Washington Redskins vs Detroit Lions Pregame Thread

and getting blindly defended by many fans


Yeah, a rookie RB breaks the team's rushing record due to the play of the offensive line, and yet we are blindly defending TW. I guess PFF and their ratings are blindly defending TW as well.

If RG3 actually does some runs this game and gets the defense worried about him as at least a threat, this game gets a lot closer.

Those are my thoughts as well, we are trying to be a traditional offense with next to no playmakers at the skill positions. RG3's threat to run opened everything up. He has yet to keep the ball on the option, I am not buying the we are taking what the LB and Safety's are giving us crap.

Shannahan is scared to death to run him (just my opinion), however if he is not 100% and not completely good to go RG3 should not be out there in the first place.

I am disappointed but not giving up hope. I just want them to turn it around and quickly just like everyone else.

I dont know what to say about the defense...... it is just bad, the whole cap penalty hurt, but there are many other teams that field a decent defense that has more than 18 million in cap left. Haslett needs to get right quick.

The freaking special teams is pathetic, I am so sick of seeing Thompson run out of the endzone and getting tackled at the 14 yard line then someone gets a frickin penalty..... Offense starting at the 7 yard line.....terrible.

Just hope they get it right this week...... sorry had to vent. HTTR.

This is what we need to happen to RGIII.

Forest Gump - Running - YouTube

My wife and I are dying laughing!! Awesome post!!

I don't know what to say about this game. I can't really see us winning unless something magical happens and the offense finds a way to get it's explosiveness back like last year. Could be another long day if not..

Redskins 22
Lions 33

I will be happy with a close game. Tired of having nothing to watch in the second half.

Guys, I just watched the game...I passed on watching it live.
What was helpful was seeing it more objectively as watching film of another team.

What I saw was this:
An absolutely horrible secondary...Rambo was bad, Amerson was also bad. Ironically, our others guys in the secondary were much better=mediocre.
our ILBs are bad, particularly Fletcher, our NT has taken a step back...due to his injury. Our Defense is a disaster, scheme needs to change, players need to change or change positions, tackling needs to happen.

All this talk of RG3 is irrelevant, the Skins season depends on the defensive side of the field. If they don't improve, we are 4-12, if the defense improves to 20th, we could win 9 if we are lucky.

Good news is this:
RG3 looks far more comfortable throwing from the pocket than wk 1.
In the long run this could be a huge blessing in disguise.
This is why people wanted Luck over RG3...because of his pocket presence. RG3 still needs to develop this and the jury is out because he hasn't been forced to tackle this challenge.

I know the linemen suck but there were new formations and blocking schemes that provided better protection this week Some of RG3's throws were fantastic...particularly in the corner of the endzone...we've got a potentially great WR, and new TE, solid RB, solid RT, solid slot receiver, and 2 big developing #2 receivers. I am not worried about RG3...he improved a LOT in wk 2. Remember, he hardly ever was under center in college, and he didn't do that much last year...he is essentially a rookie pocket passer. He'll be fine...Let's lay off him a bit.

Now our defense, and our defensive coach who historically produces defenses ranked around 22 in the league year in and year out....THAT is the main problem. If the skins don't score 28 in a game, they wont have a chance to win

Regarding the Lions, who knows. If we are the worst defense in the league, we will give up our standard 35 points and 500 yards. I personally don't think the Redskins offense can match that at this point....few can.

Here are the defensive team rankings for all of Haslett's teams over the years.
This is what some of us were not exactly excited about when he was selected as D coordinator. That along with Shanny's disappointing defenses over the years.
After leaving Pitt...his numbers just seemed to get worse and hover around 22nd or so.
His career average is 20 and only had a marginal top 10 defense 13 years ago and only once before in a 17 year career..that is just not a good record as a defensive
coordinator.

Lets put this in perspective.
in 17 years (yards) hes had 2 top 10 teams and 7 bottom 10 teams.
And so far in Washington, 3 of his 4 teams are bottom 10...that is a pretty crappy downward trend.

