Here's my take on the game - what do you guys think?

[AnonEmouse]

Firstly, I missed the first 10 mins. live TV - Sky Sports lost the satellite feed back here (great job guys, first live game of the season and all!), but heard how it was going.

I'm breaking it down by unit first:

OL - way to go initially, but didn't stick it to the Buccs DL all game. Great 1st and 4th qtrs though. The pass blocking was excellent, although Brunell took a couple of nasty shots. Almost exactly what you want from your line. Overall 8/10

RB's - I can't blame Portis for not running all over them. The OL didn't open holes consistently and the Buccs reorganised pretty well. But overall he had a great game. Betts looked good spelling him. Heads up play from Morton on the fumble too. Overall 8/10 (I give Portis a 9 individually)

WR's - Gardner always seems to have 1 bad play for every 4 or 5 good ones. Overall he did OK, but he's got to catch more 3rd down passes. Coles was quiet, but I saw him double teamed a few times, and so much for the 5yd contact rule... Overall 6/10

TE's/FB's - Cooley looks like the real deal. Remind me a LOT of Didier. Sellers is blocking well. Looks like 1992 out there! Overall 9/10

QB - Brunell did enough, without being spectacular. Gutsy running and scrambling, but with that much time in the pocket, should have convertedmore. Not sure he should have thrown the deep ball to Cooley - if he had time to set himself, yeah, but he didn't and was lucky it wasn't an INT. Over 50% comp. and no INT's so overall 7/10.

DL - Who said we had no pass rush? OK blitzing is obviously helping, but the run D and good pass rush won this game for us. I won't single out anyone on the line as no individual stood out for me - they were all great! Overall 9/10

LB's - Arrington and Washington were excellent, but Pierce stood out for me. And he's 2nd string! Great INT - was thrown at him but he took it at it's height and made sure he had it before he ran. Arrington's tip would have been play of the season if he'd only managed to bat it to himself for the INT - he'd have gone all the way. Overall 9/10

Secondary - Not exactly shutdown, but virtually eliminated the deep ball. Smoot was a monster and Springs worrked away nicely on the other side. Safety play was, well, simply brilliant. Bowen may have found out how to play. Heads up for the FF and a great sack. Taylor needs work but he has time to learn - he took a bad angle on Galloway, but nearly caught him anyway. Lott stepped in nicely. Overall 9/10

ST - Tupa was booming them out there. Pinned them back enough times to help the D. Hall only just missed the 50 yarder and otherwise did as asked. Coverage needs work but we only gave up one real big gain. Overall 7/10 (kickers push the score up here.

Coach - 20/10

The Buccs are no slouches and their D adjustments showed that (Kiffen is the 2nd best D coach in the league - you know who's #1! ). I think the coaches kept cool (except for Williams celebrations) and that kept the team confident. The D looks scary and the running game is doing what it should. Brunell gave me enough to feel confident the passing game will improve, and if Ramsey learns from this guy, I can see Gibbs getting 2 more SB's with different QB's.

I'd give the whole team 8/10, but we need this to be a start, not a blip, so they better not forget it's only game 1. With JG, I doubt that will happen.

[oldswill]

pretty accurate, anonemouse
one thing I noticed was the amount of zip brunnel had on the ball. nice to see he still has it.
also, it was awesome that the line did'nt give up a sack; but even though portis had over 140 yards it still seems they could improve on run blocking: or maybe it was that the buc's d-line ws alot better that expected, what do you think?

[dieselhog]

Only thing I would sya is that Portis did run all over them.

29 carries, 146 yards (longest 64) 1TD.

They won't want to see him again for a while.

V promising start.

[AnonEmouse]

If I'd recorded the game (except the first 10 mins! > I'd check out the run plays again. We negated them at the LOS, so we only had a couple of negative runs, but we didn't get enough push consistently. Still 149 yards is not to be sniffed at.

Brunell does have zip left (no reason to belive he shouldn't have as he's had virtually a season's rest) but he was lucky on 2 throws not to be picked off. He needs to guage his deep throws better - he could have had Coles and Cooley for TD's.

