went back to watch week 1

[masaemaya]

i taped the arz game and went back to watch it just now (2nd time viewing).

we are not a bad football team. we came out in week 1 and excuted well all around. defense, especially run defense, played very well. jake got slapped around a lot by lavar, so he (#56) was pretty effective from the LE spot (even against leo. davis). (conversely, he wasn't very effective on delay blitzes, unable to penetrate the line.)

offensively, shane made the reads faster. he didn't seem to have any more/less time than he did vs the eagles. the eagles didn't blitz all that much anyway. shane made good throws. the receivers made great catches, etc etc... the offense is capable!

i really don't think we have a whole lot to worry about. there was just something stinky in the air monday night (aside from the pepper spray) that seemed to affect all the redskins, players, staff, even the cheerleaders!

i think we will go out to SF and dominate! our defense WILL dictate the game. i expect our guys will go out with even more energy than what they had for the opening game.

skins fans, stop asking for m. lewis's head, stop asking to bench smoot, and stop asking for bledsoe. just have faith in your team and tune in this sunday at 4pm to be reassured that everything is alright. don't criticize the team after just one game (at least wait for us to drop 5 straight before that, hehe).

inv

[Fred Smoot Fan]

Well I played SF yesterday in Madden and the D owned hard. Smoot and Bailey picked off 2 passes, Garcia was running for his life all day long however Shane tossed 3 INTs causing him to be benched and replaced by Ramsey who threw 4 TDs and 0 INTs vs Titans.

Skins won 25-17

[Tarhog]

That is a pretty rational, reasoned post - good job :peace:

Its pretty hard to remember the Zona game after the drubbing we all experienced. One thing I will say, if the skins can't get 'up' and demonstrated some passion next Sunday after embarrassing themselves, THEN I really will be concerned. Philly is a tough, physical, well-coached team, and I wasn't surprised we lost to them, just by how badly we played. We'd better apply more pressure to Garcia than we did to Mcnabb...

[masaemaya]

well, i haven't watched any of the 49ers games (just highlights), but all the sports guys on TV are saying that garcia is struggling big time. owens isn't getting it done either.

if i had to just go with a feeling i have inside, i'd say that our offense will be limited to running #48 (hopefully his groin is ok), curl catches, and one or two luck plays (30+ yards). they could competitively put at least 10-14 points on the board during the first 2-3 quarters (plus an additional 7-14 afterwards). i expect shane to throw a pick or two, but also at least one TD (not to the WRs, but to the backs or zeron/stephens).

but our defense will be the absolute key to this game. i'd look for plenty of fumbles, one or two ints, and a lot of positive energy flowing throughout the unit.

so... i'd say... 27(34)-16 skins (we give up one TD and 3 fgs, but we score 2 TDs in 1st half, one early in the 4th, a couple of FGs here and there, and possibly another TD from the defense in the 2nd half).

if i'm right, you guys can come back to me when we face tennessee

inv

[MRMADD]

We HAVE to get after Garcia. If he has as much time as McNabb did, he's gonna get his confidence back. He's gonna find Owens -- no one can cover him if Garcia can sit back and wait.

[Henry]

I have Owens and Hearst on my FF team so I've watched both SF games pretty closely. They are having some serious trouble on offense. I'm not sure what's different this year, but Owens looks terrible. Stokes seemed to be much more of a factor in both games. Garcia is struggling mightily and their rushing attack is pretty average (Hearst isn't putting up very good numbers, but their other RB ...Barlow I think, is doing ok.)

I do think we have a shot, but it depends if our defense actually shows up.

[rdsknbill]

QUOTE I do think we have a shot, but it depends if our defense actually shows up.

No doubt about it. Qb pressure is key against the Niners. You think Mooch is watching the game film from MNF, licking his chops?

This is a damn good receiving corps that the Skins are facing, so Smoot better put up or SHUT UP.

Bill

[Rat_Boy]

I know what is wrong with the 49ers, or, at least, I THINK I do.

Okay, as some articles have been saying, the 49ers are getting beat because teams are playing two deep zone on them and stuffing their running backs. They are stuffing the run and cutting off the deep routes. They are also containing Garcia on his scrambling.

They need to establish a running game first and foremost.

Can the Redskins stuff their running backs? Can we contain Garcia's scrambling?

I think if we could, we would win. But I just don't see it. Philly's backs averaged dern near 6 yards per carry on us. And we saw what McNabb did with his legs.

[Om]

I don't think this game breaks down on personnel lines. I think it comes down to whether or not the Redskins progress as a team enough in the coming days to field a team capable of dealing with a competent NFL foe.

Against Arizona, we saw a bit of what the offense is capable of. We also saw signs of how far the defense has to go in terms of learning / buying into / executing of the new defensive scheme.

The sea changes since last season caught up with us against Philly, plain and simple. All the valid concerns we've talked about all year; OL, DL, QB, WR, new systems on both sides, etc., etc., etc. ... all were on display on Monday. A good team, that played very well, caught us with our pants down in front of the world. And once it started rolling downhill, that good team caught the wave as any good would, and it got very, very ugly.

A team with the breadth of changes ours has had over the last few seasons simply has no "character" of it's own to fall back on to stem the tide and rally back from the kind of smack in the face Philly gave us in the first quarter of that game. No, the Redskins are NOT that bad. Yes, they DID play that badly. And they may for a while.

At some point, this team will sort itself out ... players will learn who steps up in what situations, and who doesn't. And who their on-field leaders are, and who needs a kick in the arse from time to time. The coaches will learn the same things, as well as learn what ascects of what THEY are doing work with this group and which don't.

But it's not going to happen overnight. Be nice if it would -- especially looking at the schedule over the next few weeks -- but I have reservations. We could play much better than we did Monday out in SF this weekend and still lose, because SF is not only not that bad, but they DO know who they are, and who their leaders are, and how to rally around their "character." We'll find ours soon enough.

I was guilty, as were many of you, of letting myself get perhaps a bit too excited about the propects of this team this year -- it was hard not to based on what we saw through Monday night. What happened Monday, though, did nothing to change my overall outlook on where SS will take this team. It HAS, however, forced me to take a half-step back and prepare myself to have to stomach the growing pains and dramatic ups and downs that I suspected all along the team would go through in the early stages of the SS Era.

There's a lot of work for this team to do, and if they want to challenge for a playoff spot THIS year, they don't have the luxury of wasting very many more early season games this year learning who they are. If they manage to come up with a solid plan for SF, and then take some large steps in the direction of becoming a team and executing them, I think the "matchups" and personnel questions are not that great a concern.

No question we have the brains on the sideline and the bodies on the field to compete right now ... it's a matter of when the twain come together and become a unit.

[Tom [Giants fan]]

I don't know if you want to run Davis at the 49er's. They can stop the run. What they can't do is stop the pass. Their pass defense has been atrocious. The Redskins should be able to develop mismatches with Gardner and your other receivers against the 49er secondary.

[redman]

I agree, Tom. I see Gardner, Lockett and Thompson having big days against them. Still, we need to feed Stephen the ball enough to keep them honest and allow him to wear them down a bit. He's an underutilized resource. I don't care how sexy your passing offense is, if you have a talent like Davis, you use him.