins are forced to do what they do best now. Throw it. The Crowder/Reed show gets them across mid field, only thing stopping them was a false start penalty. A Reed strip fumble recovered for a Dallas TD is ruled incomplete pass. Next pass is to Crowder for 10. Skins convert a 4th & 1. Ball at the Dallas 29. 3:32 on the clock. Cousins hits Crowder again for 9. Cousins incomplete to Grant in double coverage in the end zone. Cousins keeps it up the middle 1st down. Cousins to Thompson gain of 3. Cousins to Reed, 1st & goal at the 8. 2 minute warning. Touchdown Jordan Reed, his second for the day. Kick is good, it's 31-26 Dallas with 1:53 left. Beasley back for Dallas as the Skins go for the onsides kick again. Ball goes out of bounds, Dallas ball at the 47. Ugh. 1:51 left on the clock. Joe Barry needs to dial up a turnover here because this down by 5, down by 12 back n forth scoring bit has gotten old. Instead Dallas comes out running the ball to kill clock, skins burn a timeout. Beasley with an 8 yard catch, Elliot up the middle, clocking running, Skins call a 30 second timeout. 2nd & 8 with 55 ticks left on the clock. Prescott takes a knee 3rd & 9. Clock runs out. Game over.
    TEAM STATS REDSKINS COWBOYS Total First Downs 25 24 By Rushing 4 12 By Passing 20 11 By Penalty 1 1 Efficiency     Third Down 8-15-53% 4-8-50% Fourth Down 2-2-100% 0-0-0% Red Zone 2-5-40% 4-4-100% Goal to Go 2-4-50% 3-3-100% Total Net Yards 505 353 Offensive Plays 72 55 Average Gain 7.0 6.4 Rushing Net     Yards 56 163 Plays/Avg 19/2.9 30/5.4 Tackles for Loss/Yards 4/-8 2/-7 Passing Net     Yards 449 190 Sacks/Yards 0/0 1/5 Gross Yards 449 195 Att-Comp-Int 53-41-0 24-17-0 Average 8.5 7.6   TEAM STATS REDSKINS COWBOYS Kickoffs     Num-Endzone-Touchbacks 6-3-3 6-6-6 Punts 1 2 Had Blocked 0 0 Gross Punting Average 39.0 44.0 Net Punting Average 39.0 44.0 FGs-PATs Blocked 0-0 0-0 Return Yards     Punts/Yards 0/0 0/0 Kickoffs/Yards 0/0 1/0 Interceptions/Yards 0/0 0/0 Touchdowns 3 4 Rush-Pass-Other 0-3-0 3-1-0 Penalties-Yards 3-30 3-25 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Extra Points Made-Atts 2-3 4-4 1 Point Tries 2-3 4-4 2 Point Tries 0-1 0-0 FGs Made-Attempts 2-4 1-1 Safeties 0 0 Timeouts Remaining 0 3 Time of Possession 33:24 26:36  

     
     FINAL THOUGHTS
    One, Cousins ain't going anywhere. He's gonna get paid.
    Secondly, we need to quit paying Joe Barry. He's had more then enough time to scheme up answers for guys like Elliot & Beasley. At times, the defense could hold Elliot for short gains but they couldn't effectively take him out of the game. 
    Play calling was questionable today & deservedly so. The run up the middle on 3rd & long, the 2 point conversions, the first onsides kick...The points left out on the field. Jeebus. That one kills me. It's a problem this offense has had going back to last offseason when the starters could never get a touchdown. Don't get me wrong, this is a VERY talented offense & coaching staff. It's kinda reminds me of the knock Kyle Shanahan had here, that whole "gets to smart for his own good" rep. Two seasons in & it's like they're still trying to figure out how to put together continuous complete games. But I'm telling you, when can do that, & have a top defense, this is team is gonna be really, really, good. They're close. They're not there just yet, but they've been knocking on the door of greatness, they just don't have the password to get in yet. 


    Post Game Audio
    Photos
  10. TK
    Lets take a look at the run/pass selection by Down & yards to go. It was bad enough after the Steelers game, but now the scales are tipped WAY out of balance. I haven't looked it up but damn if this doesn't make me wonder if the Rams "Greatest Show On Turf" years passed this much. looking at these breakdowns, you'd think this was from a Madden season & not an actual NFL team. I'm curious to see this weekend if the Giants stack the box only when it's 1st & 6-10 to go as that's the only dominate time the Redskins seem to ever run the ball. 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Take a look at these stats & see if anything else jumps out at you. If does, let us know in the comments below or feel free to just comment below. 
     
  17. TK

    At the Half

    By TK,

    Dallas drew first blood to start the 2nd Quarter on an 8 yard pass to Witten to go up 7-0. Moses got carted off. Kirk took a sack & fumbled it & Dallas recovered it at their 19 yard line. There was, and I quote “False start on the Offense. Everyone but the Center” called on Dallas that held them to a Field Goal. The Skins second drive opened with another sack on Cousins & ended with a punt. The Offense has now started to look absolutely clueless in finding ways to move the ball. Oh, & Dallas returned a punt to take a 17-0 lead while Prescott was in the locker room having his hand examined. Then there was the announcement  that both Perine & Mo Harris were being checked for a concussion. 
     
    This is patchwork O Line just can’t stop the Dallas pass rush off the edge. Kirk ain’t had time to stand in the pocket to find that deep shot to Doctson we’ve started to get used to seeing. Inside the Two Minute Warning, Cousins managed to hit Ryan Grant in the end zone for the touchdown.  Skins won the toss to start the game & they deferred so they’ll get the ball to start the 2nd half. They’re only down by 10 so if they can fix the pass protection during halftime, they should be able to dig out of this hole fairly easily. 

  18. TK
    It was the mid 1990's. In the then WWF (now WWE) Razor Ramon aka Scott Hall and Diesel aka Kevin Nash had their contracts coming up for renewal. In those days, wrestling contracts weren't guaranteed. Guys were basically paid on a per show appearance. The bigger the show, like a WrestleMania, the bigger the payday. However, if you didn't land a match on that card you didn't get paid. As Scott Hall's contract was coming up he negotiated with the Number 2 wrestling company at the time, WCW. WCW was owned by Ted Turner whose goal was to displace Vince McManon's WWF at the top of the mountain. Turner had Eric Bischoff running WCW. Bischoff new he needed bigger named talent to make WCW look & grow bigger. Long story short, he started recruiting WWF wrestlers as their contracts were expiring & he started with Hall. Who then talked to his buddy Nash, telling him not only were the days he worked guaranteed but so was the money. The story goes they neither wanted to leave McManon but there was no way McManon could give them guaranteed money as it'd set a precedent to have to give guaranteed money contracts to his other big name talent. Until then guaranteed money was unheard of in pro wrestling. Hall & Nash essentially changed the business. Even though WCW is defunct, McManon now has his talent on guaranteed contracts. 
     
    Cool story bro but what's this got to do with football?
     
     Well, if you're a casual fan, you most likely took the Bruce Allen statement at face value. However once you drill down a little bit into it you'll see its roughly $300,000 difference between their offer and Kirk playing on the tag the next two years. In his radio interview on 106.7 (Part 1 & Part 2) the next day Kirk commented that if you look around the League the Front Office contracts and the Coaching staff contracts are fully guaranteed and he'd like to see the players contracts fully guaranteed. Currently, playing on the Tag gives him that fully guaranteed contract. For a year. So with the Rules of the Tag, he can play on it for a total of three years for three separate guaranteed one year deals.  IF Kirk can manage to accomplish a multi year fully guaranteed contract he'll change the business. Just like Hall & Nash did 20ish years ago. 
     