[Rhaamses]

For the most part I agree with you, but I think that the Special Teams may have been 5/10. Big improvements in DL, OL pass protection, QB and TACKLING.

[monk81]

Good analysis.........

But wasn't that funny when Pam Oliver asked Joe Gibbs for some words at the half....and Gibbs said, "No Comment"........... CIA GIBBS

Defense was swarming and aggressive.....a far cry from last year.........
Great work by the OL (except for a couple of miscues on the handoff) some great running by Portis, we need more Cooley, ....Burnell showed leadership, can still scramble....GREAT EFFORT!!!! GOOD WORK COACHES AND TEAM!!!!!!!!

[exit0]

[QUOTE=monk81]Good analysis.........

But wasn't that funny when Pam Oliver asked Joe Gibbs for some words at the half....and Gibbs said, "No Comment"........... CIA GIBBS

Yeah, and Gibbs was asked about that during his press conference. He made a good point... with halftime now only 12 minutes, he has to go in quickly make any adjustments he wants... he can't waste time standing on the field answering these asine questions by the media.

[oldswill]

I bet qb and c are going to be working on their snaps together next week. also, st deserves a 5/10 especially on blocking and tackling

[BIGREDSKINFAN63]

joe gibbs showed us all why he's won in everything he's done,he's well prepared for whatever he does.as soon as he got through with the post game speech his mind was on the ny giants.i thought the whole team played good,the special teams gets a c though.they have a lot to work on imo.i'd give the team an 85 out of 90.a lot of the bad throws and drops were first game nerves.it should be better next week against the nyg.the giants are being thrown all over the place by the iggles.

[MTK]

My random thoughts on the game:

-Brunell still has plenty left in his tank, he managed the game and that's exactly what Gibbs wants from him.

-Portis, wow. 64 yarder right off the bat set the tone. The guy is the most dynamic playmaker Gibbs has ever had and he's going to put him to good use.

-Nice to see Rod Gardner step up, he did have a couple of drops though, he's got to kill that nasty habit already.

-HUGE props to the offensive line (that includes the TE's and h-backs of course). No sacks allowed, NONE. What a difference a year makes, huh?! Brunell had all freakin' day to throw at times. He did get hit pretty hard twice, but all in all a super solid job by this unit and they're only going to improve as the season wears on.

-More HUGE props to Gregg Williams and the rest of the defensive staff. We finally have an aggressive and smart defensive attack. When guys blitzed there were always guys in the right place in coverage. The D was gang tackling all over the place and they played with an energy and enthusiasm I haven't see from a Skins D in a very, very long time. I know there's a lot of football to be played, but the D answered a bunch of questions out there today.

-Anybody wanna cut Matt Bowen now?? We can't deny he's got skills, seems that all he needed was a coaching staff to harness those skills. He was a terror on the safety blitzes.

-Gibbs really should have challenged that Brunell scramble, that wasn't even close, it was clearly a first down. Whoever is advising him in the booth didn't earn their paycheck today.

-Did you see Gibbs' reaction when the Bucs scooped up the fumble for the TD?! It didn't even faze him and that definitely rubbed off on the rest of the team.

-All in all a great day, it's been a long time since I could honestly say I had a blast watching the Skins. Smashmouth football, aggressive D and a smart team that won't beat itself... that's Gibbs, that's Redskins football!!

[EEich]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

My random thoughts on the game:

-Brunell still has plenty left in his tank, he managed the game and that's exactly what Gibbs wants from him.

I agree that he will be a decent game manager for the Skins... but I don't think he will be able to step up and win a game for them if they need him to. I think Ramsey has the potential to be a game winner and I wouldn't be surprised if he got a few extra snaps with the first team this week.

[Hogskin]

Anon,

You totally lost me with your OL and RB analysis, so I did not bother reading any farther. To make negative comments about the running game that netted 148 yards for Portis alone (more TOTAL rushing yards), shows me your expectations were higher than any team could live up to - especially against a quality defense like this one.

OUR "D" ONLY GAVE UP 3 POINTS, and the offense ate up a ton of clock. That was the story of the game. And, of course, the OL was EXCELLENT. With a decent spot on Brunell's run, we get more points. Without a bad call on another play we get more points. Without ANOTHER key 3rd down DROP by Gardner, we get more points.

