Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Giants at Redskins)

[Lotus]

Over the long haul we are not going to get it done unless the running game improves dramatically. Counting on Rex or Beck to win the game through the air every week is a recipe for disappointment.

The defensive backfield needs to improve its communication and cohesion.

Bowen needs to raise the intensity of his pass rush.

Everyone on the offensive line had their moments of suck, as SmootSmack indicated. But T.Williams prefaced a sucky game today with a sucky preseason - it wasn't just one game. And we didn't draft him at #4 overall to make excuses regarding Pierre-Paul's abilities. Everyone on the o-line needs to raise their level of play but especially Trent.

Still, we're in first place and have broken the Giants hex at least temporarily. It was a good day.

[MTK]

Too happy right now to diagnose our issues. Obviously there are some things to work on, but I'm just gonna enjoy this one for now.

[vallin21]

Hightower played as well as he could have, considering our O-Line got pushed back almost every run play; add on that the Giants stacked 8 men in the box, meant they had some respect for Hightower and the run game. Almost every stretch play our O-Line got pushed back into Hightower. That's not his fault. His 3 yard average is a reflection of our mediocre O-Line play. NOT Hightower. We've seen what he can do when the O-Line opens holes. Everyone has touched on the poor O-line play and that needs to be addressed, but the stretch play did set up the bootleg and play action pass which was key in the win.

[FRPLG]

Running game had it's moments today but it still needs a little maturation time to me. That stretch zone is really a major coordination nightmare. Last year we didn't have the skill-sets to even really have a chance for it to work. Now we do have mor athletic guys but it may take some time for it to mesh up. Giants filled pretty well all day on gaps. Generally I expect NY to have a pretty good run defense this year.

[rbanerjee23]

Originally Posted by vallin21

Hightower played as well as he could have, considering our O-Line got pushed back almost every run play; add on that Giants stacked 8 men in the box, meant they had some respect for Hightower and the run game. Almost every stretch play our O-Line got pushed back into Hightower. That's not his fault. His 3 yard average is a reflection of our mediocre O-Line play. NOT Hightower. We've seen what he can do when the O-Line opens holes. Everyone has touched on the poor O-line play and that needs to be addressed, but the stretch play did set up the bootleg and play action pass which was key in the win.

Totally...what is more disheartening is that this is our starting OL against effectively their backups due to their not having Tuck and Osi. Let's hope they can tighten that up and get better next week.

[Swarley]

Osi was in danger of losing his spot to Pierre-Paul anyways.

[12thMan]

Look, I think it's easy to over-analyze and nitpick this win. Take it for what it is. We beat a dinged up, but good Giants team. We scored more touchdowns.

The offensive chemistry will continue to improve, Tim Hightower will find his groove, and Rex seems like he's maturing as a QB. These are good things.

One thing we can take away for sure after one game is that this Redskins team is much better than last year's version.

[skinsfaninok]

folks we BEAT NY, a team that has kicked our ass for a few years.. ENJOY it

[wilsowilso]

What was up wit that multi tight end bunch formation that they used over and over during the last half of the third quarter?

That was awful.

I'm all for confusing the defense and all...

[diehard]

A division win!

[SmootSmack]

I'm not trying to nitpick or be negative by any means, but win or lose (unless I have some other pressing obligation) this thread will be here every week. Just as Scud's Studs will be around win or lose. Either we do them after every game or we just don't bother at all..but hey if you prefer one thread that says "Our OL Sucks" another that says "Reed Doughty Has to Go!" another that says "Where was Helu???" and so on...

[rbanerjee23]

Originally Posted by skinsfaninok

folks we BEAT NY, a team that has kicked our ass for a few years.. ENJOY it

This is how we enjoy it man...by nitpicking every thing we did wrong

[Dirtbag59]

I certainly didn't mind sticking to the run. The thing that puzzled me was seeing a running back not named Hightower on only two or three plays.

[vallin21]

Originally Posted by rbanerjee23

Totally...what is more disheartening is that this is our starting OL against effectively their backups due to their not having Tuck and Osi. Let's hope they can tighten that up and get better next week.

Very True. Which is quite alarming and dissapointing.

[mooby]

I'm definitely gonna enjoy this one. As for these things that went bad during the game, I am willing to not be as harsh about it since we won and we looked definitively better in doing so.

But the things I saw wrong during this game were:

The offensive line: Couldn't run block at all, and we're lucky Grossman is willing to stand in there and take a big hit if it means a completion, because they didn't play well today.

And Graham Gano: Come on man, you had a perfect preseason and then you go out and miss your first kick that should be considered near-automatic? I was hoping that you had moved past your issues and could finally be consistent, but it appears we're going to have to continue holding our collective breaths every time you kick a field goal.

That's all I got off the top of my head, and I think both issues could be fixed. Gano just needs to get his mind right and maybe the o-line problems will be fixed if we give them a little time.