Quick Hitters: Week 9

[Spence]

Kudos this week go to LT Chris Samuels and LG Pete Kendall, who absolutely destroyed the Jets defensive linemen and opened up one big hole after another for Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts. It is rare to see such physical domination by one professional football player, let alone two, but we saw it on Sunday. The Redskins rushed for almost 300 yards on Sunday and almost all of it went right over Samuels and Kendall. The running back gets the glory, but it was Samuels and Kendall who made it happen.

Read it all!

[RedskinRyan]

at 5-3 with such conservative playcalling, that is what is really impressing me. after the philly game next week, campbell will have started 16 games, a full season. it's time to open up the playbook and see what he can do.

[dj_stouty]

Until the NFL starts factoring in "style points" in the win/loss standings, I'll certainly not lose any sleep over a close win.

[GolfFreak]

I’m happy to have the win, but I’m not impressed.

Me too! A lot of things went our way yesterday (17 unanswered points), but I don't think anyone in the league is scared of our team. We need to beat some good teams, some NFC East teams. Our next two games are very important IMO.

[Spence]

Originally Posted by dj_stouty

Until the NFL starts factoring in "style points" in the win/loss standings, I'll certainly not lose any sleep over a close win.

It is not a matter of losing sleep [I haven't lost sleep over the Redskins since I was in college], it's a matter of looking down the schedule and trying to find teams as bad as the Jets. The Redskins are a difficult team to figure out. They've lost to teams with a combined record of 22-3. They've won 2 games in overtime against teams with a combined record 1-16. I have a feeling that the Redskins could be a lot better than they are, but I just don't see the head coach allowing that to happen.

I've finally figured out what Gibbs and Dan Snyder have in common. They both want to win, but they don't want to win no matter what. Snyder doesn't want to win if it means hiring a real GM and Gibbs doesn't want to win if it means using a 21st century offense that just freaks him out. They only want to win on their own terms.

[smoak]

I agree with some of what was written, but I would clarify with the following:

- Vilma's replacement (forget the guy's name this second) had 17 tackles the week before and seemed to play a good game against the Redskins. I'm not so sure there is a huge drop-off there.
- Campbell was off yesterday and the running game was working. Is there a person in the world that would have flipped the mix? I hope not, b/c in the world of football, I think you still win by running the football successfully and converting third downs. I completely agree with Gibbs that this is what Redskins football is all about, but I think the real problem is we shouldn't expect this level of success against better teams. Still, it is a start. Fabini and Wade are not NFL starting caliber players IMO and it hampers everything we want to accomplish.
- Paying lots of $$$ for a player never should translate to on-field expectations. Of all people, I'd think a Redskins fan would know that. If guys aren't getting it done, I am all for looking for cheaper alternatives and I refuse to agree that we should throw more b/c our WRs make a lot of money. We simply overvalued ARE and Lloyd and Moss has fallen off a cliff in terms of his production.
- Agree on the penalties. Between that and the kick return, this game wouldn't have been close... But we all know the Redskins don't roll that way and something had to contribute towards shortening our life expectancy.
- The blitzes for the most part were ineffective garbage, and the soft zones was worse. Whether its Gibbs fault or not, GW has lost his moxie IMO. That said, the defense is certainly good enough to take us to the playoffs Starting this week, teams will show us a heavy diet of short passes until the Redskins man up and stop it. The Pats showed a blue print on how to beat us, and thankfully the Jets can't execute as well as the Pats b/c we are slow to adjust IMO.

[Hr fan]

Originally Posted by RedskinRyan

at 5-3 with such conservative playcalling, that is what is really impressing me. after the philly game next week, campbell will have started 16 games, a full season. it's time to open up the playbook and see what he can do.

At the postgame news conference JG said he is finally satisfied with the O with a 2-1 run over pass, avoid the redzone because of ineffectiveness there, throw overlong to "loosen" the opposing D... Where in this litany do you see the playbook opening? I see it closing.

[SkinsfaninNJ]

Spence, you said everything I have been thinking since yesterday.

A note on Campbell. The problem with handcuffing him is his inability to get into a flow. Just as we have all been saying leave Portis out there and let him run it to get into a flow, the same can be said of Campbell. When you only give a guy one or two chances to make a play, it is hard to get anything going. There is no margin for error.

