Game Day Thread - Rouge 4 at The Death Star

[TK]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cooleyfan1993]

Waking up on Monday’s the last few weeks (or Tuesday last week) has been so easy. Probably just a coincidence though right?  

[bakedtater1]

12 minutes ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

Waking up on Monday’s the last few weeks (or Tuesday last week) has been so easy. Probably just a coincidence though right?  

Life in general has been much easier.

[Cooleyfan1993]

1 minute ago, bakedtater1 said:

Life in general has been much easier.

Yep! Also happy birthday tater! Glad the team won for ya today! 

[Stefanskins]

2 hours ago, kingdaddy said:

Maybe he breaks out in Dallas? 

Maybe we’ve been saving (not just physically) him for this specific run…with specific plays and practiced all year…our secrete weapon!!!…alas, a boy can dream can’t he??

[RansomthePasserby]

I feel like the fan base is starting to care again. I had to run out during the last half of the 4th and watched the game on my phone. I passed multiple people on the sidewalk doing the same thing.

[Cooleyfan1993]

1 minute ago, RansomthePasserby said:

I feel like the fan base is starting to care again. I had to run out during the last half of the 4th and watched the game on my phone. I passed multiple people on the sidewalk doing the same thing.

Amazing what a 4 game winning streak will do for ya! 

[Conn]

Has any beat reporter found out what’s up with the post-victory locker room tradition? Throwing the rock at that board (which I assume is either the schedule or negative news clippings)? Figured by now we’d know 

[CapsSkins]

2 minutes ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

Has any beat reporter found out what’s up with the post-victory locker room tradition? Throwing the rock at that board (which I assume is either the schedule or negative news clippings)? Figured by now we’d know 

 

It's from the Tampa game when Ron made an analogy between David and Goliath. "For every Goaliath, there's a stone" or something like that. After the game the players egged him on to throw the stone, and I guess since then they've done it as a way to celebrate victories.

[NoVaSkins21]

2 minutes ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

Has any beat reporter found out what’s up with the post-victory locker room tradition? Throwing the rock at that board (which I assume is either the schedule or negative news clippings)? Figured by now we’d know 

It has to do with David vs Goliath.  They started it after beating Tampa and it's something that Rivera has been using ever since and it's been quite an effective rallying cry.  

[OMacAttack]

I believe Rivera gave a speech saying we are David vs Goliath before the Bucs game. And he had the stone and used it as a prop saying a David needs to take down Goliath is a stone and the players convinced him to throw the stone.

 

He lets players do the throwing now so he doesn't hurt his shoulder.  

 

At least that's the story I saw somewhere.

[NickyJ]

22 minutes ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

Has any beat reporter found out what’s up with the post-victory locker room tradition? Throwing the rock at that board (which I assume is either the schedule or negative news clippings)? Figured by now we’d know 

Maybe it's about David and Goliath? It's a shame nobody around here has any theories on it. 🙃

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

I thought we were gonna lose.

[Cooleyfan1993]

7 minutes ago, Sacks 'n' Stuff said:

I thought we were gonna lose.

I did too, after the INT and going down 15-14. I’m so glad i was wrong! I never want to be right (except when i predict a victory obviously) 

[petey hodge]

2 hours ago, BleedBNG said:

They finally figured how to do it. Good job to WJIII in knocking it out of what might have been a Raiders catch. Of course we had enough defenders to maybe stop them to the endzone if they did. Just glad there wasn't any opportunity to find out. 

 

 

 

 

To me, they made TWO key adjustments:

1) They looked up

2) They actually jumped

 

We got this whole hail mary thing down cold now!

4 hours ago, Indi1988 said:

 

Absolutely love seeing Ron this hyped this turnaround ain’t happening without him.

 

"We got everything we need, right here in this room!!!"

 

Now I asked this last week, but when Coach said this... do Chase and Sweat travel with the team?  and are they in the locker room too?  What about Fitz?

 

 

[bakedtater1]

2 hours ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

Yep! Also happy birthday tater! Glad the team won for ya today! 

Thanks man..killer way to end an already excellent day!!

[petey hodge]

5 hours ago, mistertim said:

 

I'll take that as "I can't actually point out any flaws in what you said"

 

I agree.  You publish brilliant technical analyses to these forums... especially the flawless piece that Taylor Heinicke is actually NOT Matthew Stafford.

 

 

[mistertim]

11 minutes ago, petey hodge said:

 

I agree.  You publish brilliant technical analyses to these forums... especially the flawless piece that Taylor Heinicke is actually NOT Matthew Stafford.

 

 

 

Not entirely sure how saying that Taylor Heinicke isn't as good as Matthew Stafford is somehow a weird or controversial thing.

[zCommander]

2 hours ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

Has any beat reporter found out what’s up with the post-victory locker room tradition? Throwing the rock at that board (which I assume is either the schedule or negative news clippings)? Figured by now we’d know 

 

Rivera uses Bucs win to drive home his 'David vs. Goliath' motivational tactic

https://www.washingtonfootball.com/news/washington-upset-over-buccaneers-david-goliath

[zCommander]

6 hours ago, mistertim said:

 

I said after the INT that the game wasn't over but that it certainly could be and noted that "pound the rock, control the clock, have a stingy defense" 1980s game plans in the modern NFL are a very specious idea because in order for it to work many things have to go right and almost nothing can go wrong. That INT at a crucial time, for instance. Luckily our defense was able to hold them to a FG, but if that pass into the end zone had been 5 inches shallower, it would almost certainly have been an L.

 

Our offense is stagnant. We're going to have to figure out how to start actually scoring more points because what we're putting up now is not going to cut it for long. Our defense has absolutely been showing up big time over the last several game, so hats off to them.

