NoCalMike Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I know a lot of people will point to our wins over NFC East teams and say otherwise, but when it comes to the NFC East those teams are familiar, we play them all twice every season and we know what to expect every time. The Steelers are a legit superbowl contender. They are a few years removed from a Superbowl title, but have been in the hunt consistently over the past five years or so. On the flipside, the Redskins are a borderline playoff team that has gone two of the last four years but haven't made much noise once in the playoffs. To me tonight's game showed that these two teams are on different levels in multiple ways including, experience, handling pressure, handling the spotlight, handling "big-time" games, finding ways to win sloppy games etc etc. The Steelers & Redskins tonight had about the same amount of total yardage when all was said and done. Some would argue that a lot of the Redskins yardage was in garbage time, and I would agree, however just as much of the Steelers offense was based on two plays alone, the 43 yard PI penalty and the 50 yd pass completion. Other then that both teams mustered lowly offensive numbers. The difference here is that Steelers found a way to capitalize on the few big plays and oppurtunities and get 23 points on the board. The Redskins were gift-wrapped two golden oppurtunities to open the game with the onside kick failure, and the INT. Both of those resulted in a mere 6 points. The tone of the game tonight kind of reminded me of last season when we played the Vikings with the playoffs basically on the line. At that time most experts thought that the Vikes were the better team but the Redskins were more prepared for that type of game which had the playoffs on the line and nationally televised. The Redskins could handle the presssure then because they were an underdog team still and under Gibbs the Redskins always played their best football in December. Fast forward to tonight. The Steelers have been in this situation a lot over the past five seasons. They know how to handle it. They have been in big games that have been close, and they have had a lot more on the line then what was on the line tonight. I think when you look at why Philly & NYG had success against the Steelers is because the Giants have been there before too. Philly, not their entire team, but McNabb and their defense have been in those big games before. I think if there was one thing could learn from tonight it was understanding what it takes to take the team to the next level. The Steelers looked like a contender out there. The Redskins, even though their record says otherwise, looked like a team that wasn't up to this type of challenge or "statement game" This will change over time, and I think if we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs this season it will go a long way to help set us up for a big run in 2009 where this team should be able to answer this type of challenge. :2cents: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeGibbsRypenGClark91 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 the team is THE SAME TEAM it was the past 4 years. Its peak level was 2005. 10-6 Its low level is 5-11 They are some where in between those two records. That is their range. If they get the breaks and stay healthy 10-6. If they do not they could finish as bad the low. This year we got the breaks in most of the games.s It is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krsone Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 oh brother. sure they werent ready for the challenge. sure they dont have experience when players like portis, moss , randle el...... been in the league with multiple playoff expierences..... how do teams in the nfl with only 16 games not get ready for a game period? what is it with these weird redskins fans that are delusional. listen. dont make it harder than what it is. we arent that good of a team. we are mediocre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeGibbsRypenGClark91 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 oh brother. sure they werent ready for the challenge. sure they dont have experience when players like portis, moss , randle el...... been in the league with multiple playoff expierences..... how do teams in the nfl with only 16 games not get ready for a game period? what is it with these weird redskins fans that are delusional.listen. dont make it harder than what it is. we arent that good of a team. we are mediocre. People are now sayng its a " new system" new coaches There is always a built in excuse. This core has been together 5 years now. They are what they are. This is why Gibbs left. He realized he was too old to waste time with this team. Their peak level is 10-6.They are not built to win a super bowl .I don't know who is at fault but it is what it is . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaleighSkinsMann Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 9-7 missing the playoffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehogs Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I didnt think it had anything to do with readiness. Watching the game showed what happens with a west-coast offense if you take away that short-mid range passing game...not much. The last two minutes - and I know their DB's are back deep but we have nothing to lose for God sake! - we just dink-dunk ourselves to nowhere. We lost our way against the Rams and have never gotten back on track since for all the yardage we might boast at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooley4President Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 They were ready, we're just not good enough yet. Not to mention the game came at a bad time with players out and dinged. But excuses aside, we're just not quite there yet. The offense is still evolving, but we've been able to lean on an established run game to win games. When we weren't able to do that last night, it was obvious where we are in our learning curve. We can be a great team, maybe this year depending on how everythign shakes out, but we're just not there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcarey032 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I agree that the team wasn't ready and that the Steelers are a team that is more than likely going to have great shot at going to the Super Bowl. The problem to me is that the other two NFC teams that played the Steelers came in and knocked their QB down and got turnovers. We didn't do that. While we have a physical defense, we have not had the defensive line play that the other NFC east teams have had. We had to bring blitzes and we were not able to get pressure without bringing more than 5 guys. It wasn't just the defenses fault. This was a total team loss in the truest sense. The Redskins didn't look great offensively. Outside of the one turnover, the defense was average. The special teams outside of our field goal kicking was below average. Grades Offense- D Defense- C+ Special Teams- D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cphil006 Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Carlos ROgers dropped INT would-be TD... .. AND .. blocked punt were the turning points in the game... We made more mistakes than they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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