I was thinking when he missed Moss long, JC cannot miss those, because the coaches and defenses are only going to give the opportunity once a game at most.

Finally, sort of along the same lines as what Spence said, we are not going to beat many teams the way we did yesterday. Our unhealthy line just isn't good enough, so we have to brush up our passing game whenever possible. There were situations yesterday that were begging for a play action long pass. You can bet that a team with killer instinct like Cowboys and Pats would have put 14+ points on the Jets in that fourth quarter and blew the game wide open.

[SkinsfaninNJ]

Originally Posted by Hr fan

At the postgame news conference JG said he is finally satisfied with the O with a 2-1 run over pass, avoid the redzone because of ineffectiveness there, throw overlong to "loosen" the opposing D... Where in this litany do you see the playbook opening? I see it closing.

I don't get the ineffectiveness in the redzone. First, we used to be really good down there. Second, we have almost everything you need to be effective down there. We have a power back in Sellers. We have a tailback with a knack for getting in the endzone in Portis. We have a mobile QB who can buy time and even run one in. We have a very good pass catching TE and FB. The only thing we are missing is the 6-3 WR.

To me, this is more about the coaches coaching scared. We should be licking our chops when we get down there, not calling plays that will avoid mistakes.

[Syllable]

You didn't mention us shutting down Thomas Jones which was a good sight.

Also, I enjoyed reading the bit on the playcalling and who is really controlling this offense. Most of our games will end up like this, unless Gibbs budges.

[openallnight]

Originally Posted by smoak

- The blitzes for the most part were ineffective garbage, and the soft zones was worse. Whether its Gibbs fault or not, GW has lost his moxie IMO. That said, the defense is certainly good enough to take us to the playoffs Starting this week, teams will show us a heavy diet of short passes until the Redskins man up and stop it. The Pats showed a blue print on how to beat us, and thankfully the Jets can't execute as well as the Pats b/c we are slow to adjust IMO.

Smoak, I don't get what you mean here? We started blitzing in the 2nd half and it seemed that every time we blitzed Clemons hurried his throw and made an errant pass. The blitzes were very effective yesterday. I'm glad they're back in our arsenal.

[smoak]

Originally Posted by openallnight

Smoak, I don't get what you mean here? We started blitzing in the 2nd half and it seemed that every time we blitzed Clemons hurried his throw and made an errant pass. The blitzes were very effective yesterday. I'm glad they're back in our arsenal.

Sometimes when I watch football, I like to guess who is blitzing, and my gut feeling is that it is much easier to tell when and where the Skins are coming than other teams. I'd have to review film, but my thought was that Clemons picked us apart underneath and we were lucky that some passes were flat out dropped. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT unhappy after a win.... But I miss 2004 when I felt GW had more confidence to just pull anything out of his butt and make it work.

[skins74]

Gibbs' game plan almost got us beat, run run run doesn't work most of the time, it's all about deception and our offense has none of it. There is such a thing as a foward pass. Was there a fire at Redskin park and Al's playbook got burned down to 3 pages?

[Bluuz]

Originally Posted by skins74

Gibbs' game plan almost got us beat, run run run doesn't work most of the time, it's all about deception and our offense has none of it. There is such a thing as a foward pass. Was there a fire at Redskin park and Al's playbook got burned down to 3 pages?

I disagree. The running game is the reason we won. IMO, more passing would have resulted in 3 and outs and allowed the Jet's offense more time on the field, which given the inconsistent play of the defense, would likely have resulted in more Jets scores.

When you have a guy like Portis who can break for a TD on any play, you keep giving him the ball until the other team stops him. With a 196 yards rushing yesterday, the Jets didn't stop him too often.

[smoak]

Originally Posted by Bluuz

I disagree. The running game is the reason we won. IMO, more passing would have resulted in 3 and outs and allowed the Jet's offense more time on the field, which given the inconsistent play of the defense, would likely have resulted in more Jets scores.

When you have a guy like Portis who can break for a TD on any play, you keep giving him the ball until the other team stops him. With a 196 yards rushing yesterday, the Jets didn't stop him too often.

I'm convinced some fans would rather be entertained than win football games. Of course running the football successfully wins games. Who cares about chucking the ball around when you're getting 5 yards at a clip???