 

Did it hurt your feelings that what i said about wining in the trenches and you said in today modern NFL that doesn't work. You need to have a QB who can attack via the air. For the last 4 games Ron has shown you that running the ball and controlling the clock does work. Matter of fact he even said SBs are won this way. 

 

The INT was not on Taylor. Their D guy was able to hit his arm and that ended by being a bad play. Don't make it seem like Taylor threw an INT because he threw a bad pass. Don't think Taylor thinks oh let me throw an INT because it is crucial time in the game now. 

 

Our offense is not stagnant. How many people are out on O. Curtis is well still kinda limited so that doesn't help much. Now Logan is out. Not good at all. Just keep that in mind when you thinking of the team not scoring 30+ points every Sunday. They are still playing their guts out. 4 wins in a row so far.  The team has this new/old and effective identity. It is not flashy, but it is grinding out wins though. The D is doing it's job and not just by luck either. It is a total team effort. When we were down and with 2 minutes left I had total confidence in Taylor. I haven't had that... actually can't even remember when was the last time I felt like that. 

 

You are thinking down the road what ifs. I really don't care about that. The future hasn't happened yet. Any given Sunday and take it a week at a time. 

 

Now beat the Cowboys next week. It is Dallas Week! **** the Cowboys! 

 

 

 

 

 

[FootballZombie]

1 hour ago, petey hodge said:

To me, they made TWO key adjustments:

1) They looked up

2) They actually jumped

 

Having guys back deep before the play began help a bit too.

[mistertim]

1 hour ago, zskins said:

 

Did it hurt your feelings that what i said about wining in the trenches and you said in today modern NFL that doesn't work. You need to have a QB who can attack via the air. For the last 4 games Ron has shown you that running the ball and controlling the clock does work. Matter of fact he even said SBs are won this way. 

 

The INT was not on Taylor. Their D guy was able to hit his arm and that ended by being a bad play. Don't make it seem like Taylor threw an INT because he threw a bad pass. Don't think Taylor thinks oh let me throw an INT because it is crucial time in the game now. 

 

Our offense is not stagnant. How many people are out on O. Curtis is well still kinda limited so that doesn't help much. Now Logan is out. Not good at all. Just keep that in mind when you thinking of the team not scoring 30+ points every Sunday. They are still playing their guts out. 4 wins in a row so far.  The team has this new/old and effective identity. It is not flashy, but it is grinding out wins though. The D is doing it's job and not just by luck either. It is a total team effort. When we were down and with 2 minutes left I had total confidence in Taylor. I haven't had that... actually can't even remember when was the last time I felt like that. 

 

You are thinking down the road what ifs. I really don't care about that. The future hasn't happened yet. Any given Sunday and take it a week at a time. 

 

Now beat the Cowboys next week. It is Dallas Week! **** the Cowboys! 

 

 

I've said it's not a viable long term strategy. Because in today's NFL it's going to lead to tons and tons of very close games and you're not always going to win those. Luckily we have the last several weeks, but those could very easily have gone the other way. A team playing this kind of ball is more likely than not going to be, at best, an 8-8 or 9-7 team.

 

You're not always going to get the good bounces. Guys aren't always going to drop would-be pick sixes like happened today in the 4th quarter. The grind it out ball control thing is only fun when it works. When it doesn't people will start talking about how boring our offense is and how predictable it is and how we need to start getting bigger plays because what we're doing is not working.

 

I mentioned this earlier in this thread. A "pound the rock, control the clock, stingy defense" game plan in today's NFL really only has 3 outcomes for the most part, and 2 of them are losses.

 

1) Your defense plays well and you win a very close game.

2) Your defense plays well and you lose a very close game.

3) Your defense plays poorly and you lose in a blowout.

 

And yes our offense is stagnant. It's been putting up well less than the average that opposing defenses have been giving up until that point. We have one of the very worst red zone percentages in the NFL. We seem to be able to move the ball ok between the 20s but we're horrid in the red zone and we can't seem to score. That's stagnant.

 

And if you think scoring 15 or so points is going to get us a win against Dallas, I have a bridge to sell you. 

Edited December 6, 2021 by mistertim

[CTskin]

3 hours ago, mistertim said:

And yes our offense is stagnant. It's been putting up well less than the average that opposing defenses have been giving up until that point. We have one of the very worst red zone percentages in the NFL. We seem to be able to move the ball ok between the 20s but we're horrid in the red zone and we can't seem to score. That's stagnant.

Where are you getting your red zone stats? Everything I see is that we’re above avg in the RZ… 

 

the fact that you use words like “horrid” when we’re statistically good says a lot…

[goskins10]

5 minutes ago, CTskin said:

Where are you getting your red zone stats? Everything I see is that we’re above avg in the RZ… 

 

the fact that you use words like “horrid” when we’re statistically good says a lot…

 

This says we are 29th in terms of TDs - NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only) | TeamRankings.com

 

It may get a little better when you include FGs but that is not good. 

[skinsmarydu]

I remember an Eagles game back in the mid-90s.  A whole bunch of us from work went to Six Flags.  On the way home, I found out we had lost. 

We all get back to the restaurant, SportsCenter was on and I was cheering our TDs and such.  I get asked, "Why are you happy about a loss?" and I said, "We played good ball!" 

Chuck, the bartender, looked at me and said, "Mary, there are only 2 columns in the paper: wins and losses...there's no column for "played good ball."  (It got a huge laugh, one of the reasons he was a great bartender.)

 

But we're not just "playing good ball".  We're grinding it out and winning. 

 

I (so very much) like that.