ESPN.com: Observation deck: Redskins-Steelers

[Jericho]

The Redskins looked good, and that's obviously not bad. Not sure how much good to take out of either, though. The Steelers big name players barely played, if at all. Much of the Redskins starters played a full half. So you had a lot of first team Redskins going against second team Steelers.And obviously not everything was perfect. But in the scope of things, it remains a pretty positive outcome.

Just remember, Steve Spurrier's first preseason game was a smashing success too. It's still just preseason - not that meaningful.

[Dheavy]

I guess nothing will ever make Redskins fans happy. Now we are comparing preseason win by a hall of coach to the ball coach. If we played like crap, you folks that are posting the "remember osaki" comments will still ***** and moan. The good thing that i take away from this game last night is that our team looked organized on both sides of the ball. Not once did Rex get mauled as soon as he took the snap from the center, the OL was creating decent running holes for the running backs, we now have a legitimate young talent in addition to torrain at the running back position, receivers were running wide open all night, defensive line looks stout against the run, and the linebacker weren't fighting blocks to get to the runners. In my opinion, this is the best this team has looked in any preseason game in the past ten years, and i'm encouraged by the direction the team is going.

Everybody has a right to their opinion, but let's stop looking in the rear view mirror and be optimistic the future. We now have a front office start that doesn't believe in giving away future draft picks for malcontent, overage, money-grubbing players. I have faith in this team and the leadership!

[Gurgeh]

Maybe I'm the negative nancy but our first stringers did play an entire half against the Steelers second stringers after the first two drives(I may be off by a drive or two)...

"The Steelers first-team defense, though, did not have such an easy game. Coach Mike Tomlin promised to keep them on the field for only about 10 plays. Instead, they stuck around for 20, two long series worth into the second quarter."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11225/1167164-66-0.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz1Uv5ZmlHT

However, despite the above we have to bear in mind that the Steelers defense were missing a couple of starters through injury.

If everyone is healthy come the start of the season it looks like we might have some tough choices to make at receiver and running back. I can't say I expected that a month ago.

[Wrong Direction]

I'm not too caught up in the results. We definitely looked very good in most aspects of the game. It would have looked a little more dominant if Davis doesn't drop that third down pass and Graham could kick FGs.

The Defense showed in spots, but we shouldn't ignore the secondary.

RE: the OP. I too loved Kerrigan's physicality. He can be a force off the edge early this season, and I think he'll hold up really well against the opposing run blockers.

For our pass defense, that should mean that teams have to keep in at least one extra protector, meaning our back 7 or 8 will have one less guy to cover. With pressure up the middle, maybe opposing QBs won't be so comfortable against us this year.

Against the run, I really think our front 7 should be really stout. This all bodes well for the defense. I see top 10 upside even though I'm really not enamored by our CBs.

[Pick6]

0 sacks. 0 Turnovers. 0 penalties through 3 quarters of the first preseason game after a lockout and with only one week of practice for some of these guys. That's really the most compelling line to me. Step 1 of the rebuild: DON'T BEAT YOURSELF.

To that point the Skins also had 25 first downs through 3 quarters. I would like to see a little more red zone execution in the next 3 games. All and all I was very pleased. I thought our O line was going to get destroyed by the Steelers.

[2STaylor1]

love what im hearing about Kerrigan.... wish i coulda seen him play

[Mad Mike]

I don't buy this. They are the most consistent team of the last 4 seasons. This was their first preseason game with no legit practice time. If big ben didn't miss that pass to wallace, we'd be singing a different story. The steelers are built for the playoffs, they weren't that interested in gameplanning or doing anything to stop the redskins. They were seeing if their players could pass (eh) run (8.4avg by redman...) and tackle (some did)

Preseason is always about paying attention to your own team, not the others

Shanahan deserves a TON of praise. He put this team together through the draft and a short free agency period. He did it without the usual over priced, over hyped players and found smart, fast, young talent with good character and leadership. Then he got all those individuals who have never played together ready for this game.

The Steelers have had ZERO turnover among their starters and almost no turnover overall. They went to the superbowl last year, they should need FAR less practice time than us.

