Redskins Head to 0-1

Its a few days later but I wanted to get my thoughts about the Redskins' opening night loss recorded on the blog. It was a frustrating game for Washington fans, and it definitely appears that the final two preseason games were more of a sign of things to come than they were an aberration. Part of judging the Redskins is also judging the Giants. I thought the Giants played fairly well, despite only winnings by 9. Their defense held the Skins down all night, and the offense moved the ball pretty well. They have two big offensive stars in Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress. They both made the Redskins defense look bad in the 1st half, but couldn't capitalize with appearances in the endzone. I've never thought Eli Manning was that great, despite his impressive performance in the playoffs last season. His passer rating was worse than Campbell's, and he has a huge advantage heading into each game that Plax is playing in.


On the positive side for the Skins.

Clinton Portis - CP had a pretty solid game. I've got no problem with him missing pre-season, because I'm a believer in the idea that running backs have a finite number of carries in their career. So keeping him fresh for the regular season is fine by me, and he showed up in week 1. His line was 23 carries for 84 yards. Thats just 3.7 yards per carry, but I rate him high based on HOW he ran the ball. He was moving forward all night and getting the most out of his carries. Unfortunately the line wasn't great and there were several times when he had no place to go.

Rock Cartwright - He had too many kick return opportunities, but a 29 yard average is great. The Redskins don't get on the scoreboard without his 50 yard return in the 2nd quarter. He also had a great open field tackle on a punt, and is just a great special teams guy like Brian Mitchell and James Thrash.

London Fletcher - I can't praise the Redskins' secondary, and the line allowed 154 yards on the ground. However, London Fletcher is and always has been a beast. He came to play with 17 total tackles.

On to the things that disappointed me.

Jim Zorn - I understand its his first regular season game, but there are some things that I thought I wouldn't see. The first one was the conservative nature of the offense. As a former quarterback and a west coast offense type of guy, I thought the Skins would be tossing the ball around some. However, with all of the runs on 1st and 2nd downs, I thought Joe Gibbs was making the calls from somewhere in NASCAR country. I heard from John Madden all night that Jason Campbell didn't look comfortable. That may be true, but it didn't look like his coach was helping him out. One way he could have done that would have been getting #47 some more touches. Chris Cooley is a pro bowl tight end, and its not because of his blocking ability. He had just one catch on the night in the 4th quarter, after a screen pass run for him earlier was called back because of holding. Getting him more involved in the passing game is necessary. I was also disappointed to see him highlighted twice getting beat in the running game by the Giants ends. Put Cooley in motion, split him out wide, and give Todd Yoder a little more time in the running game.

The second thing that bothered me aboout Zorn was the lack of urgency towards the end of the game. Needing at least two scores to win the game, the offense was huddling and taking their time at the line during the last 5 or so minutes. Shots of Zorn on the sideline with his play sheet in front of his mouth made me think that he saw no urgency in the situation. As a QB coach and former NFL quarterback, I thought Zorn would have a better sense of the situation than what appeared on the field. Its almost as if the Redskins forgot to practice the two minute drill before this game.

The Secondary - Having Laron Landry back was a good sign, but this unit was extremely disappointing. The cornerbacks were awful in the first half. Plaxico Burress is a star, and will get his catches. However, the Skins didn't even look like they were challenging him early on. I doubted Carlos Rogers' health and/or heart on one play when he was seen jogging after Plax after being embarassed by a double move. Smoot was slightly better, but again the Giants made the plays they needed early on in the passing game.
The safeties were better, and it was nice to see Laron Landry covering a lot of ground back there. Reed Doughty was a decent support in the run game, but he and LL got embarassed by Brandon Jacobs and his abundance of mass. However, Landry did drop a potential interception. His was the last of three on the night that should have been caught. Each one of those was on different drives, and if the Redskins pick those off, they give their offense a lot more opportunities. Eli Manning should definitely have had more than just one INT on Thursday night.

And finally I have some neutral feelings on things as well.

