Ghh's Observations. The Good, No Bad, And The 'man, What A Freaking Game To Win!' W6: Bear Hunting.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Still buzzing, so no need to sleep on what I have to say this week with a few tweeks to the norm:

The Good.

We rediscovered our offensive identity. Heavy dose of RO out of the pistol. And heavy success. Call it gimmicky. Call it what you will, It is what we are and what we HAVE to do at present. It is US.

RG MF III ! Second week in a row he's re-found his legs. But unlike last week, he added to it with his arm this. The mere #'s: In the passing game- 29/18 for 298 Yds. 2 TD's, with a long of 45. QB Rating 105.2. With his legs: 11 for 84 with a long of 21. Zip on his balls. Thunder in his legs. Closest we've seen to his rookie year. Like he literally said ' **** you ALL (coaches/ family/ media et all); I'm the one that's going to fix ME and I'm going to do this MY way' and got back to just being instinctive and having fun out there you know? Still want Cousins in there ..... ?

Jordan Reed. 9 receptions off 9 targets for 134 yards a TD. Rapidly becoming the best playmaker on the team. 6 games in. Awesome performance rook. Absolutely awesome.

The run game. FINALLY we give Morris more than 16 carries in a game and get a guy who's just made plays since the pre-season most every time he's on the field, Roy Helu in the game and bang, we have a serious running attack. Go figure.

Aldrick Robinson. Ala Helu, you get a playmaker out there and **** happens. Go figure? Made up for you Aldrick. The deep threat has been SORELY missed.

Much better playcalling. Far from perfect, but I'm not doing ANY bad this week, just positives. 499 total offensive yards. 38 points. Not nitpicking at that. 4/5 in the RZ too. 7/13 on third downs which is a MASSIVE improvement. Good job Kyle. Inventive, diverse and much better tempo. Kept the Bears D off balance all day long.

Time management. MUCH improved, particularly the last drive which was handled real well. Nice turnaround Coach,.

We turned up in the first half on offense for the first time this year. So much better to lead from the front.

Brian Orakpo. Difference making score on his first career INT. Brain Orakpo the playmaker. WOOT for # 98.

(BRILLIANT play by Doughty BTW to force the INT, which started with great inside pressure from Cofield. Great team D TD.).

First half was the defenses best showing of the year to date. 2 hold Chicago to 2 first downs, 49 total net yards and 10 points was a fantastic effort regardless of the circumstance or what followed later. Good job guys. You helped beat a Chicago team with a LOT of weapons on offense regardless of who was at QB. And iced the game at the end. Good job D.

Kai's run of missed kicks is over. Hey, a special teams positive. What a Sunday!

Synching the radio broadcast with the visual and hearing Cooley leading the whole booth with renditions of HTTR after EVERY score was freaking awesome. God bless that man. He is one of us.

We beat the Bears. For those of my generation, and those that go even further back ..... stick that up your hole Ditka! Sideways!

The Bad.

As many negatives as there where in victory in all three facets, I'm not doing ANY negatives this week.

We won an end-to-end, humdinger of a football game. EVERYTHING that you can ask for as a fan including a last minute victory. Heart stopping and fantastically exciting. I am SO envious of those of you lucky enough to be in attendance. THATS what you pay your money for. To be entertained. And boy did we get that entertainment in spades.

The bad can wait another week.

The 'meh, the World's NOT falling.'

As exciting a Sunday as we've had since the feeling of last years run-in. Right here, right now, that's good enough to add nothing else.

Enjoy the win.

Feel free to add at your leisure as per. And there was a LOT of negatives to take that deserve to be discussed. Just at the minute I'm savoring the excitement of this great win.

Hail.

[Larry]

Synching the radio broadcast with the audio and hearing Cooley leading the whole booth with renditions of HTTR after EVERY score was freaking awesome. God bless that man. He is one of us.

I only got to hear the final drive. Didn't know he did it on every one.

Loved it. And I agree with you. Might be the best offseason move the Redskins made, this year. (OK, I'm exaggerating a little.)

[moondog]

Mostly agreed. 

 

The two big negatives for me:

 

Our receivers continue to drop balls. Almost every one of RGIII's incompletions today came off of drops by Garcon, Hankerson and Moss. And what's worse is many of them were on third downs - we could have been even better in that category. And Aldrick - as much as I'm a fan and continue to hope he gets more involved because he's a playmaker with the ball in his hands - he continues to catch deep passes with that breadbasket, let it hit me in the nuts kind of catch. You're a receiver man use your hands. 

 

As big a positive as the defense was against Cutler and how much I've felt like they are getting back to playing like our winning streak last year, they basically made the Bears offense with Josh freaking McCown look like what I expected to see from Cutler. I expected us to make him look much more like Flynn then the stud we made him look to be today. 14/20 for 200 yards was pretty disappointing. 

 

For a positive:

 

Rak was all over whatever QB they had in their today and that was a total bull**** personal foul they called on him. Even if it didn't cost us points - it was not a late hit and it was a textbook hit. I know GHH and DC9 will look at it more objectively then I - did you think that should have drawn a flag? I was livid. 

