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Art

By Art
in The Stadium

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Art

Art

Posted
Posted

We won and it does feel good to have won. As the game wore on you could tell how much more talent on the field we had compared to Miami, largely because their offensive line is atrocious. Our offense had 400 yards, but, you never really felt it was clicking. A lot of those yards came in the last seconds of the fourth quarter and OT. You can see what potential it has, but, every time you think it might emerge, someone makes a mistake. This really happens on both sides of the ball.

Offensively we'll run well on a play, then have a play that seems so telegraphed it can't help but drop us back a couple yards. We'll connect on a nice play, then Campbell will throw high, or Moss will drop it. It's one thing for an average player like Booker or a scrub like Martin to miss plays as they did for Miami. It's another when our BEST players are not consistent enough to be consistent.

The culmination of this is that Gibbs calls a kick from about 40 yards on first down in overtime. We can be a pretty interesting team, but, as long as the mentality is, "My God, get the kicker out there as fast as you can and pray," then, we lack the swagger and arrogance the team HAS the ability to achieve. I think what Gibbs did at the end is a brain-dead coaching call. I think it's the kind of call that instills a tentative nature in his guys. I believe it's the kind of call that, ultimately, can make the team resent the coach. I read a lot into a lot of things, no doubt, but, if I have a choice between that offensive line and Clinton Portis to win the game or Suisham, I know the choice I'm making. That Gibbs makes another tells you at least one of the following two things. First, he trusts Suisham more than any of us. Second, he doesn't trust the other guys as much as we do :). With hope it's ONLY the first.

Gibbs just said at the presser, he's lost two games here when he had a field goal but went for more and something bad happened. THAT is PRECISELY the problem with this team and Gibbs right now. We, even as fans, EXPECT something bad to happen. I want Gibbs to have confidence in his guys, but not false confidence. I want him to KNOW they can do it because they've done it. It kills me we aren't that team yet, after three full years. If we ever want to achieve more, he needs to get us at least to that point.

The Dolphins do have a good defense so some of the inconsistency and hesitancy and stop and start feel to our game is in large part because of that. We may look back as the season wears on as the Dolphins game, wherd we put 400 on a Top 5 defense as a bad game and we start ripping up less good defenses. I hope that's where we start to get to.

Defensively we are very strong up front against the run. Carter had an early sack and SEVERAL wins in the passing game. Taylor owns the defensive backfield and no one is going to do much deep against us with him roaming there. The Dolphins prepared for more pressure from us and we did not bring much. A fifth guy here and there, but we mostly played coverage. Overall that was a pretty good defensive game, but, I can't be the only one who expected a bit more press coverage and all out pressures than we saw. Williams played this one pretty soft and it worked out. That's probably a good sign.

Individual good performances as far as I saw are as follows:

1. Chris Cooley. Kind of :). Cooley's hand must be cramped from signing the contract because he blocked horribly. And with only one catch, he didn't really make much of a difference statistically. However, the Dolphins clearly game-planned him. They bracket covered him over and over. With the same type coverage on Moss, this on Cooley changed how they played us and opened things up for ARE.

2. ARE. Really made them pay for man coverage. He's going to hard to supplant as the No. 2 receiver for us.

3. Clinton Portis. If you didn't know or you forgot, you now know and remember, right? He is what makes us different than the Cowboys, Eagles or Giants right now. Portis can take a game over. No team in our division has anyone like that. As he works into game shape he'll be something to behold.

4. Andre Carter really took the edge and created some pressure.

5. Montgomery really seems to be something as a starter. He's big and capable of owning the middle. On first watch he appeared to be our best DT today and that's not easy with Griffin around.

6. Heyer played great in the preseason. He was kept on the active roster because the team worried about Samuels needing a breather. He stepped in at right tackle and held up great for us. With our passing game seeming to attack deep so often, we needed time. Heyer held up well. We didn't run behind him much and you may see Wade in there next week, but, Heyer may have played himself into a starting roll.

7. Suisham. Thank you.

Negatives on the day.

1. Saunders should have helped Campbell get into an early rhythm with some quick hitting passes. A two minute offense with two runs. We need to inspire confidence, not show fear.

2. Campbell is just a wonderful prospect. He's still too inconsistent. He's so good at times. The second interception was a nice risk and pretty good throw. The first was a good throw, but bad decision. Campbell showed he'll throw the ball away but lacks some accuracy in tosses you know he can make.

