Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Redskins vs. Eagles)

Well, first off I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends and took some time to really think about the things that matter in life.

Well, anyhow this is a Redskins board so let's talk Redskins. Overall, I was relatively pleased with the team's performance. The young guys are stepping up finally and playing with a purpose. And I might just be becoming a Ganther Gangsta. He's not a feature back but I love what he's brought to the table. And it's great to see some explosiveness on the kick returns with Devin Thomas back there.

Ok, let's get to it. Time to lay the smack down

Jason Campbell Overall I thought he was pretty good actually. And I like that he doesn't seem to be playing as scared anymore. Before he played like he didn't trust his offensive line so he felt like he couldn't do anything. Now he's playing like he doesn't necessarily trust the line any more than before but he's staying in the pocket an extra second longer and creating plays. I wish he had been more aggressive sooner...or that the staff allowed him to be. I think this has a lot to do with Sherman Lewis and Chris Meidt taking a more active role in the offensive game planning for passing. All that said though, he threw two very bad interceptions that ultimately cost us the game (along with other things of course). I'll take interceptions, those happen. But these were bad decisions on crucial downs. You don't telegraph passes in Asante Samuel's direction. You just don't.

Post-Tryon Interception Play-Calling That could have been a critical turning point in the game...and unfortunately it was. As I understand it, that was pretty much all on Zorn. Being aggressive and going for a touchdown could have put the game away but this isn't a team that plays to win when it count it seems.

Levi Jones Flat out abused today, but I can't hate too much. He's still rusty after not even having been on a roster for the first half of the season. I'd still look to bring him back next year. I think he can provide good depth. I know he wants to be a starter but teams aren't kicking his door down trying to sign him as a starter. Thought Edwin Williams was decent by the way.

Anti-Haynesworth/Hall Sentiment We're a better defense with them in there. Especially Haynesworth. Our run defense is so porous without him in there. Did I miss this somehow last year? Because I thought we were fine last year with Golston and Griffin starting. By the way, anyone else noticing how Fletcher's stats are through the roof once again with Haynesworth out? Hall out is a positive in the sense that it's giving Barnes and Tryon more playing time and we'll need that from them moving forward.

This is one of those games where a loss was almost better than a win, which I hate to say because no matter the circumstance I never root for the Redskins to lose. Still, our younger guys got some playing time and valuable experience against a division opponent. That's a positive we can take away from this game.

I'm liking Fred Davis more and more. He's going to be good compliment to Cooley next year.

I think we need to stop acting like Levi Jones is Chris Samuels. He's not. I know watching Stephon Heyer can really warp the reality of things, but you can't leave him one on one with Trent Cole. On the hail mary, that was absolutely inexcusable.

The biggest difference between the offense of the first six games and of the next five has been the 2008 draft class. While they haven't exactly been very good as a whole, they've developed into something you can put on the field without looking like your offense is completely lost. Considering where they came from, that makes a major difference.

Also, it takes away some of the more favored targets of the WaPo columnists.

Yeah, the positives of all the injuries is that we're building depth through experience. Guys who would never see the field are getting playing time. The negative there is that several of those guys are getting schooled.

In the end the defense gave up too many points. One of JC's picks was bad, but the one where Asante jumped the route was a phenomenal defensive play. Maybe JC shouldn't have thrown that ball, but only a handful of cornerbacks in the league can make that play.

The bottom line is, by our defense's standards, the offense definitely scored enough points to win this game. Turnovers, O-line penalties/bad pass blocking, and a porous D cost us this game.

I though Landry played pretty well today from what I saw. That was good to see. He's still my least favorite player in B&G right now.

Yeah, the positives of all the injuries is that we're building depth through experience. Guys who would never see the field are getting playing time. The negative there is that several of those guys are getting schooled.

In the end the defense gave up too many points. One of JC's picks was bad, but the one where Asante jumped the route was a phenomenal defensive play. Maybe JC shouldn't have thrown that ball, but only a handful of cornerbacks in the league can make that play.

The bottom line is, by our defense's standards, the offense definitely scored enough points to win this game. Turnovers, O-line penalties/bad pass blocking, and a porous D cost us this game.

I though Landry played pretty well today from what I saw. That was good to see. He's still my least favorite player in B&G right now.
Well maybe I am just an idiot that knows no football, but I saw Landry out of position on at least three plays, one resulting in a touchdown. We got lucky the other two times.

Post-Tryon Interception Play-Calling That could have been a critical turning point in the game...and unfortunately it was. As I understand it, that was pretty much all on Zorn. Being aggressive and going for a touchdown could have put the game away but this isn't a team that plays to win when it count it seems.

thats what i don't get, 3-7, who gives a shit might as well play like your record stats, nothing to lose.

it's not like this season could get any worse unless snyder fires zorn and gives vinny a headset. i don't get why we don't play balls to the wall what are we holding back for, a top 5 pick?

Speaking of Tryon, he is the bright spot of the year for us. He was well maligned we he was having problems, but since he has been the slot back, we have seen his name called very few times.

Pretty much shares in my sentiments, agreed in full. Agree that Jason stuck around to make his reads better than usual, but I'd like to see him buy himself some more time instead of just getting the ball out at the last possible moment. Didn't that first long pass to Thomas come after Jason scrambled away from the closing pocket? A lot of QBs can make a single guy miss (Romo is good at this) and I'd like to see Campbell do that more than just accept that he's going to get hit. He did it in convincing style breaking through on that one play it looked certain that he was going down.

Does anybody really feel like we should seriously consider not trading or letting JC go after this season? Because I'm busting out and saying it, I think we shouldn't do anything with JC after the season and we should let the new coach/GM decide whether to keep him or not. Because he's been making more plays and playing like a good quarterback this season ever since he got a little o-line stability in front of him. I really think he's progressed this season despite the o-line hurting badly. He started off slow and yes obviously his two picks today hurt us, but he still makes a lot of positive plays and ever since the second half of the Atlanta game he's been looking pretty good.