Art Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 The Redskins were an arrogant team entering this game. They were talking about having confidence in themselves. The defensive players were talking about dominating everyone. This, for the Redskins of recent years, is a kiss of death. But, low and behold, it actually appears they may have had a reason to be confident and expect to dominate. The Seahawks did a nice job of mixing things up in the passing game. They created positive plays by formation. They had a pretty mobile guy buy them some plays. They moved the ball pretty well. And, despite that, it was hard to feel like they had anything to threaten us. That's the first game the defense has played where you really felt they were controlling things, if not dominating things. This is the kind of defense we might have expected to see when we thought if our offense could score a couple of touchdowns we could win a game. This is the manifestation of our excitement with the defensive moves in the offseason. This is the type of defense with which you enter every game with a serious chance to win. And while the end game was similar to Marty-ball stats of last year, it was a very different feeling. You can see how Spurrier's offense should be operating. You can see the receivers open. You can see the line protecting. You can feel the missed opportunities. The team ends up with 250 yards and you knew they left a lot of yards out there. With a Marty team when we hit 250 you felt like we wrung every bit out of our game plan. With Marty ball we won by playing on the finest edge of perfection in a limited scheme. Here, we won and we played far from perfect. We were sloppy with our routes. We were off kilter. Matthews could not throw accurately. It "feels" different to me from watching the same type of finish last year. Once again the offensive line shows just how capable it is. Matthews had one sack, again on coverage, and when he was trying to run. He was not hit at all. The line did a good job of opening holes. Watson had the oddest 100-yard game I've ever experienced. To me, he just wasn't all that impressive. I thought Betts, in a handful of carries, looked fast, decisive, powerful and should have had more carries. And then I look up and Watson has jigged himself to our first 100-yard rushing game. All I can say is wow. Who'd have thunk it? I'd give game balls in this outing to Bruce Smith for clutch plays. Champ Bailey for some of the greatest coverage you'll ever see. Jermiah Trotter for another active game. Daryl Gardener for controlling the interior of the line. This defense can, by itself, win games for this team. They showed that today. They showed why being confident may not be such a bad thing here anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljer Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 They moved the ball pretty well. And, despite that, it was hard to feel like they had anything to threaten us. That's the first game the defense has played where you really felt they were controlling things, if not dominating things. Exactly Art, Never felt that sense of doom in this game. I'd give game balls in this outing to Bruce Smith for clutch plays. Champ Bailey for some of the greatest coverage you'll ever see. Jermiah Trotter for another active game. Daryl Gardener for controlling the interior of the line. Let's not forget Bauman on ST, excellent performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkam Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Best game, by far, of our LB trio. Each one may have had a better individual game, but as a group I thought they were outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Watson was pretty impressive to me. He's great at cutting back and finding the open holes, and he always seems to find positive yardage. Plus I love the way he runs with two hands on the ball, he really makes an effort to cover the ball up before he goes down. Betts did look explosive on his carries though, didn't he? He was coming out of the backfield like he was shot out of a cannon. Maybe running back kicks has helped him realize he has to be decisive and hit his holes hard. He had a full head of steam before he even got to the line! Perhaps running back kicks has done for him what playing fullback did for Davis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeletor The Invincible Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I will say that Betts has surprised me with his speed. If he gets more reps on Kickoffs, he may break one for a TD. Watson was okay at RB, shows a lot more explosiveness than Davis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Watson still spends too much time dancing around before hitting the hole. Remember we were facing one of the worst run defenses in the league. Davis probably would have piled up 200 yards on that team. Nice game by the defense. Matthews was off a lot today, and the defense really bailed him out. A good win against a bad team. We were far from perfect, and we still won by two scores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaffeen Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I missed the NFL and Skins today , the carnival was in town so I took the kids and we all had a blast (even though I was thinking about football half the time). I checked out the game stats and with the exception of what