Gmanc711
09-21-2007, 05:55 PM
Hello All,
Good to be back after another win. The Redskins are playing solid football right now and I really liked the teams performance on Monday. They played a more complete game, and got a huge road win as underdogs, so they should be excited about how they've played so far. I still think the Redskins need to stick to the run earlier and more often. They did a decent job running the ball against the Eagles, but they really need to grind it out earlier as opposed to the passes they threw early in the game. I just think if they can find ways to bring guys up into the box to play the run, they have the talent to beat teams deep. On the topic of Randy Thomas, this is a much bigger loss than that of Jon Jansen. Thomas, as many of you well know, was an excellent pulling guard and really was one of the cornerstones of that offensive line. That right side is definitely vulnerable, especially if someone like Michael Strahan starts to get his game going. That being said, I thought that outside of the penalties that Jason Fabini played well on Monday and hopefully he can be a good plug in for Thomas as long as he needs to be. Ability and continuity are key across the offensive line, and when Randy went out in 2005, they had Ray Brown to plug in who had been with the team for a while so they were able to play relatively well as an overall unit, it will remain to be seen if this group with now 3/5 of last years line not playing, can as well. Santana Moss still needs to play better in my opinion, he had another couple of key drops on Monday, and that's four on the early season thus far. Touching on Brandon Lloyd and the question of people being in the dog house and how that is handled, its really a tough question to answer. If he is not doing what the coaches tell him and not giving 100% on the field than allot of the teammates probably aren't too happy with him inside the locker room and probably aren't saying too much. If a guy is still giving his all in practice and just running into some problems, than guys will attempt to pick them up in the locker room. I will say this, coaches send messages with their actions, and the fact that Brandon Lloyd is not on the field very much anymore is very telling to me.
In addition, I think the effect of Brandon Lloyds poor play is hurting more than just the wide out position. They brought him in to be the #2 guy and for Antwan Randel El to be the #3 guy....now that Randel El is the #2 guy, he is on the field much much more, and he is very worn out as the games go along. In turn, that is going to affect the punt returning of Antwan Randel El, which will effect the Skins' down the stretch in close games.
On the defensive side of the ball I still don't love the pass rush, because I think the majority of the sacks still came from blitzes, and the front four need to still do a better job. They have done better than last year, but to compete against some of the elite NFL teams, they are going to need to do better up front.
In addition, I have had people ask if the Redskins are Contenders or Pretenders....and people in Washington already know the answer to this...and that it that it is way to early to be discussing that. If you remember back in either 96' or 97', the Redskins went either 7 or 8 -1 and ended up missing the playoffs. So while this is a very encouraging start, we still need to keep things in perspective.
Finally, looking at the New York game...first you need to throw out all the records. This is a early season NFC East game, and I don't care who you are playing, it is going to be tough. In addition, look at the games from the past few times the Giants beat the Redskins, and what did they do well? How can the Redskins counter this? They would have beat the Giants last December if they tackled, so allot of it comes down to fundamentals as well. Finally, run the ball early and run the ball often. Make their defensive line quit...the defensive backs are suspect already, so if they can make the defensive line of the Giants quit, they have a very good chance of winning this football game.
Thanks guys,
Tony
Good to be back after another win. The Redskins are playing solid football right now and I really liked the teams performance on Monday. They played a more complete game, and got a huge road win as underdogs, so they should be excited about how they've played so far. I still think the Redskins need to stick to the run earlier and more often. They did a decent job running the ball against the Eagles, but they really need to grind it out earlier as opposed to the passes they threw early in the game. I just think if they can find ways to bring guys up into the box to play the run, they have the talent to beat teams deep. On the topic of Randy Thomas, this is a much bigger loss than that of Jon Jansen. Thomas, as many of you well know, was an excellent pulling guard and really was one of the cornerstones of that offensive line. That right side is definitely vulnerable, especially if someone like Michael Strahan starts to get his game going. That being said, I thought that outside of the penalties that Jason Fabini played well on Monday and hopefully he can be a good plug in for Thomas as long as he needs to be. Ability and continuity are key across the offensive line, and when Randy went out in 2005, they had Ray Brown to plug in who had been with the team for a while so they were able to play relatively well as an overall unit, it will remain to be seen if this group with now 3/5 of last years line not playing, can as well. Santana Moss still needs to play better in my opinion, he had another couple of key drops on Monday, and that's four on the early season thus far. Touching on Brandon Lloyd and the question of people being in the dog house and how that is handled, its really a tough question to answer. If he is not doing what the coaches tell him and not giving 100% on the field than allot of the teammates probably aren't too happy with him inside the locker room and probably aren't saying too much. If a guy is still giving his all in practice and just running into some problems, than guys will attempt to pick them up in the locker room. I will say this, coaches send messages with their actions, and the fact that Brandon Lloyd is not on the field very much anymore is very telling to me.
In addition, I think the effect of Brandon Lloyds poor play is hurting more than just the wide out position. They brought him in to be the #2 guy and for Antwan Randel El to be the #3 guy....now that Randel El is the #2 guy, he is on the field much much more, and he is very worn out as the games go along. In turn, that is going to affect the punt returning of Antwan Randel El, which will effect the Skins' down the stretch in close games.
On the defensive side of the ball I still don't love the pass rush, because I think the majority of the sacks still came from blitzes, and the front four need to still do a better job. They have done better than last year, but to compete against some of the elite NFL teams, they are going to need to do better up front.
In addition, I have had people ask if the Redskins are Contenders or Pretenders....and people in Washington already know the answer to this...and that it that it is way to early to be discussing that. If you remember back in either 96' or 97', the Redskins went either 7 or 8 -1 and ended up missing the playoffs. So while this is a very encouraging start, we still need to keep things in perspective.
Finally, looking at the New York game...first you need to throw out all the records. This is a early season NFC East game, and I don't care who you are playing, it is going to be tough. In addition, look at the games from the past few times the Giants beat the Redskins, and what did they do well? How can the Redskins counter this? They would have beat the Giants last December if they tackled, so allot of it comes down to fundamentals as well. Finally, run the ball early and run the ball often. Make their defensive line quit...the defensive backs are suspect already, so if they can make the defensive line of the Giants quit, they have a very good chance of winning this football game.
Thanks guys,
Tony