firehawk157
09-17-2008, 02:13 PM
Arizona Cardinals (2-0) at Washington Redskins (1-1) on Sunday at 1PM on Fox
Announcers: Kenny Albert, The Moose and Tony Siragusa
Injury Report:
Washington – WR James Thrash (questionable), WR Malcolm Kelly (questionable)
AZ – Gabe Watson (questionable)
Vegas spread: Skins by 4, though most have us by 3.0
Useless stats that everybody thinks proves something: Arizona owns a pretty awesome team by looking at the stat sheet, 7th ranked offense and 7th ranked defense. Consider, however, that the teams they played were Miami and San Fran and things look a bit different now. Meanwhile, the Skins own the 11th ranked offense and the 17th ranked defense, and no Skins fan would tell you the offense is the better unit. Basically, rankings at this time of year are more indicative of who you've played vs. how good your unit is.
Firehawk's important but understated fact: The Redskins have won the past 5 straight, by a very low margin (2005 was clinched by a Sean Taylor tackle late in the 4th quarter and 2007's game wasn't won until a Neil Racker's kick sailed left of the uprights). That basically means it doesn't seem to matter where the teams are, the Cardinals play their former division rival tough.
Redskins’ keys to offensive success
1) Get Portis the ball... Let me just say it this way, I don't believe that AZ is a great run stopping team. They have huge Alan Branch anchoring the middle, but that's it. They held Miami to 30 something yards if my memory serves me correctly, but cmon, Miami? Really? Frank Gore ran ALL over them in week 1, getting 96 yards (6.9 average) and a TD. S Wilson should be solid but you have to imagine after watching the game film from last week, they'll have him playing back more often.
2) Get Cooley the ball in the redzone… He had a good game last week and I don't think the Cards are a good tackling team, I think if you get him the ball in space, he'll get you more than you give him. They looked for him enough from 20 to 20, but they have to start looking his way down by the goalline, he's a beast there.
3) Protect Campbell... At least early, Campbell seems to a be QB who thrives on a rhythm. If he gets pressured early, he usually freaks out and folds, so the only way for the Skins to seem to do anything is keep people out of Campbell's face early on and provide him with easy outlets in case they bring a full on blitz. Luckily, I don't see anyone on the Card's roster that is scary pass rush wise.
Redskins’ keys to defensive success
1) Get to Warner, early and often... Guess who has the best QB rating in the league right now? Kurt Warner with 128. Another interesting statistic for you, over the last 5 years, Warner has fumbled the most in the pocket. Basically, here's the moral of the story. If we can keep the pressure on Warner, he will give us the ball. I like our secondary, but I don't think we can hang with Boldin and Fitzgerald for very long or consistently. I don't think anybody can.
2) Get push on the line... I'm not the biggest fan of RB Hightower. I just think he had a solid game against a horrible team. As long as we can have our space eaters (DTs) eat blocks, I see no reason why Fletcher and company can't shut down the run without bringing up another player into the box. Also, pushing the pocket back will be important so Warner can't step into his throw.
3) Start Horton over Reed Doughty... I mean, really, how hard does this have to be? One guy has more turnovers in one game than the other guy does over his entire career. Mathematicians have yet to invent a number that Reed Doughty can multiply his turnover totals to equal that of Horton's. Same for player of the week awards.
Answers to last week's questions:
1) Where’s Cooley at, can Zorn get him and some of our other guys involved (instead of the throw to Moss or El pattern we’ve been seeing)? If I remember correctly, completions to 8 different receivers and Cooley had an above average game.
2) Can we create enough holes to have Portis run wild or will the season just be him struggling for yards? Depends on when you turned on the TV. He looked unstoppable from 3rd quarter on but still struggle early in the first half. I think that has more to do with forcing the Saints to defend the pass than wearing down the defense personally.
3) Who exactly will we scare with our offense, us or them? From 20 to 20, we should scare everybody. We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. Inside the redzone, we're still timid.
4) Can Golston and Griffin do anything resembling stopping the run? Especially Golston... Can't complain about what we kept Reggie Bush to.
5) Will big receivers eat our secondary alive like Plexico did? I don't think we can say anybody ate us alive this game.
New questions I want answers to:
1) Can we manage to get together a string of good games or are we doomed to inconsistency?
2) Can we finish drives?
3) Will we regret not sacrificing virgins to the football gods for not allowing the Anquan Boldin trade?
4) Can we consistently get pressure again, or was last Sunday an abberation?
5) Can we get away with as many penalties as Dallas does, week in and week out? Hint to Dallas players, the facemask is not a convenient handhold by which you grab players you wish to tackle or block!