Forget the score. Just consider the first drive. First down after first down after first down. Straight down the field against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Sure, it was a vanilla defense. But it was also a vanilla offense that we ran. For a bunch of guys who in large part have never played together, and a QB that virtually every national NFL pundit has written off as a failure, I would say that's pretty damned good. And it doesn't happen without great talent evaluation and great coaching.

---------- Post added August-13th-2011 at 03:16 PM ----------

love what im hearing about Kerrigan.... wish i coulda seen him play

NFL network at 4:00pm today (sat).

[jflow78]

The Skins played well last night. Most units played much better than last season, and not just because this was preseason. Just watching some of the technique you can tell units, and not just players, have improved.

The OL moved as one solid unit, that didn't happen last season and it left huge holes for the defense to get through.

The WRs, other than the rookies, ran very crisp clean routes. Anthony Armstrong in particular looked much improved on his short and intermediate routes, he won't be just a deep threat anymore hopefully. The rookies looked like rookies, none of them ran good routes and Hankerson dropped passes, which is what he's becoming known for in practice. Who knows, maybe he can be the anti-Taylor Jacobs, horrible in practice and great in games.

The RBs had room to run, until about the late 3rd or 4th quarter. Hightower had some great pass blocking (Royster ducked his head during one blocking attempt and it got Clemens sacked), but these guys had room and hit their holes quick. I think Helu is better than his performance last night. By the time he came into the game the OL had really broken down and the run blocking was pretty awful, he had no holes, so I can't completely blame this on him. And nice receiving play by Darrel Young, I was skeptical about him taking over for Big Mike, but no more. He looked faster, blocked harder, and was good receiving.

Grossman looked improved from last season, if only because the OL was MUCH better (no M shaped pocket this year). Even with the extra time, he got the ball out much faster than 3 seconds, I was counting. He also seems like he's taken to whatever coaching he's received over the last few years since leaving Chicago. He was known for taking chances constantly and turning over the ball consistently. He doesn't seem to take chances like he used to, not as many anyway. He had the long pass where he over threw Stallworth, but he threw it long instead of short, which is the safest place to miss on passes like that. Overall, I thought he played well and I'd be perfectly happy with him winning the QB job.

On Defense, again the line played better at times, but unlike the OL, they've had only a week or two to play together. They should get better, but there was a lot more pressure on the QB due to them taking up blockers. It was nice to see the LBers making plays because the OL hadn't gotten to them.

Ryan Kerrigan looked great, especially for how much time he's missed. He over-persued once or twice on running plays that looked like they were going to Orakpo's side, and it was the same issue I remember Rak having his rookie year, but he'll get it worked out, and his pass rushing was as good as advertised. Can't wait to see them unleash this defense on a pocket passer on a passing down.

Our secondary looked pretty bad. Barnes played well later in the game, but with the rest I had a hard time knowing if it was the CBs fault or the safeties fault. Barnes also should have had an easy sack on Dixon later in the game, but dropped his head and nearly missed the QB completely. He needs to watch where he's going, had a straight shot at him. Hopefully Landry and, in the least, Atogwe will be healthy come one of the next two games because it would be much easier to see who's dropping the ball in that unit if we've got ONE safety who knows what he's doing.

Punter was good, but I want to see a little more (during the preseason and then if he sits on the bench all year I'll be happy). I was hoping for more from Sav, he held the ball good for the kickers so neither Graham can blame him this season, he had one punt that looked pretty good and another that was short, but it was a fair catch at the 15.

Kicker, yeah uh what can you say. Graham sucked hard, it was embarrassing, like watching the AWFUL tryouts on one of those reality competition shows. Seriously, how can you be a kicker at any level and miss a 27 yarder??? Oh well, it was nice to see the new rule work to Gano's strengths. The positive about having him as our kicker has always been his LONG kick offs, and if last night was any indication, there may not be a kick return on the Skins all season long. That would be awesome.

Lastly, the lowly returners. Robinson needs to learn how to catch, Banks proved why he's our best return option (and I WAS on the bandwagon for possibly tossing him for a guy that could play receiver better) and why he's a threat on every return. Guy hasn't touched the football for months and comes out with two fantastic returns. Austin looks like competition, and tied Banks with a 19 yard punt return but you could see he lacks Banks speed and cutback ability. On the plus side, Austin had some great plays at WR with the 1st team, and his route running had improved.

