Fast Start Key to Success?

[Keino]

As I walked to the bathroom this morning, to rid myself of my 3rd morning cup of coffee, a thought occurred to me. We need a Fast start against the Evil, God-forsaken franchise in Irving, TX on Monday night. (Notice I thought of the Cowboys on the way to the lavatory...coincidence? I think not) If we can take anything away from last Monday night, it is that the home opener on Monday night leads to a particularly energized Home crowd. The Eagles failure to start fast kept Atlanta's emotions charged throughout the entire first half, and by the time the second half came around, guys like DeAngelo Hall were playing with an ultimate sense of confidence.

By fast start, I don’t mean a first play bomb for a TD (Though that would be nice in the wake of the Gibbs Critics out in full force for his timing of the QB switch). Here’s what I mean. Our first Defensive possession, we need a 3 & Out. Our first Offensive possession, we need a long drive of 8-15 plays chewing up 3-5 minutes of game clock and results in a TD. It needs to be Methodical, with purpose and absent of mental mistakes such as Delay of Game/False start penalties, as we should all know, these types of penalties is like throwing gasoline on a fire with respect to crowd noise.. This should be the #1 goal this week. Eliminating the fickle Dallas crowd early is the initial path to success on Monday night.

A fast start also has the added benefit of making Dallas one dimensional. The only thing that could potentially hurt us defensively is a balanced attack. Why? It makes our blitzers a 1/2 step slower and make Play Action that much more effective. A fast start, as described above will have the Cowpatties abandoning the run early and forcing them to a Pass First Mode. With a QB more immobile than our own former starter and now back-up, a Pass-first mode will cause our Defensive Coordinator and Speedy LB/DB’s to lick their respective chops at the sack opportunities.

Thoughts?

[IowaSkinsFan]

As I walked to the bathroom this morning, to rid myself of my 3rd morning cup of coffee, a thought occurred to me. We need a Fast start against the Evil, God-forsaken franchise in Irving, TX on Monday night. (Notice I thought of the Cowboys on the way to the lavatory...coincidence? I think not) If we can take anything away from last Monday night, it is that the home opener on Monday night leads to a particularly energized Home crowd. The Eagles failure to start fast kept Atlanta's emotions charged throughout the entire first half, and by the time the second half came around, guys like DeAngelo Hall were playing with an ultimate sense of confidence.

By fast start, I don’t mean a first play bomb for a TD (Though that would be nice in the wake of the Gibbs Critics out in full force for his timing of the QB switch). Here’s what I mean. Our first Defensive possession, we need a 3 & Out. Our first Offensive possession, we need a long drive of 8-15 plays chewing up 3-5 minutes of game clock and results in a TD. It needs to be Methodical, with purpose and absent of mental mistakes such as Delay of Game/False start penalties, as we should all know, these types of penalties is like throwing gasoline on a fire with respect to crowd noise.. This should be the #1 goal this week. Eliminating the fickle Dallas crowd early is the initial path to success on Monday night.

A fast start also has the added benefit of making Dallas one dimensional. The only thing that could potentially hurt us defensively is a balanced attack. Why? It makes our blitzers a 1/2 step slower and make Play Action that much more effective. A fast start, as described above will have the Cowpatties abandoning the run early and forcing them to a Pass First Mode. With a QB more immobile than our own former starter and now back-up, a Pass-first mode will cause our Defensive Coordinator and Speedy LB/DB’s to lick their respective chops at the sack opportunities.

Thoughts?

Agree 100%. But I would also like to see a fast middle and fast end.

[NamVet4]

Sean... You hit it straight on! The 'pukes fans need to loose confidence early and often!
It will not take super plays by super players. It will take consistency of effort!
Great thoughts! :)

[inevitable]

I think, as an underlying aspect of the necessity of a first drive score of some sorts, is we have to execute every play. No break downs. What really demoralizes a crowd - I know from experience - is when the opposing offense seemingly can run anything they want on you, and you can't stop it. We have the tools in place to be able to do this. Execution will lead to scoring - scoring will keep the crowd quiet.

Lets do our thing!

[smoak]

I agree. I don't think people realize how important this game is... Go back over the past 10 years or so and make our losses to Dallass into wins and see how many times we either make the playoffs. Especially the years Dallass was bad and we still lost to them. We need to march into Dallass and treat those bums like the filth they are. Hit 'em all day and try to break bones. Sorry, but football is a violent sport, and one way to win is to demoralize the opposition... make 'em quit early. A fast (smart) start coupled with a relentless ATTACKING defense will put thos jerks on their heel, but we can't let up one ounce. The hitting shouldn't ever stop. If Moss gets a chance, he should put shoulder pad in Newman's gut. Jansen/Samuels need to bury Ware. We need to take a killer mentality down there b/c this playing soft and whining about the refs aint gonna get it done.

