JoeDaSchmoe
08-10-2003, 12:02 AM
Steve Spurrier's preseason debut in the NFL was just what the famed college coach had hoped for; a complete thrashing of the opposing 49ers, with the final score a lopsided 38-7. The rest of the preseason went much of the same way, with the Redskins showcasing what appeared to be one of the most explosive offensive systems in the NFL. Indeed, Washington managed to set several records in their five exhibition games, running up scores wherever possible and ignoring the rage of other head coaches in the process.
Rest assured that the fury of coaches scorned in preseason will not befall the Redskins this season. Far from putting up the ridiculous numbers of yesteryear, the Fun'n'Gun garnered an anything but impressive zero points against the Panthers, Spurrier's first shutout in the big leagues and a cold shower of a wake up call for the (yet again) revamped organization.
The first question that would probably come from those who didn't see the game is, "What went wrong?" The answer, in short, is everything. There was not a single position that didn't look completely inept at some point during the night, from the lifeguard kicker's attempt (and I use the word loosely) at a field goal, to the three dropped passes out of Patrick Ramsey's six attempts, to the holding penalty that canceled out the only touchdown scored by Washington. And to top it all off, the best performances of the game came from the two ex-Redskins on the Panthers, namely Stephen Davis and Skip Hicks.
Of course, Davis and Hicks weren't exactly challenged very often. Carolina's offensive line made short work of any in a three-point stance wearing a red jersey. The question of whether or not Big Daddy will be missed was answered tonight, and it wasn't what any Washington fan was looking for. Several times the first man to hit a Panther running back was either a safety or a corner, and unfortunately it often wasn't enough to put a halt to the play. On a mere seven carries in less than a quarter, Stephen Davis alone ran for 74 yards. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that's more than ten yards per carry. Thankfully, Skip Hicks isn't a north-south, between the tackles type of runner, so he was held to "only" 30 yards on his seven carries. He, however, scored a touchdown, one of two that the supposedly offense-deprived Panthers rung up. Just imagine what Davis and, at least on a few third downs, Hicks would have done had they been able to run at our defensive line the whole game.
On the other side of the ball, the unit that was the focus on nearly all off season improvement looked no better than the 21st-ranked group of last year. The second-year quarterback on whose arm the team's fate resides could have looked spectacular, had his receivers been able to hold onto the ball long enough to give him more than six throws in the entire first quarter. Ramsey was, on all but one throw, accurate and well-poised. His numbers, however, show little of that, giving him a horrid completion percentage of 33%, and only 57 yards. Three of his passes were simply dropped, two of them on third downs with the receiver in front of the first down marker. It seemed Spurrier decided to save Ramsey from further stress when he reneged on his pregame promise to keep the starter in the second quarter, deciding instead to put in Rob Johnson. Johnson, surprisingly, was a bright spot in the game, making good decisions and showcasing his scrambling ability on several occasions. He threw for 107 yards on a 10/16 night, with the only smudge, an interception, coming on a throw that was tipped at the line. The former South Cal star also managed to throw the only touchdown pass of the night, but it was frustratingly called back by a holding penalty. After Johnson was pulled for the night, in came the hero of heroes, Danny Wuerffel. Wuerffel quickly did what he does best, getting sacked on his second play and throwing an interception on what had begun to remotely resemble a comeback drive in the fourth quarter. He never got a chance to redeem himself, as Carolina ran the clock out with the ball.
The passing game wasn't entirely to blame for the offense's failure, despite the seeming inability to simply catch a check-down pass. There would have been more of a spark to the aerial attack had any sort of ability to run the ball been shown, or even if the offensive line, one of the areas that seemed to be most improved in the off season, had simply blocked correctly. This, sadly enough, was not the case. Of all the running backs that played, Sultan McCullough was easily the most spectacular, and he'll most likely see nothing but the practice squad this year. Neither Trung Canidate nor Kenny Watson did anything to impress, gaining four and three yards respectively, both on three carries. This, again, may have been partially the fault of the offensive line, which often let several white jerseys into the backfield. It was quite obvious that the unit had not worked very much on picking up the blitz in training camp, with missed blocking assignments all around and a few too many desperate holds for anyone's liking. One particularly bad moment found Derrick Dockery, the giant rookie who is attempting to push for a starting spot on the line during training camp, simply standing still as a blitzing linebacker ran right by him and hurried Rob Johnson into an incompletion. Dockery managed to sum up the Redskins' night on that single play; confused, disgruntled, and allowing a Panther to give ESPN another highlight a few feet away.
