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This Ole Fart Thinks “Skins vs Eagles”
Sorry it’s a little late, but here it is.
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Hope y’all are doing well and had a great Thanksgiving Holiday. The old man is in a good mood. Why? Because I gave myself an early present and ordered the Ella Fitzgerald boxed set of CD’s “Twelve Nights in Hollywood.” It is simply the best stuff on earth. Do yourself a favor and listen to how it should always be done. Who knows, it might keep you from thinking about the train wreck that our team has become.
There is nothing special about the loss to the Eagles this past week. Just more of the same incompetence that afflicts this team from ownership down to the last man on the team. Watching the game, there was absolutely no doubt that the Eagles were the better team and would find a way to win in the end. Offensive failure? Defensive failure? Special teams failure? It was only a question of how the team would fail, and which unit would step up, or trip up, allowing the Eagles to emerge victorious. Anyone out there think it would end otherwise? Nah, I didn’t think so.
So what stood out to me?
The coaching staff might be the worst assembled by a Redskin team in recent, or even long term, memory. We have become a national joke because of the way we have structured the play calling on offense. Jim Zorn ? Sherman Lewis? Sherman Smith? Everybody, and nobody is responsible for the plays. Who else could ever think of a scheme that required one man to decide whether it was a pass or run, and then call pass plays, but defer to another coach for running plays once the play was selected to be a run? And what happens if Campbell decides to audible, as I believe I saw him do a couple of times? Who does he go to afterwards to explain what he saw, and why he called the play as he did? And what function does Zorn still have? According to the man himself, he still has a function and can overrule the call if he decides to. What was the outcome of his calls? Were they better in outcome than the original calls? Simply put, we have become the butt of a long running joke now. Someone has to pay for this eventually. Let’s hope it is Vinny.
On defense, we are treated to the sight of the most dangerous Eagle offensive player (Jackson) running totally free deep in the secondary. Didn’t they even discuss this in their meetings? Wasn’t this a priority based upon the way Jackson has previously played against us? I guess Blache has decided that since he no longer has to speak to the press, he no longer has to speak to his squad. It is reassuring to see that the defense can make the offense feel better about it’s collective self by letting the Eagles come back and take the lead, before the offense seals the deal by flaming out in the end. Total systemic incompetence, no matter how many points are scored, or how many points are allowed.
How about some individual players?
Davis, Thomas and Kelly are all progressing simply because they are all getting plays designed to feature them. Too bad Zorn and the offensive coaches couldn’t have figured this one last year. Maybe by next year they will actually be solid contributors for the next regime.
Edwin Williams was nervous and contributed two false start penalties. Still, give him some time to adapt to the pro game and he might just be a player.
So what happens this week? Why he gets kicked to the curb to make way for that All Pro Guard, Mike Williams. I guess Vinny is determined to prove that his judgment was correct and we really didn’t need any offensive linemen in the 2009 draft after all. Maybe Mike has a future at guard? For sure, he doesn’t have one at tackle.
Speaking of tackles, Levi Jones fell back to earth this week. But, after holding his own against Dumervil and Ware, he gets somewhat of a pass against Cole. Even Chris Samuels has trouble with Cole’s speed, so Jones can be excused. They need to think about getting Levi signed long term before it becomes apparent that Levi is over his back woes and decides to wait until the off season to begin to negotiate. We simply won’t be able to find two starting tackles in one offseason.
The rest of the offensive line is composed of Dockery, who is just a guy, and two disasters in Rabach and Heyer. We have a lot of work to do to repair the line after this season.
The running backs are ordinary and none of them are worth keeping, except for Rock. This is when we should be looking to unearth a gem or two. Mason? I don’t think so. Ganther? At least he plays head’s up on special teams, but he looks stiff as a runner.
Moss and Randle El each had one play when they were open for a big gain, but Campbell missed each of them. Neither of them belong on the field ahead of the young guys at this point in this season. Anyone see Marko Mitchell? Maybe the next head coach can figure out how to use him because Zorn apparently can’t.
On defense the carnage continues with Jarmon being lost to a ruptured ACL. Hopefully Daniels can take him under his wing and lay out what it takes to come back from this type of surgery. The rest of the defensive line seems to have forgotten how to rush the passer AND stop the run. It is hard to fathom how easily the last two opponents have run through the line. Is Haynesworth that good, or are the rest of them simply that bad?
Rocky and Fletcher are still playing hard. Orakpo still looks lost.
In the secondary, Landry continues his downward spiral, Doughty can still tackle, but can’t cover, and the corners cannot count on deep safety help on any given play. Tryon does seem to be improving however, and Moore had one decent play. Still, I want to see Holmes get some playing time eventually this year. Lendy did have one nice head’s up play covering a kickoff. Rogers won’t likely be with the team next year because I cannot see us paying him what he is going to ask for. Someone will.
Hunter can punt. Suisham can make field goals when they are not critical. The coverage and run back teams are okay. Danny Smith is probably the only coach I would retain from this group.
Campbell? All of a sudden columnists and Riggo are coming to his defense. Is he playing better? Meh. He still isn’t winning any games for us, but there is so much blame to go around that his failures get diffused, if not excused. Will he be back here next year? I cannot see him wanting to come back, and I cannot see Snyder wanting him back after already trying to trade him off the team this summer. I cannot see Zorn being retained. I cannot see a new head coach bringing him back as starter. I cannot see him coming back to compete for a position he once had or coming back as a reserve QB. He will find work for sure, but I don’t think he will find it initially as a starter. Then again, I admit I am soured on him and cannot be objective any more. Maybe he will start and do well for someone else? If nothing else, he has character and is tough as nails. I wish him well, but for my own remaining sanity, I hope it is elsewhere.
Will we beat the Saints? This is a game I thought we might have a chance. Despite the way they handled the Pats, I think we have a slim chance. After all, we have beaten them the last two times we have faced them. If nothing else, the Saints will probably be looking past us at least a little. How could they not?
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