3. Smooty was thrown at quite a bit and could have won the game but dropped it. DAMN IT :).

4. Gibbs. As expressed above.

A grind it out win is good enough. I just want more :).

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spanishomelette

spanishomelette

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Gibbs lacks confidence in the refs credibility which contributed greatly to the 1st down FG. After discussing ahead of time the "no-play", the refs still knifed him. He sensed they would make some phantom call...When consistency is displayed ...someday whenever that day comes...I'd expect we'd run it right into the endzone in OT.

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Drkstar

Drkstar

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I found this board 3 seasons ago and I have fought my own thought process with Art's the majority of the 3 seasons.

What he wrote today is EXACTLY how I feel.

Kudos to the entire Redskins football team. It was a complete win today with all pieces making contributions.

The week one drops and poor throws will change. Jason will get better. Santana will get much better and Cooley will be used more.

Clinton/Ladell are the strongest combo in the NFC. Can they stay healthy? God I hope so.

The defence is a confident group. They left some turnovers and a sack or two on the field but domintated an interesting offense from the Fins.

The special teams were special.

HAIL!

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Art

Art

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POSITIVES ON THE DAY: THE GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!! we may have had a grind out win, and I agree with a lot of what you said, but we're 1-0 and, well, that one green team in our division isn't. :)

I watched a good bit of the Philly game at commercials and the like. I'll be watching the short cuts too. What I saw was interesting. Philly really generated a ton of pressure quick on Favre. It was really impressive. Heyer may have a tough time with those guys. They also draped Green Bay across the field in man coverage. I really have always liked how Jim Johnson runs a defense. The Packers did a nice job as well on defense. I'll have to rewatch to be sure, but, they played a lot of man coverage with guys underneath which seemed to work. McNabb isn't great throwing between levels. If we play a ton of zone I think we could be in trouble.

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Oldskool

Oldskool

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The Packers did a nice job as well on defense. I'll have to rewatch to be sure, but, they played a lot of man coverage with guys underneath which seemed to work. McNabb isn't great throwing between levels. If we play a ton of zone I think we could be in trouble.

What scares me is that we aren't great at cover 2 and thats exactly what it sounds like the Packers played against McNabb. Also, if we play cover 2, there will be less of a pass rush and McNabb will be free to run.

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ceviker

ceviker

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A grind it out win is good enough. I just want more :).

We all do man, but at the end of the year, no one remembers how you won, just whether you won or lost; and we won today. Hopefully we can correct our problems and come out with more fire against Philly because we will definetly need it.

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KevinthePRF

KevinthePRF

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Brandon Lloyd is one play closer to proving himself a fraud. One play that POed me the most was Campbell throwing to him deep in the end zone. He seemed to basically flop while the DB made the play to intercept. Way to fight for the ball there Brandon, or at least play DB to prevent the INT.

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fansince62

fansince62

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We won and it does feel good to have won. As the game wore on you could tell how much more talent on the field we had compared to Miami, largely because their offensive line is atrocious. Our offense had 400 yards, but, you never really felt it was clicking. A lot of those yards came in the last seconds of the fourth quarter and OT. You can see what potential it has, but, every time you think it might emerge, someone makes a mistake. This really happens on both sides of the ball.

Offensively we'll run well on a play, then have a play that seems so telegraphed it can't help but drop us back a couple yards. We'll connect on a nice play, then Campbell will throw high, or Moss will drop it. It's one thing for an average player like Booker or a scrub like Martin to miss plays as they did for Miami. It's another when our BEST players are not consistent enough to be consistent.

The culmination of this is that Gibbs calls a kick from about 40 yards on first down in overtime. We can be a pretty interesting team, but, as long as the mentality is, "My God, get the kicker out there as fast as you can and pray," then, we lack the swagger and arrogance the team HAS the ability to achieve. I think what Gibbs did at the end is a brain-dead coaching call. I think it's the kind of call that instills a tentative nature in his guys. I believe it's the kind of call that, ultimately, can make the team resent the coach. I read a lot into a lot of things, no doubt, but, if I have a choice between that offensive line and Clinton Portis to win the game or Suisham, I know the choice I'm making. That Gibbs makes another tells you at least one of the following two things. First, he trusts Suisham more than any of us. Second, he doesn't trust the other guys as much as we do :). With hope it's ONLY the first.