Jason Campbell - As the team goes, so goes the quarterback. Since the Redskins' offense struggled, its only natural that JC has to shoulder some of the blame. However, I can't think about many plays where he really hurt the Skins. The first drop back when he was sacked is the one time I remember yelling at him. Following that though he got the ball off quickly like a West Coast QB is supposed to do. He wasn't sacked from that point on, and there is no doubt the Giants were coming hard. I think people could argue that he didn't go downfield enough, but I'm not sure how much of that is on him and how much is on the play calling. He went to his checkdowns a lot, but I don't remember seeing receivers running open down field. The biggest problem with Campbell so far in his career has been ball protection. His interception numbers are decent...not great. However, he really struggled last year putting the ball on the turf with 13 fumbles, 8 of which were lost. He didn't fumble or throw an interception. I don't even remember a pass that could have been picked off. So I give him credit for taking care of the ball.

I've read that despite Zorn's insistence that Campbell is athletic enough to run the West Coast offense, that Campbell is better suited to a traditional 5 and 7 step drop offense. Campbell is going to give things his best, so I expect Zorn to put him in situations where he can suceed. In Thursday's game I saw more problems with how the offense was run by the play calling than I did with Campbell's performance.

Jason Taylor - Taylor didn't have a good game, but this isn't a good situation to judge him by. He wasn't 100%, so its not like we saw him at his best. He was a liability in the running game, and a big reason for Brandon Jacobs' great game. Taylor was unable to hold his ground on the line, and Jacobs was able to turn his shoulders up field early on off-tackle runs. Facing a physical back like Jacobs with his knee in its current condition was not a good start for Taylor. He probably would have fared better against a team showing more of a zone rush or pass first look. Despite his weak game against the Giants, all it will take is a couple of sacks for the Redskins fans to be jumping up and down about number 55.

Orioles Winning

The O's had a rough 3-7 stretch coming out of the All Star break which sent them plummeting towards into the cellar of the AL East. Well, thats where everybody thought they would be this season, and despite where they are in the standings they have had a pleasantly surprising year so far. They've rebounded well since that initial post-break free fall, going 5-1 with their lone loss being Dennis Sarfate's first career start against Joba Chamberlain. Thats an understandable loss. Its been great to see the O's offense playing great lately. Aubrey Huff is finally earning the money he signed for before last season, Melvin Mora doesn't look dead in the water, and Adam Jones seems to be developing as the year goes along like Nick Markakis did back in 2006. There are definitely some highlights lately.

The pitching has been weak this season, but its nice that they have had some good outings since the Sunday monkey was lifted. Cabrera had a great start before his BS toss-out against the Yanks. He looked to be going all the way in that game, and then in the last two games Garrett Olson went into the ninth, and Jeremy Guthrie managed his first career complete game last night. The O's have had a string of great starts as good as they have had all year. Its disappointing that Rhadames Liz and Brian Burres didn't work out in the rotation, but nobody could really expect long term success from Burres, and Liz still has a lot to do to ensure he is a steady Major League starter. It will be interesting to see who gets the start for the O's on Tuesday. Hayden Penn would probably be the popular choice among the fans since he his name has held so much promise for several years. I wouldn't mind seeing him, but he is another guy who has a whole lot to prove.

Overall the Orioles have made progress in their first year under Andy McPhail. The standings might not improve, but they are playing better baseball at most spots than they have in previous years. Adam Jones and Nick Markakis are two huge stars for the future, and I'm happy Brian Roberts is still getting things done at the top of the order. Shortstop is obviously an issue with 5 guys who have gotten extended looks their this year. Juan Castro is nothing but a short term solution, and none of Bynum, Fahey, Hernandez, and Cintron appear to be the answer either. I would love to see what the plan is for the O's to acquire a good shortstop for the future. I think that is the main target of McPhail and co. right now, and is probably the main reason why George Sherrill wasn't traded. I think they would rather hold on to him to get what they really need, than to have traded him last week for what may or may not fill a hole on this team. Another interesting development is Mark Teixeira heading to the Angels. He seems to be a guy who wants to play in the AL, but will he fall in love in Anaheim. Arte Moreno is an aggressive owner who will probably want to sign Tex after giving up Kotchman. I can only hope that the hometown urge is their for Tex, and that the O's come up with a great deal for him. The Orioles have had to deal with Kevin Millar-type numbers for too long at first, and another legit power hitter needs to be infused into this lineup.

