Well, the mid-point of the season has come and gone, now it's time to get ready for the playoff push and the fate of the season is on the line. The days of being patient with the rookies and waiting to see how the team develops are over. The importance of every win and loss are magnified to the extreme and the pressure is now on for them to not make any errors and lose a very winnable game (see St. Louis Rams game) as they have done in the past. This season has gone very well so far, with big wins over the Cowboys and Eagles back-to-back on the road and a steady "medium" approach to every game has made them fare well so far. The first 9 games have shown that they have an identity, a run-first team that can beat you deep if you creep up, and also a record to back that up. Now, after the bye week, all of that doesn't mean a thing, November and December separate the winners from the losers in this league.

Continue reading "Mid Season Review...Playoffs or Bust!"

Well, here we go. The start of the real season is about to begin. The moment when the hopefulness can turn into the hopelessness and the real teams begin to separate from the pack. They do the little things to win; blocking as a team, playing hard every snap and make NO MENTAL Mistakes! The true mark of this team are penalties and turnovers. They are a good team as Zorn likes to say but they can't overcome dumb holding penalties that wipe out back-to-back touchdowns. They can't come back after they give up a first down on frouth and forever (Rams game - why Torrence was really cut) to set up a field goal. How many times has an offensive pass interference call stopped a drive short? How about a guy who drops a ball that hits him in the hands thus giving the entire momentum of the game back to his opponent and handing them the game? 

Continue reading "The Cowboys game...."

First, I was a bit angered about the lack of any punch against the Cowboys and being the loser of one of the worst games this year. Neither team showed anything on offense and were almost as pitiful at everything but defense. Now that I got that off my chest we can move on.  

Well, yesterday's game is just another example of how this team likes to play down to it's opponent and how little things can make a game go from an easy win to a nail-bitter. The Redskins played like a 2-8 team in the first half of yesterday's game. Campbell was OK at best and the offense seemed to almost get on and off the field on 3-and-out plays at every turn. Portis started the game off going against 8 and 9-men in the box to stop him and dare the Redskins to be able to protect long enough to be able to throw the ball down the field for over 10 yards. Everytime Campbell steps back in the pocket it seems that he is going to get killed on every play. Jansen and Thomas did play much better yesterday than against the Cowboys and Rabach did the same (he royally sucked against the Cowboys!) but they still got too much pressure on every snap of the first 2 quarters of the game against a very lackluster pass rush. After settling down a bit in the second half, Samuels (who is obviously playing on 1 leg) still was not keeping his man far enough away from the pass rush but did seem to get a bit stronger in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Continue reading "Back on Track?"