[darrelgreenie]

Jose Gumbs destroyed Weems on kick coverage.

Much better gameplan and play calling.

Passing game still needs work. The routes off PA are too predictable.

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Jose Gumbs destroyed Weems on kick coverage......

 

 

Oh darn forgot him and the new guy Hull on coverage. Made a mental note too. 

 

Good shout man, 

 

Hail. 

[ldysknzfn1]

Merriweather's repeated insistence on those personal foul tackles is just unacceptable!  I was please w/most of what I saw today..

it was one heckuva game and we came out on top! I have a Bears fan friend whom I am sure is crying into his blue & orange towel..

he talked so much trash this week...serves him right...I sent him an email w/a pic of RGIII looking out over the field thru the jumbotron and wrote.."U mad bro?"  

HTTR!! Luv this team!
 

[Gymratfwp]

JReed can ball...absolutely phenomenal. If it were up to me the game ball goes to him. Roy Helu and RG can certainly challenge him for it...but 9 for 9, clutch catch after clutch catch..simply phenomenal.

Roy Helu/Alfred Morris is as good a tandem of backs in this league in my opinion. We need to continue to get both these guys involved next week at Dener and I think we have a shot at the upset.

RG continues to look better each and every week. Keep at it kid. Made some mental errors but recovered nicely by leading that last scoring drive. Keep it up next week.

Play calling...no issues here on the offensive side of the ball.

Defense...in the second half...no comment. Way to shut down that last drive though. Way to start the game. Nice overall teamwork on that pick 6. Have to continue to do better here.

ST...no comment.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

What a fun game. Honestly it would have been the best I felt about the team even if we didnt score to win it. When you have 4 losses in mid-October, you might as well play fun games. That's what this was.

Offense looked good. I want to see us continue to put 10 in the no-huddle. I would love to see us get to the point where we use it several times per game.

I'm slightly concerned with how the defense gave up so much to a backup QB, but it's a known weakness of our team. We aren't going to become a stout defense this season.

The thing that I'll hang my hat on right now is that we look like we woke up. Our young QB got the ball down by 3 and led us on a game-winning drive. That's important to me. We will almost certainly lose to Denver next Sunday. However, if we can put up a fight out there, 4-5 in mid-November wont seem completely ridiculous.

[SWFLSkins]

Gumbs and Murphy, two heroes who mostly have been unnoticed. 

[my_friend_goo]

What a phenomenal game. Electric atmosphere in the stadium and so great to have the confidence that we have a quarterback who can lead the team for the game winner. Biggest mistake may have been taking Cutler out - McCown should not have had that level of success out there. So glad to see the run game get going. More Helu please

[Larry]

JReed can ball...absolutely phenomenal. If it were up to me the game ball goes to him. Roy Helu and RG can certainly challenge him for it...but 9 for 9, clutch catch after clutch catch..simply phenomenal.

Roy Helu/Alfred Morris is as good a tandem of backs in this league in my opinion. We need to continue to get both these guys involved next week at Dener and I think we have a shot at the upset.

Yeah, I suspect that between the Read Option, RG3's legs, Morris/Helu, and a TE who can catch the ball over the middle, it's gotta be tough to be an opposing LB/SS. 

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

November 10, 1991. 56-17 win over Atlanta at RFK on the way to our last Lombardi. 

 

The last time we put up 499 or more yards of offense without OT. 

 

WOW!

 

Hail. 

[Larry]

Never.

 

Last time the Skins had 200 yds passing, and 200 yds rushing, in back to back games. 

[Audible_Red40]

I'm slightly concerned with how the defense gave up so much to a backup QB, but it's a known weakness of our team. We aren't going to become a stout defense this season.

 

 

Let's not forget we didn't have a gameplan for McCown.  The gameplan was installed for Cutler.  I hear ya about giving up so much to a "backup", but he is a seasoned vet, who brings something different to the table then what was part of the gameplan.

[Larry]

Obviously, we should put Captain Kirk in, at halftime, against Denver. 

[Gibbs Hog Heaven]

Obviously, we should put Captain Kirk in, at halftime, against Denver. 

 

Can he return kicks?

 

Hail. 

[RandyHolt]

Good 

 

Robinson Reed RG3 Garcon and Helu.  Josh Wilson has been ballin'. Hall, all the corners.

 

Kyle with my favorite sequence all year. That waggle / rollout hitting Robinson for 30 yards, running Helu and then going to Hurry Up. Cameras cut to a close up of a Chicago safety hastily trying to get the call out. Helu powers it in for the score.  

 

Using RG3's legs on runs and passes. 

 

Kyle and RG3 overcoming the OL having issues. 

 

Bad

 

Boooo urns. We got lucky that onside was called back. TD return of course to Hester.  I thought for a moment that final kickoff great pass across the field was going to ruin our day. Josh Morgan and our return game is ugly. Why not try and block some punts since we don't block well anyways.  Chicago knuckleballs that extra point or FG and our DT had stunted, we had no one to knock down that duck anywhere near position. Meanwhile, Palomalu is vaulting centers in Pitt lol. 