  20. TK

    Week 5 What To Watch For

    By TK,

    »» The Redskins seeking their first win against the Ravens in Baltimore. The game marks only the Redskins’ second road game against the Ravens all-time. 
    »» The Redskins earning their first regular season win in the city of Baltimore since defeating the Baltimore Colts, 14-13, at Memorial Stadium on Oct. 23, 1955.
    »» The Redskins and Ravens meeting for the first time since 2012, when the Redskins defeated the eventual Super Bowl champion Ravens, 31-28, in overtime.
    »» The Redskins facing the Browns and Ravens in consecutive games again in 2016 after Washington swept Baltimore and Cleveland in back-to-back weeks in 2012 (the most recent season in which the Redskins faced AFC North opponents).
    »» The Redskins adding to their 29 forced fumbles since the start of the 2015 season, most in the NFL. The Redskins also lead the league with 20 fumble recoveries in that span.
    »» The Redskins forcing a takeaway for a seventh consecutive regular season game, dating back to last season, for the first time since a 10-game stretch from Week 12 of the 2013 season through Week 4 of the 2014 season.
    »» The Redskins forcing a fumble in a 10th straight regular season game, dating back to last season. The team’s current nine game stretch is the team’s longest in records dating back to 1991.
    »» The Redskins forcing multiple fumbles in a fourth straight game, which would be the team’s longest streak in records dating back to 1991.
    »» The Redskins exceeding 300 yards of offense in a ninth consecutive regular season game, dating back to last season, the team’s longest streak since a 10-game stretch in Weeks 1-11 in 2014.
    »» The Redskins posting back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances since Weeks 1-2 last season.
    »» Cornerback Bashaud Breeland (one) intercepting a pass to become the first member of the Redskins since Fred Smoot (2001-03) to open a career with multiple interceptions in three straight seasons.
    »» Quarterback Kirk Cousins recording his 15th career 300-yard passing game, including postseason play, to move past Joe Theismann (14) for sole possession of second in team history.
    »» Cousins (1,101) throwing four times to pass Eddie LeBaron (1,104) for eighth on the team’s all-time passing attempts list.
    »» Cousins (719) completing 26 passes to move past Gus Frerotte (744) for seventh on the team’s all-time completions list.
    »» Cousins (53) throwing three touchdown passes to pass Jason Campbell (55) for seventh-most passing touchdowns in team history.
    »» Cousins throwing multiple touchdown passes in three consecutive games for the first time since a three-game stretch to close the 2015 season.
    »» Cousins exceeding a passer rating of 100.0 for a fifth consecutive road game, dating back to Week 14 last season.
    »» Wide receiver Jamison Crowder (two) setting a new single season career high with his next receiving touchdown.
    »» Tight end Vernon Davis adding to his 55 career touchdown receptions, seventh-most of any tight end in NFL history.
    »» Cornerback Quinton Dunbar (one) setting a career high with his next interception.
    »» Wide receiver Pierre Garçon (18 with Washington) catching two touchdown passes to become the 15th player in Redskins history to post 20 touchdown receptions with the team.
    »» Kicker Dustin Hopkins extending his career-long 16 consecutive successful field goal attempts in regular season play, dating back to last season.
    »» Hopkins (16, dating back to last season) converting his next three field goal attempts to pass Kai Forbath for the second-longest streak of successful attempts in team history (18 across 2013-14).
    »» Hopkins adding to his 12 field goals to start the season, the most by any Redskins kicker in the first four weeks of the season in records dating back to 1960.
    »» Hopkins making his next eight field goal attempts to tie Mark Moseley for the most consecutive successful field goals to open a season in Redskins history (converted first 20 in 1982).
    »» Hopkins (45) entering the game as the NFL’s scoring leader for 2016.
    »» Wide receiver DeSean Jackson (24) recording a 50-plus-yard touchdown to tie Steve Smith, Sr. (25) for fourth in total touchdowns of 50 yards or more in the NFL since the 1970 merger.
    »» Jackson (20) recording a 60-plus-yard touchdown to tie Devin Hester (21) for second-most total touchdowns of 60 yards or more in NFL history.
    »» Running back Matt Jones recording consecutive 100-yard rushing games for the first time in his career.
    »» Jones becoming the first member of the Redskins to record back-to-back 100-yard rushing performances since Alfred Morris in Weeks 9-10 of the 2013 season.
    »» Jones scoring a rushing touchdown in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
    »» Jones (two) tying his career high (three in 2015) with his next rushing touchdown.
    »» Linebacker Ryan Kerrigan recording 1.0 sack to become the third player in team history to reach 50 career sacks since 1982 (Dexter Manley and Charles Mann).
    »» Linebacker Trent Murphy adding to his single-season career high 4.0 sacks.
    »» Murphy posting a sack in a fourth consecutive game for the first time in his career and becoming the first member of the Redskins with a sack in four straight games since Ryan Kerrigan’s five game stretch in Weeks 12-16 in 2014.
    »» Cornerback Josh Norman intercepting a pass in back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 3-4 last season with Carolina.
    »» Norman tying his career-long with a seventh consecutive regular season game with a pass defensed, dating back to last season. His previous seven-game streak was set from Week 15 of 2014 through Week 4 of 2015.
    »» Tight end Jordan Reed adding to his 25 receptions this season, the most among NFL tight ends.
    »» Reed (16) catching three touchdown passes to tie Clint Didier (19) for fourth-most by a tight end in Redskins history.
    »» Reed registering multiple touchdown receptions in back-to-back games for the second time in his career and the first time since Weeks 15-16 in 2015.
    »» Reed (five) scoring multiple receiving touchdowns to tie Santana Moss (six) for the sixth-most games with multiple touchdown receptions by a member of the Redskins since 1960.
  22. TK

    Third Quarter Recap

    By TK,

    The third quarter opens in a bad way. Josh Norman is out with a rib injury, Rob Kelly is out with an ankle injury. Redskins D is a different creature without Norman. Chiefs have them on their heels the whole drive.  They tighten up by stopping Hunt at the 1 yard line to force a 3rd down them Preston Smith gets called for a penalty. Gyeah. Next play Chiefs take the lead as Alex Smith gets in the endzone. 4-10 Chiefs. Gruden is now saying Norman will be out a few weeks. At least next week is a Bye week. 
     
    Cousins opens this this drive with a 69 yard catch n run to VD . Holy **** that was purty. Skins at the 4. Kirk to Ryan Grant. TOUCHDOWN ****es. 3 plays, 75 yards in 1:38. Where was this at the end of the half? Skins retake the lead 17-14
     

     
    Swearinger sets the tone to open the Chiefs drive by sacking Alex Smith for a loss of 5. Smith to Kelce as Preston Smith is called for off sides. Redskins Defense still hasn’t found an answer for Kelce all game. They’ve done well stopping Hunt from hitting a major gash, but the TE...man they need a solution for him. From the WTF files, Chiefs are about to kick a field goal, Redskins jump offsides & give them the 1st down. At the 30. Defense ends up somehow holding them to a field goal. It’s tied at 17.
     
