After Week 1

[jdlea]

One thing that has bothered ever since the preseason is the fact that we cut McCants. Seeing Sean Taylor on offense only made me worry more. The reason that is necessary is because they don't have a red zone target not named Chris Cooley. I've already established my feeling on this subject. It really pisses me off that he has to line up as a red zone receiver when it could be McCants. Antonio Brown has played horrible the last 2 games. Sunday he should have called fair catch about 3 times. The first punt he managed 5 yards, but it was a bad idea to field the kick. The second time he got blown up. The third he called for a fair catch, I guess they taught him on the sidelines. Then, he fumbled away a kickoff. Then, they took him off of the return team and had Betts fielding the kicks and he had a good return. As for recieving, he had one catch for about 0 yards, I believe.

I was a little frustrated by the play calling early in the game, but it got much better as the game progressed. I thought it was a little alarming that when the Skins were backed up on their own goal line they threw 3 times. I really didn't like the play action. However, they got out of the shadows of their own goal post and moved the football a little bit.

Ramsey looked pretty good after he settled down and in about 18 minutes of work managed to throw for more yards than Brunell. He should be the starter, that's all I'm saying about the QBs.

Now, about the draft. Rogers didn't do anything and he didn't start the game. Campbell will obviously not start this year. So...what did the Skins lack in this game? A red zone target...I believe Mike Williams was on the board. A pass rusher...there were D Lineman available. The Redskins front four, aside from Griffin sucks. Wynn and Daniels are about 20-30 play players for most teams, but they start on this one and Salave'a is fair. It's frustrating that the Skins have to blitz to create pressure, they need a DE that can play. However, the D looked great against the anemic Bears offense. The test is gonna be when they take on Dallas who put up 28 against SD

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I think you're being a little rough on the front four considering they gave up only 41 yards of rushing.

[jdlea]

The front four is very good at stopping the run, but they don't generate a pass rush. That's the point I was aiming to make. That they're little more than serviceable at rushing the passer. I think I'm giving them that. We need a dominant type DE IMO.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

It would be a nice luxury to have, but honestly I think the Bears o-line was way better than we gave them credit for, at least during pass-blocking.

[BDBohnzie]

The defense had 3 sacks, and were constantly hounding Orton all day...it's only Week 1. The defense will only get better as the season goes on. I agree that in the past, the defense has only been servicible with it comes to the pass rush, but I think we saw a glimpse of what's to come.

Brown looked like a deer in the headlights yesterday. I think he got way too comfortable in his role, and has now seen that Gibbs isn't afraid to pull the plug on him. He fair catched when he shouldn't have, he didn't when he should have...he's the reason the D didn't get the shutout.

Taylor is a big old decoy on the goalline, and I think it'll work out real well. If anything, you have a guy who's going to blast the D-Backs off the line.

I honestly think if Ramsey hadn't gotten taken out by JBL, I mean Lance Briggs, the Skins would have found the endzone at least once. Unintentional or not, that was vicious. More vicious was the lack of nuts the officiating crew had yesterday for NOT throwing a flag, no matter where they thought it was. Briggs went head hunting...

[MTK]

Rogers was in there quite a bit and his role will definitely increase as the year goes on. ST didn't start until week 3 last year. Williams brings his rookies along slowly, it's a little premature to write him off as a wasted pick.

[jdlea]

I don't think the hit on Ramsey was intentional, I think he came free and didn't expect to, he took a small shot and was basically flying by Ramsey. He stuck a hand out because not getting him after coming virtually unblocked would have been horrible. I agree, there should have been a flag and it was a vicious hit. I was pissed. However, that said, I don't believe it was intentional.

There's something I'd like to say, everyone wants to talk about how good the offensive line looked. While they played pretty well, we lost a QB in that game. I know it was a blitz, it didn't look like we had someone to pick him up, but if you lose a QB for the rest of the game, I think it's hard to say that your O Line played well.

[jdlea]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Rogers was in there quite a bit and his role will definitely increase as the year goes on. ST didn't start until week 3 last year. Williams brings his rookies along slowly, it's a little premature to write him off as a wasted pick.