Gibbs just said at the presser, he's lost two games here when he had a field goal but went for more and something bad happened. THAT is PRECISELY the problem with this team and Gibbs right now. We, even as fans, EXPECT something bad to happen. I want Gibbs to have confidence in his guys, but not false confidence. I want him to KNOW they can do it because they've done it. It kills me we aren't that team yet, after three full years. If we ever want to achieve more, he needs to get us at least to that point.

The Dolphins do have a good defense so some of the inconsistency and hesitancy and stop and start feel to our game is in large part because of that. We may look back as the season wears on as the Dolphins game, wherd we put 400 on a Top 5 defense as a bad game and we start ripping up less good defenses. I hope that's where we start to get to.

Defensively we are very strong up front against the run. Carter had an early sack and SEVERAL wins in the passing game. Taylor owns the defensive backfield and no one is going to do much deep against us with him roaming there. The Dolphins prepared for more pressure from us and we did not bring much. A fifth guy here and there, but we mostly played coverage. Overall that was a pretty good defensive game, but, I can't be the only one who expected a bit more press coverage and all out pressures than we saw. Williams played this one pretty soft and it worked out. That's probably a good sign.

Individual good performances as far as I saw are as follows:

1. Chris Cooley. Kind of :). Cooley's hand must be cramped from signing the contract because he blocked horribly. And with only one catch, he didn't really make much of a difference statistically. However, the Dolphins clearly game-planned him. They bracket covered him over and over. With the same type coverage on Moss, this on Cooley changed how they played us and opened things up for ARE.

2. ARE. Really made them pay for man coverage. He's going to hard to supplant as the No. 2 receiver for us.

3. Clinton Portis. If you didn't know or you forgot, you now know and remember, right? He is what makes us different than the Cowboys, Eagles or Giants right now. Portis can take a game over. No team in our division has anyone like that. As he works into game shape he'll be something to behold.

4. Andre Carter really took the edge and created some pressure.

5. Montgomery really seems to be something as a starter. He's big and capable of owning the middle. On first watch he appeared to be our best DT today and that's not easy with Griffin around.

6. Heyer played great in the preseason. He was kept on the active roster because the team worried about Samuels needing a breather. He stepped in at right tackle and held up great for us. With our passing game seeming to attack deep so often, we needed time. Heyer held up well. We didn't run behind him much and you may see Wade in there next week, but, Heyer may have played himself into a starting roll.

7. Suisham. Thank you.

Negatives on the day.

1. Saunders should have helped Campbell get into an early rhythm with some quick hitting passes. A two minute offense with two runs. We need to inspire confidence, not show fear.

2. Campbell is just a wonderful prospect. He's still too inconsistent. He's so good at times. The second interception was a nice risk and pretty good throw. The first was a good throw, but bad decision. Campbell showed he'll throw the ball away but lacks some accuracy in tosses you know he can make.

3. Smooty was thrown at quite a bit and could have won the game but dropped it. DAMN IT :).

4. Gibbs. As expressed above.

A grind it out win is good enough. I just want more :).

pretty good post Art!

I would add in that Betts played well also....you are spot on about Saunders calling a conservative game to protect JC...seems reasonable to me given that the guy only has 8 starts! the obvious question...when will they loosen the reigns? and yea....the quick trigger on the field goal was perplexing...it was first down...and you are right...Gibbs is gonna need to take a chance sometime down the road.

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ect4

ect4

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Definitely some positives for the team......... however, for all the depth, secondary remains unimpressive with Jerry Gray at the helm>>>>

Carlos Rogers was decent in run support and tacking and absolutely terrible in coverage. Smoot had a mediocre game...Safeties were not playing position well either. Mr. Landry...welcome to the NFL.

Here's to next week.

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@DCGoldPants

@DCGoldPants

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Here you go.

The Good- Portis shut up a lot of folks who said he wouldn't be ready

The Bad- The huge open space in the middle of the D for dump-offs

The Ugly- CBs still playing way too far off the WR's in short yardage situations.

honorable mention for Ugly- Dropped balls by both the WR's and Smooty.

A win is a win is a win. So, I didn't sit in the sun all day for nothing.

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AllAboutSkins08

AllAboutSkins08

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3. Smooty was thrown at quite a bit and could have won the game but dropped it. DAMN IT :).

yea, that missed interception blew the hell outta me! woulda been an easy TD.:mad:

but what's done is done and we won, thank God. great game by the defense, the special teams, and the running game finally got going in the second half. campbell definitely needs to improve his accuracy. otherwise, enjoy fellas. we're 1-0 :D

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