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!!!!!!!!

[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!!

[That Guy]

THREE hand off errors, horrible ST play (not hall/tupa), and bowen got TWO sacks, not one that's pretty good for a safety.

[Rhaamses]

I can only imagine what this defensive scheme would do with the Giants. I will not downplay the coaching process. I am sure that the giants will practice all week to shut down Portis. We may need to see more from Brunell and Gardner. If the league is going to cover Coles as they did today, Gardner and Cooley will have great opportunities in weeks to come. Gardner will need to catch the ball, and now the secret is out on Cooley.

[Defensewins]

Coaching...coaching...coaching is the biggest difference for us compared to last year. Especially on defense. Defense led the win...not Portis. Defense did not give up a TD! Salavea and Pierce are major surprises. Barrow might be expendable.?.?
I have to give BIG props to M. Bowen, he played great. I have been bad mouthing him all preseason and he came to play today...FINALLY!

AnonEmouse- the only one of your observations I have to disagree with you is Rod Gardner. He played a little better than OK. I saw only one drop and it was on a very low/bad pass from Brunnell. He made some clutch 3rd down catches. His size allowed him to catch a few short passes and run over his DB and make the first down. If I can admit my bad about Bowen, you might be able to say Gardner played better than OK......maybe?

Mike Sellers had two great pancake blocks.
Andre Lott had a key third down play.

The only part of the game and team of concern is center. There were a couple of mis-snaps that looked like the centers fault. but I might be wrong.

[That Guy]

they were somebody's fault, missed exchanges shouldn't happen.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

1. The defense was very impressive.

2. Matt Bowen looked good today with 2 sacks, 1 FF, and 9 total tackles.

3. The defensive line held up great against the run.

4. Special teams kick and punt coverage needs to improve considerably.

5. I was really impressed with the pass protection.

6. I was not so impressed with the run-blocking. Tampa's got a great defense, but stopping the run isn't their forte.

7. Brunell was decent, although I think our offense left the field during the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

8. Coles needs to be more involved in our offense.

9. Chris Cooley is a very impressive H-back.

10. A good win, but not a smashing debut.

[MTK]

RF, I think you're underestimating what happened today. You say not a smashing debut, I really beg to differ.

The Bucs aren't a pushover, they're very well coached and they always come to play.

Considering how far this team has come from just a year ago, and I couldn't be happier with today's win. And they're only going to get better as the season goes on.