Alot in here to like...
Agree Chris - but this season is truly going to be a week to week challenge. We should toast the 49ers at home as we are a much better team. But Philly in Philly, Dallas, and the Seahawks in Seattle will all be battles. Only saving grace with the tough schedule is that the other NFC East teams have to play it too
The NFC East is going to be come down to a game here or there.
Kinda what I was trying to convey earlier but you put it better. Pre-Season I was really worried that some games were 'gimme losses'. I remember looked at the early schedule especially and figuring that by this point we'd have been 1-3 with losses to the Chiefs, Raiders and Eagles. The rest of the schedule looked tough planning on the Cowboys being the division champs again, the Giants being there or thereabouts, and with the Seahawks and Bronco's being on form...
I'm with you now however, the schedule is still a tough one and we're not going to win them all... but on reflection seeing what this team has done the last few weeks, there's not a game out there I think we couldn't win. I don't think we're going 14-2 (wouldn't that be nice!) but I do think we're on for our 3rd winning record in 3 years which would REALLY be something. The Raiders game was impressive, but the Raiders are spluttering themselves lately, but the Chiefs game is especially telling to me. They're a team built to win the Superbowl right NOW. They've been through their growth years and their aim is squarely focused on that trophy. We're a young team, up and coming and starting to put together something that looks like it could be special, and we hung in there with them and they only just beat us. And even then the defeat was really self inflicted through penalties and dropped balls. I think that game is a coin toss, play that game 100 times and we win it 50 times.
This is a young team. The improvements on defense are shocking. I don't know if it's the youth/talent infusion, the new coaching staff, or both - but we're a different defense now.
My favourite bit of the statement. How many years prior had we brought in expensive veteran talent that had just panned out terribly? This is a new philosophy and it means that we could build something sustainable for the foreseeable future. My one worry is that if Manusky gets the Defense to the top 10 and people start to take notice and he gets offered a HC job somewhere... I think credit for this defenses turnaround can be leveled between him and Swearinger. Both have brought an energy and a swagger to the unit.
On offense, we are actually performing better than I expected. I anticipated some severe growing pains with the new receiving group. There's certainly been some of that, but there has also been enough success to give one a glimpse of a future really good corps. Biggest surprise of the season so far has been how ineffectual Jordan Reed has been. Last season, we saw a much more physical Reed with a more aggressive attitude. This year, he's mostly been a non-factor. I'm not paying much attention to stats - because one thing we're seeing with Gruden is that the ball is getting spread around much more than in previous seasons. I also believe it was McVay who was generally responsible for the pass happy playcalling. Gruden has a history as OC of a strong running game, and I think we will continue to see a 'run to set up the pass' approach from him, nearly opposite of previous years, which should make a lot of us happy. In general, the offense has been more productive than I would've anticipated. I certainly don't think those who predicted disaster with the failure to sign either Garcon or Jackson were right.
The offense can be VERY explosive. We've seen that. When they all get on the same page we look unbeatable. And like you I still think there are growing pains there. As the season wears on I'd expect us to get better. Fingers crossed. What worries me a little is the disappearance of Reed and Crowder. Are they just not getting the targets because with no Jackson and Garcon the defences are now picking them up more? Is that why Grant is getting more looks? Fortunately Grant has been really the surprise this year. Him and Thompson. We're potentially LOADED on offense. We've seen Thompson and Grant come on this year. Doctson and Pryor are works in progress. Reed and Crowder need to be involved more.
The running game has suffered from injuries, which is a shame because it was establishing itself. Kelley looked good before he got hurt again. Perine looked pretty good once he got going. Neither are earth shattering game changers, but all we needed to do was keep the Defense honest and give us 3rd and managables and they were doing that. I applaud Gruden's commitment to the run and hope he keeps it up. I'd like to see Mack get a run out against the 49ers if Kelley is still banged up.
As for last night - although I'm always hesitant to lay the blame for a loss on officiating - we got jobbed. There were several calls that went against us that 99.9% of NFL officials wouldn't call. The encroachment penalty alone probably cost us the game. And as others have pointed out, there were several non-calls that were equally damaging. But the stupid penalties, many of them on 3rd down, didn't help. And those were all on us.
Yeah, the key penalties were Smith getting caught on the 3rd and long for lining up in the neutral zone that suddenly game them 3rd and very short. Oh and that horsecollar on Breeland when we'd actually tackled the guy for a loss on 3rd down. Both of those were times when our D had the chance to get them off the field and instead we gave them life and points. Plus the injuries didn't help at all. We were devastated with minor injuries. There was a stat...
Chiefs Offence
First 28 Mins Final 32 mins
Points 0 23
Yards per dropback 5.4 8.0
Pressure Pct 44% 22%
That was when Josh Norman went out. :/
And he seemed to be the trigger for injuries all over the place, which coupled with our Offense stuttering meant we had 2nd and 3rd string players on the field for long periods. Mistakes were made.
I don't know what kind of season we're going to have. We're better than our current record reflects. All I know is that this team is aggressive, and competitive, and I expect them to be in every game. From the perspective of a beleagured Redskins fan, that's a pretty good place to be.
I'm in a very good place at the moment... until the weekend when I realise there's no football to watch!!!! Well no Redskins football anyway.
Tell you what else, the last few games have been a pleasure to be in chat with everyone too. It's so nice to enjoy a game with other fans when the Skins are a good team. Made staying up totally worth it. I'm still trying to recover today, I'm too old to weather later nights like that and then go to work the following day. LOL