Redskins vs. Vikings 11/28

So bad!

Disgusting, soft, weak team that is inconsistent and misses opportunities to win. This sums up the Redskins. Poor Brandon Banks, he's the best player on the team. I hope he stays around, but I'm sure a real team will want to snatch him up for next year.

Santana Moss would be a second string receiver on any other team, but unfortunately he is the best receiver the Redskins have.

Kyle Shanahan is probably one of the worst play callers and offensive coordinators I have ever seen in this league.

Jim Haslett does not know how to prepare for game day. 411 average yards allowed per game is stuff you see in highschool football games. Jim will probably be a superstar coaching highschool, but the NFL is way above his capabilities. He should take Kyle Shanahan with him to coach at a lower level, I'm sure he'd probably kick ass coaching pee-wee. Or maybe Kyle can go back to college and get a degree in a normal field, because I don't think this NFL thing is going to work out for him. He's still young enough to try something outside of football. 

I hope Mike Shanahan can be objective when he evaluates Kyle's performance at year end, because at this point Shanahan Jr. has done nothing to earn him a spot as an NFL caliber coach.

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Mid-Season Synopsis 2010 - 2011

So let's recap. Eagle's set the NFL RECORD tonight for most points scored in a first quarter by an away team, they have scored the most against the Redskins in RIVALRY HISTORY, Michael Vick is throwing an almost perfect game, even when his receiver is falling backwards into the pylon. I would attribute this domination less to the Eagle's skill, as brilliant as they looked tonight, and more to the PATHETIC-NESS of the Washington Redskins. Our coaches have proven winning records, save Kyle Shanahan who's judgement this year has been iffy all season. Jim Haslett has done well in the past, but this year his mark really isn't evident. We can attribute the PATHETIC NATURE of this team to A PATHETIC OWNER and poor player selection. At the end of the day the team takes on the nature of its owner, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We have A SHITTY OWNER AND MEDIOCRE PLAYERS on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Additionally it seems that we have the most football mentally challenged crew in the league and in the history of the NFL. What's worse is that they seem to enjoy a screwed up and backwards incentive system implemented by Snyder garnering all the wrong results, BUT STILL HE DOES NOT CHANGE IT. As such we encourage the play of losers and not of champions. FANS, just stop going to the games. It's not about giving the team money any more, it is about what we can and cannot tolerate as fans. We DON'T WANT TO WATCH A SHITTY TEAM play. The 2010 - 2011 Redskins do not deserve to our support, they have had it in an unlimited capacity over the past 12 years. It's over, TIME IS UP!

Nothing more needs to be said, the Washington Redskins have not arrived yet. They suck! We have to dismantle every position on our team and jettison all current players except Chris Cooley, DeAngelo Hall, Laron Landry, Ryan Torrain, Trent Williams and Donovan McNabb, but keep the coaches and start with a complete blank slate. Oh hey, here's a thought, SNYDER get the hell away from our team and go back to MARKETING, that's all you know how to do. Football is NOT something you excel at clearly. Give the fans a break and give up the team to an owner who knows what the hell he is doing. 

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Another lackluster performance against the Colts - How will we do against the Bears?

Remember this from last year?

Two words come to mind as being the determining factor of our loss to Indianapolis last Sunday on national television, Kareem Moore. You know I've mentioned this guy twice now since he made his appearance in a Washington uniform and both times have been really bad. Both times I mentioned him he was the reason we lost the game. The last time I talked about Mr. #41 Kareem Moore was in our heart breaking loss against the Saints last year when he picked off Brees in our territory and tried to run it back all fancy like then fumbling the ball back to the Saints leading them to go in for their go ahead score. This time I believe much of the responsibility of last weeks loss fell again on his shoulders. With a team like the Redskins, who I can say are solidly an average team ranked overall 16th in the league, we cannot blow opportunities for big plays. Kareem Moore was guilty of 3 major game changing play blunders. And again they came in the form of botched interception opportunities and poor mental fortitude.

