What's Our Weakness?

[SmootSmack]

Ok, this has been great the past month talking about how all aspects our team (passing, running, defense) have stepped up during our winning streak. But as hot as we are right now, there must be something that could hold us back. Some area of our team that opponents could expose to our disadvantage.

So, what's our biggest weakness going into the playoffs?

[Redskins_P]

As much as I hate to say it....our Secondary. Both of our safeties are very young and green and could easily get exposed (like the 1st Cowboys game), and if one of our corners go down (God forbid), then we're looking at Leigh Torrence covering either #1 or #2 wideout. I don't know about you, but that scares the crap out of me.

Don't get me wrong though, they've played their asses off, but I'm sure teams are going to be testing them in the playoffs. Especially Seattle.

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Ok, this has been great the past month talking about how all aspects our team (passing, running, defense) have stepped up during our winning streak. But as hot as we are right now, there must be something that could hold us back. Some area of our team that opponents could expose to our disadvantage.

So, what's our biggest weakness going into the playoffs?

The immobility of Collins. If we can protect him well enough, we'll do great. But if he gets pressured, I see him getting sacked and fumbling.

We can certainly protect him well enough to allow him to get the quick hitters out in time, those five-step-drop-and-ball-comes-out throws. But if we want to stretch the field, we have to give him time for a seven stepper. We did real well with that against the Cowboys, though Ware did beat Samuels and sacked Collins for a fumble. Luckily we did well enough the rest of the game to beat them into submission.

We've got to stay strong on defense, because if a team manages to get to Collins and prevent us from trying anything deep, or God forbid turning the ball over a lot, we're going to need to keep the scores low. I don't worry about Collins throwing INTs at all, I worry about DEs coming around and smacking the ball out of his hand.

[EARTHQUAKE2689]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

The immobility of Collins. If we can protect him well enough, we'll do great. But if he gets pressured, I see him getting sacked and fumbling.

We can certainly protect him well enough to allow him to get the quick hitters out in time, those five-step-drop-and-ball-comes-out throws. But if we want to stretch the field, we have to give him time for a seven stepper. We did real well with that against the Cowboys, though Ware did beat Samuels and sacked Collins for a fumble. Luckily we did well enough the rest of the game to beat them into submission.

We've got to stay strong on defense, because if a team manages to get to Collins and prevent us from trying anything deep, or God forbid turning the ball over a lot, we're going to need to keep the scores low. I don't worry about Collins throwing INTs at all, I worry about DEs coming around and smacking the ball out of his hand.

I have to agree with you Schneed, Collins being so immoblie is probably our biggest weakness right now outside of the secondary, IF our O-line doesnt give him the time he needs, he could be eating dirt all game.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

I would echo's Schneed's point re: pass protection. JC and TC were stripped far too often this year. If we win the next 2 games and face GB in 3 weeks, Heyer is going to have his hands full against Patrick Kerney (14.5 sacks), Greg Ellis (12.5 sacks), and Aaron Kampman (12 sacks). Yes, we can keep Cooley in to block, but to the extent that we do so, we limit our passing attack.

I also think we may have trouble with our secondary. What we have done in the last few weeks is nothing short of miraculous, but we have yet to face a strong passing attack supported by a full cast. The Bears' passing offense isn't exactly scary, the Vikes don't know what "passing" means, no team could pass on that windy night in the Meadowlands, and the Cowboys were missing T.O. I'm concerned that, going against Seattle, our defense might slip a bit. Again, I emphasize that I do not mean to take anything away from the amazing 4-win run, but I think we might have trouble against Seattle without Taylor and Rogers.

[Monksdown]

Does Alexander pass block? or is he strictly in on the jumbo package?

[skinsguy]

Hhhmmm...everything has been so improved, it's hard to really say what big glaring weakness might expose us. With that said, I'd probably say our pass rush and pass protection. I've given the OL and Buges a lot of credit for their improvement, but defenses are still able to get to our QBs a few times per game. Our DL, while again is much improved, still rely on good coverage from our secondary in order to have time to get to the QB. We need to continue to develop more of a pure pass rush despite what are secondary is doing. If Matt Hasselbeck receives a lot of pressure from our DL, Seattle is in for a long day because I just do not believe Alexander can beat us. On the flipside, if we give Matt plenty of time, he can beat us.

So, our strengths and weaknesses are in the trenches.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I agree about the secondary. If we keep playing out of our minds we'll be fine. I do like the fact that Seattle really only has one decent WR. We just CANNOT let people behind us. They're smallish (weight-wise) so if we're physical and jam them up, we could be giving people some alligator arms.

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I agree about the secondary. If we keep playing out of our minds we'll be fine. I do like the fact that Seattle really only has one decent WR. We just CANNOT let people behind us. They're smallish (weight-wise) so if we're physical and jam them up, we could be giving people some alligator arms.

I seriously disagree there, they have 4 decent wr's; Branch, Hackett, Engram & Burleson. None are pro bowl caliber other than maybe Branch, but all have their strengths & can get open. Anyone of those guys could start as our #2.