    End of the 3rd Quarter 
  23. TK

    House of Cards

    By TK,

    Greetings humanoids from the desert where today Kirk Cousins & the Redskins look to avenge a disgusting loss from two years ago. Some of you may remember when the Cards were still in the NFC East, which was a glorious time as it was them who were always guarandamnteed to finish last in the Division. Times have changed though, & not only are they no longer in the East, they also no longer play at Sun Devil. Sun Devil was always a cool looking stadium on the tv & breathtaking in person as it was carved into the rock. Now, they have one of the best domed stadiums in the League. Everything here is clean, staff is exceptionally polite, the landscaping around the stadium is immaculate. And their tailgating setup is the absolute best I've seen at any stadium. I've said it before & I'll say it again now: When Dan builds his new stadium I really hope it incorporates some of the things they have here.
     
     

     
     
    ANNOUNCEMENT OF INACTIVES
     
    GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Washington Redskins have announced the following inactives and lineup changes for today’s game against the Arizona Cardinals:
     
    The Redskins declared the following players as inactive: 
    o   No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld
    o   No. 19 WR Rashad Ross
    o   No. 31 RB Matt Jones
    o   No. 35 CB Dashaun Phillips
    o   No. 69 DL A.J. Francis
    o   No. 72 DE Anthony Lanier II
    o   No. 86 TE Jordan Reed
     
    No. 85 Vernon Davis is expected to start in place of Reed at tight end.
     
     What I'm Watching For
     
    With Jordan Reed out today, the first instinct is to watch for Vernon Davis to have great day. However, the Cards Defense has been shutting down TEs. Therefore I'm looking for Crowder to continue to ascend by picking up Reeds targets & possibly have a career day.  I'm also looking for the offense to hit that damn fade route again this week simply because they finally hit it last week against Dallas. That alone is why I fully expect to see it again. On Defense, I'm looking to see if Barry moves Norman into the Slot depending on the WR. And on Special Teams all I want to see is Hopkins simply not miss. That's not to much to ask for but given his last two games...
     

    It it takes forever to get there but the roof is open today.
     
     Quick Notes
     
    As you can see above, the roof is open today. It's 70 degrees here in Glendale. Beautiful weather for football. It reminds me of of September game at FedEx. Tons & I mean TONS of Redskins fans here today. There were so many last night at the Rally that the Tilted Kilt was at capacity about an hour before the event even began. The Burgundy & Gold is well represented here in the desert at FedEx West.
     

    Redskins Rally at Tilted Kilt
     
     FIRST QUARTER
     
    Redskins win the coin toss & defer. Cards start off feeding the Beast, David Johnson. Even with small gains n yardage, the Cards have managed to move to midfield. For the Defense, Nacho is making tackles, though Cravens failed at a pass defense for Johnson. Kerrigan deflects a pass intended for Floyd. Next play, Johnson gashes the Defense up the middle, thankfully fumbles (caused by Nacho) but Cards recover. Cards in the Red Zone. RJF tips a pass. Scotty Mac, sitting two seats down from me is saying we had had two missed turnovers on this drive. After a stop by Kerrigan, Johnson finds the end zone for the games first touchdown. Kick is good, Cards go 15 plays in 8 minutes for 75 yards & the score.
     
    DEFENSE TK AS CM S/YD INT B.Breeland 3 0 3 0.0/0 0 D.Ihenacho 2 0 2 0.0/0 0 E.Hood 2 0 2 0.0/0 0 M.Foster 1 0 1 0.0/0 0 R.Kerrigan 1 0 1 0.0/0 0 W.Compton 1 0 1 0.0/0 0 D.Whitner 0 1 1 0.0/0 0 T.Murphy 0 1 1 0.0/0 0 R.Jean Francois 1 0 1 0.0/0 0  
    Skins offense takes the field & the crowd gets LOUD in cheering for them. Just like FedEx. Kirk to Garçon for 9 followed by a stupid false start penalty on Carrier. Followed by a false start on Lauvao. A certain GM is shaking his head. He's not alone. Kirk incomplete to DJax & then sacked for a loss of 10. 4th & 21. UGLY first attempted drive. Defense stops the Cards quick & Cards are forced to punt so the Offense gets to try to get their ish together now. Carrier in at TE & im trying to figure out how he jumped over Vernon Davis at TE. Rob Kelley up the middle for a nice gain. Kirk feeds two passes to Garçon & the Offense is starting to get in a groove. Annnnnd Kirk gets a pass deflected & nearly picked off. Press Box let's out a sigh of relief. Kirk incomplete to Crowder & Skins forced to pun. Cards called for holding during the punt. And the Cards are called for a penalty. It's 2nd & 10 on their 8. Defense turns it up & smothers Johnson after a 1 yard gain. 
     
    RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD R.Kelley 1 13 13.0 13 0   PASSING ATT CMP CMP% YDS SK/YD TD LG INT RT K.Cousins 8 3 37.5 26 1/10 0 11 0 46.9 RECEIVING TAR NO YDS AVG LG TD P.Garcon 3 2 20 10.0 11 0 D.Carrier 1 1 6 6.0 6 0 D.Jackson 1 0 0 -- 0 0 R.Kelley 1 0 0 -- 0 0 J.Crowder 1 0 0 -- 0 0  
     SECOND QUARTER
     
    Defensively, Cravens pretty much ended the Cards drive. The kid is simply fun to watch. Redskins run game has evidently decided to show up now. Thompson with a speedy Westbrook like gain on the right side & the Kelly up the middle. Followed by a pitch to Fat Rob for 4. And then Lauvao is called for a fals start. AGAIN. This drive stalls out & Hopkins in to kick. It's good & its 7-3 Cards. 
     
    ATT YDS TD LG R.Kelley 5 37 0 19   PASSING CM/AT YDS TD INT RT K.Cousins 4/10 47 0 0 55.0 RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG C.Thompson 2 1 21 0 21 P.Garcon 3 2 20 0 11 D.Carrier 1 1 6 0 6 D.Jackson 1 0 0 0 0 R.Kelley 1 0 0 0 0 J.Crowder 1 0 0 0 0 Josh Norman just stuffed the hell outta Johnson for a loss of 5. Damn that was fun to watch. The Defense stepped up this drive & stops the Cards  before they can cross mid field. Redskins will start this drive at the 48. Time to put 7 on that board.  Instead they start with ANOTHER false start this one on Scherff. Skins finally convert a third down. They're now 1-4 on third down conversions. Here we go, Skins back in the Red Zone. Time to get 7 & take the lead. Ryan Grant getting into the mix now. Two passes & he's at the 1. Fat Rob drops a pass wide open in the end zone. Offense also called for an illegal shift & is backed up 5 yards. Kirk to Davis who picks up 5 & is back to the 1. Fat Rob up the middle for no gain. 
     
     TWO MINUTE WARNING
     
    Spencer Long is questionable for a return with a shoulder injury. Kick is good & it's Redskins down 7-6 to the Cards with 1:52 left in the half. Norman with a beautiful breakup on a pass to Floyd in the corner endzone right below us. Redskins down 10-6. 
     
     HALFTIME THOUGHTS
     
    The Defense has surprisingly stepped up & limited any big plays except for the shot downfield to Fitzgerald & a 22 yard chunk to Johnson inside the two minute warning. The bigger issue so far is the damn offense. First the can't get it going then every time they do, they get stupid holding penalties that negate any positive momentum they get going. They've had some questionable personnel decisions like Carrier at TE to start over Davis, & Grant in over Maurice Harris who had seemed to jump Grant in the lineup the last two games. 
     