The culprit

Let's rewind to the first quarter, we had just scored and the Colts have the ball inside their own territory after our kickoff. Manning throws a ball over his receiver (Manning rarely does that anywhere, much less against the Redskins) and into Kareem Moore's gut. Kareem Moore dropped the "gimme interception." Big mistake, big game changer, recall that after that play the Colts went ahead and scored on that drive. Early in the 2nd quarter, Kareem Moore blew a coverage in the endzone for another Colt's TD, mental breakdown. And then in the middle of the 4th quarter when we were storming back onto the score board, Kareem Moore's swiveling butter hips went in the wrong direction denying him yet another rare interception opportunity against a superstar Manning. I'll tell you what guys, playmakers and key players do not miss opportunities to pick their teams up by the bootstraps and drive them on to victory. Kareem Moore has committed 4 grave mental errors since we've known him as a Redskin and these errors have cost us two games against two strong opponents. These little things tear a team apart and demoralize them throughout the game, especially effecting players on an average team like the Redskins. Wins by average teams over superior teams boost morale and encourage them to play better in future games, heartbreaking losses have the opposite effect and ruin a team's season. Kareem, you are not a playmaker, super star or even starter material by a long shot. Pack it in and go home buddy, give someone else with better playmaking skills the chance to carry their team. If Jim Haslett doesn't see what I see then he is just as guilty of screwing his team over as Kareem Moore is and should take my same advice, go home, let someone who knows take charge.

Now against the Bears, it's almost like looking into the mirror at another average team very similiar to the Redskins. Our overall matchups are pretty even but with grave disparities on individual characteristics. However as with any average team, "being even" is not a good thing because one big play will make all the difference on the outcome of a game. Our offense is ranked 20th in points scored, the Bears defense is ranked 3rd in points allowed. We are 15th in yards gained, the Bears D is 8th in yards allowed, 9th in passing against their 18th in pass coverage. Say no way to a running advantage as we are ranked 25th on the rush while the Bears are ranked 3rd against the rush. It looks like our offensive strategy will once again fall on the shoulders of a yet inconsistent Donovan McNabb. I like Donovan, I think he'll be great closer to the end of the season and all next season, but this year he just hasn't gotten it all together yet. Blame that on Kyle's trying to reprogam him on his technique after 11 years of habit. I still don't know why you have to do that to the guy, he's clearly proven himself as a top QB in the league. It's like someone reprogramming Favre now after nearly 20 years, it's just not going to happen like you want it to.

Enough said.

The plus in our favor here slightly is that the Bear's offense is still trying to figure out who they are. Bears are 22nd in points scored against our 14th in points allowed, 29th in yards gained while we are dead last, 22nd in pass while we are next to dead last, 26th on the rush while we are 24th ranked. I would look for Cutler to open it up early and then pound us with the rush. He's not as gifted a coverage reader as Manning is, but given enough time Cutler can do some damage. We also have DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Roger's questionable for this week's game which makes upfront pressure from our defense tantamount. Victory will be found or squandered by our defensive line for this matchup. Unless we get pressure early and often, and control their rushing attack on the line, the advantage will definitely go to the Bears. Their defense can control our offense if we do not exploit our chances for big plays. Given last week's performance, I would expect the Bear's to pick on Kareem Moore's side of the field and if they do I hope we pull Moore early and put someone in more worthy and capable of playing next to Laron Landry.   

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Not Looking Good for the Skins on Sunday

With injuries to Trent Williams, Laron Landry, Kareem Moore and Clinton Portis, our Redskins struggling air defense and offense will most likely be all the more anemic come Sunday against the Colts. Although it is not certain that Trent Williams, Laron Landry and Kareem Moore will not play on Sunday, they would not be at 100% while playing either. The Colts defense is ranked 29th against the run, but our offense is ranked 25th running so we will not likely exploit this weakness without Trent Williams and Clinton Portis. While the Colts passing defense is ranked 13th, our passing offense is ranked 7th, but without the threat of the run a strong passing attack is unlikely to develop. The biggest scary statistic I came across in preparing for this entry is the ranking of the Colts passing attack compared to the ranking of the Redskins' pass defense. The Colts passing offense is ranked 4th in the NFL, our defense is ranked 30th and that was with Laron Landry and Kareem Moore providing our corner's with air support. I shudder at the thought of the gashes we can expect through the air with a Peyton Manning passing attack. Though the one silver line here is that they will not be at 100% running effectiveness without their first and second string backs so I hope Jim Haslett can find the balance of committing to the air and not to the run without letting the run get away from us.