[postong]

I don't buy this. They are the most consistent team of the last 4 seasons. This was their first preseason game with no legit practice time. If big ben didn't miss that pass to wallace, we'd be singing a different story. The steelers are built for the playoffs, they weren't that interested in gameplanning or doing anything to stop the redskins. They were seeing if their players could pass (eh) run (8.4avg by redman...) and tackle (some did)

Preseason is always about paying attention to your own team, not the others

Kind of a contradictory statement, don't you think? You're paying attention to who the steelers are and what they did during the game and how they "weren't that interested in gameplanning or doing anything to stop the redskins."

Following your philosophy, you should have been able to pickup on the positives and negatives, and realized that the team played decently - Hightower ran well, Grossman was able to manage the offense well, Moss was his usual solid self, Hankerson looked unprepared, etc.

I'm not saying you MUST be positive all the time, just realistic. And the truth is that the skins looked solid - not great, but better than most of us thought they would.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Pretty dead on observations

If Hightower plus Helu/Royster/Torrain can keep rushing at a 4.5 ypc average, this offense will be very productive.

I still think Grossman doesn't move well enough to consistently execute the bootleg portion of the offense, but he was very competent and comfortable last night.

The defense certainly is much improved. It was nice to see the front 7 get consistent pressure

So...you are now up to 7-9 from your 1-15 prediction.

By week 3 of the pre-season, you will be making Super Bowl reservations. Good times.

[TheShredder]

So...you are now up to 7-9 from your 1-15 prediction.

By week 3 of the pre-season' date=' you will be making Super Bowl reservations. Good times.[/quote']

I say we "tank the season because we can't win without Andrew Luck". :finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger::finger:

Ya, they played within the system last night and are motivated to play. Steelers didn't look like they wanted to be there. This team is obviously improved from the inside looking outward to greener pastures! HTTR!

:logo:

[Conn]

Stallworth reminds me of a young Julio Jones.

What?

[bigdoublebass]

I missed the game, did Chris Neild play any?? If so what did you see from him?

[Califan007 The Constipated]

I don't buy this. They are the most consistent team of the last 4 seasons. This was their first preseason game with no legit practice time. If big ben didn't miss that pass to wallace, we'd be singing a different story. The steelers are built for the playoffs, they weren't that interested in gameplanning or doing anything to stop the redskins. They were seeing if their players could pass (eh) run (8.4avg by redman...) and tackle (some did)

Preseason is always about paying attention to your own team, not the others

The Steelers' head coach disagrees with your assessment.

---------- Post added August-13th-2011 at 11:30 AM ----------

The Skins played well last night. Most units played much better than last season, and not just because this was preseason. Just watching some of the technique you can tell units, and not just players, have improved....

Nice write up :applause:

[acuratl1984]

I dont know if its just me, (I'm going to rewatch the game later on) but I thought Orakpo did not play with intensity lastnight.

I noticed a bunch of times he was stopped cold, and he kind of just stood there...

Did anyone else notice this? And is the Steelers LT even that notable? Jonathan Scott?

[aarobinson]

I dont know if its just me, (I'm going to rewatch the game later on) but I thought Orakpo did not play with intensity lastnight.

I noticed a bunch of times he was stopped cold, and he kind of just stood there...

Did anyone else notice this? And is the Steelers LT even that notable? Jonathan Scott?

Yeah I thought he was dogging it a little by his standards. I'm not too worried about Orakpo though.

[ouvan59]

Every preseason thread should have a "REMEMBER OSAKA!!!" watermark under each post.

I should probably also add that I think I've seen the Steelers not exactly mail it in, but treat the preseason more like practice qua Iverson practice than any other team. And I think that's smart.

Yeah, go ahead and let me know the last time the "steelers not exactly mailed it in". They take the preseason seriously and always have. It's not about wins but effort and last night the Skins out-efforted them by a fairly wide margin.

[acuratl1984]

So what is this "REMEMBER OSAKA" thing?? I think we played the 49ers in Japan a few years back??? I dont remember anything else beside that... Can someone fill me in?

[blitzpackage]

I dont know if its just me, (I'm going to rewatch the game later on) but I thought Orakpo did not play with intensity lastnight.

I noticed a bunch of times he was stopped cold, and he kind of just stood there...