     
    TEAM STATS REDSKINS CARDINALS Total First Downs 7 11 By Rushing 2 4 By Passing 5 7 By Penalty 0 0 Efficiency     Third Down 1-5-20% 5-9-56% Fourth Down 0-0-0% 0-0-0% Red Zone 0-1-0% 1-2-50% Goal to Go 0-1-0% 1-1-100% Total Net Yards 131 170 Offensive Plays 27 38 Average Gain 4.9 4.5 Rushing Net     Yards 52 44 Plays/Avg 10/5.2 14/3.1 Tackles for Loss/Yards 0/0 2/-7 Passing Net     Yards 79 126 Sacks/Yards 1/10 1/9 Gross Yards 89 135 Att-Comp-Int 16-9-0 23-13-0 Average 4.6 5.3 TEAM STATS REDSKINS CARDINALS Kickoffs     Num-Endzone-Touchbacks 3-3-3 2-1-0 Punts 2 3 Had Blocked 0 0 Gross Punting Average 44.5 39.7 Net Punting Average 38.0 34.0 FGs-PATs Blocked 0-0 0-0 Return Yards     Punts/Yards 2/17 1/13 Kickoffs/Yards 2/26 0/0 Interceptions/Yards 0/0 0/0 Touchdowns 0 1 Rush-Pass-Other 0-0-0 1-0-0 Penalties-Yards 5-25 3-21 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-0 Extra Points Made-Atts 0-0 1-1 1 Point Tries 0-0 1-1 2 Point Tries 0-0 0-0 FGs Made-Attempts 2-2 1-1 Safeties 0 0 Timeouts Remaining 3 3 Time of Possession 13:50 16:10  
     
     THIRD QUARTER 
     
    Looks like they found the Offense during the half. A deep shot to DJax & a few plays later Kirk on a keeper into the end zone from the 1 for the go ahead TD. 13-10 Redskins. Spencer Long now out with a concussion. And it seems we left the Defense in the locker room at the half. They haven't been able to stop anything this drive except for a touchdown pass in the corner endzone that Dunbar broke up. And the Murphy sacks Palmer into an early grave. VICIOUS HIT. Me likey.  Cards miss a 50+ field goal attempt & it's Redskins ball at the 43. Annnd Kirk gets hit, fumbles, Cards recover for 20 yards & only Thompson saves it from being a touchdown. Jeebus. Palmer has a thing for his right corner end zone. Every time he throws one there we break it up.  Palmer to Floyd over the middle for the touchdown. So much for having a lead. 17-13 Cards. After nearly 3 quarters, gets his first catch for a gain of 2. At this point, Garçon is still the feature WR this game having gone 6 of 8 for 75 yards. Crowder FINALLY hits the end zone where my FF team says it's about time & its 20-17 Redskins. Dear sweet little baby Jesus please let this D hold. Ok so Palmer overthrows Floyd & Breeland was a step away from the pick 2nd down. Cards gain 7. 3rd & 3. Palmer to Fitz over the middle for the First Down. End of the 3rd.
     
     FOURTH QUARTER
     
    1st & 10 at theit 35. Cards ball. Here we go...Cards pass for 3. 2nd & 7.... pass incomplete FLAG holding on their TE, 2nd & 17....1st & 10....1st & 10....1st & 10....2nd & 5....Will Blackmon is down....And Johnson bull rushes into the end zone on a pass from Palmer for 25 yards & the TD. 24-20 Cards  with 11:09 left on the clock. At least the Steelers are whuppin some Giants ass right now.  Skins come out running it for 10 yards then Cousins has to throw it away. Finally back to Crowder as the Cards D has even preoccupied with trying to defend Garçon. Fat Rob stopped for a loss of 3. There's a Harris sighting. Watch this kid as he can ball. Cousins incomplete to Crowder which would have been short of First Down anyways. Hopkins nails a 53 yarder. & its 24-23 Cards.  6:01 left to go. Defense held them to a 4th &1 & Cards went for it, Johnson gashes the **** outta the D &his sto
    pped rom scoring by Norman. 2:11 left on the clock....Norman then called for holding gives the Cards. 1st down at the 42. ...2nd & 10 at the 42... The roof is still open & it's getting considerably darker in here. And the Cards score a TD. 31-23 Cards.
     
     TWO MINUTE WARNING
     
    Skins are now forced to not only score a TD but a 2 point conversion as well just to tie it & head to overtime. Kirk to Garçon who is keyed in on immediately. Gain of 3. Back to Crowder, incomplete but AZ called for a 15 yard roughing the passer penalty for a free First Down. Kirk incomplete to Crowder again on the sideline. Same play complete to Grant, flag is out, Hands to the face called on AZ, another free First Down.   Kirk to Davis over the middle for 18. Complete to Davis again. Incomplete to DJax...Kirk to Crowder INTERCEPTED with 41 ticks left on the clock. And with a Tampa win, as of now Paloffs are next year.
     
     
     POST GAME AUDIO 
     
     
  24. TK

    Bear Huntin'

    By TK,

    Seasons Greetings from historic Soldier Field, where Da Bears haven't been relevant since 1985 & the Redskins are slowly starting to rumble to become relevant. Biggest keys today are  for the Defense to find a way to stop Bears rookie running back Jordan Howard & just as importantly for the Offense to not come out flat as a pancake in the first quarter. This offense has struggled to get going since the Cardinals game. 
     
     
     

     
     
    ANNOUNCEMENT OF INACTIVES
     
    CHICAGO – The Washington Redskins have announced the following inactives and lineup changes for today’s game against the Chicago Bears:
     
    The Redskins declared the following players as inactive:
    o   No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld
    o   No. 31 RB Matt Jones
    o   No. 36 S Su’a Cravens
    o   No. 47 CB Quinton Dunbar
    o   No. 60 OL Vinston Painter
    o   No. 78 C Kory Lichtensteiger
    o   No. 86 TE Jordan Reed 
     
    No. 85 Vernon Davis is expected to start in place of Reed at tight end.
     
     

    While not eliminated from the Playoffs, the Redskins no longer control their own destiny after another embarrassing loss earlier this week on Monday Night. A win today over the 3 win Bears will help, but at this point if the team still comes out flat, Redskins fans will feel like they just got a lump of coal in their stocking. That said, here's to a Redskins win to brighten all our holidays.