Thoughts?
Announcers: Kenny Albert, The Moose and Tony Siragusa
Injury Report:
Washington – WR James Thrash (questionable), WR Malcolm Kelly (questionable)
AZ – Gabe Watson (questionable)
Vegas spread: Skins by 4, though most have us by 3.0
Useless stats that everybody thinks proves something: Arizona owns a pretty awesome team by looking at the stat sheet, 7th ranked offense and 7th ranked defense. Consider, however, that the teams they played were Miami and San Fran and things look a bit different now. Meanwhile, the Skins own the 11th ranked offense and the 17th ranked defense, and no Skins fan would tell you the offense is the better unit. Basically, rankings at this time of year are more indicative of who you've played vs. how good your unit is.
Firehawk's important but understated fact: The Redskins have won the past 5 straight, by a very low margin (2005 was clinched by a Sean Taylor tackle late in the 4th quarter and 2007's game wasn't won until a Neil Racker's kick sailed left of the uprights). That basically means it doesn't seem to matter where the teams are, the Cardinals play their former division rival tough.
Redskins’ keys to offensive success
1) Get Portis the ball... Let me just say it this way, I don't believe that AZ is a great run stopping team. They have huge Alan Branch anchoring the middle, but that's it. They held Miami to 30 something yards if my memory serves me correctly, but cmon, Miami? Really? Frank Gore ran ALL over them in week 1, getting 96 yards (6.9 average) and a TD. S Wilson should be solid but you have to imagine after watching the game film from last week, they'll have him playing back more often.
2) Get Cooley the ball in the redzone… He had a good game last week and I don't think the Cards are a good tackling team, I think if you get him the ball in space, he'll get you more than you give him. They looked for him enough from 20 to 20, but they have to start looking his way down by the goalline, he's a beast there.
3) Protect Campbell... At least early, Campbell seems to a be QB who thrives on a rhythm. If he gets pressured early, he usually freaks out and folds, so the only way for the Skins to seem to do anything is keep people out of Campbell's face early on and provide him with easy outlets in case they bring a full on blitz. Luckily, I don't see anyone on the Card's roster that is scary pass rush wise.
Redskins’ keys to defensive success
1) Get to Warner, early and often... Guess who has the best QB rating in the league right now? Kurt Warner with 128. Another interesting statistic for you, over the last 5 years, Warner has fumbled the most in the pocket. Basically, here's the moral of the story. If we can keep the pressure on Warner, he will give us the ball. I like our secondary, but I don't think we can hang with Boldin and Fitzgerald for very long or consistently. I don't think anybody can.
2) Get push on the line... I'm not the biggest fan of RB Hightower. I just think he had a solid game against a horrible team. As long as we can have our space eaters (DTs) eat blocks, I see no reason why Fletcher and company can't shut down the run without bringing up another player into the box. Also, pushing the pocket back will be important so Warner can't step into his throw.
3) Start Horton over Reed Doughty... I mean, really, how hard does this have to be? One guy has more turnovers in one game than the other guy does over his entire career. Mathematicians have yet to invent a number that Reed Doughty can multiply his turnover totals to equal that of Horton's. Same for player of the week awards.
Answers to last week's questions:
1) Where’s Cooley at, can Zorn get him and some of our other guys involved (instead of the throw to Moss or El pattern we’ve been seeing)? If I remember correctly, completions to 8 different receivers and Cooley had an above average game.
2) Can we create enough holes to have Portis run wild or will the season just be him struggling for yards? Depends on when you turned on the TV. He looked unstoppable from 3rd quarter on but still struggle early in the first half. I think that has more to do with forcing the Saints to defend the pass than wearing down the defense personally.
3) Who exactly will we scare with our offense, us or them? From 20 to 20, we should scare everybody. We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things. Inside the redzone, we're still timid.
4) Can Golston and Griffin do anything resembling stopping the run? Especially Golston... Can't complain about what we kept Reggie Bush to.
5) Will big receivers eat our secondary alive like Plexico did? I don't think we can say anybody ate us alive this game.
New questions I want answers to:
1) Can we manage to get together a string of good games or are we doomed to inconsistency?
2) Can we finish drives?
3) Will we regret not sacrificing virgins to the football gods for not allowing the Anquan Boldin trade?
4) Can we consistently get pressure again, or was last Sunday an abberation?
5) Can we get away with as many penalties as Dallas does, week in and week out? Hint to Dallas players, the facemask is not a convenient handhold by which you grab players you wish to tackle or block!
Thoughts?