Tony McGee on Arizona and New England

[Gmanc711]

Hello Everyone,


It’s good to be back after a win this week. The Arizona contest was a game that they absolutely had to win, and you have to take wins however you can get them. The Redskins had a lot of errors and things that need to be corrected in this game, but they held on for a victory. I hated the way the Redskins played in the second half, and I think a lot of it has to do with adjustments.

One of the biggest “credits” to Joe Gibbs successes in his first era, was his ability to make adjustments at halftime and come back strong in the second half. However, you have to remember that back then, the Redskins often found themselves trailing at the half, so the adjustments were much different. The Redskins have led at the half in each of their six games this season, and the adjustments just are not the same when you’re leading at the half.

The Redskins, bottom line, need more offensive output against whomever they are playing. They need to run the ball more. I do not buy into the “new line” excuse at all. Once you’re a pro, you’re a pro. You get paid to be a pro, and you need to be able to step up. The Redskins are a team that could easily right now be 6-0, and they’re just a few plays away from 2-4, so I do not know what to expect from them down the stretch right now and what type of a team they really are. I’m sure we will find out a lot against New England.

As for the play calling, I do not like it at all. I don’t know who is calling the plays, but they are WAY to conservative with the lead. Yes, I am and have always been a run and pound the football type of a guy, but they need to develop there schemes much better and take shots down the field. Taking more shots will allow the running game to open up a bit more and hopefully get a larger output like they did earlier on in the season rushing the football and developing the play action. The time management is still poor, they are always afraid to lose and they have too many people making decisions. They need to stick to the basics and just have one or two people make the decisions.

I also think they need a stronger offensive leader as I said last week. I do not think that it’s Jason’s job to do that right yet. I think that the leader should be Portis or Chris Samuels. Portis is somewhat of a live wire, so I would prefer Samuels to be the guy as he has been there longer. In fact, the next time I see Chris Samuels in the locker room after a game, I may tell him that he should be a bit more vocal offensively.

Against New England, my game plan is simple. Look them in the eyes and punch them in the mouth. When the Cowboys got physical with the Patriots a couple of weeks ago, the Pats backed off a little bit. Dallas didn’t have the defense to finish that, and the Redskins do have the defense to match up with New England, but the offense needs to step up.

I’ll be back next week! Thank you guys!

Tony.