     
    Da Bears win the toss & defer so now the Offense gets to start. Hopefully they come out blazing because I dont even want to think about another flat start. Stadium is about half empty here at the start. Skins start with a run followed by a Cousins scramble  they seemed committed to trying to establish the run for once, however a throwaway pass for Cousins & a missed pass to a wide open Crowder stalls out the opening drive.
    Defense holds to a quick three n out. However, not sure if that's because Da Bears are that bad or if the D actually stopped them. 
    Next offensive drive, Skins start with the run again but quickly turn to the fast passing game for chunks of yardage & seal off the drive returning to the run to end it with Chris Thompson in the end zone for the first score of the game. Skins up 7-0. Ho ho ho
    Bears QB Matt Barkley starts off the Bears second drive looking rather blah. Skins D stops Howard for a loss of 8 then Barkley starts to get a little hot then the Bears fumble & the Redskins recover. A fumble gets reversed on the replay & Howard rips this defense for 23. On third down, Barkley looks lost out there, throws it out the back of the endzone. Bears go for 3 but it's blocked out of the back of the end zone & Skins takeover at the 20. 
    So far, one thing is clear. The Bears need a QB upgrade. Also, my Fantasy team would love it Crowder would get involved this drive. Instead DJax with a 57 yard gain shows why someone is gonna pay him next year. On 3rd & 9 inside the 20 Cousins barely dumps it off in time to avoid a sack to Thompson. All he does is score. Skins up 14-0. And that's the end of the fist quarter. Ho ho ho
    Start of the 2nd quarter has Breeland picking off Barkley in the end zone. After review, pick stands however the return yardage is nullified. Knee was down at the 1. Skins come out with a 99 yard March in front of them. Three plays later it's 3rd & 1 at the 38. 46 yard bomb to Garçon converts the third down & puts the Redskins in the Red Zone. Drive stalls out so the Skins take the 3. 17-0. Ho ho home. 
    Its starting to look more like the Bears D is way worse then it was given credit for. The Offense so far has surprisingly been balanced. 12 runs to 14 passes. Redskins passing game has been clicking & the run game is showing it wants to be there as well.  On the flip side, for the Bears, They have Howard who is exceptional & Barkley who is, well....NOT. A penalty helps get the Bears drive to stay alive & end up with their first score. 17-7 Ho ho ehhh
    Skins start off like they've been taking stupid pills. Holding on a Breeland return followed by another penalty omfor having 12 men on the field. Then Cousins overthrows DJax who had his man beat deep over the 50 yard line. Two plays later though Kirk connects with DJax for 29 yards. Another deep shot to DJax is incomplete but he gets a flag & it's an automatic first down. Skins FINALLY seem to be not playing down to the level of an inferior team. Inside the Two Minute Warning, Cousins runs it in this time from 9 yards out. It's 24-7 Skins. Ho Ho ho. 
    Robert Kelley is Questionable to return with a knee injury. 
    Barkley gets the moving downfield by going no huddle out of the shotgun & they get a TD with 34 seconds left in the Half. 24-14 Skins. Ho Ho ummm. 
    End of the first half. 
    RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LG TD R.Kelley 14 61 4.4 15 0 K.Cousins 2 22 11.0 13 1 C.Thompson 2 11 5.5 7 1 PASSING ATT CMP CMP% YDS SK/YD TD LG INT RT K.Cousins 17 11 64.7 224 0/0 1 57 0 127.7 RECEIVING TAR NO YDS AVG LG TD D.Jackson 6 5 114 22.8 57 0 P.Garcon 3 3 87 29.0 46 0 C.Thompson 1 1 17 17.0 17 1 R.Kelley 3 2 6 3.0 5 0 J.Crowder 1 0 0 -- 0 0 R.Grant 1 0 0 -- 0 0   The start of the second half has Howard get injured, a Preston Smith sack on Barkley, a Bears converted fake punt, & a Josh Norman pick. Welcome to Crazy Town. 
    Funny how those "DJax wouldn't rule out a Philly return" rumors were going a few weeks ago & the last 3 games he's gotten more targets. Like the one that incomplete to start the Skins opening 2nd half drive. That was his 7th current target of the game. Which at that point lead the WRs as Garçon was next with 4 targets. 
    RECEIVING TAR REC YDS TD LG D.Jackson 7 5 114 0 57 P.Garcon 5 4 94 0 46 C.Thompson 1 1 17 1 17 R.Kelley 3 2 6 0 5 J.Crowder 1 0 0 0 0 R.Grant 1 0 0 0 0 M.Brown 1 1 -2 0 -2  
    Skins end another drive with a TD scored by Cousins on a QB sneak from the 1. Skins increase their lead to 31-14. The Bears next drive is stopped short as Breeland gets in on the INT game & picks off Barkley. Skins are rolling so hard we get a Mack Brown sighting at RB & Crowder gets a second target. Cousins doesn't connect with Davis in the end zone on 4th & 1. It's the type of ballsy call that you make when you're up by three scores. The Bears have Howard back in the game though down 17 expect them to abandon the run game. 
    Start of the Fourth sees Barkley nearly picked off again in the corner end zone only to actually get picked off on the next play by Blackmon who returns it 79 yards. Skins takeover again at the Chicago 10 as Sabotage by the Beastie Boys blasts the stadium. Fitting song.  Mack Brown gets it to the 1 where a holding penalty halts this TD attempt & forces the Skins to kick. It's good & now 34-14 Skins. HO HO HO

    Bears drive it to the 1 & Norman picks off Barkley. Again. Even though it's pretty much the equivalent of pulling the wings off a fly, this Redskins performance sure is enjoyable.   
     
  25. TK
    Aight. Last week was kinda fun reviewing the Rams tape, so I figured let’s do both Raiders games for this week. Yes, both.  For now, here’s the Raiders at Titans game from Week 1.
     
    First up is Week 1 with the Raiders at the Titans. First thing is it’s weird to hear Romo calling this game because he’s always been an NFC guy yet here he is calling an AFC game. Secondly, the Titans start this game with a failed on-sides kick. It was ballsy, but dumb. 
     
    Now to what I’ve been wanting to see, this vaunted Raiders Offense as never watched them last year. So let’s rearview what the Raiders are doing on Offense, drive by drive. Here we go…
     
    Raiders 1st & 10 at the 50 with 14:58 on the clock. Two WR set with Lynch in the backfield. Pass blocking is perfect, Carr with a quick release throws short of the 1st Down marker (a staple of the Redskins O for years) complete to Cooper for 6 yards as he’s wrapped up & on the ground before he can complete a spin around move to go for the YAK. 2nd & 4. Raiders to the line, Lynch in the backfield, 4 WR set- Trips left overload with the fourth(Rookie) on the right.  Handoff to Lynch. No rust on BeastMode. Gains 14 simply by plowing though & bowling guys over. It takes 3-4 defenders to bring him down. 1st & 10 at the 30. Raiders to the line 3 WR set with an empty backfield & BeastMode out wide to the right. Lynch does nothing. Absolutely nothing. He stands there facing Carr, watches the snap, doesn’t move. Maybe that 14 yard run gassed his ass? Anyways, Carr connects with Cook who spins around & does a forward roll before even being touched by a defender for a gain of 22. Cook was wide open. 1st & Goal for the Raiders who have been playing the Titans aren’t even on the field. Raiders to the line, going 5 wide. Carr to Cooper on the underneath route. Cooper, drags about half of the Titans defense with him, muscles his way across the plane for the touchdown. Raiders send out there new kicker, he nails it & it’s 7-0 Raiders.
     
    Oakland’s Defense on this series is nothing to get excited about as they allowed the Titans to march down the field for a touchdown that was ran in by Mariota. Oh & Rookie WR Corey Davis owned CB David Amerson on a sweet sideline pass.
     
