Poor Day of Football Watching

Today was a lousy day of football for me. I was looking forward to the Redskins on Fox and Ravens on CBS. The matchups weren't really favorable, but I was hoping one of them would be able to pull off a win. Instead, both teams lost, and lost ugly.

The Redskins were expected to lose, but they let a winnable game get away from them. The mistakes started early and continued most of the game. Haynesworth jumping offsides on a 4th and 1, on a play in which the Falcons were obviously trying to draw Washington offsides was absolutely horrible. That was the first drive of the game, but already big Albert's second offsides call. It was also early in the game when Reed Doughty was WAY offsides on a punt return, which of course led to another Falcons first down.

Another issue with the defense that pissed me off was watching Laron Landry. He is a great athlete, but I hate how he plays the game. He is undisciplined and plays like he was never taught how to tackle. Sometimes this makes him look great. There was a 3rd and short play in which he made an amazing open field tackle to end a Falcons' drive. However, Landry was also highlighted during the broadcast for making mistakes on both of Michael Turner's touchdown runs. He took an awful angle on the first score, and then put his head down and dove at Turner's ankles during the rth quarter score that opened up the game for Atlanta. Oh yeah...there was also the stupid late hit he put on Matt Ryan which cost the Redskins 15 yards and appeared to fire up the Falcons.

Landry isn't the root of the defenses problems today, but his play was awful against Atlanta. One of the greatest traits of a safety is a guy who plays smart, and I just don't see that with Landry.

Offensively the Redskins looked about the same as they have all year. The offensive line was horrid in the first half, both run and pass blocking. Its bad when the broadcasters are openly feeling sorry for a player like they were for Campbell today. However, I was impressed with Campbell for staying tough and making some decent plays throughout the game. His final numbers weren't bad, and I'm sure his stats and the score would have looked a lot better for the Redskins if there weren't so many drops.

Another thing that we saw today is that Ladell Betts is currently a better running option than Clinton Portis. He looked a lot more explosive today than Portis has all season, and I just think that if given the same amount of touches that Betts would outperform Portis. If you take away Portis' 78 yard run this season, he is only averaging less than 3.4 yards per carry. Portis has been a great Redskin and he is a great personality. However, I think this year should be his last as a Redskin.

Things for the Redskins are looking awful. I want them to win every weekend, but I just don't see too many W's coming this year with that offensive line. The good news to take out of this is that the Redskins could be in a good spot to draft the best offensive tackle in the draft come April. Hopefully, whoever is calling the shots at Redskins Park at that time won't blow that decision.

As for the Ravens...Cincinnati is their kryptonite. They have seemed to play great against Baltimore ever since Carson Palmer arrived in Ohio. Cedric Benson has been a great addition for the Bengals, and he ran for over a hundred for the second time this year against Baltimore. That is unheard of for anybody who follows the Ravens. Having Haloti Ngata inactive certainly didn't help, but halfway through the 2009 season I think its time to admit that this isn't the same defense that Baltimore is used to. I don't know how much of it to blame on personnel and how much should be attributed to the departure of Rex Ryan. However, Baltimore's defense while still good, is no longer dominant.

Offensively the Ravens have looked great this season, but they came with nothing today. The Bengals pass rush was excellent, sacking Flacco four times and hitting him eight. They also seemed to make Flacco uncomfortable, which he doesn't act like often. He completed a decent amount of his passes, but not very many downfield. He also threw two interceptions, and basically had one of his worst professional games.

Ray Rice looked great as usual, but I think the offense was taken out of its comfort zone by getting down early. He only rushed twelve times throughout the game, but he had a decent average. He was the Ravens leading pass receiver, although much of that came on the meaningless final play of the game. Baltimore made too many mistakes and found themselves in bad situations all game. They didn't respond well, and they definitely deserved to lose this game. Baltimore is a lot better than 4-4, but losing both games against one of your division rivals certainly isn't helpful when looking towards the playoffs. The Ravens will have a lot better of a chance if they can sweep the Steelers, but Cincy is already looking like the team to beat in the AFC North.