appears to be a statistically impressive day for Watson, the offense really seems to have sputtered. I see alot of people saying Shane was not playing well. Were the receivers running incorrect routes or were they not open all day? What happened to Thomspon today? Did he get hurt? This guy has a stellar game and then goes MIA? WTF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Smoot Fan Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Shame Matthews happened to offense, symptoms include overthrown passes to WIDE open Derrius Thompson, underthrown pass to WIDE open McCants resulting in him hurting his leg and rediculous passes to defensive linemen. Thankfully we're playing pretty crummy teams from here on out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty dread Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I think some people are being a bit too critical of Watson. He ran for 110 yards on 23 carries, and added 42 yards receiving on 4 catches, and best of all he didn't cough it up. Thats a good day anyway you look at it. He's not Davis, I think we all know that. But all in all I'm pretty damn satisfied with his performance today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Agreed. Like me, I think our FO is beginning to believe in (life after) Stephen. I like Davis, but the performances of Watson and Betts plus his agent's desire to let him test the open waters of FA means he's probably not going to be back here next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 wait until we play a good defense before rushing to any judgments.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posse81 Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Nice post, Art. A few things: The domination and arrogance you talked about obviously seemed to come through most on the defensive side of the ball. I love to watch our D play, because they are arrogant. Gardener looked especially good, I thought and always seemed to be around the ball. If I'm Dan Snyder, I go to Marvin Lewis and say before you accept any head coaching job, let me at least make you a matching offer first to stay as D coordinator, but pay him like a head coach. I don't think I'm jumping the gun here, I think we will be that good on D by seasons end. On Watson, I think he DID look impressive. SS ran him in a different manner than he runs SD with alot more misdirection plays and draws, but nonetheless he looked good and the offense ran through him for most of the first half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fansince62 Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 watson did look good. the only thing that raised an eyebrow for me was the number of times, at the end of a play, that he was thrown back rather violently. he's a little underweight to have much influence in the power running game. let's jhope we never need him for that. I was sour on betts, but lately he does seem to be demonstrating the "look and feel" - for lack of a deeper insight - of a runner who makes things happen. I can't put my finger on it, but he now looks as though he has good field vision, is picking the right holes, acceleerates well and can play with power. mayber he'll develop afterall..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Murphaaay Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Originally posted by Henry Watson still spends too much time dancing around before hitting the hole. Remember we were facing one of the worst run defenses in the league. Davis probably would have piled up 200 yards on that team. Nice game by the defense. Matthews was off a lot today, and the defense really bailed him out. A good win against a bad team. We were far from perfect, and we still won by two scores. Davis has never has, and never will rush for 200 yards, against ANY defense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OaktonSkins/BushFan Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Originally posted by rellim Davis has never has, and never will rush for 200 yards, against ANY defense. Assuming you're correct, who cares? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OaktonSkins/BushFan Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 Originally posted by Art The Redskins were an arrogant team entering this game. They were talking about having confidence in themselves. The defensive players were talking about dominating everyone. This, for the Redskins of recent years, is a kiss of death. But, low and behold, it actually appears they may have had a reason to be confident and expect to dominate. The Seahawks did a nice job of mixing things up in the passing game. They created positive plays by formation. They had a pretty mobile guy buy them some plays. They moved the ball pretty well. And, despite that, it was hard to feel like they had anything to threaten us. That's the first game the defense has played where you really felt they were controlling things, if not dominating things. This is the kind of defense we might have expected to see when we thought if our offense could score a couple of touchdowns we could win a game. This is the manifestation of our excitement with the defensive moves in the offseason. This is the type of defense with which you enter every game with a serious chance to win. And while the end game was similar to Marty-ball stats of last year, it was a very different feeling. You can see how