Next Day Thread: Redskins vs. Saints

[KDawg]

Last night I was very emotional.

 

Today I feel the exact same way.

 

To start:

 

Jay Gruden benched Josh Norman for performance. You know what? That would go over very, very well...

 

If you benched the two players who were worse than Josh Norman yesterday in Montae Nicholson and Alex Smith. You want respect? Carry out the actions that earn respect with the entire team. Benching Norman was a headline grabbing move, intentional or not, to show he's not going to put up with poor performance. Meanwhile, the quarterback is on the other side of the ball doing a Patrick Ramsey terrified he;s going to get crushed impersonation, while channeling his inner Mark Brunell with the check downs, ad then performing worse than Danny Wuerffel in his accuracy game. Oh, and the quarterback led to not one... but two of our best players (Peterson and Thompson) getting injured. This really frustrated the hell out of me. Oh hey, great, you benched Norman who I said we should have traded in the offseason because of poor play... But man, let's let the two players who are playing worse than him stay in the game. Genius.

 

Speaking of genius. Thompson up the middle. Am I right?

 

Our inside backers can go sideline to sideline with the best of em... but if they need to cover or penetrate they can still go side line to side line with the best of them. That's all I'm going to say on that front. 

 

Paul Richardson is a decent receiving target. One of our better receivers in recent memory. That catch was a thing of beauty. If Alex Smith could put the ball anywhere near our receivers we might have scored six more points sometime in that game. 

 

Kapri Bibbs should have made this team from day one. I still don't understand why the team kept Rob Kelley over him. But the whole "bench Norman, let Nicholson and Smith play" mantra shows that our coaches play favorites with who they sit and who they don't. Again, I'm not arguing Norman didn't deserve it. But if you drop the hammer... drop the ****ing hammer.

 

Brandon Scherff has been off the last few weeks as well. Just not playing to his level. Hoping he's dealing with some nagging injuries.

 

But speaking of the offensive line... I've said it more than once and I'll continue to say it. Moving Roullier to LG and letting Bergstrom play C is one of the worst decisions I've seen. It's just so bad. Instead of replacing one player, you replaced two. That screws with chemistry on an offensive line so damn much it's unreal. And if you are going to make that switch, why wouldn't you make it to put your best five available linemen on the field? Bergstrom has been terrible. If you're going to get cute why not put Nsheke at LT, Williams at LG, Roullier at C, Scherff at RG and Moses at RT? Why make that move?

 

I don't know. I'm not totally down on this team. We all know they show up one week and are totally absent the next. It's the Redskin mantra. But I don't think this team is going to do much of anything.

 

It's been 27 seasons since this team has won 11 games. 1991. Seriously. 27 years.

 

And how the hell does this team lay an egg on MNF EVERY.DAMN.TIME? Doesn't matter the coach. Doesn't matter the players. It's EVERY.DAMN.MONDAY.

 

Congrats to the Saints. This whole post has been about how bad the Skins were. But the Saints were excellent. Congrats to Drew Brees, too. Deserved awards.

 

To the Redskins...

 

what the ****?

[Rogue Jedi]

Remember after the Colts game when this forum was tearing itself apart?

 

There was a few who still drank the kool-aid, and the same who pumped their chests after the packers game.

 

WeÂ’ve beaten a garbage cardinals team and a crap packers team.

 

The intelligent ones knew who this team really was. 

 

Before people say say we have a shot at winning the division, I can guarantee we drop at least one to the Giants. And they’re awful. Let that sink in for a moment.

[TheGreek1973]

Well lets hope there is a next day where we can pick up the pieces and put a decent effort against Carolina.  Because after the horror show we all witnessed yesterday I am not sure there is a next day for this team.  So many mistakes of the past resulted in what we saw yesterday.  From letting go one of our own (Cousins) for Smith and paying threw the nose with Fuller and draft pick, to paying close to 20 million for a average CB in Norman and everything in between.  This organization smells from the very top and there is nothing we as fan can do about it.

[FrFan]

 

 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

My next day thoughts:

 

Buy Crown Royal stock.  Dan’s going to buy it all out, if he hasn’t already.

[Burgold]

I expected to lose. I didn't expect to get humiliated. The only positive I can put out there is that the run defense held up and looked pretty good. Pretty much everything else was terrible.

 

I agree on the line, but am more annoyed simply because everyone knew this was a problem in January. They failed to upgrade through the draft or free agency, eventually signing Lavaou as a bandaid when Arie, who has never been good, got IRed. When they entered the bye week, if Shawn was still a mess you would have thought there would be some trash heap lineman out there who was good, but not quite ready for retirement. Have we even tried any out? Our o-line woes are about negligence.