    The Titans kick it off for a touchback. Raiders ball at the 25. BeastMode in the backfield, 4 WR set, Trips Left. Carr handoffs to Lynch for a run to the left with 3 extra blockers already there for him coming out of that Trips formation. Gain of 3 as the WRs can’t block for ****. Raiders again going 5 wide with an empty backfield. Sideline pass to Cooper gets broken up. I believe this is Oakland’s first incompletion. 3rd & 7 Raiders go 4 WRs with Lynch in the backfield. Sideline pass to Cook for a gain of 12 & the 1st down. It took four defenders to bring Cook down. He’s a big boy who clearly ate his Wheaties before this game. Raiders go with the End Around to Patterson to change things up a bit. Personally I’ve never been a big fan of the End Around as it rarely gets you any yardage due to the time it takes to get the runner headed back the other way & just wastes a Down more often then not. 2nd & 5 and the Raiders go back to 5 WRs. Again. With Lynch in the backfield. Carr changes the play at the lineCrabtree gets called for Offensive Pass Interference. Oakland gets backed up to a 2nd & 15. So far the only thing that stops this Offense is, this Offense. Raiders back to their 5 WRs but with an empty backfield this snap. Carr passes it to no one as Cooper ran the wrong route. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Raiders are going 5 Wide with an empty backfield. Carr with a sideline lob to Crabtree who makes the catch but there’s a flag out. PI call on the Defense so the Raiders get the easy 1st Down. Trips left this time with the 4th WR at the bottom of the screen. Betting here it’s either the underneath or the sideline pass down the right…..Oh I AM surprised, it’s actually Lynch up the middle for 3. 2nd & 7 with 4 wide & Lynch in the backfield this time. There’s the underneath to Crabtree who gets to the 12. Flag on the play back at the 40 & after zebra conference it’s no foul. Evidently the SJ thought a WR was a T & had thrown the flag for not enough players on the field. Or something. Still, this is a Week 1 game & Del Rio is on the sideline laughing in the ref’s face as they explain it to him. Raider ball at the 12. Raiders again back to Trips left with Cooper as the fourth WR on the right & Lynch in the backfield. Lynch runs to the left for five yards. Those extra WRs seemed to block a lil bit better this time. 2nd & 5 at the 7. Raiders go 3 WRs spread on the right with the 4th on the left & again Lynch in the backfield. Swing pass to Lynch for a gain of 2 on the left side. Oh look! It’s an Orakpo sighting. 3rd & 3 at the 5. Titans show a FS blitz, Lynch up the middle but gets pushed back short of the first down. 4th & 1. Raiders are going to go for it. Timeout Oakland…Raiders going for it. Handoff to Lynch who is hit at the ankles in the backfield & should have been stopped except he plants & slightly pivot to the right away from the clogged middle, avoids the guy coming through the middle & heads towards his new hole where there’s nothing but daylight between him & end zone. However a defender comes in out of the backfield & wraps him up short of the goal line but he gets the 1st Down. 1st & Goal Raiders. Again, trips bunched left, Cooper on the right, Lynch in the backfield. Quick slant to Cooper is bobbled & dropped. 2nd & Goal. Three WRs spread out this time on the left, Copper still spread out solo on the right. Lynch still in the backfield. Pass again to Cooper is broken up & incomplete. 3rd Down. Carr in the Shotgun passes to Cooper who drops it in the back center of the end zone. Quarter ends & Oakland opens the 2nd quarter with a 3 point field goal. Great drive that chewed up the clock & yardage. They just couldn’t punch it in when they needed to. Sounds familiar to anyone that’’s been watching Redskins football here lately. Only difference is the Raiders were feeding Cooper who couldn’t eat while the Redskins just throw fades to short WRs. 
     
    I may have gotten spoiled in watching McVay’s creativity last week when I reviewed the Rams tape against the Colts. And with the last game I watched being the Thursday Night Shootout between the Rams & the 49ers, this Raiders offense is boring af. I’m go take a power nap cause it’s actually making me sleepy. Hopefully;;y when I get back I can stay awake long enough to get through this Week 1 game tape. No idea how I’ll get through the Riders/Jets game from last week. Maybe a box of coffee from Dunkin will do the trick….
     
    Oakland starts their third drive with Lynch on the bench. Not to be confused with all of those “Remember Elf on a shelf get ready for_______” memes that have been making their way across social media this past week. Raiders line up in what ’s been their base formation this game - Trips bunched left, fourth WR at the top on the screen. It’s a handoff to Washington up the clogged middle for 1. Hot route for 3 yards to Cooper & he picks up the YAC for the first down at the 28. The give is to Washington again up the middle for a gain of 4. No idea why BeastMode is currently BenchMode. 2nd & 6 at the 31. Raiders going 5 wide now with Washington split out wide at the bottom of the screen. Carr quick pass to Cook for the first down. Four WR set with Washington still in the backfield & Carr hands off to Washington who goes up the middle again for 2. Raiders go 5 wide with an 18 yard pass to Crabtree. Crabtree makes the catch in the air, stretched out perpendicular like he’s flying & only missing a cape. 1st & 10 at the 43 & Oakland is back to 4 WRs with Richard in the backfield now. Richard takes the handoff up the middle for a short gain. 2nd & 9 four WRs & Richard  in the backfield again. Play action fake to Richard & Carr is immediately swarmed & sacked for a loss of 5. 3rd & 13. 4 WRs again & again the Titans sack Carr. 4th & 20. Cue the punt team. Punt takes a bounce & Oakland’s ST down it at the 2. Nice ST play. 
     
    On the last drive the Raider Defense pitched a three & out. This drive, not so much. The Titans started at their own 2 yard line & marched it down into the Red Zone where the Defense finally tightened up & held them to a Field Goal. It’s tied at 10 with 43 seconds left in the first half. 
     
    Raiders take the touchback at the 25 yard line. Carr to Crabtree on a 5 yard under route. Crabtree with the YAK & gets out of bounds to stop the clock. Raiders go 4 WR set again with two on each side of the line, empty backfield with 36 seconds on the clock. Titans blitz & almost get Carr for a HUGE loss but his quick release allows him to avoid the sack & connect with Crabtree down the sideline again but 2 yards short of the 1st down & he steps out to stop the clock.  29 seconds on the clock, 2nd & 2. Carr dumps it off to Washington over the middle who has some speed & gets a gain of 13. Raiders call Timeout with 20 tics left on the toc. Titans blitz, Carr lobs it over to Cook at the sideline but doesn’t get out. Raiders call Timeout with 2 seconds left, 2nd & 5 & looking at at 50+ FG attempt. 52 yard FG is good straight down the middle. Raiders up by 3 at the half. 13-10 Oakland.
     
    Raiders to kickoff to start the second half. Titans take the touchback at the 25. Titans end up punting & the Raiders get called for a block in the back.1st & 10 at the 9, 5 WR set. Carr incomplete to Cooper. 2nd down. BeastMode is back in & up the middle for 7. #rd & 3. Carr to Crabtree & it’s knocked out of his hands. Raiders punt it the 26 & hit the returner out of bounds but get away with that penalty while the Titans take a 10 yard penalty for a block in the back. That’s the second ref screw up so far in this game. The Defense steps up again & forces another three & out. Raiders Fair Catch at the 37.
     
    Raiders line up in their base offense again with Lynch in the backfield. Seems like with his time out of football the Raiders are easing him back in & working him back into being an every down back. So it’s possible that the Redskins Defense won’t be dealing with him the entire game come Sunday night. Lynch off the Left Tackle for a gain of 2. 2nd Down & 8. Crabtree nobles a completion for no gain. 3rd & 8. Quick pass over the middle to Cooper who comes from across the field while the Titans are rushing 5 defenders,, GREAT play by Carr to avoid the pressure & still make the lobbed pass. 1st & 10. Carr fakes the Reverse & dumps it off to Lynch for the first down. It takes 5-6 defenders to bring his ass down. Geez. Gain of 16 on that play. Carr incomplete to Lynch who was lined up as a WR & completely uncovered. Lynch didn’t take off with the snap, he stood their for a second or two first then took off which threw the timing based pass off. This was similar to the play in the first half where they lined Lynch up as a WR & all he did was stand there looking back at Carr. 2nd & 10. Lynch back on the bench & Richard is back in. Richard up the middle for a short gain. 3rd & 9. Carr complete to Cooper with a GREAT throw that’s negated by a flag on the Center for Hands To The Face. 3rd & 19 at the Titans 43. Raiders go 5 wide, empty backfield. Carr gets flushed out of the pocket, takes off & makes it out of bounds. Raiders forced to punt. Titans get flagged for running into the kicker for a 5 yard penalty. 4th & 10 which put Oakland into FG position at 52 yards out into the wind . Sonofa….It’s good right down the middle. Raiders up 16-10
     
    Personal timeout here as I feel compelled to transcribe this audio gem from Nantz & Romo during the Titans drive.
     
