We lost due to weaknesses we knew about going into Season AKA Why I'm not too upset!

[Bibby]

Atleast after this loss members aren't screaming to tank the season already to get a top pick for a QB

[poopoobigelow]

While I totally agree with your post about our secondary I do not agree about the offensive line. While they are not elite they are not the worst either. We had a good run game and the pass pro was average. To think they was good enough to get us 21 points on offense.

also, in the O-line's defense, long was lined up in the neutral zone 90% of the time today. did anyone else notice this? it gave him an extra half-step on polumbus and, i think, went a long way to our struggles in pass protection.

[SkinsFTW]

I'm not really upset either. This team isn't winning the Super Bowl and even if everything fell our way we'd probably be 1 and done in the playoffs.

Still, the Rams spotted us 7 then the Refs spotted us 7 more, then took a TD from the Rams too but even at the point we were up 21-6 it still didn't seem like a game we were in control of.

Haslett does almost everything right 1 week then the next we can't stop an offense that voluntarily takes out its best player, with 1/2 of its OL down as well. They tied one of their own arms behind their back after the Refs slapped them around for 2 quarters and still kicked our asses up and down the field all day and we cry about the refs. To me it feels kind of like how those soft 80's 49ers teams always got steamrolled when they played the Giants in the playoffs except the Rams have almost none of that talent. Bradford and 10 other random scrubs on offense.

Throw in a signature special teams moment, followed by a Michael Westbrook 2.0 appearance and of course we lost. I wasn't mad, it was almost funny at the end.

---------- Post added September-16th-2012 at 07:46 PM ----------

At least RG3 played his ass off today. He's the difference between the final score and us getting whooped 38-6 in this game.

[Boss_Hogg]

somebody started that on ES???

Yes, the mods quickly saw it and had the thread moved/removed.

[NoCalMike]

Another thing people have to realize is that as the season goes on the offense is going to have to adjust. If you are thinking realistically, you can't expect a rookie QB to keep up this kind of play against Defense when he has been game-planned for with NFL game film.

This doesn't mean he is going to suck in any particular game, but we aren't always going to be able to rely on RG3 pulling these spectacular plays out of his "side" Playmakers will need to emerge. Similar to the Garcon play in Week 1 where RG3 had to make a quick throw due to the blitz, and Garcon made sure to make the Saints defense remember what happens when you blitz this offense. Alfred Morris seems legit thus far, but he also will depend on the O-line blocking.

This team is on the way up, we now see a true foundation, however not every step of the ladder is a smooth transition. Some of those steps are slick, and cause you to stumble, however we can all see the top of the mountain getting a little bit closer with each passing week.

[Wyvern]

Say what you want -- Morgan should be associated with a word that rhymes with numb-mass.

He tried thatstuff in someone else's Dome ...at crunch time??.

I say, someone should loosen his chin-straps and maybe his brain can benefit from a little more oxygen.

[dckey]

No but He said they are a weakness and I am stating that in the 2 weeks of football this season I do not see them as a weakness but as just average. I think we expect to much some times it takes time to gel an all star line and I do not think that the hogs will ever be reborn.

[DeadExField]

One of the weaknesses we can fix overnight is... PERSONAL FOULS. I saw almost ZERO discipline from our players. Every other play someone was getting in someone's face, you can be sure the league will be sending out a memo to several teams this week as well as a hefty fine for a few select players, definitely some from our team.

[NoCalMike]

Well Average means inconsistent, at least...right?

Again, don't be fooled by the plays where RG3 works his way out of a jam and escapes to the corner to get a positive rush. It seems far to much RG3 is out there being pressured out of the pocket, due to it collapsing. RG3 is extending plays due to his athleticism. This is not the O-line performing well, rather a QB being able to overcome bad pass protection

[dckey]

Well Average means inconsistent, at least...right?

Again, don't be fooled by the plays where RG3 works his way out of a jam and escapes to the corner to get a positive rush. It seems far to much RG3 is out there being pressured out of the pocket, due to it collapsing. RG3 is extending plays due to his athleticism. This is not the O-line performing well, rather a QB being able to overcome bad pass protection

Well did RG3 create those running lanes was the protection good on at least 60-70% of those passes how many times was the ball suppose to be gone on a 5 step drop but the receiver was not open so RG3 had to run or create more time is that also the lines fault. While I say average you say inconsistent please show me 10 offensive lines right now in the NFL that are playing hands down better than our line. Like I said they are not elite but are doing a serviceable job in these past 2 games. I just think that if we have any chance of winning games our defense has to help tremendously. I could not think that scoring 28 points in a gm against the Rams would not be enough to win

[SkinFaninOKC]

The defense stunk today. Josh Morgan needs to do wind sprints for a week. RG III is very lucky he didn't have 3 INT's. One more thing, Shanahan iced the kicker on a missed FG. Perhaps that will be the last time he does that.

