So much for 3-1 and a potential playoff appearance. This is a crazy league and I've seen 3-6 New England teams go to 10-6, but does anything this team has done since opening day against the New York Giants inspire confidence? A 19-11 loss to San Francisco (and that's with the sluggish 49ers kicking off at 10am West Coast Time) generates the question of not "how are they going to turn this around" to "how far can this team fall"?
There's been quite a bit of dysfunction with the Redskins in the last 20 years-- from the Pettibon one and done to the Zorn "Maroon and Black" era-- so anytime things go wrong, there's a recent example to say "Deja Vu!". The only question is which year do we turn back the clock to. At first I was going to draft my "Bobby Gold!" persona from Rock 101-WGIR-FM... but he played the 70's and 80's in the 90's... good Redskin years and good stuff. This DJ plays everything from the Goo Goo Dolls to Plain White Tees... with the Gibbs II era sounding like latter day Lame REM. Nostalgia's awesome only when it's good.
Underwhelming afternoon-- at least the weather was nice. The Skins never led... and never really threatened... not reaching the SF red zone until their 12th possession of the day. Reminds one of the 2004 Skins that was massively offensively challenge... allowing opponents to post 15 to 20 points and then run clock.
Beck Lite-- if you look at #12's numbers, 254 yards doesn't seem like a bad outing... until you realize he needed 30 completions to get there. Makes one yearn for Jason Campbell's "Captain Checkdown" era of 2007-09.
Torain off the tracks... or "helluu...Roy"-- with Ryan Torain no longer the main engine in the ground game--after gaining 135 yards on 19 carries against St. Louis, Torain's been held to 33 yards on 21 tries over four games-- rookie Roy Helu was the meal ticket against San Francisco. And the Penn State product shined with 14 receptions (a Skins record) for 105 yards while running the ball 10 times for 41 yards.... but what's not awesome is he was targeted 17 times in 47 Beck attempts (over 33%) and they only ran the ball 15 times. Fifteen! That's not just a bad Nickelodeon 90210 knockoff with Ryan Reynolds in the cast... but a lack of commitment to the run. And they weren't necessarily in a pass-only mindset until the fourth quarter. Makes one recall the glory days of pitchin' and catchin' as well as droppin' G's under Steve Spurrier in 2002-03.
Feeling Fredtastic... ankle and all-- now #83 knows what it's like to be the lone threat on a banged up offense. Minus Tim Hightower, Chris Cooley and Santana Moss the open seams tighten up a little bit-- but Mr. Davis grabbed 4 passes for 42 yards. The prorated totals for the season are now 72-1034... but he hasn't scored in some time. Effective use of a tight end means he gets plenty of red zone chances-- and that's not happening here. This time we look to 2008 when Chris Cooley caught 83 passes for the Maroon and Black but scored just once.
Third and out-- both teams had problems moving the chains Sunday... with the Skins converting 5 of 12 and the Niners getting the job done on just 3 of 12 attempts. So a lot of punting (10 on 23 non-kneedown possessions) gave the Skins a chance to get back into this game early and often.
Quick Kicks-- sustained drives even when you don't generate points is a quiet stat: you're able to control clock and generate better field position... setting yourself up for success over the entire half. In the Skins 12 possessions, they had 3 three and outs-- with a fumbles on the first or second play of two other drives. Two more drives generated generated one first down and then a punt. An eighth possession came at the end of the first half and resulted in a 59 yard field goal.
Graham not cracking-- so much for a kicking controversy. How about a franchise record 59-yarder? The kicker's now 12 of 16 on the season with one miss since the end of September.
Feels like the good old days of Mark Moseley and Chip Lohmiller? Not exactly.
Secondary the primary tacklers-- three of the four leading tacklers against the 49ers were defensive backs... and that's not necessarily a good thing when your DBs are making most of the stops. That means your front seven's either getting blocked out of the way or not making plays. The OLB combo of Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan did total a combine 11 stops with each notching a sack-- two of the better personnel moves made by this and the previous regime. Nice to see solid linebacker play on a day where the Skins honored Chris Hanburger's Hall of Fame enshrinement.
Dissecting the Division-- the Giants win at New England places Big Blue atop the NFC East; the Giants would own the #3 seed if the playoffs began today. Dallas thanks to a win over Seattle and a 4-2 NFC mark owns the #8 spot in the conference, while the Redskins currently rate 11th in the NFC. Philadelphia can move up to 7th with a win over Chicago; a loss drops the Eagles to 10th.
Changing of the Conference Guard?-- since the late 1990's, the AFC has been the better conference: taking 9 of 12 Super Bowls between 1997 and 2009 and annually taking the interconference series (although one year it was tied at 32 wins apiece). Now back to back Super Bowl wins... the declining Colts and Patriots... and a midseason 15-12 edge by the NFC may mean that turnabout is on its way.
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