What We Learned

[Rskins91]

1.) The Redskins are not an elite team - just good to very good.

In fact, it's safe to say there is no elite team in the NFL save the Giants. The Titans might be up there too, but this year's NFL has no 07 Pats or 85 Bears or 72 Dolphins. The parody this year is ridiculous.

To the point though, the Redskins may be a good team who has a shot at the division/wildcard berth, but they shouldn't be but in the elite catagory. Elite teams don't lose in their house to winless teams, no excuses. Another 4 game win streak and then the elite talk can come back, perhaps.

2.) We have yet to adapt to winning.

You know what this loss tells me? That even though this is a veteran team and one that should know what it takes to win, they aren't used to being a consistant contender. They don't know how to handle their business without thinking themselves as underdogs. Perhaps this will develop late in the season as we start to refocus, but right now the team isn't used to winning and being able to put in the neccessary work on a team they KNOW they should beat.

Look at the past playoff teams we've had. They've been 5-6 and 5-7 going into streches where everyone had them dead in the water. In a spot where they're 4-1, they probably overlooked the Rams, and will most likely refocus on the Browns and put together a much more solid effort.

3.) Mental Gaffs still plague this team.

0 turnovers in 5 games, huh? Looks like it finally caught up to us. We all knew the only way we'd lose this game is if we shot ourselves in the foot and that's exactly what we did. Campbell needs to fall on the ball instead of trying to be a hero and so did Kendall. This is something they SHOULD know but didn't do because they were overconfident about their ability. Perhaps humble pie will make them smarter.

4.) Jim Zorn is still a green playcaller.

While Zorn has coached outstanding games against Dallas and Philly, he still has a lot to learn. And that should be expected. We were spoiled by the coach of the year talk and how well we handled our division rivals in back to back weeks.

I didn't neccessarily disagree with our methodical approach to getting to the endzone, but I did think we'd take a shot with Santana deep at least a couple times. The one time we did go deep resulted in a hold and an easy first down. However, we didn't go more than once, and I think that Zorn needs to be the one to blame for that. There are many factors we can't see as fans, such as the audibles at the line or if we did try and those were the plays the O-line looked like a sivv, but we should have kept at it IMO.

5.) O-Line play has been the biggest reason for our success this year.

Campbell was sacked 4 times today, more than in any game so far this year. He didn't have the time he was used to having today and it showed a bit in the playcalling. Jansen needs to step up his pass protection, as he was lost sometimes and was the weak link in pass protection. The running game was still solid though, as Portis posted another huge game in a losing effort.

Overall, these are my assessments after watching this team. I'm confident that when this team is at it's best it can beat and contend with anyone in the league. A letdown was probably imminent in hindsight, but if the Skins were elite, they don't lose this game.

We're a good team - we just have a long way to go. Which is what you'd expect out of a rookie head coach and new system.

[RedskinsNation]

#6 - we still struggle to generate a pass rush.

Otherwise I agree with everything..although I never thought we were ELITE as ELITE teams arent determined in week 6. Elite teams are determined at some point after Week 17 has been completed.

[PeterMP]

3.) Mental Gaffs still plague this team.

0 turnovers in 5 games, huh? Looks like it finally caught up to us. We all knew the only way we'd lose this game is if we shot ourselves in the foot and that's exactly what we did. Campbell needs to fall on the ball instead of trying to be a hero and so did Kendall. This is something they SHOULD know but didn't do because they were overconfident about their ability. Perhaps humble pie will make them smarter.

This actually worries me. To a certain extent, Campbell is doing a better job of taking care of the ball so I'd expect fewer turnovers, but what we've seen (the 0) to me seems like a bit of a fluke. I'm a little worried about what happens if we see our turnover ratio return to what is probably a more realistic number, espeically considering nobody on our team actually seems like to catch interceptions.

[Rudechain]

1) The Skins need to work harder and remember that EVERY GAME is a struggle.

2) We have some of the most fickle fans in the league. One loss and a 4-2 record but I swear reading some of these posts, the season is over and we have the first overall draft pick.