    Jim: “Mariota’s never been intercepted in the RedZone in his career the first two years.”
    Romo: “You’re right and it’s probably about to happen here since you just said that.” 
    Jim: “Well I’m not trying to foreshadow anybody.”
     
    Damnit Romo, you’re making me like you in the booth.  
     
     
    Raiders Defense held em to a field goal & it’s 16-13 Oakland as they bobble the fair catch in the end zone. & the Titans are called for Offsides for a 5 yard penalty. Raider ball 1st & 10 at the 30. Raiders in the Spread again, Carr passes short over the middle to Cook who splits two defenders & gets the YAK for a First Down. Lynch is back in & rushes for a first down. Lynch again on his tenth carry for 4 yards. 2nd & 6. Carr passes left to cooper incomplete. Carr over the middle to Washington for six yards & a First Down. Carr goes up top to Crabtree with a SUCCESSFUL FADE ( Hey now I know what that looks like )to Crabtree who catches it backwards for a First Down. Carr throws a laser to Roberts into the back of the End Zone to Roberts for the touchdown. Impressive throw through THREE defenders. Damn. Kick’s good & it’s Raiders 23-13 
     
    Titans take the kickoff just inside the goal line & run it out. He shakes off one hit at the 15 & bounces right, goes through a hole between 3 defenders, hits the 20, turns straight upfield, at the 30 he freaking hi hurdles a dude in traffic which allows a defender to wrap his ankles up in mid air & bring him down at about the 35. Holy hell that was CRAZY. Turns out he was the PAC 12 long jump champion at USC. TWICE. Titans can’t do much of anything & get forced to punt. Punts goes out of the end zone & the Raiders start at their own 20. Carr hands off to Washington to the right side for a small gain of one. Four WR set, Washington still in the backfield, Carr dumps it over the pass rush to Washington for 4 yards. 3rd & 5. Carr across the middle to Cooper for a gain of 23. 1st & 10 with Lynch in the backfield now. Handoff to Lynch for 1 yard. He gets swarmed. 2nd & 9. Lynch to the right a 3 yard gain. 3rd & 6. Nickel blitz gets to Carr who unloads it out of bounds to avoid the impending sack. Raiders punt it into the end zone. Titans get held to a field goal. 23-16 Raiders / 4:49 left on the clock.
     
    Raiders take the kickoff at the 1 & return it to the 41. 1st & 10. Lynch in the backfield. Lynch up the middle, drags the pile with him for a gain of 4. Lynch again to the left side. 3rd & 3 as the clock continues to run towards the two minute warning. 3rd & 3. Richard in, Lynch out. Toss to Richard to the right for the First Down. Richard again on the ground to the left & he’s a hair short of the first down. 2nd & 1. Lynch back in & picks up the First Down. Titans call their second time out. 2:52 on the clock. Lynch up the middle for 2. 2nd & 8. Lynch up the middle, steamrolls Casey. Impressive. 3rd & 2 with two minutes to go. Lynch to the right side & get pushed back. Hard. 4th & 4. Raiders attempt the 43 yard field goal. Down the middle for the third time today. Raiders up 26-16 with 1:09 on the clock. This one is over.
     
     
    So, what I’ve picked up on Raiders are going to run the Spread & pretty much go 4/5 WRs all game. They’re still going to run as well. However they’re running back by committee right now as they work on easing Lynch back into football. Lynch will get yards, but they’re going to be in small increments unless a defense completely blows an assignment that allows him to spring through them. Its the smaller & faster combo of Washington & Richard that can gash your Defense to shreds. It’s kinda like having two Chris Thompsons. Their Defense never really seemed to show anything special under Ken Norton Jr’s coaching. Their passing game isn’t that exciting or imaginative. What it is however is effective. Carr has a very, very quick release. And their WRs are big, fast, and strong. Though that strength looked to be more upper body. Without actually pulling the stats, I’d say they’re almost a balanced Offense but with a slight lean to the passing game. I’d guess 60/40, again with looking it up. So far after only watching their first game, I think they’re beatable. To do so you’re going to need to have a successful run game that converts yards & eats up clock. Kinda like Goff last week, the best way to stop an efficient QB is to keep him off the field. 
     
    With that, I’m going to take a break for a few then start on the Raiders Jets game tape. 
     
     
     
    RAIDERS vs JETS
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Alright, time for the Week 2 game against the Jets. Hopefully with this being Oakland’s home opener there’s a little more excitement offensively. That game against the Titans was boring like Pre Season vanilla. 
     
    First thing I notice is Oakland has an entire sideline upper deck tapped off. Second thing is it’s still baseball season in Oakland so a does that mean a pick six gets called an intercepted home run?  
     
    Here we go…
     
    Raiders win the toss & will receive. Patterson brings it out of the end zone to the 16. Jets are starting two rookie safeties. Expecting the deep ball this game. Raiders come out in a two WR set with Lynch in the backfield. Lynch off the left tackle for a loss of 1 as he’s swarmed immediately.  Raiders catch a flag for Unnecessary Roughness. Tight End Smith ran a linebacker around the pile in a circle after the play was dead. Raiders are backed up to the 7. 2nd & 18. Carr out of the shotgun complete over the middle to Walford for 7 yards. 3rd & 11. Carr again out of the shotgun, Patterson up the middle for 6. That one dumb penalty has already killed this drive & the Raiders are forced to punt. Raiders force theirselves into a three & out opening drive with that penalty. Then they pick up a 5 yard penalty on the punt. We’re 2:12 into the first quarter & they’re being undisciplined in their play so far. On the flip side the Defense forces a three & out on the Jets.
     
    Raiders start this drive in two TE set with Lynch in the backfield. Handoff is to Lynch for 4 yards off the right tackle. 2nd & 6 Carr hands off to Lynch. Lynch flips it back to him, Carr hits Crabtree in stride deep down the left sideline until he’s forced out at the 49. Gain of 26. This is already more exciting the last week’s game. Carr pitches to Patterson to the right for a pick up 8. 2nd & 2 Carr hits the slant to Cooper for the first down. Carr in the shotgun again. Lynch lined up at WR like last week but moved to the inside on the left side. Last week he on the outside. Doesn’t matter though as it’s incomplete. So they go back to what he’s really, really good at & send Lynch up off the left guard for a gain of 4. 3rd & 6. Carr in the shotgun again, Jets jump early, flagged for 5 yards. 3rd & 1. Lynch on the ground & picks up 13 off the left guard. Jets had him in a pile but tried to arm tackle him high. Yeah. That ish don’t work. 1st & 10 at the Jets 17. Carr takes a deep shot but it’s incomplete. Carr incomplete to Roberts in the corner end zone. Carr hits Cook on the right for 6 yards. Carr hits Washington to inside the 5. 1st & goal. Lynch is back in. Carr makes an adjustment at the line. It’s a FADE ROUTE TO CRABTREE FOR THE TD. Sorry bout the all caps there its just I’m excited to have now finally seen two successful fade routes in the RedZone. 7-0 Raiders. Jets drive ends on a 3rd & 9 sack.
     