Despite all the negatives that showed up tonight, there were a few positives. Laveraneus Coles, on one of Ramsey's two completions for the night, streaked up the field for a 48-yard play and would have scored a touchdown had he not lost his balance making the catch. Scott Cloman also came up big, beautifully plucking the ball from the air along the sideline for a 36-yard gain. Cloman injured himself on the play, but showed his toughness by returning to the game in the fourth quarter. Robert Royal made several nice grabs, and could very well start in next week's game after Zeron Flemister's drop on third down. Cliff Russell and LaDairius Jackson looked good simply by showing up after knee injured last year. Russell managed two catches, including one very tough one on a low throw. That throw, incidentally, was from perhaps the biggest star of the night (at least in burgundy and gold), Rob Johnson. Johnson looked much more comfortable running the offense than reports from training camp had indicated, and made several impressive throws, not to mention impressive scrambles, during the game. His best feature, however, was simply his realization of when to throw the ball away. A veritable sack machine for opposing defenses in the past, Johnson seemed to be able to get rid of the ball just in time when he needed to, sending it flying out of bounds and saving himself from an impending five yard loss. Despite the official ruling that one of these throws was, in fact, a fumble (which I strongly disagreed with), this improvement could bode very well for the journeyman quarterback, who will almost certainly be Ramsey's backup if Wuerffel continues to perform as poorly as he did tonight.
With all the sacks, fumbles, interceptions, penalties, and, of course, that very ugly final scoreboard, one still must remember that this was just a preseason game. It means nothing, it counts for nothing, it affects nothing. What is important is how well the team learns from it. Carolina had the second-best defense in the league last year, and will almost certainly be in the top five again this year. It has a powerful, between the tackles runner and a strong offensive line. The Panthers could very well be the complete antithesis of the Redskins, strong where they are weak and weak where they are strong. It benefits Washington greatly, then, to play Carolina in the preseason, in order to learn the best lessons possible before September 4th and get better in as many areas as possible. This game could prove to be the most valuable of any this preseason, giving Washington roughly a month to figure out how to best deal with a power running came and a strong defensive line. It will help the team to succeed. And that, thankfully, is what the preseason is all about. The lessons learned tonight will help the Redskins play better tomorrow, and prepare as well as possible for the rematch in November.
Rest assured that the fury of coaches scorned in preseason will not befall the Redskins this season. Far from putting up the ridiculous numbers of yesteryear, the Fun'n'Gun garnered an anything but impressive zero points against the Panthers, Spurrier's first shutout in the big leagues and a cold shower of a wake up call for the (yet again) revamped organization.
The first question that would probably come from those who didn't see the game is, "What went wrong?" The answer, in short, is everything. There was not a single position that didn't look completely inept at some point during the night, from the lifeguard kicker's attempt (and I use the word loosely) at a field goal, to the three dropped passes out of Patrick Ramsey's six attempts, to the holding penalty that canceled out the only touchdown scored by Washington. And to top it all off, the best performances of the game came from the two ex-Redskins on the Panthers, namely Stephen Davis and Skip Hicks.
Of course, Davis and Hicks weren't exactly challenged very often. Carolina's offensive line made short work of any in a three-point stance wearing a red jersey. The question of whether or not Big Daddy will be missed was answered tonight, and it wasn't what any Washington fan was looking for. Several times the first man to hit a Panther running back was either a safety or a corner, and unfortunately it often wasn't enough to put a halt to the play. On a mere seven carries in less than a quarter, Stephen Davis alone ran for 74 yards. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that's more than ten yards per carry. Thankfully, Skip Hicks isn't a north-south, between the tackles type of runner, so he was held to "only" 30 yards on his seven carries. He, however, scored a touchdown, one of two that the supposedly offense-deprived Panthers rung up. Just imagine what Davis and, at least on a few third downs, Hicks would have done had they been able to run at our defensive line the whole game.