Did anyone else notice this? And is the Steelers LT even that notable? Jonathan Scott?

Yeah I thought he was dogging it a little by his standards. I'm not too worried about Orakpo though.

After watching the 1st half a few times it looked like on numerous plays PIT was either chipping or flat out doubling Rak.

---------- Post added August-13th-2011 at 03:15 PM ----------

So what is this "REMEMBER OSAKA" thing?? I think we played the 49ers in Japan a few years back??? I dont remember anything else beside that... Can someone fill me in?

Pretty much means the preseason is what it is, meaningless. We came out under Spurrier in Osaka and looked like we we ready to take the league by storm and ended up laying an egg.

[E33Green]

So what is this "REMEMBER OSAKA" thing?? I think we played the 49ers in Japan a few years back??? I dont remember anything else beside that... Can someone fill me in?

Here ya go, Chief:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Redskins+Osaka

[Califan007 The Constipated]

So what is this "REMEMBER OSAKA" thing?? I think we played the 49ers in Japan a few years back??? I dont remember anything else beside that... Can someone fill me in?

Spurrier's first NFL preseason game...basically he treated it like a "statement" game and approached it as if winning was the most important factor, not evaluation of players. Skins won big, and a lot of fans and even a lot of the media started getting hyped on how Steve "the offensive genius" Spurrier's arrival in the NFL would change things for the better in Washington.

He turned out to be a crappy head coach, though, and gave the Skins some crappy teams to root for. So the game in Osaka meant nothing.

Of course, when you actually look at that game and the preseason under Spurrier, comparing Osaka to Shanahan and his team's game last night is apples to oranges. But it's far easier for some to just type "Remember Osaka!' than to actually put some thought and analysis into their posts lol :yes:...

[SkinsHokieFan]

So...you are now up to 7-9 from your 1-15 prediction.

By week 3 of the pre-season' date=' you will be making Super Bowl reservations. Good times.[/quote']

7-9 would kill me.

However, I never am upset by seeing good football played. If we play football like that for 17 weeks from September to December, I'll be a happy fan and worry about a generational QB at another time.

[Califan007 The Constipated]

7-9 would kill me.

However, I never am upset by seeing good football played. If we play football like that for 17 weeks from September to December, I'll be a happy fan and worry about a generational QB at another time.

We could go 8--8 and still get Luck ...he'd be worth two 1st round picks and a 2nd if the hype holds true.

[Voice_of_Reason]

Every preseason thread should have a "REMEMBER OSAKA!!!" watermark under each post.

I should probably also add that I think I've seen the Steelers not exactly mail it in, but treat the preseason more like practice qua Iverson practice than any other team. And I think that's smart.

You and Brian Mitchel. There's a HUGE difference between the approach that Spurrier took in Osaka and what Shanahan is taking now.

Spurrier put in a game plan, and "tried to win the game." It was important to them to win the game, and win it big. He even said so in his press conference after the game that it "meant more to us than to them."

The approach that Shanahan is taking is very different. I'm sure they're happy they won, but really, they wanted to see what their players could do. And what was even more telling about the approach was the post game presser. If you didn't know better, you would have though the 'Skins were thoroughly out played by listening to Shanahan.

For Spurrier, Osaka was the SB. Shanahan has won 2 SBs, and knows what pre-season is all about. This wasn't a gimicky win. This was a solid, team performance while evaluating a lot of players.

The only "Remember Osaka" comment that can be made is that nobody wins anything in August. It's still pre-season. While the Steeler's Defense was bland, so was the 'Skins offense. Nobody knows much of anything right now. We won't know anything definitive until September 11th. Then Bring on the Giants, and let's get it on.

EDIT: Check out the thread on the Steelers and their pre-season record under Tomlin. They generally blow people out in the first pre-season game. And even if Big Dumb Ben was out after one series, let's not forget that Leftwich beat the 'Skins as a reserve QB with the Steelers several years ago.

[CRobi21]

Didnt really know where to put this, but I'll put it here.

Anderson Russell is gonna make the team as back up FS, but this guy is a ball hawk. In TC, hes the only one coming up with ints outside of D hall. He had a chance at one in the game last night but the ball was thrown high. I think he'll get one before the preseason is over. Mark my words.