[DCsportsfan53]

While I agree with everything the OP is saying and I'm not upset about the loss (1-1 out of these two games on the road is fine) there is one thing that irks me and that's Haslett. That was a really, really awful game plan that ticked me off from the very first series. They've got one guy, a twitchy Welker type in Amendola who excels at beating zones and YAC. So what do we do, even after they establish a running game? Spend nearly the entire game in soft deep zone coverages. Wtf was the point, when does that **** work in today's NFL? We played into their hands, it was such a ridiculous game plan. I'm really wondering if this guy is going to last to the bye week at this point, so done with him.

[DeadExField]

The defense stunk today. Josh Morgan needs to do wind sprints for a week. RG III is very lucky he didn't have 3 INT's. One more thing, Shanahan iced the kicker on a missed FG. Perhaps that will be the last time he does that.

I also think we should've gone for the 4th down at the end, but that didn't lose us the game, neither did the iced kick. But it burns inside knowing we lost by 3

[NoCalMike]

Lets examine that last play of the game.

4th & 16 vs. 62 yard field goal. We know going into that, Cundiff's range is nowhere near that. He is probably lucky to hit a 52 yarder these days. Compare that to a 4th & 16, which is extremely difficult, but not impossible. Not to mention that if we indeed convert, no matter by how small a margin, there is still :60 on the clock to continue the drive, and we are also in Cundiff's actualy FG range to go for the tie if need be.

Was Shanahan asked about that decision and why he thought a 62 yard field goal attempt was the best idea?

[Dallsux]

NoCalMike-

Thanks for this. I forgot how quick this place turns into sinking pit of quicksand that pulls everyone down, drowning the board in despair.

It's so easy for us to be swayed so heavily by each game, either win or loss. When the Skins were a good team, a team that everyone KNEW was going to the playoffs every year (or at least contending), losses didn't necessarily drive us over the edge of every cliff. But, since we have been losing for years, every loss is seemingly the end of the world.

Good post. And I agree with your analysis.

[SkinsFTW]

Lets examine that last play of the game.

4th & 16 vs. 62 yard field goal. We know going into that, Cundiff's range is nowhere near that. He is probably lucky to hit a 52 yarder these days. Compare that to a 4th & 16, which is extremely difficult, but not impossible. Not to mention that if we indeed convert, no matter by how small a margin, there is still :60 on the clock to continue the drive, and we are also in Cundiff's actualy FG range to go for the tie if need be.

Was Shanahan asked about that decision and why he thought a 62 yard field goal attempt was the best idea?

I'd bet that 99% of all Redskins fans wanted to see RG3 on that 4th down. Cundiff is like maybe 20% from just around 50 yards. What was the point? If Gano was the kicker then sure, he would probably make it. His problem is the 25-40 yarders lol.

[Dallsux]

While I agree with everything the OP is saying and I'm not upset about the loss (1-1 out of these two games on the road is fine) there is one thing that irks me and that's Haslett. That was a really, really awful game plan that ticked me off from the very first series. They've got one guy, a twitchy Welker type in Amendola who excels at beating zones and YAC. So what do we do, even after they establish a running game? Spend nearly the entire game in soft deep zone coverages. Wtf was the point, when does that **** work in today's NFL? We played into their hands, it was such a ridiculous game plan. I'm really wondering if this guy is going to last to the bye week at this point, so done with him.

I wonder...is Haslett's lack of a solid gameplan the result of not knowing how the opposing team coach is gameplanning? Is he "testing the waters" so to speak, because he doesn't know how to gameplan for the other team?

---------- Post added September-16th-2012 at 10:52 PM ----------

Wow, gladly I did not. That is absolutely despicable. Hope a perma-ban was issued. Do people really care that much about a game?

That said, sadly I bet there were plenty of appalling threads across losing NFL boards today. Too many idiots to control.

Yeah, knowing the way Boston fans are (especially after the Caps eliminated them from the playoffs & how they responded to that), I'm willing to bet they went haywire today.

