Well, back to the routine of seeing our team blow a great chance of becoming the new leaders of the NFC East and they forgot to hold onto the ball and with that, gave away their chance to be at the top of the division after their first 6 games. The loss to the Rams was a bit of a downer in this great year but the overall picture is not as gloomy. With the losses by the Giants and Cowboys, the Redskins did not lose any ground and with the injury to Romo, are still in great shape to make this a 2-horse race between them and the Giants for the division.
The team played with it's usual grit and competed hard throughout but was just subject to the inevitable, after going 5 games without a turnover it was bound to happen and in this dramatic of fashions. The fact that they still had a chance to win the game was a good sign, albeit the rival they faced was the Rams, this game showed once again that this team is ready to fight for every game and if not for a long bomb, they would have pulled it off.
The defense was solid throughout the game except on the biggest play of the game when Torrence was toasted on that flailing pass which, if he turned around, would have been picked off easily. This also highlights one of the biggest problems in the game, 2 dropped interceptions by the Redskins, especially the one that Fletcher dropped which later turned into one of the Rams field goals. If he makes that catch they probably would have needed a touchdown to win the game and not a field goal but that as they say is history. Despite the final play and a few dropped passes the defense continued to show their strength as they limited the Rams offense to 4 field goals even though they started near midfield for most of the game (the punting was...well, let's not go there!) putting their backs against the wall.
The offense is the real culprit of this loss. With 4 fumbles (3 lost) they did all of the things that they haven't done all year yet, without a totally bone-headed play by Pete Kendall, they still would have won the game. The offense was good and bad, running all over the field and showing that their offensive line is much better at running than at picking up the blitz. They constantly pushed the Rams around the line of scrimmage but made too many mistakes at crucial times to move the ball consistently. They looked out of sync and Santana Moss was again a non-factor. This last stat leads me to believe that this week we will see Moss have the ball thrown at him many, many times to re-ignite him as he is the reason that the defense has to back off and allow Portis to pound the ball and leave the opposing defenses to pick their poison on stopping him or allowing Moss to go deep. After this week, the offense should come back with a vengeance and show their opponents that the first few games of the year were not a fluke.
The bottom line with this week is for the Redskins to go out, prepare thoroughly, and crush the Browns. I know that the Browns kicked the Giants ass last night but they are still not up to par with the Redskins in talent and heart. The Redskins need to come out next week and show that the game against the Rams was a mere hiccup in the overall scheme in this season and that they ARE for real. If they do that, and then go on to beat the Lions they would be 6-2 and nobody can complain about that after half of the season. Then, because of the loss to the Rams, they owe us the fans a victory against the Steelers on Monday night to go into the bye week with the 7-2 record that most Redskins fans hoped for after they beat the Eagles last week.
Here's to starting another 4 game winning streak and hopefully to a showdown with the Giants and Cowboys to see who will be the beast of the East, let's start with a pounding of the Browns at home to steer the ship back on course, if we can't do that then it's really time to worry.
Keywords: Washington Redskins