[dj_stouty]

Great job, Keino. You are correct...a fast start would be a dagger to the Dallas Cowboys and their home crowd.

I think Gibbs will start out using the stretch play, which should eat up 8-12 yards per carry. Mixing that up with solid runs up the middle and precise passing (not necessarily deep balls) will stretch the defense horizontally and stop 8 men from hovering between our tackles. I see Cooley being a big factor early on.

There is a reason Gibbs didn't use the stretch play in Chicago. He knew he could win without it. He will need to mix it in versus Dallas...

[IowaSkinsFan]

Whatever he does, I hope he calls some of the same running plays we saw in the 2nd half against da bears.

[inevitable]

I agree; we need to bring a whole new level or physicality (probably not a word) to Crap Field at Toilet Bowl Stadium.

Setting the tone early, particularly on defense for us will pay dividends as the game goes on. We need to smack Keyshawn in the mouth whenever possible. Take his head off. I would almost go as far to say its worth the penalty once to get him out of sync. The same goes for Drew Bledsoe. We have to realize that no matter when, how, or where we hit him, we're going to get penalized. So make it count.

Julius Jones is a tough guy, but we need Sean Taylor and LA to make him hurt when he tries to break it outside. Corny and Salave'a will put the hurt on up the middle.

Man if I was Greg Williams I would be hitting guys with bats inside the locker room. I'd be smashing heads into walls. I'd be kicking people in the face mask. Our guys have go to be pissed, and we got to bring it to the 'girls right off the bat. Special teams needs to set the tone. De-cleating blocks and Helmet crunching tackles, right off the bat.

Lets get it done.

[hockeygoalie29]

I'll take this one step forward and say that a win Monday night leads to a fast start for the SEASON. It will instill loads of confidence in our players and silence the majority of the critics.

[inevitable]

I honestly do not believe, no matter how well we play on Monday night, that we will get any respect from any of the critics, except maybe Theismann. They will throw the 15 of the last 16 (or whatever it is, I've tried to forget) in our face, with anything else they can scrounge up.

These guys gotta be pissed off, I don't care what it takes. Make a video of someone slappin' their momma's around. Whatever it takes. Our guys have to be ready to kill.

But a good, solid victory Monday will set the tone for the season for our guys, regardless of how the media responds.

[redskin_rich]

Joe Gibbs use to say the easiest way to win was to get a good early jump on your opponent and take them out of their game plan. I think we need to come out swinging and set the tone early. We never seem to match their intensity, as of late and that needs to change on Monday night. It would be a thing of beauty seeing the Cowgirl fans leaving in the 3rd quarter.

[openallnight]

I agree w/ you 100% Keino. I mentioned this as the key to our victory in the other dallas week thread.
Maybe this is just a perception. (Haven't done any research to back it up)
But, during Gibbs 1st stint we usually seemed most productive in the 1st and 3rd qtrs. In the 3rd we'd either take the lead or extend the lead. The 4th was all about eating up clock and protecting the W. I think this season with this team requires this type of formula. I don't really see us as a big come from behind team.

[openallnight]

Joe Gibbs use to say the easiest way to win was to get a good early jump on your opponent and take them out of their game plan. I think we need to come out swinging and set the tone early. We never seem to match their intensity, as of late and that needs to change on Monday night. It would be a thing of beauty seeing the Cowgirl fans leaving in the 3rd quarter.
RR, I thought our guys were SUPER intense in the Monday night game here last year. As a matter of fact Parcells used our over agressiveness on D to his advantage a few times where our guys over pursued and bit on fakes.

[redskinz#1fan]

Agree 100%. But I would also like to see a fast middle and fast end.

I was thinking the same thing! We just need to play a completely fundamental game from bell to bell. This will place our mark on the league and all the doubters that lurk out there as well. They have the cowgirls ranked 11th on the power poll, and consider them already to be a playoff team. We need to give it to them from every direction, so we can start to build respect. This really is a huge game for our season!

[openallnight]

I honestly do not believe, no matter how well we play on Monday night, that we will get any respect from any of the critics, except maybe Theismann. They will throw the 15 of the last 16 (or whatever it is, I've tried to forget) in our face, with anything else they can scrounge up.

These guys gotta be pissed off, I don't care what it takes. Make a video of someone slappin' their momma's around. Whatever it takes. Our guys have to be ready to kill.

But a good, solid victory Monday will set the tone for the season for our guys, regardless of how the media responds.
These media guys are laughable. I looked at dr. z's rankings and all the 1 - 0 teams are in the top 18 spots or so. Then he has us down around 26. Last weeks win meant nothing to anyone outside of us. It will be interesting if our win this week means anything to these guys.