[KCClybun]

As far as the secondary goes, I thought (aside from maybe Madieu) they played a very, very good game against a very tough offense. Most of Brees yardage came in the fourth quarter when we stopped playing man and ironically enough that was when we stopped getting pressure. But Brees got his yardage mostly in the fourth quarter when we were pretty much playing prevent.

This week it was the exact opposite; it was like the fourth quarter before someone realized "maybe playing all this zone coverage isn't working".

Funny enough I think we might actually have better man DB's than zone DB's. Noticed it last year, but man did it ever shine through in this game.

[No_Pressure]

I agree totally. I mean I was disappointed we didn't get the win, and I saw some of the reasons why we didn't. It isn't something to be happy about, but it isn't something that people with normal levels of expectation for this team are shocked by. I wasn't surprised by the things that happened in the game today on our side, nobody should have been. I still think we'll be a competitive 9-10 win team this year in spite of the high levels of doom some people are carrying on about. I just choose not to engage those people.

[SkinFaninOKC]

I also think we should've gone for the 4th down at the end, but that didn't lose us the game, neither did the iced kick. But it burns inside knowing we lost by 3

We should've gone for it instead of kick. That was the other Shanahan bonehead move of the day. I knew when Cundiff went out it was over. RG III should have been given a chance to toss it the end zone.

[DogofWar1]

Did it seem like WRs weren't getting open to anyone else? I saw a bunch of plays where RGIII would escape the pocket, run around looking for a guy to throw to for 3-4 seconds, find no one, and then either throw it really short or run it himself. If you take away the 68 yard bomb to Hank, RGIII averaged only like 7.5 yards a completion. I also felt like we didn't run it enough on designed run plays. Morris got 16 carries, RGIII another 11, and then there were only 2 others. We were ahead most of the game, so I'm kind of surprised we didn't run it 35-40 times.

But yeah, our Oline seemed to struggle a lot, RGIII had to run around more than I would have preferred. The defense lost us the game though. Part of that I think is due to injury, we lost Orakpo and Carriker, and that hurt, but part of it seemed to be the defensive game plan. Seriously, when a guy like Amendola is getting targeted constantly, you stick a guy to him and limit him. Others have been criticizing Haslett and zone play, and I'm inclined to agree.

[Zazzaro703]

I also think we should've gone for the 4th down at the end, but that didn't lose us the game, neither did the iced kick. But it burns inside knowing we lost by 3

I mentioned this too. How in the world did Shanahan think Billy Cundiff had a better chance to pull of a low percentage play than our superman quarterback. I roll the dice with Robert on 4 and 16 100 times out of 100 over a Cundiff 62 yard field goal. I honestly think Mike Shanahan was shell shocked. Anyone see his expression looking at Morgan while the play unfolded right in front of him? It was almost like a WTF I just lost my dog and am about to cry look. I've never seen it before in my life. No anger, just absolute disappointment.

Anyways now that the dust has settled I'm not as devasted as I would have been in years past from a loss like this. I'm able to watch highlights and nfl network when normally I'm too pissed to watch anything football until at least Monday night. Robert is for real and I cannot wai until Garçon is back. Garçon is in a position to just go off this season. If we score 28+ points a week we will win more games than we lose. OP is right most our problems are known and expected. The one question mark (for some people) was how would Robert play with live bullets. I think he looked damn good for his first two starts on the road in domes. If he stays healthy we are set for a long time.

[BleedBNG]

I saw a bunch of plays where RGIII would escape the pocket, run around looking for a guy to throw to for 3-4 seconds, find no one, and then either throw it really short or run it himself.

Which was the opposite of what Bradford and his crew were doing. We had pressure on him at times, but he was able to read them and give quick releases to wide open receivers.

[MusicCitySkin]

This team got outplayed on every single level. Passing, rushing, o-line, defense, pass rush, special teams, and coaching. This game was a complete abortion, and could have been a whole lot worse had the officials called it properly.

[DogofWar1]

Which was the opposite of what Bradford and his crew were doing. We had pressure on him at times, but he was able to read them and give quick releases to wide open receivers.

Right, and as guys like NLC have been saying around the site, that goes back to the defensive scheme we were running.

As for our O, I really hope this was just a product of Garcon being out. I really want to believe that if Garcon was in the game that 2-3 of those broken plays would have ended in Garcon's hands.

I also really want to see more of Fred Davis. He didn't play perfect, but I feel like for his skill level, especially without Garcon this week, we didn't dial him up enough.