 

Continued miscues weekly between RG3 and Morris. RG3 watching Chester trying to get that fumble had me miffed. 

 

OL blown up for a lot of the day, the DL we faced less than healthy. 

 

Meh

 

Defense had us in it and got that late stop, but every week it seems the offense is forced to put in someone new and we struggle to adjust. Go Vanilla... i don't know what we do but things get ugly quick. Maybe its just the modern day game. Today, 31 TD passes league wide, to 23 runs, so its not just us getting gashed in pass coverage.

 

RG3 refusing to throw the ball away on those busted out ugly wide.... runs I guess they were. Or, Kyle calling them a bit too often without having a pass option. 

[DaGoonie55]

I love the enthusiasm.  I think we found that "fire" that I was talking about.  Guys getting fired up after hits, runs, catches, etc. that we witnessed last year during the run.

 

Great game to watch, HTTR.

[hail2skins]

When McCown came in I thought the Skins were going to cruise, kind of like they did against Flynn a few weeks ago or against Chris Simms in a game against Denver in Zorn's second year.  But he really played well and likely did better than Cutler would've done.  And this from a guy who was playing in the now-defunct UFL a few years ago.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Let's not forget we didn't have a gameplan for McCown.  The gameplan was installed for Cutler.  I hear ya about giving up so much to a "backup", but he is a seasoned vet, who brings something different to the table then what was part of the gameplan.

 

They really didn't have a gameplan for him.  Orakpo in the postgame presser was talking about how they didn't really know much about him and weren't ready for how mobile he was.  Found that kind of hard to believe since NFL teams are so well prepared, you'd think they'd at least have some idea of McCown and what he brought to the table.  

[jadams5214]

Clock management was infinitely better today. The end of the first half and late game TD drive were run to almost perfection.

The uptempo offense many have been calling for was again effective.

Helu and Morris can be a dominant backfield combo. Would love to see them on the field together on occasion.

RGIII looked great health wise and showed bursts of speed. His move late to hit Garcon for a first down was just incredible.

Concerned about the second half collapse by the defense. The defense looked completely unprepared and incapable of stopping the Bear's offense led by career scrub Josh McCown.

McCown is more mobile than Cutler but clearly has a weaker arm. This should have allowed the defense to crowd the line, press the receivers as there was little threat of deep passes. Yet McCown gashed the defense drive after drive as Haslett could not adjust.

The special teams are still absolutely pathetic! How bad are they???

Today the ST allowed a punt return touchdown, fumbled the ensuing kickoff which was fortunately recovered. Could not handle an onsides kick but escaped due to a penalty.

Josh Morgan fumbled a kickoff, let a punt drop which rolled to the 1 yd line, fielded another punt inside the 5, and could not generate anything on returns.

All of this and in the end the special teams actually played BETTER than last week! Reflects just how dreadful the ST are which continues to hurt the team.

[Bang]

I very much want to knock the fact we made a friggin' McCOWN look like a real QB... i just can't. 

The defense laid back into softer zones, that really did aggravate me, but so long as the offense can respond, so be it.

 

Great game out of RG3.. made big throws, got some luck, but that's what good players do,, they make luck.

HUGE game out of Reed, but rally, isn't this what we've been expecting?

Helu was a great change of pace and made the most of his chances, Morris was strong and as much the runner we remember as i've seen this year. Very hard running.

 

Special Teams..  meh..   they gave up the return, with the aid of two blocks in the back that could have been called, and likely would hve been given a different crew.

BUT overall i liked the officiating crew.. they were not intrusive, they made a lot of really good non-calls that other crews (Ed Hoculi) would make. I thought the calls they did make were fair, and i can't really complain much about calls they 'missed'. They let the players play, and kept control of the game. Exemplary.

 

~Bang

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

We're getting back to the point where our offense will make people afraid. Very afraid. Tana dropped a big one, but Griff picked him up. I thought the ball to Hank was a terribly tough catch to make. I was actually upset that we didn't run the ball on that play on 3rd and 1.

I hope Haslett can dial up enough crazy calls to confuse QBs into a pick or two from here on out. I wouldn't be surprised if we're in the game next week. Late. We can score with anyone when we're rolling.

Meriweather takes a ton of flack, but I thought both hits were solid. Lay the wood son.

Kai made a few which should be good for his confidence going forward. I like our chances to get to 9-7, so let's hope our division goes deeper into the crapper.

Overall, just happy to execute down the stretch and win one for the home crowd. Hail.

[Year_of_The_Monk]

I second the solid performance by Meriweather, I played the secondary all my life and hell that is what is coached ie attack the ball. I seen nothing wrong with his play and was happy that he brought the lumber. So many folks complaining about him but in today's NFL, how many flags would ST get? Now if Meriweather can make game changing plays like ST, then all in the universe would be right! HTTR

[CrabR]

the good: we scored 45 points

 

the bad: They scored 41