[inevitable]

Yeah Dr.Z has us at 23 on his poll, which is higher then I expected him to move us in the first place.

And honestly, I don't give a s**t what those idiots think. This season is about the guys proving to themselves they're one of the best teams in the league, not about what "Dr" Z or Len Fat&Smelly or anyone else thinks.

[redskin_rich]

RR, I thought our guys were SUPER intense in the Monday night game here last year. As a matter of fact Parcells used our over agressiveness on D to his advantage a few times where our guys over pursued and bit on fakes.
You may be right, I was talking generally over the last whatever years that we have lost to those Cowturds. It seems that they understand the importance of winning this game more than we have.
We do need to set the tone early with some hard-hitting, smash mouth football and beat those Cowsissies into submission..

[swheeler]

I misread the title of this as "False Start Key to Success?" and I gotta admit I was a litttle confused.

But yeah, something to shut their fans up early would be good.

[GibbsRules!]

Excellent post Keino!

Interesting you would be thinking about the Cowpukes on the way to the bathroom. It probably smelled like Texas Stadium in there...

I'm in total agreement with the fast start. We need that Mo right off the bat...anything to put a sour taste in the fans mouths before the half time didication. :blah:

I'd like us to be up by a few with about 6 - 7 minutes to go and just go on a game ending drive that takes the wind out of thier sails. That way the fans would be there the til the last minute and would be left speechless. They could watch us convert about 7 3rd and shorts and watch as thier D tries hopelessly to stop us.

A fast start by us coupled with a slow finish as we put the game away. They deserve nothing less.

[The Skinsinator]

The beginning of the halves set the tone for the momentum of that half, especially in a big game. This was is a biggie. Totally agree we need to get off to a great start and take it to them. Seize the day! From what I've seen since Gibbs return, this hasn't been easy to do. That needs to change and it will make a world of difference.

HAIL TO THE SKINS!!!

[GibbsFan]

Great post and exactly the reason Gibbs went with Brunell. Fumbles and Interceptions will only pump them up and put us behind the 8 ball. All I'm hoping for is error free football with execution. If that happens, will be in great shape.

[TertiaryView]

Well Novak lost the job to Cortez, and we waived Cortez before that, so I am sure these two guys want to prove to each other and the NFL they are better than the other....

I am sure our defensive line is salivating after watching Bledsoe poor movement in the pocket, and they will be out for blood all game long...

Our offensive line appears somewhat healthy, although JJ is going to run out of fingers by loosing one per game, maybe club hands will help out against any unfair holding calls...

Coach wants the win against the big tuna real bad, you can tell by his body language and focus, and I am not sure he wants to win by tricky plays, I think he wants to win it straight up and clean, no doubts left to ponder....

Our cheeleaders finally have the upper hand, specially if they use a better top, that right there is a big deal to many!

All right then, lets go and give each other a bloody nose and crack a few ribs.

[Skinz4lyfe]

You may be right, I was talking generally over the last whatever years that we have lost to those Cowturds. It seems that they understand the importance of winning this game more than we have.
We do need to set the tone early with some hard-hitting, smash mouth football and beat those Cowsissies into submission..

Ive been saying the same thing for quite sometime. We definitely hadn't matched their intensity (maybe excluding last year) in recent years. Its almost as if we see that star on the helmet as cryptonite (msp). We must come in this game and physically take it to them. I need our defense to get out there and lay the wood to somebody. The special teams need to delivery crushing blows to their blockers and return men. Also, our offensive line must knock them off the ball. We must beat them in all aspects of the game. Leave nothing on the field. Why reserve anything? The bye is next week. However, its Monday night against the arch rival Cowboys who have owned you for the past 7-8 years! That alone should get them fired up enough to play!

[BurgundyNGold]

I agree with this assessment. In fact, I think that would be great to see out of this team, since we haven't seen it very often lately.

[Keino]

I would love to see our boys get off of the plane in Full Army Fatigues (The Desert Storm variety) ala 1983. It won't happen, but it would definately give me chills.

This game is HUGE for us......

[flave1969]

Even if we don't score on our first or second drive I would like us to show we can move the ball, it will keep Dallas honest.

[IowaSkinsFan]

I was thinking the same thing! We just need to play a completely fundamental game from bell to bell. This will place our mark on the league and all the doubters that lurk out there as well. They have the cowgirls ranked 11th on the power poll, and consider them already to be a playoff team. We need to give it to them from every direction, so we can start to build respect. This really is a huge game for our season!

It would be so nice not to have to rely on the defense at the end to hang on to the win.

[CowboyKilla]

10-0 sounds good to me. It sure as hell can't hurt.