Spurrier's offense should be operating. You can see the receivers open. You can see the line protecting. You can feel the missed opportunities. The team ends up with 250 yards and you knew they left a lot of yards out there. With a Marty team when we hit 250 you felt like we wrung every bit out of our game plan. With Marty ball we won by playing on the finest edge of perfection in a limited scheme. Here, we won and we played far from perfect. We were sloppy with our routes. We were off kilter. Matthews could not throw accurately. It "feels" different to me from watching the same type of finish last year. Once again the offensive line shows just how capable it is. Matthews had one sack, again on coverage, and when he was trying to run. He was not hit at all. The line did a good job of opening holes. Watson had the oddest 100-yard game I've ever experienced. To me, he just wasn't all that impressive. I thought Betts, in a handful of carries, looked fast, decisive, powerful and should have had more carries. And then I look up and Watson has jigged himself to our first 100-yard rushing game. All I can say is wow. Who'd have thunk it? I'd give game balls in this outing to Bruce Smith for clutch plays. Champ Bailey for some of the greatest coverage you'll ever see. Jermiah Trotter for another active game. Daryl Gardener for controlling the interior of the line. This defense can, by itself, win games for this team. They showed that today. They showed why being confident may not be such a bad thing here anymore. Art - I wish I could have the same "warm and fuzzy" feeling. I'm still VERY concerned about ML's proclivity towards zone, particularly soft zone, coverage schemes. During the Seattle game, it seemed as if nearly all of the Seahawks' big plays were executed against and exploited the soft zone. This is another adjustment that ML will need to make before this D can become truly stifling, which means being able to fend off the Eagles and Niners of the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljer Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 I wish I could have the same "warm and fuzzy" feeling. I'm still VERY concerned about ML's proclivity towards zone, particularly soft zone, coverage schemes. During the Seattle game, it seemed as if nearly all of the Seahawks' big plays were executed against and exploited the soft zone. This is another adjustment that ML will need to make before this D can become truly stifling, which means being able to fend off the Eagles and Niners of the league. Maybe Lewis isn't as confident having Smoot play man. Maybe he's not all everyone thinks he is. Just a thought. Believe me, I'm with you, the 3rd and longs are excruciating to watch, but Lewis must see something we don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiggoDrill Posted November 4, 2002 Share Posted November 4, 2002 In all fairness, ML's zone scheme has been limiting explosive plays recently. Playing more man would leave us much more vulnerable to misdirection and would leave large portions of the field wide open for TE's and RB's to maneuver in. Not to say it wouldn't work, but it has definite risks. As long as we keep teams to 3 points, I'll be happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 I didn't get that same feeling, at all. This is the second game in a row where I've felt the other guy made better halftime adjustments than we did. I've been very Norvous these last two games. (I felt that way about several of Marty's games, too. I guess it takes me a while to get to trust a coach). I wonder about the advantages of zone. Is it less tiring on the D? Everybody here seems to think we're a great man-defense team, but after two regeime changes, the pros keep telling us to play zone. There must be some reason I just don't see. I liked the look of Watson, but I didn't expect him to be Davis. I was hoping he could be Ki-Janna (Or Centers, or Thrash). You know, the third-down guy who's tough to game-plan because he can do several things. He did well on draws, and in space (like screens). For the smashmouth stuff, I keep hoping to see Rock as the only back, with 3 or 4 WRs. If he can move the ball without a lead blocker (or stay in and block, or sneak out to the flats for a WR screen), then between Watson and Rock, we could be in good shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanishomelette Posted November 5, 2002 Share Posted November 5, 2002 Defensively what I saw was more instinctual plays. When a receiver caught a ball he was nearly tackled at the spot or not too far from it. There were wide open receivers catching balls as in other games, yet a defender came quickly to trip them up as if they were starting to understand where the ball was going to go before hand. I'd like to see them move faster, and recognize quicker what is happening so that 3rd and long plays could be eliminated. Those opposition plays made were giving life to a lifeless team. Betts is playing with confidence. In person he looks to be a more impressive physical specimen than I thought. I also was impressed by his speed. He does seem to kick to another gear when he gets going something that he's reportedly not in his bag of tricks. When he dropped that dump off pass, I think someone got nervous and pulled him out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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