The anger of winning

Well, another example of the Redskins playing to the level of their competition, they played just good enough to squeak out a win against a horrible football team, not good at all. There were both good and bad signs about yesterday's game but mostly, there is a sense around the town that this team got a bit lucky to not lose the game and the offense is ridiculously conservative and predictable in the redzone, a combination that leads to more losses than wins.

COACHING

While I personally like Jim Zorn, his play-calling is becoming more infantile and predictable than ever and clearly not efficient. First, his going for it on 4th down twice, to me, was the right call, the problem was the stupidity of running a stretch play when you have to pick up a foot to get a first down and put the game away. I like the calls because they had an inferior team backed up inside the 5-yard line that had not really shown all day that they could move the ball against the defense and the fact that the defense knew there was no worries about any running plays with less than 2 minutes left and no timeouts so they could go upfield and get after the quarterback as Orakpo and Haynesworth did on 3 consecutive plays.

The main problem that the Redskins had in the redzone (other than dropping the ball in the endzone twice) was the fact that they went run, run, pass on 2 out of 4 possessions in the redzone was ridiculous. I am sitting at home and knew exactly what plays were going to be called (run left, run right) on first down and, for the life of me, I don't understand why we have 2 guys that are 6-3+ and have not thrown a single fade route to either Kelly or Mitchell at any point in the game. The worst part about it is that they are not even on the field, at least put them in there to create a distraction. Another horrendous call, that was averted, was when Zorn wanted to call a timeout in the 2nd half but Danny Smith ran over to him and put his arms down so that they could get to the 2-minute warning, no need to call the timeout at that time. Zorn uses his gadget plays at the wrong time, the halfback option pass from the 7 on third down, WTF??? If they were on the 20 or 25-yard line on 2nd down, then I'm with you, but on the 7, no chance! Zorn needs to understand that Campbell is going to be his downfall or his savior, the sooner he gets it and lets him get loose, the better the Redskins will be.

OFFENSE

Campbell was OK, he made some good throws, sprinkled in a few good runs and looked very comfortable in the pocket throughout the game, except of course in the red zone. It seems like Zorn has no faith in Campbell in the tightest of spots which is why he is going to the conservative play-calling in the redzone because he is afraid that Campbell will make a bone-headed mistake like he did several times last year. They ran the ball decently, still see no need to keep Betts on the team (except for a huge cap hit) as he did nothing but a nice play on the screen but nothing that any decent back couldn't make, he is a no-show in the offense and showed stupidity by not staying in-bounds on the 2nd down play and taking the clock to the 2-minute warning. If he stays in bounds, you could have done the same thing on 3rd and 4th down there would have been less than 1 minute left, creating even more pressure on the Rams to make something happen quickly.

The receivers, other than Cooley are not doing much, take the Randle-El play (fantastic catch) and all you have is Moss fumbling and Kelly making a few catches over the middle. Kelly looks like a potential beast, he catches everything thrown at him, he gets hit and doesn't drop the ball, he bailed out Campbell on 3 throws that were all behind him but he still reached back and snatched the ball out the air with his hands, good job on him. The drop in the endzone by Thomas was understandable as it was too hard and too low, forcing him to make a great catch which doesn't seem to be his strongsuit. The Line was good, Campbell had all day to throw and was given great lanes to see through to make plays. They moved the ball up and down the field with ease, looking good while they do it but shriveled up in the redzone, if they can correct that, they should be OK.

DEFENSE

The overall defense was pretty good but not impressive. They still give up way too much cushion on man coverage, giving guys that have no skills 8-to-10 yard pads that make it impossible to get to the quarterback, compare that with the way that defenses play the Redskins receivers, they bump them at the line, disrupting the timing on quick passes and allowing their lineman the chance to get in the quarterbacks face. The d-line was very good, Bulger was getting rid of the ball on 3 and 5 step drops constantly and was getting hit and pushed down routinely, including the worst call of the day, the roughing-the-passer call on Orakpo that was non-existent and wiped out a fumble recovery after McIntosh (his best game as a Redskin, no doubt) put his helmet on the ball and jarred it loose. The defense is good but not intimidating and, based on the way the offense is playing, they need to be for this team to even dream of making it against the tougher part of the schedule in the 2nd half of the season.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Great! Only because there was good coverage on kicks, the punter is the best offseason pick-up they have made in years, and the field-goal kicker was perfect on his 3 attempts. They made no mistakes so I have to give them a good grade for the day.

OVERALL

The Redskins continue to be a team without any focus, any identity and a team that plays very lackadaisical at the key moments in the game negating the positives that they had; no turnovers, good time of possession, constant pressure on Bulger and a defense that creating 3 turnovers (1 called back by a Bullshit call). If they could put together a complete game with better execution and a bit more creativity in the play-calling, they will be fine, if they retreat and say that the whole world is against them then nothing will change and they will continue to be mediocre.

Zorn needs to open up the playbook a bit more and, for the love of god, please throw a fade route to Kelly or Mitchell and tell Campbell that he should try to at least throw it downfield once, maybe we complete it or get a pass interference but it would help push the defense back a bit and create the opening that we need underneath to run the crossing patterns to Cooley and Moss. If they took the restraints off of the quarterback and let him win it or lose it, we need to get a clarification on what Campbell is, time for the training wheels off the bike and see if it can go or not. 

NEXT GAME

Well, if there was ever a game that could get a coach fired and put this town into an even more miserable feeling it's this one. The Lions have not won a game in their last 19 tries, if the Redskins don't win this game, there is no doubt that there will be many people asking for Zorn's head and I cannot argue. This is the kind of team with a rookie quarterback and no weapons other than Calvin Johnson that the defense should go nuts against. They need to press the receivers and mix in pressure with zone blitzes and pre-snap movement that will confuse the rookie into making the wrong decisions giving the Redskins the chance to make some plays. The offense should be able to run the ball and use more of the no-huddle offense that Campbell seems to be more comfortable with.

I have my fingers crossed that they can build on the positive things that they did yesterday (moving the ball, creating pressure on defense, no turnovers) and eliminate the tentativeness they show in the most critical of moments and the lack of a killer instinct that would have put away the Rams in the first quarter.