Year Team Yds Pts
1996 NOR 13 20
1997 PIT 6 11
1998 PIT 12 7
1999 PIT 11 12
2000 NOR 8 10
2001 NOR 16 27
2002 NOR 27 26
2003 NOR 18 14
2004 NOR 32 27
2005 NOR 14 28
2006 STL 23 28
2007 STL 21 31
2008 STL 28 31
2010 WAS 31 21
2011 WAS 13 21
2012 WAS 28 22
2013 WAS 32 31

The 3-4 in the NFC East is stupid. Making DE's into OLBs also stupid. If you want an OLB draft or acquire an OLB, don't waste time on trying to convert guys. For us it has worked, but we are lucky. Our rookie DBs are worthless and not going to improve much. No more giving up first round draft picks please, as they are the only ones who really contribute from the get go. We mortgaged future drafts to get RG III only to have a defense that gives up more points than we score. It reminds me of my alma mater Eastern Michigan Univ when Charlie Batch was the QB. EMU would score 55 pts a game, but give up 60 and only win 3-5 games a year with him under center. Total waste of talent, might be the same with RG III. Guy might produce big for us, but the damn D is going to lose games for us. Why we drafted an obvious idiot in Rambo is beyond me. We really need to maybe start giving our own IQ tests, tests that would reflect if these guys can understand the complexities of the pro game on top of general IQ. Once the cap thing goes away maybe things will get better, but right now we might be screwed in the short to medium term. Another CB needs to be drafted with our first round pick or a S followed by another DB. Rambo and Amerson probably will be goners once their contracts are up. I hope they have a great learning curve, but they suck thus far. Rambo looks lost half the time. I know he is a rook, but our other rooks weren't looking like a deer in headlights either.

I agree with Skinsnut wholeheartedly, our D is going to bring us down unless Haslett can create a scheme that helps mask our deficiencies, and I don't think he has enough talent to work with to do it, unless he turns DC into Blitzburg.

I kind of feel that we do not win this game. Too many bad things have been going on, all of our points we get in garbage time after the opponent has taken their foot off the gas.

It's not 100% RG3's fault. I don't think he's 100% healthy, but he is healthy enough to play, if that makes any sense at all.

What I worry about though is Shanahan, who has been diehard against benching RG3 for ANY reason. If we go to 0-4 or 0-5, I think its a situation where RG3 should really be out of there for his own health, since the season is most likely done for. Another injury to RG3 would be disastrous.

There's a real chance we are 0-4 coming out of the bye. Maybe the season is lost by that point, i don't know. a few more games like we've had and we will already be talking about next season.....

too much negativity (and given how we played the first 2 games, it's hard to believe that it could be too much).

Did the Skins get blown out by GB yes, we aren't the first team ever to have that happen.

Did the Eagles get a good first half in, yes, but the more I see of them, the more I think it was the fact that we just weren't quite sure what to expect and they caught us with a sucker punch.

I expect the offense to be in gear this week, and while CJ and Bush will get theirs, we will be the better team, on both sides of the ball.

People knocking Rambo and Amerson just need to step back off the ledge. There have been good plays by both, and as the defense as a whole gets used to how they play it will be better for us. Rambo is two steps above Merriweather, and Amerson can play, just has to keep focused, not peek into the backfield as much.

Griffin has looked progressively sharper and the offense is going to find it's rhythm. For those saying it's only after the game is out of reach, well that may be so, but would you rather them not find rhythm ever?

I think nearly everyone felt that the 7 game streak at the end of the season was going to continue, and had very high expectations. I know I did, but now that the season is going, it's time to remember that an NFL season is a grind, it's not only about the fastest out the gate, but the team that rallies and plays hard all year long. I know the Skins will do that, I doubt the Eagles or Dallas will, and I have no clue where the Giants are at this season.

I'm not saying 14-2, but we aren't going to be 0-16 either. 2-2 at the bye is very possible, and at that point, given the rest of the NFC East struggles, the season and the division is still very much alive.