Basically, we outplayed the hell out of them in spite of the score.

[JWsleep]

A few (too many!) observations:

Portis is the real deal. The TD was a thing of beauty: He made those CBs look like they were wading through mud. But I thought that 3rd down play right before the 2-minute warning was almost as big. He cut right, made a guy miss, and got the crucial first down that basically iced it.

Betts played well as a backup. Hope he stays healty.

I loved that Cooley catch, ragardless of when it happened. What hands! And he had a great block or two. Very nice.

The o-line protected well. The run game sputtered in the middle of the game, but Kiffen was putting 8-9 guys in the box. I thought Brunnell wasn't bad, but wasn't great. His deep throws hung up, and he didn't spred the ball around that much. But he did what he had to do for the win. Still, that fumble almost lost it for us! Come on, man! Eat it on that play! I think the O will only improve as Gibbs and co get everyone all on the same page, and the timing and chemistry kick in. Given the way TB was crowding the line, I'm surprised we didn't get a big paly action pass. It'll come.

Bowen. Wow. Who is that guy in Bowen's uniform??? Hope he sticks around!

Antonio Pierce. Awesome game tackling, covering, INT, and special teams. Lavar and Washington played well too. This is a good D for LBs, and we've got some good LBs!

Sean Taylor got burnt by Galloway, who then droped the ball and pulled a muscle. Someone up there likes this kid! As my old coach used to say: He learned an expensive lesson cheaply.

SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Great game. Great heart. Great leadership.

Coach Willliams: What a fuc*ing bad ass! Blitzing on the last play?!?! Right on! He is a great play caller. That second Bowen sack was just perfect. And he pulled back and covered at the right times as well. Sure, TB's offense is weak, but talk about setting a tone. Basically, it was a shutout: an offense TO and a special teams gaff led to the points.

The bottom line: a very nice win. Just think of last year when we'd go into the foruth with a lead. What an amazing difference. And that's becuase of Gibbs. As much as anything, he controls the clock. If you can't get on the field, you can't win. This offense is only going to get better. The D looks strong. And remember, defense wins championships!

PS: Philly looks very good. TO is for real. Still, the Giants gained like 170 yards rushing on them. The gints had their moments, especially on offense, but I think we can knock Warner back into the stone age. And Vinny too. Those old, immobile QBs better watch it. Let's just ball-control McNabb and TO off the field. The Vikes look very good. The Browns look good. Couldn't tell about Detroit and Chicago; they were playing each other. Cinncy has a decnt O and a terrible D. Curtis Martin shreaded them. Portis is licking his chops. Do the ravens even know how to play offense at all?

[AnonEmouse]

Originally Posted by Hogskin

Anon,

You totally lost me with your OL and RB analysis, so I did not bother reading any farther. To make negative comments about the running game that netted 148 yards for Portis alone (more TOTAL rushing yards), shows me your expectations were higher than any team could live up to - especially against a quality defense like this one.

I gave them both 8/10? Not bad first game! My criticism is that the OL wasn't consistent. The 2nd and 3rd qtrs were weak, and they didn't pick it up again until the 4th. If we played 4 qtrs like we played 1 & 4, we'd have had over 200 yds rushing. I'm not complaining, merely pointing out that there's still a bit of work to do.

As for the backs, Portis too kind of went to sleep in the 2nd. He looked more lively in the 3rd, but the holes weren't there because the Buccs stepped it up and the OL didn't adjust quick enough. The adjustments in the 4th allowed him to pick it up again a little. Betts was fine in relief, and that juking run he made for the 1st down was excellent. Like I said 8/10.

If we get 9/10 from both OL and backs next week, expect the Giants to get run over like a 200mph bulldozer hit them.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by EEich

I agree that he will be a decent game manager for the Skins... but I don't think he will be able to step up and win a game for them if they need him to. I think Ramsey has the potential to be a game winner and I wouldn't be surprised if he got a few extra snaps with the first team this week.

It's still too early to write off Brunell as a guy who can't make big plays for us. As he gets more comfortable working in this offense and with the WR's he's only going to improve.