Postgame thoughts

[irish]

The scoreboard does tell the story for this one. This offense is pathetic and the D is good. Luckily the skins played a team with an equally pathetic O. This team is in big trouble when they play teams that actually have good offenses and defenses.

[MTK]

Perhaps I'm looking too far into things, but the offense did pile up 323 yards. That's not exactly pathetic. We need to improve in the redzone, that's the key.

[irish]

9 points is pathetic yards dont mean anything.. The skins racked up lots of yards last year and Portis had good games early last season also. IMO this team looks just like last year's and that's not good.

I'll say that this was a W and if the skins get 12 of them nobody will care what happened yesterday but when I look at this game and ask 'does this team look like a playoff contender?' The answer after week 1 is 'no way'.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by irish

9 points is pathetic yards dont mean anything.. The skins racked up lots of yards last year and Portis had good games early last season also. IMO this team looks just like last year's and that's not good.

I'll say that this was a W and if the skins get 12 of them nobody will care what happened yesterday but when I look at this game and ask 'does this team look like a playoff contender?' The answer after week 1 is 'no way'.

lol, that's just about what tony K said on 980 about 5 minutes ago :P

[Daseal]

I agree with Irish. While the offense looked updated and less predictable, I'm still curious if we can punch it into the endzone. After watching the SD Dal game, we're going to have to put up some points to beat all 3 of our division rivals. NYG, Dal, and the Eagles always can put up points.

[djdunick]

The summary The Post had on the front page said it all. 5 trips inside the 20 and onlly 9 points, although the last trip inside the 20 we ran out the clock. This is terrible. I don't think even Gibbs thinks the offense is that good. On the last field goal it was fourth and goal from inside the 1 and he still chose a field goal over a potential touchdown. It's scary to me that this is a supposed 're-tooled' offense. On the plus side there were less penalties and we did dominate time of possesion. If this offense doesn't ignite and score points soon then we're looking at 6-10 again.

DJDunick

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I DO agree we need to put up some points, I think however, if we can cut down on stupid penalties and turnovers, we will be on the winning side of a lot of 14-3, 17-10 ballgames. It's those penalties and turnovers that kill us. I have full reason to be believe the offense will get going, but if it doesn't I like our odds if we can play mistake-free football and let the defense win it for us.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

Originally Posted by djdunick

MattyK,

I wish I shared your enthusiasm for the offense. The summary The Post had on the front page said it all. 5 trips inside the 20 and onlly 9 points, although the last trip inside the 20 we ran out the clock. This is terrible. I don't think even Gibbs thinks the offense is that good. On the last field goal it was fourth and goal from inside the 1 and he still chose a field goal over a potential touchdown. It's scary to me that this is a supposed 're-tooled' offense. On the plus side there were less penalties and we did dominate time of possesion. If this offense doesn't ignite and score points soon then we're looking at 6-10 again.

DJDunick

I understand your concern about him kicking the field goal, but do you think we would have won if we hadn't? He was planning on letting the D win the game for us.

[BrudLee]

I realize it wouldn't be football season unless the sky was falling, but I don't think the 9 points from yesterday will be indicative of our output this season.

We ended up playing with a QB that took few snaps in practice with the first team this year. He was also running a gameplan suited to the strengths of his predecesor - or do you think Brunell will be rolling right a lot if (God forbid) he starts this week?

If Brunell does have to start, let's hope it's clearly an injury thing, and not a confidence thing. After Ramsey's pick, the staff showed a lot of faith in him by calling four straight pass plays. Hopefully, that faith will carry over.

Bottom line, is we won a game with a backup QB - the stats shouldn't enter into the equation. Of course the passing game didn't look sharp - the QB for the majority of the snaps didn't practice well. Of course the running game wasn't as good as we'd hoped - the Bears D felt even more comfortable stacking the line after the switch.

My only real problem was with Brown's fumble. A kickoff fumble is a huge reaking deal when it's your only job. The next kickoff was Thrash and Betts. Brown ought to be either praying or packing right now.

[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by djdunick

The summary The Post had on the front page said it all. 5 trips inside the 20 and onlly 9 points, although the last trip inside the 20 we ran out the clock. This is terrible. I don't think even Gibbs thinks the offense is that good. On the last field goal it was fourth and goal from inside the 1 and he still chose a field goal over a potential touchdown. It's scary to me that this is a supposed 're-tooled' offense. On the plus side there were less penalties and we did dominate time of possesion. If this offense doesn't ignite and score points soon then we're looking at 6-10 again.

DJDunick

Hey, Walt.

I would like to believe that if the field goal didn't give us the lead, we would have played that 4th and goal differently. It's better to be up two than down one, regardless of your opponent's field position - especially given the way our defense played.

[MTK]

Gibbs said he didn't want to walk away from that 4th and 1 without the lead and I agree. Kicking the FG isn't the sexy decision but in the end it was the right call.

Yes the redzone offense needs to improve, but we are at least moving the ball which is something we couldn't say last year.

We also had 3 plays over 20 yards, that's just off the top of my head, the Portis 41 yard run, Moss's 52 yard catch and run, and Cooley's 23 yard grab. Could be more I'm forgetting.

We had two really good shots at TDs that went awry. Cooley got called for the PI, that was a call that could have gone either way, he got locked up with the defender, could have easily been called the other way. Later on Cooley makes the catch to set up the 4th and 1, if he pushes his route just a little deeper that's 6.

We could be talking about a 17-0 win today if those two situations worked out.

Unfortunately they didn't. We need improvement no doubt and a serious reduction of turnovers. Regardless, I'm still encouraged by the offense moving the ball and making big plays. We also saw multiple WR sets and a running game better suited for Portis. The improvements are there, now we just need the execution.

[skinnyfan]

Originally Posted by That Guy

uh, you said we couldn't hang with them, i answer by saying "well, judging by last year we can" and then you bring up some BS about living in the past?

Either you're not paying attention or you're being an a-hole.

Not sure I care what you are saying? We suck....bottom line. And you keep coming up with excuses as to why we are going to be good and keep getting disappointed......don't call me an a hole again.

[hail_2_da_skins]

What happened to the head-hunting rule or the horse-collar rule in the NFL. Where were the officials when Ramsey got clocked. That was the most fragrant hit I've seen in years. That just supports my theory that the Skins do not get the calls. Ramsey was off to a decent start before he got his bell rung. Also, the offensive pass interference call on the touchdown that was called back was bogus.

[diehardskin2982]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Because this is the NFL not Madden. Why kick a FG... just to rub it in?

As for running the ball with 2 min left, you do that to make the Bears burn their timeouts.

I think they only had like 1 td left and I disagree with that play call, that would have been the perfect oportunity for a playaction that stretched the field and got the 1st

[mooby]

on that fourth and 1 on the goalline i believe we should've gone for it. as for cooley's pi call, i think that was the right choice. either way, we won.