Why this loss made me feel good.

[chrisbcbu]

I have to admit at first i was completely down when we got blown out. I had watched the tape again and it made me feel better. I looked at the offense and defense and noticed that our offense was using the same basic plays we had been using the whole preseason. Gibbs didnt even try to add a new play or anything to our vanilla offense. Our D did try some different blitzing in the first, and hey we even got a sack on one of them.

I had a feeling that our starters wouldnt play long because with the final 2 games we needed to evalute our young players and see who to keep. Warner is a definate keeper for the D-line. Pierce is the definate #4 linebacker. Betts is definately our #2 running back. Morton is our definate 3rd and long back. Springs will be our #1 corner very shortly. Walt harris(when he gets healthy) could push Smoot to #3. Our other corners cannot cover a top receiver(but who really can these days). Rod Gardner caught 2 out of 2 balls thrown at him. Plus we didnt give up a sack and that is with 3 of our normal starters not playing on the O-line.(Samuels, Jansen and Thomas)

These are just some things i saw when i looked back at the tape.

[SkinsForLife]

Awsome post!! Right on the money, and very reassuring.

[redwolf1218]

maybe you're right. the media was gushing over how "great" we were after trouncing miami. Gibbs offered up a dose of humble pie. getting beat good sticks in your mind a long time. i dont know about you guys, but it seems like it's the one shot you miss, or the one play you dont make, that sticks in your mind after all the good plays, that makes you lose sleep thinking never ever let that happen again.

[Skinsfan1311]

Great post! Funny you should say that, because that's exactly what I was telling my friends, (Crow's fans), last night, while we were watching the "Ray-vens" game last night. The look on Smoot's face said it all.....

[leave_scars]

Maybe Gibbs and crew just wanted to see ,who was gonna keep fighting. Even when they knew they couldn't win.

[REDMAN]

It kind of reminded me of Osaka a few years ago. We whipped up on the niners scrubs and were so happy, only to crash in the real games. They beat up on a lot of our scrubs. I still think Gibbs is holding back. even the announcers seemed to think so.

I do belive though that you are only as good as your backups.

[dabro]

Gibbs and Williams didn't gameplan specifically against the Rams, at least that's what Williams said. So, as already observed, it was a mis-match from the get-go.

I was really pleased seeing Taylor coming back to make the interception on a play similar to the one he had been beaten on a few plays earlier. The guy is a natural at his position, and will clearly improve with each game.

The problem is that we were able to generate very little pressure against an ailing offensive line. While we clearly would have done better with Arrington in there, we haven't seen Barrow or Daniels yet, and can only hope that they live up to their billing. My concern is, do we have enough depth on the DL when (not if) someone goes down? If we can't generate pressure from the DL line alone, it's going to hurt our defense a lot, and put plenty of pressure on the secondary. While I have confidence that Williams will design a defense to minimize these weaknesses and enhance the strengths, it will still not be as good as it could be with a decent DL.

Where did Warner come from? He looks like a promising backup.

Offensively, who knows? Kenyatta Jones said after the game that the Skins used no stunting or other deceptive line play to counter the Rams' rush, or to open holes. I am waiting to see if they can actually open up holes between the tackles. So far, they haven't been able to do so on a consistent basis.

Ramsey has a long way to go - like a year. I would like to see Hasselback go against the opponent's starters. He might make a better no. 2 than Ramsey, at this point.

The way I see it, it's going to take the Skins 6 or so games to begin to gel as a team, so I'm putting this year down as a learning experience. They will probably win 5 games just by not beating themselves. The rest will be up to the talent, which is still lacking on both sides of the ball.

[rskinsfan10]

Originally Posted by IowaSkinsFan

I thought GW was showing too much in the way of blitzes. Unless those were his "vanilla" blitzes, which I hope they were, since no one was getting through.

No one in the NFL is better at disguising his blitzes then Williams. Those blitzes Friday night were very obvious as to who was coming and where they were coming from. I expect a tad bit more deception from Williams when the season starts.

[LadyNRedskinsfan]

.

[garedskin]

Gibbs uses preseason for exactly what it was intended for.Evaluating talent and getting his team ready for the season.It does not matter so much if they win or lose but having them prepared for there oppenent each and every week.I read in the WT yesterday that Gibbs said it was HIS fault(Gibbs has always blamed himself when his team lost) he did not have the team more prepared to play the Rams.Gibbs and his staff had a very basic offensive/defensive game plan and they stuck with it.There is a time for everything and it is very appearant that it is Sept 12 not before.They played alot of players who might or might not make this team against the Rams 1st stringers and that to me was very good for us.He was able to see what they can do when he needs them in the regular season.The 4 teams he has faced in the preseason so far are seasoned teams and 3 of the 4 made the playoffs last year.For the most part they have faired very well considering our team is still trying to come together as a team.

[ihatedallas]

That is a great way to look at it