    Raiders take back over at the 15 after the punt. Richard runs off the right tackle, Raiders get called for clipping, Ruled No Play.  Richard off the left end for no gain. 1st & 17 Carr in the shotgun again with 5 WRs. Raiders try to run it to the left side. 3rd & 7. Carr to Cooper for 14. 1st & 10 & the Jets call a timeout. Carr with a quick screen to Cooper a loss of one. And that ends the 1st Quarter. 2nd & 11 to start the 2nd Quarter, Carr in the shotgun, dumps it over the middle to Richard who shows the Jets his jets. Richard picks up 39 yards on this one. I said it before, Richard & Washington are like having two Chris Thompsons on your team. 1st & 10 at the Jets 30. Lynch in the backfield, Carr under center this time. Hand off to Lynch who gets nothing up the middle. Back to Carr in the shotgun, 4 WRs & Lynch in the backfield this time. Usually when in shotgun they’ve been lining Lynch up as the fifth WR. It’s possible they took him out of the WR lineup here because he never had his timing right when Carr would throw to him. Anyways, handoff to Lynch for 4 off the left tackle. 3rd & 6. Carr in the shotgun, 5 WRs….Carr down the sideline complete to Crabtree at the 5. TE Cook draws a double team which puts Crabtree in single coverage down the sideline. Crabtree splits two defenders at the goal line & he’s in. Again. This time on an under thrown fade route
    14-0 Raiders.
     
    Seven plays & the Defense allows the Jets in the end zone & on the board. 14-7 Raiders. By the way, the Jets scored on a 34 yard Fade Route. Go figure. Patterson takes the kickoff out of the end zone to the 30. Oakland called for their third Unnecessary Roughness penalty during the return. Their second was during the Jets last drive. 1st & 10 at the Raiders 15. Carr out of the shotgun complete to Crabtree for 21 yards. 1st & 10 at the 36. Raiders go no huddle for the next two plays, both out of the shotgun. Lynch up the middle picks up 8 then an incomplete pass to the TE Cook. Raiders burn a timeout. Another incomplete short pass over the middle to Cook. Raiders are forced to punt. During the Jets drive, the Oakland defense picks up a Taunting penalty but holds the Jets to a field goal. 14-10 Raiders with 3:11 left in this half. Raiders take the touchback on the kickoff. 1st & 10 at the 25. Lynch picks up 2 yards off the left tackle but more importantly he gets the clock running. Carr is incomplete to Cooper but connects with Cook on the next snap. Cook gets pushed out at the 31 to stop the clock. The Jets had already burned two time outs. Doesn’t really matter though as it’s the two minute warning. 4th & 4 has the Raiders punting it 55 yards to the Jets who muff the catch & Oakland recovers it. At. The. Four. 1st & 10 raiders at the 4. Raiders try Lynch to the right for nothing. 2nd & goal. Lynch finally gets yardage in this game as he picks up two. Lynch up the middle for another gain of two & the touchdown. Lynch had ben shut down on the ground until these last two plays. He’s got 4 yards & a touchdown right before the half. 21-10 Raiders. Raiders punt, Jets takes a knee & that’s Halftime.
     
    Back from the Half, the Jets go 12 plays for 45 yards, chew up nearly 8 minutes of the third quarter & only come away with a field goal. It’s not that the Raiders Defense is THAT good, the Jets just aren’t very good at this whole football thing. I mean McCown, a 39 year old journeyman QB had a 22 yard run on them this drive. 
     
    1st & 10 at the Raiders 16. Carr under center hands off to Washington & he picks up 6. Washington again this time to the left side for 10 yards. Raiders run it a third time this time Washington goes nowhere. 2nd & 10 at the 32. Raiders continue to feed it to Washington for the fourth time in a row, this time it’s through the air for 1 yard. Flag out on the Jets this time for Unnecessary Roughness which moves the Raiders down the field by another 15 yards. 1st & 10 at their own 48. Carr with a swing pass to the right sideline complete to Crabtree who gets pushed out at the Jets 48. Gain of 4 yards on this one. Carr over the middle to Cook for 5. Then Carr hands it off to Patterson on a draw play for a 43 yard touchdown. Jeez that kid has some, ahem, jets. The Raiders just went 84 yards in 7 plays in 3 minutes 39 seconds. 28-13 Raiders. 
     
    The 3rd Quarter ends with McCown getting sacked & the 4th opens with the Jets punting it. Carr passes to the left to Cooper for 6 who then picks up another 10 in YAC. Next play Lynch finally catches a pass from Carr for 4 yards. Lynch off the right guard for a gain of 7. Next play Carr pitches right to Richard who makes one cut & ****ing explodes down the field & into the end zone. Holy **** that was impressive.  4 plays, 79 yards all in 2 minutes & it’s 35-13 Raiders
     
    Raiders kick off for 65 yards & the touchback. Jets in the shotgun when McCown gets sacked for a loss of 8 yards, Fumbles & the Raiders recover it at the Jets 18. 1st & 10 Raiders. Carr goes for the kill shot in the corner end zone to Cooper. Carr’s pass is caught out of bounds & ruled incomplete, Jets are called for Defensive Pass Interference, ball at the 1. 1st & goal. Carr out of the shotgun rolls right & fires it to Crabtree in the right corner of the end zone at the pylon for his third touchdown of the day. Kick is good & it’s 43-13 Raiders. They’re rolling.
     
    Jets go 75 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown to try to somewhat stay in it. It’s now 42-20 Raiders. Still trying to stay in this one, Jets go with an on sides kick that’s recovered by Washington for Oakland. Are you geographically confused now?   After 37 yards in 12 plays the Raiders are held to a field goal of their own. 45-20 Raiders with less then 30 seconds on the clock. Jets kick off, Raiders take the touchback then take a knee to end this mauling.
     
     
     
     
    So, after watching 8 quarters of Raider offense, I’m not picking up on them showing one thing to set up another like McCoy did when watching the first Rams game. They’ve ran two plays that stood out. The handoff to the running back who flipped it back to Carr for a pass attempt & the draw with Patterson. I’m only noting the Patterson draw because he’s their primary return guy & they’re already rotating three other, different running backs. 
     
    They run a lot of quick, short passes & expect the receivers to pick up the yards after the catch. His longest completion in Week 2 was only 39 yards. Yet he completed 23 of 28 passes. You have to be wary of Carr as he’s got a super quick release, but on top of that, he’s learned how to move defenders off of where he’s actually going with eyes. Torrian Gray is gonna have to really coach up the DBs to not fall for that. 
     
    As far as their WRs, they spread it around. And around. And around. They’re loaded with weapons in Crabtree, Cooper, Cook at TE & the two Chris Thompson clones in Richard & Washington. 
     
    The Raider’s run game, also nothing special, they just get enough to move the chains. Both teams they’ve played have seemed to made sure they swarmed Lynch anytime he got a carry to stop him from ripping off any major chunks of yardage. In Week 1 they were limiting Lynch to ease him back into football. In Week 2 Lynch had 12 attempts for 45 yards & a TD with an average of 3.8 while Washington & Richardson each had 6 attempts. 
     
    I think the Redskins can beat ‘em, but to do so they can’t make any mistakes. Until Pryor starts catching everything thrown at him & Doctson gets involved to where Cousins looks for him, the Raiders have the clear edge at WR. I’d give the Raiders an edge with the running game as well except the Redskins seemed to found theirs last week against the Rams. At Tight End, if Jordan Reed is out tonight, it’s a wash between V. Davis & the Raider’s J. Cook.
     
    And I fully expect Gruden to call at least two failed fade routes in the RedZone.  
     
     
    Feel free to leave your questions &/or comments below.
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