See this article on Engram, he put up some big #s:

ESPN - Almost 35, Engram endures thyroid illness, roster attrition and thrives - NFL

[dgack]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

I seriously disagree there, they have 4 decent wr's; Branch, Hackett, Engram & Burleson. None are pro bowl caliber other than maybe Branch, but all have their strengths & can get open. Anyone of those guys could start as our #2.

See this article on Engram, he put up some big #s:

ESPN - Almost 35, Engram endures thyroid illness, roster attrition and thrives - NFL

Sure, they all produced against weak opposition. Branch is possibly one of the most overrated WR's in recent memory, and the rest of those guys are decent but unspectacular. It's a team full of WR2's and 3's.

Besides, saying any one of those guys could start as our #2 is like saying anybody here could become the chief trash collector for the city of DC. It might or might not be true, but in either case it's not particularly impressive

[freddyg12]

Originally Posted by dgack

Sure, they all produced against weak opposition. Branch is possibly one of the most overrated WR's in recent memory, and the rest of those guys are decent but unspectacular. It's a team full of WR2's and 3's.

Besides, saying any one of those guys could start as our #2 is like saying anybody here could become the chief trash collector for the city of DC. It might or might not be true, but in either case it's not particularly impressive

"Decent but unspectacular" - well that about equates to what I said; none are pro bowl caliber but they get open. Particularly Engram. If the weather isn't crazy (see the weather thread) & we're playing cover 2, watch for Engram to find the seems in the middle of the zone. He didn't catch 94 passes this year just because they played "weak opposition."

Branch may be overated, but if he's healthy is a legit deep threat & LL will have to pay extra attention to him if he's playing free safety in cover 3.

As for your trash collector analogy, point taken; so it's not saying much to be the #2 WR in wash. We can agree on that, so I'll rephrase; any of those guys could start for about half the teams in the league.

[70Chip]

No team that has glaring weaknesses could do what the Redskins have done over the last month. However, my concern against Seattle is that Holmgren will find ways to exploit the youth of Landry/Doughty in the passing game. He has a proven scheme and a QB who can run it. It's sort of like facing Andy Reid but with an accurate QB instead of one who throws the ball into the dirt half the time.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

"Decent but unspectacular" - well that about equates to what I said; none are pro bowl caliber but they get open. Particularly Engram. If the weather isn't crazy (see the weather thread) & we're playing cover 2, watch for Engram to find the seems in the middle of the zone. He didn't catch 94 passes this year just because they played "weak opposition."

Branch may be overated, but if he's healthy is a legit deep threat & LL will have to pay extra attention to him if he's playing free safety in cover 3.

As for your trash collector analogy, point taken; so it's not saying much to be the #2 WR in wash. We can agree on that, so I'll rephrase; any of those guys could start for about half the teams in the league.

Check my last post, I broke down the passing defenses these guys faced this year. There's a reason that nearly all of the passing offense unit are having a career year: they played a total creampuff schedule as far as defensive secondaries went.

Hasselhoff is an above-average QB who will net you about 200/2/1 every game. But he's not a guy who plays mistake-free football, nor is he a guy who is likely to engineer surgical strikes down the field to win a game.

[skinsfan69]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Ok, this has been great the past month talking about how all aspects our team (passing, running, defense) have stepped up during our winning streak. But as hot as we are right now, there must be something that could hold us back. Some area of our team that opponents could expose to our disadvantage.

So, what's our biggest weakness going into the playoffs?

I'm really concerned about Heyer this week. So far he has been very solid. But this week he's going to have to deal with a very very loud stadium with speed pass rushers. We had better give him some help, even if it hurts the passing game. We can't afford to have our qb gettting hit and fumbling the ball. I remember the 05 game and the O-line really struggled w/out Thomas.

I'm also concerned with the emotional state of the team. After the last 5 weeks these guys have to be emotionally drained. Can they get re-focused, travel across country on a short week to play a good Seattle team? Seattle is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. I'm not going to bet against these guys, but this is going to be a very very tough task.

[Bill B]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

I'm really concerned about Heyer this week. So far he has been very solid. But this week he's going to have to deal with a very very loud stadium with speed pass rushers. We had better give him some help, even if it hurts the passing game. We can't afford to have our qb gettting hit and fumbling the ball. I remember the 05 game and the O-line really struggled w/out Thomas.

I'm also concerned with the emotional state of the team. After the last 5 weeks these guys have to be emotionally drained. Can they get re-focused, travel across country on a short week to play a good Seattle team? Seattle is one of the toughest places to play in the NFL. I'm not going to bet against these guys, but this is going to be a very very tough task.

I think this is a great point - the Skins only have a couple of days to prepare for the Seahawks. The Skins game with the Cowboys ended around 7pm on Sunday night and I would think from a practice standpoint Gibbs would have to give the players Monday off to recouperate (maybe I am wrong - anyone know if the SKins practiced Monday?). So with that the players could only really practice Tuesday-Thursday and than they have a long flight to Seattle Friday. I guess with the win against the Bears the team showed they can play against anyone with minimal time. The one nice thing about the Saturday game is that if the Skins do win it the get an extra day to prepare for the Cowboys.