Jason Taylor

Damn, I'm a crappy blogger. I haven't touched this site in months, but felt inspired by the Redskins trade of 2 draft picks to Miami for Jason Taylor. I think this is a great move even if Taylor might not be around for more than a year. There will be a lot of question marks with the Redskins this year with the Jim Zorn era starting. However, if he does a decent job handling the team, they have the talent here already to make the playoffs. Hell...they did it last season despite losing some games that they never should have.

Now that Taylor is in the fold the Redskins have a chance to become an elite NFC team. A great defensive end can immensely improve the play of the other 10 guys on the defense. Look at the current Super Bowl champs. Would the Giants have won with all of Eli Manning's blunders if Michael Strahan had not come back for another year of football? I would argue against that.

So will Jason Taylor have a Strahan-esque influence on the Redskins D? The guy he is replacing, Phillip Daniels, had just 2.5 sacks last season. I have no doubt that Taylor will far exceed that number if he stays healthy. And staying healthy doesn't appear to be an "if." Just looking at Taylor you can tell that he keeps himself in amazing shape. However, he has started all 16 games each season since 2000. He has had single digit sacks for the season just twice in that stretch, and both years he wasn't far off from 10.

For the last few seasons Redskins fans have complained during draft time that the 'Skins needed a pass rushing defensive lineman. They never acquired that guy during the draft, but they have done so now. Their defense should be a lot better this season, assuming it doesn't fall to pieces without Gregg Williams. A legitimate pass rush from the D-line will mean more turnovers and 3rd and longs. I feel the defense will provide Jason Campbell and the offense with a lot more easy scoring opportunities this season. Welcome Jason...and that #55 looks damn good for the Burgundy and Gold.

Terps Update

Damn...The Terps almost pulled off consecutive wins versus two Top 5 teams, not to mention two of their biggest rivals! Things looked very positive for the Terps when they led by nine points at halftime. However, Duke still had 42 points to the Terps 51. If somebody had told me before the game that Duke would score 42 points in the first half, I wouldn't be thrilled. Maryland had their best offensive half of the year against Duke, but they still weren't shuttnig down the Devils. And history has told us that Duke is always capable of hitting a big shot when it counts, or more likely...getting a bogus call in their direction late in the game.

Gist and Osby were huge for the Terps down low. Duke is extremely weak in the front court, and the Terrapin seniors took advantage of that. Gist had 26 and 5 while Osby had 20 and 15 on the night. Those numbers are absolutely huge. Unfortunately Maryland didn't get much help from the bigs on their bench. Shane Walker had a rebound and Dave Neal had just a bucket and a board. This was the first game of the year that Braxton Dupree didn't see the floor, and I'm not surprised by that with Duke's type of play. BD isn't in good enough shape to run up and down the floor all night, and he isn't quick enough on defense to play against Duke's four guard lineups. Whats upsetting is that Dupree was supposed to be the 3rd big man on this team, and his minutes have been 12, 6, 8, 1, and 0 so far in ACC play. Thats not a good looking trend! He hasn't shown that he is ready to be a contributor on this team.

Despite the loss it feels better to be a Terps fan now than it was a month ago. A month ago today Maryland was 6-6 after losing to American University by eight. PATHETIC! It felt like everybody who followed Maryland basketball was ready to quit on this current team and crucify Gary Williams. In the last month Maryland has gone 6-2 with a win over the previously undefeated and #1 ranked Tarheels. Their two losses were unfortunately both in conference, but by a point to Virginia Tech and to the #3 ranked Duke. This has certainly been a good month for the Terps, and it would be for any other college basketball team too. Unfortunately the hole that the Terps are climbing out of is huge. At 2-3 in the ACC, they need to win about 7 or 8 more conference games to have any shot at the NCAA tourny. 19 or 20 wins with an upset of a potential #1 seed might get them into the tournament. However, that is still questionable with losses to teams like Ohio and American.

Like most people thought, the Terps will be a better team at the end of the year than they were to start it. However, with such an unpredictable lousy stretch to begin the year, will this team be good enough to have an overall positive season. The UNC win is certainly a highlight to be remembered for years, but will that be the only redeeming memory of this season? A win over Carolina and an extremely competitive loss to a Duke team that played well tonight give me hope that the Terps have yet to peak this season.