I'm not saying that he's a wasted pick, but I think we could have gone another way. Harris played well as a starter. I never agreed that we definitely needed a CB in the draft. I don't honestly know what I think the Skins should have done. I know Harris isn't particularly reliable, he and Springs aren't that young and they each get hurt. So, having Rogers is probably a good idea, but I still contend a pass rushing DE would have been huge. Just watch Dwight Freeney for one game and you'll see what I mean. Baltimore, not the best O in the world, but still an NFL team was off of their rythm all night because he was in the backfield.

[TheMalcolmConnection]

I think you can still absolutely say that. Say we allow ONE QB takedown the whole game and he breaks his leg, yet we still have 400 yards offense, I think that would still be a pretty good outing by the offensive line. Sure, it wouldn't be a perfect game, but I'd take it. Freak accidents happen.

[BDBohnzie]

I do agree with the assessment of the O-Line. But, one missed assignment (as Jansen all of a sudden had 2 guys to block) doesn't make or break a game. Ramsey was cleared to play in the 2nd half, but Gibbs stuck with Brunell to keep the consistency going.

[MTK]

Rogers at #9 was a good pick considering neither Harris or Springs are spring chickens. Would we want Jimoh in the nickle (well maybe if he keeps hitting like that).

A top DE is a luxury all teams want but few have.

[jdlea]

I definitely agree, that doesn't mean the whole game is lost, but look at this way: What if that was Green Bay? What if it was New England? What if Ramsey were lost for the season? What if Ramsey had torn his ACL?

I pointed out that it didn't look like we had anyone to pick him up, but if it were another team who doesn't have a good backup it would have been a disaster. It wouldn't have mattered what else they did, they lost their starter.

[Daseal]

I agree with the BMW pick. The fact of the matter is Smoot could have been retained for a price that wasn't totally outragious. So we could have kept our starting CBs and gotten a huge upgrade at WR.

[diehardskin2982]

That was one play jdlea where the pass protection broke down. Remember the more people u have blocking the less people u have going out for a pass. I think the playcalling sucked. We have the talent they now need to exploit the talent to create touchdowns. The coaching staff has this habit of the locking in on a few plays and running those plays into the ground. The Qb situation... well I would have liked to have seen Ramsey back in after he was cleared, but from what I've heard the fans booed Ramsey off the field as well as him getting hurt. Those first series int are killing his chances.

Maybe Gibbs should run the 5 wide spread on the goal line. It was one of the only successful things that spurrier did... The defense needs more of a pass rush and with the return of Lavar maybe we can get that next week. One thing I didn't agree with was the fact that the staff was satisfied wit a 2 point lead. U can't do that agianst, an eagle, ram, or KC team who all know how to score quickly. If the coaching staff can get their shit together in my opinion we could have an excellent season.
The defense thrives on

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by diehardskin2982

That was one play jdlea where the pass protection broke down. Remember the more people u have blocking the less people u have going out for a pass. I think the playcalling sucked. We have the talent they now need to exploit the talent to create touchdowns. The coaching staff has this habit of the locking in on a few plays and running those plays into the ground. The Qb situation... well I would have liked to have seen Ramsey back in after he was cleared, but from what I've heard the fans booed Ramsey off the field as well as him getting hurt. Those first series int are killing his chances.

Maybe Gibbs should run the 5 wide spread on the goal line. It was one of the only successful things that spurrier did... The defense needs more of a pass rush and with the return of Lavar maybe we can get that next week. One thing I didn't agree with was the fact that the staff was satisfied wit a 2 point lead. U can't do that agianst, an eagle, ram, or KC team who all know how to score quickly. If the coaching staff can get their shit together in my opinion we could have an excellent season.
The defense thrives on

I only heard a few fans booing after his int. then he made a couple of nice passes and I never heard another boo. I think Gibbs kept it simple because he felt we could win with a low scoring game. I feel he will open it up a whole lot more in the Dallas game.The fact that we settled for the two point lead is the fact we were not playing those teams you mentioned.I realy feel Gibbs was holdng back because he did not want to show anymore offence than he had to.