On the other side of the ball, the unit that was the focus on nearly all off season improvement looked no better than the 21st-ranked group of last year. The second-year quarterback on whose arm the team's fate resides could have looked spectacular, had his receivers been able to hold onto the ball long enough to give him more than six throws in the entire first quarter. Ramsey was, on all but one throw, accurate and well-poised. His numbers, however, show little of that, giving him a horrid completion percentage of 33%, and only 57 yards. Three of his passes were simply dropped, two of them on third downs with the receiver in front of the first down marker. It seemed Spurrier decided to save Ramsey from further stress when he reneged on his pregame promise to keep the starter in the second quarter, deciding instead to put in Rob Johnson. Johnson, surprisingly, was a bright spot in the game, making good decisions and showcasing his scrambling ability on several occasions. He threw for 107 yards on a 10/16 night, with the only smudge, an interception, coming on a throw that was tipped at the line. The former South Cal star also managed to throw the only touchdown pass of the night, but it was frustratingly called back by a holding penalty. After Johnson was pulled for the night, in came the hero of heroes, Danny Wuerffel. Wuerffel quickly did what he does best, getting sacked on his second play and throwing an interception on what had begun to remotely resemble a comeback drive in the fourth quarter. He never got a chance to redeem himself, as Carolina ran the clock out with the ball.
The passing game wasn't entirely to blame for the offense's failure, despite the seeming inability to simply catch a check-down pass. There would have been more of a spark to the aerial attack had any sort of ability to run the ball been shown, or even if the offensive line, one of the areas that seemed to be most improved in the off season, had simply blocked correctly. This, sadly enough, was not the case. Of all the running backs that played, Sultan McCullough was easily the most spectacular, and he'll most likely see nothing but the practice squad this year. Neither Trung Canidate nor Kenny Watson did anything to impress, gaining four and three yards respectively, both on three carries. This, again, may have been partially the fault of the offensive line, which often let several white jerseys into the backfield. It was quite obvious that the unit had not worked very much on picking up the blitz in training camp, with missed blocking assignments all around and a few too many desperate holds for anyone's liking. One particularly bad moment found Derrick Dockery, the giant rookie who is attempting to push for a starting spot on the line during training camp, simply standing still as a blitzing linebacker ran right by him and hurried Rob Johnson into an incompletion. Dockery managed to sum up the Redskins' night on that single play; confused, disgruntled, and allowing a Panther to give ESPN another highlight a few feet away.
Despite all the negatives that showed up tonight, there were a few positives. Laveraneus Coles, on one of Ramsey's two completions for the night, streaked up the field for a 48-yard play and would have scored a touchdown had he not lost his balance making the catch. Scott Cloman also came up big, beautifully plucking the ball from the air along the sideline for a 36-yard gain. Cloman injured himself on the play, but showed his toughness by returning to the game in the fourth quarter. Robert Royal made several nice grabs, and could very well start in next week's game after Zeron Flemister's drop on third down. Cliff Russell and LaDairius Jackson looked good simply by showing up after knee injured last year. Russell managed two catches, including one very tough one on a low throw. That throw, incidentally, was from perhaps the biggest star of the night (at least in burgundy and gold), Rob Johnson. Johnson looked much more comfortable running the offense than reports from training camp had indicated, and made several impressive throws, not to mention impressive scrambles, during the game. His best feature, however, was simply his realization of when to throw the ball away. A veritable sack machine for opposing defenses in the past, Johnson seemed to be able to get rid of the ball just in time when he needed to, sending it flying out of bounds and saving himself from an impending five yard loss. Despite the official ruling that one of these throws was, in fact, a fumble (which I strongly disagreed with), this improvement could bode very well for the journeyman quarterback, who will almost certainly be Ramsey's backup if Wuerffel continues to perform as poorly as he did tonight.
With all the sacks, fumbles, interceptions, penalties, and, of course, that very ugly final scoreboard, one still must remember that this was just a preseason game. It means nothing, it counts for nothing, it affects nothing. What is important is how well the team learns from it. Carolina had the second-best defense in the league last year, and will almost certainly be in the top five again this year. It has a powerful, between the tackles runner and a strong offensive line. The Panthers could very well be the complete antithesis of the Redskins, strong where they are weak and weak where they are strong. It benefits Washington greatly, then, to play Carolina in the preseason, in order to learn the best lessons possible before September 4th and get better in as many areas as possible. This game could prove to be the most valuable of any this preseason, giving Washington roughly a month to figure out how to best deal with a power running came and a strong defensive line. It will help the team to succeed. And that, thankfully, is what the preseason is all about. The lessons learned tonight will help the Redskins play better tomorrow, and prepare as well as possible for the rematch in November.