 

Smith was erratic and pressing. Every QB has that game. I've seen Brady have that game. Still, it sucked. He missed so many plays.

 

I'm still blaming the refs for screwing us over at least a dozen times in the first half. Sure, we sucked. Sure, we were out coached, out gameplanned, and out hustled, but we were also reffed. The stoopid thing is, as Con pointed out yesterday, there was no need. Brees was going to get his coronation even if they didn't intervene, but they did and that helped to break our will. We were going to lose and probably lose bad even without the reffing. Still, the refs cheated hard in the first half.

 

We are the Not Ready for Prime Time players... this team does not know how to handle pressure or bright lights. They had a chance to make a statement. Unfortunately, they did.

 

 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

2 minutes ago, Burgold said:

 

Smith was erratic and pressing. Every QB has that game. I've seen Brady have that game. Still, it sucked. He missed so many plays.

 

 

Every QB has games where they are erratic and pressing, true.  I cannot recall Brady ever being as bad as Alex was last night though.  I’m not sure Alex has ever had a game as bad as he was last night.  Dude looked like John Beck.

[Bang]

Thoughts on the day after:

There are 3 things in life that you can count on.

A. the Sunrise.

B. death

C. The Redskins will thoroughly embarrass themselves on Monday Night Football.

 

Totally unprepared. 15 DAYS to get ready to play like THAT? How does that even happen? How do you have 15 days to prepare a team to come out and completely get run out of the building, and NEVER look competitive for even a minute? How?

Every coach in the building needs to be on notice. There should be pink slips on every desk with everything filled in but the name THIS MORNING.

it is one thing to get beat by a good team. It is one thing to even get beat badly by one of the greatest QBs of all time. It is totally inexcusable to show up as unprepared as that.

 

2. In 2 losses, our OL has been thoroughly manhandled. This is supposed to be one of the better units in the league. And a stunt has them running around in circles chasing their tails. Smith got beat up last night. (Of course, everything is related, and the Saints could pin their ears back and pass rush every play because

 

3. Our secondary played like they were starstruck. Well, except for Josh Norman, he played like the same old overrated shmuck he has been since he got here. If i hear one more announcer ever say any QB is afraid to throw at him, I think i might just smash my TV.

Repeat after me, Redskinsland: NO ONE IS AFRAID OF JOSH NORMAN. NO ONE.

Rookies roast him for 75 yard TDs. Veterans toast him for pretty much whatever they want, whenever they want. I've been watching redskins football for 50 years, and i do not remember a guy with a wider gap between production and reputation.

trade him for a pile of picks, because even aside from his pathetic play on the field, he embarrasses himself.... after the game last night, after being burnt like a matchstick.. he gets into a Twitter beef with Michael thomas about how well he covered.

Honestly. It's a joke, right? Nope, there he is, embarrassing himself, running his YAP on a guy who just ripped him to shreds in front of the entire country...

 

4. 4. The NFL clearly wanted Brees to break the record. They assisted when they had to... which wasn't often, but in that vein, i am really getting tired of the NFL deciding that getting behind a man and strangling him is not holding. Ryan Kerrigan looks like he's getting his wallet stolen every play,, he goes running right past the ref with his arm up and a guy giving him the chokehold from behind,, and the ref couldn't care less.

This isn't really a gripe about last night in particular,, jut the overall decision that holding no longer exists.

 

5. Alex smith was totally off last night.. very inaccurate. i suppose that happens. He hasn't been our Qb long enough for me to see it as a trend, BUT, coming off of 15 days rest, it is troubling.

He was not only inaccurate, he was setting guys up to get killed.

 

6. Mo Harris couldn't get separation if he had a knife in his hand. I had read this last year when they cut him, he hasn't got any pull away speed and his moves are not crisp enough.. He has a very hard time separating, and we saw it. Good hands, but needs a perfect throw because he's going to be covered.

Nice catch to get us to the one though... but several other plays showed that lack of separation they talked about. I am ready to see Michael Floyd... because seeing Josh Doctson walk into the stadium without so much as a limp..

 

7. Careful where you step... ESPN jizzed on the floor all over Drew Brees. Thanks to the Redskins making sure there was no game to actually broadcast... they spent the entire night stroking it. We are literally the creampuff the schedulers set up to be destroyed on his big night. (they even said in the broadcast.. "you could do the math and see when he would likely break the record" and if you think the NFL schedulers don't KNOW the Redskins are the worst MNF team on planet earth, you should realize they do, and they bet on them playing the way they did. We did nothing to spoil the party they planned... which was part of the plan.