Additionally, I am a fan of Donovan McNabb I think his heart and commitment are with the Redskins now, but he was off last Sunday in our win over the Packers. He missed some key passes to Anthony Armstrong, Chris Cooley, Joey Galloway and even Mike Sellers at times throwing the ball into the ground or overthrowing our guys when they were wide open. I have faith he will pull it all together during the second half of the season, but that won't help us against the stampeding Colts on Sunday night. Furthermore the Colts still have many of their playmakers on Defense and I have learned watching the Dan Snyder version of the Redskins that we never really seem to have answers for other team's playmakers. For instance I am almost convinced that if Clay Matthews had not gotten hurt in the second half, he would have continued to reak havoc on our already struglling offensive line and an inconsistent Donovan McNabb. He will be okay but I am glad he was not a factor in the second half because truthfully I don't think we could have pulled off the win had he not been removed from the game.

I would love to say we have a good chance of winning on Sunday night, but I really just don't believe that right now with the matchup being as it is. I hope I'm wrong and Jim Haslett and Kyle Shanahan have answers for the disparities on offense and defense.

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Eek Gad - Another Unnecessary Nail-Biter

Six words will sum up the challenges we had this week in putting the Eagles away, short game, short game, short game. Indeed our poor defense of the Eagle's short game kept their hopes alive up until the last play of the game. Our lack of ability to adjust to a constant barrage of Eagle blitzes by making adjustments to our short game kept a target on the Redskins back up until the last play of the game. On the bright side, it looks like Kyle Shanahan took my suggestion from last week and read "offense for dummies," and worked the ground game. Did we shake the earth with our thunder and lightning running game, no, but we sure kept the Eagles off balance during play action.

You know which one play actually stands out to me in Sunday's game besides Michael Vick going down (left)? The clumsy catch, stumble and fall by Anthony Armstrong (#13, right) after he caught McNabb's 56 yard beauty in the second quarter. Had he kept his balance and scored a TD there would have been very little cause for concern coming into the final 3 minutes of the game. Many people overlook this and say, "wow that was a great catch," but with the Redskins, every little inch of progress is necessary to win each game and ultimately having a shot at the playoffs. While others were thinking "wow what a catch," I was thinking, "Sh**, what a dumbass, that's going to come back to bite us later," and it sure as hell did. The other play that may have clenched victory with little cause for stress at the end, was Carlos Rogers' (#22, above right) interception drop. The ball hit him right in the hands, he dropped it. A similar thought cloud manifested itself over my head after this play as did when Armstrong stumbled, bumbled and fell out of bounds instead of walking into the endzone for the go ahead score. And it almost sure as hell did.

Let's face it, the Redskins, while they seem to have improved over last season, are not a strong enough team to win without mistakes by the other team if they miss scoring on a go ahead wide open TD pass and dropping a "give me" interception to clench the game. The Washington Redskins need all the help they can get. Let's not forget the boneheaded penalties committed by the Eagles when they had big plays nullifying a few key first downs and a near touchdown. I'll admit, it is great to see these mental errors committed by other teams and not by the Redskins for a change. But without them, chances are we would have racked up another L for 3 in a row and McNabb's bittersweet homecoming would probably have haunted him for the rest of his NFL career. I'm happy we won, but we need to stop relying on other team's mistakes to win, as we did with the Cowboys in week one, and win by our own mistake free, solid play merit. Recall we were one catch away from losing this game on Kolb's final toss (above right), I really don't want to see us in that position again this season. Though without making fixes to our short game on both offense and defense the chances of many more victories to come are slim to none.

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Sad Day in St. Louis

Today the Redskins were laid over on their stomach and spanked like a little bitch by a rookie QB and a second-string RB from a team that has only won 1 game out of their last 28, now 2 out of their last 29. Chances are the St. Louis Rams will go 1-15 on the season. Jim Haslett and his defense weren't the only part of the Redskins that were embarrased, Kyle Shanahan's offense was impotent and shameful, especially inside the Red Zone.

Poor McNabb

It almost seems like we have no plays drawn up for inside the 20 yard line, and Jim Haslett really has no clue how to defend against the pass. We have the Eagle's next week against a super hot Michael Vick then we go up against the Packers the week after. I don't know about you but I've already marked my team schedule with L's all the way through week 8. The W against the Cowboys we got in week 1 was not a result of a heroic performance by the Redskins, it was the outcome of a downright dispicable performance by the Cowboys. The Redskins are not ready to play in the NFL, even under a super star coach like Mike Shanahan and a winning QB like Donovan McNabb. Love him or hate him, McNabb's resume is a strong and accomplished one. I bet he's kicking himself right about now for joining the Redskins and putting all his career stats and achievements at risk. Additionally, there were periods during this game that I really felt the entire Redskin squad had given up figuring out their fight on their own and left the entire responsibility of winning on the shoulders of McNabb. This is not a healthy mix of morale guys and historically speaking, the negative morale always sucks the life out of the positive. I've already burned my Redskins jersey this year. It's a pity because it fit really nicely.

