Smoot Lays The Smack Down (Redskins vs Steelers)

If only Carlos Rogers had the hands of Cornelius Griffin.............

very poor qb play has cost us loses back to back---campbell is going backwards

Huh? Cost us "loses" back to back? We won last week.

I pretty much agree with all your other points but I also want to bring this up. We may have beat some pretty good teams on the road this season (Philly, Dallas) but this game was so reminiscent of the Patriots beatdown last year (minus the high scoring) that it brought back all too familiar bad memories. And the reason I have been hesitant to get too optimistic is because 6-2 in the first half of the season guarantees nothing. I remember a Lions team starting 6-2 last year, with a pretty decent offense and a 'bout average defense, but finishing 7-9. The second half of the season is when things get more important and tonights game was a bad start.

I'm not one of those, "oh no we're down 16-6, season over" type people but I am one of those people that starts to get concerned when we get our asses beat thorougly on national t.v. by a Super Bowl contender. Now by no means do I think the season is over, and in the long run it's better to lose to an AFC team because in terms of tiebreakers and things like that it's not that bad, but we're in a really tight division race right now and we failed to get it done, let alone put out a decent offensive performance.

I'll confess I've been one of those pissed off fans tonite. However, we keep seeing the same problems in wins and losses. Offensive line struggles, WRs not open down the field/only check down passes, DBs dropping game changing INTs, lack of points when we have high stats and/or getting big breaks (which happened a lot tonite, I dunno how much in previous games).

We keep thinking that things are going to be alright, but unless a number of these things don't change; we may win a few games down the road and possibly even make the playoffs. But we will lose winable games or important games due to the same flaws that we see in wins and losses.

very poor qb play has cost us loses back to back---campbell is going backwards

please replace "qb" with "offensive line" and you have a correct statement.

I really like the tags in this thread.

I posted this verbatim in the game thread, and then on my blog, but it's just going to get covered in that thread so I'll repost it here. If you read it already, you've been warned as not to waste time reading this post again.

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Late byes are a much bigger disadvantage than anyone realizes. You spend all of October and November playing teams that are coming off byes, or have recently had their bye. With that said, this team went 2-2 against teams that already had their bye, and that's pretty good.

We got our asses crushed tonight. Once that homefield advantage wore off in the first quarter, they killed us on both sides of the ball. Blache called an awful game, but with the way the offensive line played, it probably doesn't matter.

We got outplayed and outcoached, but it is what it is. The game doesn't mean anything in terms of tiebreakers, and if we go out and kill Dallas, everyone forgets this one. It's going to be well in the past by the next time we play.

The only thing we have to fix is on the offensive line, and it's the same issues we had in the last four games. Totally unblocked guys coming through on the quarterback are completely unacceptable for an offense as strong as us. Jon Jansen can't play tackle in the NFL anymore. We have to stop pretending like he can. He's a utility lineman at this point. Stephon Heyer should start at RT. Casey Rabach probably shouldn't be playing in the NFL because he can't read blitz packages at all. I feel bad for poor Randy Thomas, stuck between those two against the pass, theres just no winning.

Samuels, I feel, didn't play all that bad. The holding calls were likely a direct result of his lack of mobility, but when you start talking about weak links, Samuels is about 7th on the list for the offense tonight. We have two gaping holes on the offensive line.

And like pretty much every QB, Campbell is inaccurate when he gets rattled.

Also: Steelers are way better with Leftwich at QB than Roethlisberger. That's no mistake. Ben takes sacks, Byron throws the football. That's the difference. If they can protect Ben, he's great, but this Steelers team is better with Leftwich, who was amazing tonight.

Some More Smack:
REDSKINS FANS:
Everyone that complains about rankings and articles critical of the redskins needs to STFU and let the team earn their rankings by going out and kicking ass.

Also, Shame on the redskins season ticket holders who sell their tickets. It's a shame we can't have a true homefield advantage in a game like this.
I'm not trying to single anyone out, What bothers me is the large percentage of tickets on the market compared to other teams.

3rd Down Offense It was at an all-time low tonight. Converting 3rd downs is like getting offensive boards in basketball. It's underrated but leads to second chances, which is arguably the ultimate key to winning.

Jim Zorn Look, you're doing great and your a rebel,contrarian, etc. with your run off 4 WR sets, pass in heavy jumbo. But sometimes you just gotta line up and physically beat the opponent. Know when to be creative and know when to just force it down their throat.

Carlos Rogers You have to catch those INTs that fall in your lap. Shawn Springs doesn't drop those, Champ Bailey doesn't drop those, Ronde Barber doesn't drop those. You want to be recognized among the best, you don't drop those either.

Jon Jansen Thank you...and good-bye. Your done, finished, finito. You've given us nearly a decade of great service on and off the field and have been a valuable member of this organization. But you have no more value at all to this team on the field. Do us a favor, fake an injury, and call it a season, and then a career. You're threatening to a lot more careers on our team if you don't get off the field sooner than later.

Gameday Threads Look, I'm not caling anyone fairweather and this isn't going to be another kool-aid drinkers vs "realists" thread. But the gameday threads are being overrun by depression. It's like the far right taking over the Republican party. Where's the team spirit? Where's the rallying support when we're "only" up by two field goals? I don't know, maybe because it's just my style to let things play out a little deeper into the game that I don't understand the "passion" of others.

Quitters 6-3 at the bye, with two road wins against division opponents, plus 3 conference wins. That's not bad. And a loss today to a legit Super Bowl contender should be no indication that we're headed for a downward spiral

All good points SS. I see Zorn's playcalling a little differently though: he wasn't near aggressive enough. Sure, call the game like we need to hit them in the mouth, but to not take deep shots until the game is basically over. I know I'm gonna get crapped on but... this felt like Gibbs football all over again.

On to Rogers - he ain't Springs and not even in the same solar system as Bailey. Rogers cannot be our #1 corner beyond this year or we'll never be a contender.

Totally agree on Jansen but the FO bet the farm w/ him this year so we're stuck w/ a gaping hole at RT. We didn't draft shit for the OL and this is the result. (Heyer must not be healthy yet which tells me he's less and less looking like a long term Skin and Rhinehardt has yet to wear a jersey).

we will prove ourselves over theses next 4 or so games.

i blame this on not playing to the level of the d-packages and blitzs they ran more than half the time. play calling a bit suspect ... but i firmly bleeve in this team bouncing back against the girls next- next week

Giving up that blocked punt really hurt us too. It gave the Steelers a TD right before the half and gave them the lead.