 

8. Paul Richardson... wow. On a bad night, he made a couple of plays.. i like this guy. i do not see any quit in him, and the ball he flew like Superman to get in the first half,, damn did he elevate. One of the few plays that got me out of my seat.

 

9. last year we got a lot of success with screens to Thompson. This year, i don't even think we've run it more than a few times. I wonder why?

 

There's probably more, but i gotta get to work.

 

 

~Bang

[Bigmuss1]

I was disappointed with the Oline play, not only out physicaled most of the night, but the blown assignments.  Where is our RG!???  Trent Williams being abused and Moses just not getting it done.  ItÂ’s hard to blame Alex for having happy feet when he was under fire all night.  That kind of pressure would rattle any QB.  

 

Speaking of pressure on a QB, where was ours!!??  Send 4 every time Manusky......it’s getting old.  The one blitz I do recall Kerrigan sacked Drew.  (But......Montae says, here hold my beer!!!!). Why are we refusing to blitz?? And if we are not blitzing and have 7 in coverage, why, how are receivers running free!!!??????????

 

It was obvious the Redskins were not on the agenda to win last night, but good lord, we didnÂ’t have to play like a bunch of undisciplined children either.....

[Rogue Jedi]

When your best player is Quentin Dunbar, your franchise ****ing sucks.

[Burgold]

14 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

 

Every QB has games where they are erratic and pressing, true.  I cannot recall Brady ever being as bad as Alex was last night though.  I’m not sure Alex has ever had a game as bad as he was last night.  Dude looked like John Beck.

I've sen Brady look worse, believe it or not, I've even joked about it. Brady has had a few real clunkers, usually due to pressure where he'll toss five interceptions and look like a poor man's John Beck.

 

That said, Smith was plenty bad. He was rotten. Missed guys wide open. Missed easy throws. He just fell apart.

[KDawg]

8 minutes ago, Rogue Jedi said:

When your best player is Quentin Dunbar, your franchise ****ing sucks.

 

I realize this was tongue in cheek, but if you want to talk about legit best players on this team...

 

DJ Swearinger, Vernon Davis, Daron Payne, Chris Thompson and Adrian Peterson.

 

Those are our best players.

[RandyHolt]

• No hurry up, meanwhile our OL was getting school, as our slow play offense was getting abused
• Jay benched Josh for a blown coverage, which quickly cost us another TD. Brees immediately targeted his backup deep
• The Saints lose their top DB in the first quarter, and I highly doubt we heavily targeted his backup.
• Using CT heavily in a blowout was a mistake. Of course he got hurt going for 2 in a blowout - a slant straight at Mike ????
• In my illustrious viewing career, I cannot recall ever seeing 2 guys wide open deep.
• In my illustrious viewing career, I cannot recall ever seeing 2 players running a slant side by side.

 

 

I could go on. We all could.

 

[KDawg]

1 minute ago, RandyHolt said:

•  
• In my illustrious viewing career, I cannot recall ever seeing 2 players running a slant side by side.
•  

I could go on.

 

 

That happens all the time, actually. It's to put the curl defender in a bind. If he follows the first slant the second one is open. If he stays for the second, the first one is open. At least that's the theory. Doesn't always work like that.

[RandyHolt]

1 minute ago, KDawg said:

 

That happens all the time, actually. It's to put the curl defender in a bind. If he follows the first slant the second one is open. If he stays for the second, the first one is open. At least that's the theory. Doesn't always work like that.

 

Thanks.  Still, I kind of felt like Reed and his man helped force CT even more at the Mike.  Getting CT injured on the most meaningless play of the game was the final nail in the coffin.

[KDawg]

Just now, RandyHolt said:

 

Thanks.  Still, I kind of felt like Reed and his man helped force CT even more at the Mike.  Getting CT injured on the most meaningless play of the game was the final nail in the coffin.

 

Par for the course given other decisions. Depressing.

[Bonez3]

Alex Smith looked downright horrible.

 

The offensive line, Scherf and Williams included, looked downright horrible.

 

The secondary looked downright horrible.

 

The ILBs looked downright horrible. 

 

I can't speak about the running game because it didn't exist. But, if it had a chance I'm pretty sure it would have been downright horrible.

 

The DL played well enough at times.

[Koolblue13]

I'm done with the entire offensive coaching staff, including Gruden. I hope Manusky becomes the HC after this season. 