The rookie

Here are some questions that stand out to me throughout the game. Why didn't our "seasoned," and "professional NFL caliber," defensive coordinator pressure a rookie NFL QB on his 3rd start? That's like rule number one in football for dummies, "rookie QB's are susceptible to heavy defensive pressure." Our pass defense is something really disgraceful. It's almost like our secondary is only trained to react to one scenario at a time and have no wherewithal or mental capacity to adjust to the game in play and improvise to a flow in the game. Jim, read chapter 2 in football for dummies, it says something about having to train your players mentally as well as physically and since players are a reflection of their coaches I can only wonder what you scored on your SATs? I suggest Jim Haslett go to a couple of Steeler defensive practices and take some serious notes because he is not ready to coach in the NFL.  

My second question is to Kyle Shanahan, why have you not developed a running game? In football for dummies under the offensive coordinator section, "establish the running game," is rule number one. Kyle, do all the Redskin fans a favor and read football for dummies after Jim Haslett is finished with it.



The little fairy

I will close with my third question to Clinton Portis and a fourth question to Rocky McIntosh. First, Clinton, why have you made it a habit these last 3 seasons to fall down to the ground like a sissy when you have a chance to break through a defensive back and possibly score your team and it's fans a TD? Rocky, dude why do you suck so bad? Rocky McIntosh gave up on chasing a rookie QB after his initial attempt at a sack failed in the 2nd quarter and he really screwed up some coverages on key plays.

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The Redskins Just Haven't Arrived Yet

Graham Gano's face says it all, frustrating as hell

Another week, another nail biting game that didn't have to be so nerve racking. We could have handedly won this game if not for bonehead play calls and easy demoralization. To add insult to injury, this Texan win in overtime was the first one ever in franchise history and the first one ever against the Redskins.

The talking heads will say that the blocked field goal by Bernard Pollard in the 4th quarter was the key play of the game. I completely disagree. There were several key plays of the game that resulted from several bonehead defensive calls that facilitated one of the greatest comebacks in Texan history. These blundered calls were the reason we were enduring the field goal dilemma in the first place. Not to mention the fact that we could only muster 33 yards on the ground. I don't know of any team in the history of the NFL that can win games with 33 yeards rushing.

Biggest bonehead defensive call

Here are the facts. We realized we could stop Arian Foster early in the game and didn't need to devote so much energy in keying on him. We know that Matt Schaub loves to go to Andre Johnson. The one play that stands out is the 4th and 10 TD with 2 minutes to go in the game and 2 minutes until a second Redskin win. A level-headed defensive coordinator would choose TO DOUBLE COVER the Texan's star player, but ours chose not to. Why on earth would a professional defensive coordinator in the NFL decide NOT to double cover the other team's star player when the game hangs in the balance? That totally blows my mind.

Schaub destroys Redskins' D with 2 players

Let's probe further into our pass defense. What sane-minded defensive coordinator allows one team to complete 23 balls between two players for 302 yards? Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter destroyed the Redskin's pass defense and made Jim Haslett look like an amateur. This combination of receivers contributed to more than 60% of the total yardage allowed in the air...2 PEOPLE!!! That is most team's entire game yardage between 8 different people, NOT TWO!!! Our defensive coordinator let 2 PEOPLE annhialate our defense and lead the Texan's to the first ever victory in overtime and their first ever victory against the Redskins.



McNabb looked amazing



I don't want to be all gloom and despair because I honestly think the Redskins have a good shot at the playoffs this year. The Cowboys and Giants look anemic and the Eagles will probably pull Vick from the starting line up. Donovan McNabb looked amazing and our receiving core has played better than I remember over these past years. St. Louis is having trouble moving the ball and stopping opposing team's pass attacks. If we can keep the momentum going in our passing game and our run defense, seal up our holes in pass defense and run the ball effectively moving forward we may start to see glimmers of the ghosts of Redskins past under Gibbs and their glory days. If not, I'm afraid we're in for another long, dissapointing, heart-breaking season.

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