[Zguy28]

My observations: Saints D-Line is legit good. O-line couldn't stop the rush, resulting in total loss of confidence by our QB. Saints secondary plays like they have another Bounty-gate happening. I feel sorry for AP, didn't even really get a shot because the defense put them in a hole. Montae Nicholsen makes stupid, soul crushing penalties. Drew Brees is a great QB, I just wish it wasn't against our team.

[Bonez3]

Just now, Koolblue13 said:

I'm done with the entire offensive coaching staff, including Gruden. I hope Manusky becomes the HC after this season. 

I hope McVay becomes head coach... unpossible?

[bobandweave]

Totally sucked woke up to read that after the game Norman has a Twitter fight with Michael Thomas after that beating? Today I want these guys cut or fired

 

1. Jay Gruden - IÂ’ve given him a chance but 1-4 after his bye weeks is his legacy. Zero TDs in the third quarter after five games? No in game management at all. He has to go

2. Bruce and Dan - They havenÂ’t changed a thing. The teams doomed since the top of the team thinks that itÂ’s cute to post videos of the team riding scooters right before an ass beating like that. They need to be fired and banned from the stadium

3. Josh Norman - Over paid diva who canÂ’t play anymore. Embarrassing having him on the team

4. Alex Smith - No excuses his play was awful last night. Worst game I’ve seen from him in a long time. 

 

Could go on and on about this. I predicted a loss but even with no expectations no one could have convinced me that the game would go like that. From top to bottom they all sucked and IÂ’m sick of it

[Darrell Green Fan]

I agree with everything that  has been posted and then some. I never mentioned Scherff as I know this is a hot topic but for a long time I kept thinking "have I ever seen this team ride behind their stud guard like they did with Russ Grimm?".  No they have not.  I also posted in his first year here that Josh Norman ain't that good but was met with resistance.

 

But they are hardly the big problem here, most of the problems have been spelled out well.  2 weeks off led to this performance?   First and goal at the 5 and they run Chris Thomspon up the middle.  WTF???? 

 

This is not a good team, last night with the passing record about to fall, set up perfectly for a blow out. I figured they would lose 41-30. I had not predicted that Alex Smith would turn into that.   Embarrassing.  

[skins island connection]

The team was simply not prepared to match the Saints determination and emotion in the game.

The defense played scared, and everyone knew Brees was gonna get his yds, but to fall apart like the defense did? c'mon.

 

It is and will always be the same ol' same ol', until major changes are made, and those changes start at the top, in the FO. This defense never stunk so badly before originally switching to a 3-4, and the defense has not recovered since that point. Every DC this team gets is sitting in the unemployment line and no one looks at them, except our FO. They were let go because they were no good, and every team that got rid of that person immediately got better on defense.

 

Until Bruce Allen is gone, nothing will change. This is set in stone. His hires comes from his friends & family list on his phone, looking for someone who has a popular relative or past Redskin player, and it has not worked out yet. Look at who has left this team in the last 2-3 years; Cousins, McVay, DJax, McC, Garcon, and others, who are currently doing great on other teams.

 

The big one IMO is McVay; he's young, innovative, motivational, intense, creative, and he's built a strong winning team from a gutter-dweller; what has Gruden done? But Gruden is buds with Allen, so he gets a pass, and will continue to get a pass until this team has multiple 4-12 seasons.

If you want to go further, may as well remove the scouts; they must have been given instructions not to look into anyone over 6'1 tall, and Doctson was a slip-up.

 

This team has no fire, no desire to be the best, no drive in them; Gruden is not HC material, and its been proven. He has no concept of halftime adjustments, and in the Saints game, it was clear that the Saints watched game film and knew exactly what was happening on the field, and prepared for it; Gruden didn't, and it showed on the field. He has the same  base calls and every team knows whats coming, and its gonna get players hurt. No separation, no fire in the players, but that's hard to get when their coach is lost.

[profusion]

To me, this is on the coaching staff. The Redskins roster is good enough not to be embarrassed like this. They looked completely unprepared out there. What was the strategy? Other teams have been able to score on the Saints.

 

I'm done with Gruden. Five years of this is more than enough of a sample size.

[Fight for ole DC]

We stopped them on their first two drives. But penalty flags kept both drives alive. Game over after that. This team can't play well from behind.

 

I think the commentators said we haven't scored a third quarter touchdown in nine games. NINE GAMES WITH NO 3RD QUARTER TOUCHDOWNS. This is shocking, if true. That falls on the coaches.