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Redskins vs Rams: Things to Watch For

Om

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Sunday against the Rams, the Skins have a chance to show the league that while they did lose last week, the hopeful signs many have said they saw were actually signs, and not illusion. I'm talking about the improved pass protection, the overall defense, the physicality (with the glaring exception of that last ****ing play of course).

Besides the obvious stuff we've been talking about all week ... like SCORE MORE POINTS ... I'm sure we all have ideas about what we would like to see, need to see, expect to see, etc. Here are some random thoughts I've had this week I don't believe I've seen discussed much.

These are just a jumping off point, brothers and sisters. Bring your wisdom to the table ...

On defense

- Last week Joe Barry had the element of surprise working in his favor. Miami had zero game film to review going in, either of the new scheme or the manner in which he'd incorporate all the new faces. Preseason film meant nothing. The Rams will have been poring over the Miami game films and identified perceived weaknesses to exploit, and Barry will have to be prepared counter whatever wrinkles the Rams throw at him based that. To complicate matters, he'll also have to protect the cornerbacks from what is sure to be a carefully targeted attack. Mr. Amerson, in particular, can probably expect to get a lot of attention.

- Really like to hear Ryan Kerrigan's name called a few more times this week.

- Won't be surprised, if Trent Murphy's first half looks a lot like last week did (meaning, just a body out there), that we won't see Preston Smith take over and then start next week if he doesn't struggle too much with assignments Sunday.

On offense

- Without Desean Jackson to "take the top off" the Rams defense, the Redskins will have to force the Rams to respect the downfield passing game early. I look for Jamison Crowder and Rashad Ross to be sent deep early to try to send a message that there do in fact remain downfield threats. If we don't, they'll slowly bring the safeties up, stack the box and make rough sledding for Morris and the Redskins run game.

- Kirk Cousins needs to do everything he did right last week again, and not do the stuff he did wrong. In other words, just show improvement. Be heading the right direction. And put more than 10 points on the board.

And shave the beard.

On Special Teams

Yeah, missed FG's are big. And the inability to kick off deep and force teams to start at their 20 yard line is big. But for a franchise struggling to find its way out of the kind of rut chasm the Redskins are in, giving up touchdowns is fatal. Blocked kicks returned for scores, punt and kickoff returns for scores ... until the Redskins stop that kind of hemorrhaging, they will continue to lose games. Teams that regularly score 30 can survive the occasional stab wound of an opponent special teams score. Teams that struggle every week to score even 20, simply bleed out.

Coaching

- The first half last week showed a team that looked well-prepared and focused. The second half, not so much. Whatever adjustments were made were not effective, and as the half wore on, the team in white started looking stronger, and faster, and the team in burgundy and gold foundered. Gruden, Barry, et al need to find a way to not only make effective X and O adjustments at the half and then during the 3rd and 4th quarters, they need to find a way to keep the players focused to eliminate the unforced errors--the penalties and mental mistakes. Or at least, as noted above, to make them less egregious and ultimately fatal as last week.

What do we want?

Progress!

When do we want it?

Sunday.

Alfred+Morris+Washington+Redskins+v+St+Louis+3Zc6Pmd0YGPl.jpg
 
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I'm all for that!! Great thread. I really hope we can go out and put some points on the board and either be blowing them out or close to it in the 4th.
 
Yeah, everything Om said. And.....

On defense, I've resigned myself to knowing Barry as a rep for going zone heavy. If I've not mentioned it before, I loooooaaaathe zone coverage. But, maybe it's just because I've hardly ever seen it work for us. Last week, it kinda did. It's heavily reliant on getting pressure with only 4 guys. We did ok last week, but I'd still say it was average at best. Need to see above average pressure when rushing 4. Cause without it, any decent QB, not wearing a Redskins uniform, apparently, will slice and dice it with regularity. Especially when we have Toast Amerson anywhere on the field.

On offense, I like to see another good "Plan A", just like last week. However, not having a "Plan B", proved fatal. And no, I choose to think they really did NOT have a plan B. Cause it was too dreadful to think it's the best the coaches could do. I want to see a play-action bomb to Ross/Crowder on the first play. And then in every drive that last more than 3 and out, I want to see another. I want Kirk to settle down and stop trying to be what he isn't, yet. Manage the game, protect the ball, keep the tempo up. It'll work itself out, dude.

Special teams, I checked the rule book. It is actually legal for us to try and score TD's too. Who Knew?
Kick every kickoff, hopefully there will be many, out of the endzone. Save one. Better not miss a field goal in this town.
Dream scenario? Ross returns kickoff for a TD. And, on the ensuing KO, the one NOT kicked out of the endzone, he makes the tackle inside their 20.

Coaches, look like you know WTF you're doing.

Redskins 27
Lambs 13
 
Excellent posts...

I don't expect us to put it together against this team... or against the Giants, but maybe against Philly.

Offense: We'll have to go run heavy against Gregg Williams' defense, and we'll have to rely again on long sustained drives. This is not a recipe for success. I'd like to see a similar game plan to last week, but we can't afford any meltdowns from ST or Kirk.
Defense: Rams put up 34 points against Seahawks without their top 2 RBs in the game. The Redskins need to win both field position and time of possession for the defense to succeed.
ST: I'm looking forward to Hopkins... If we have another let down on kick/punt coverage, I say it might be time to let Kotwika go... There are probably many young (not established) coaches out there who would like an opportunity.
 
Tavon Austin is licking his chops. Several Refs may throw out their shoulders, with repetitive flag throws.
Amerson was targeted 7 times in a row in last weeks drive before the end of the half. That number could be in trouble this week.

Defense needs to keep us in the game. The offensive coaching has to show us they are capable of at least sometimes keeping a defense off balance.
Special teams. Punt out of bounds, and kick out of the endzone.
 
Key to the game is Kerrigan - he looked rusty last week and I look for he and his friends to have a big day with the pass rush. Enough pressure and how shaky your secondary is or isn't is a lot less important. Our new kicker better perform well too.


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Boone, let's not put it all on the kicker.

These guys that play special teams and get paid an NFL paycheck each week should be under serious scrutiny from McCloughan and the front office.

And that includes the coaching.

Special teams were awful last year and with a good percentage of new players this year looks as bad.

Doc Walker once said that playing special teams was all about the 'size of the fight in the dog' and if we have guys that don't want to go out and scrap on Sunday afternoons we need to start looking on other teams' practice squads and street free agents that may be able to play teams and are hungry enough for an NFL opportunity.
 
kicking the ball out of the end zone solves any issue we have on kickoff special teams.
 
well, but not on punt returns where we got nailed by Miami last week.

it all goes hand in hand because many of the same 'core' players are on both coverage units.

I remember when George Allen was here even if our kicker sliced the ball and the returner was able to field it up at the 10-15 yard line we still got down there and got him on the ground.

We didn't go around complaining that the extra 5 yards made it too tough to cover the kicks.
 
That is why I said kickoffs. Tress handles the punts and that is something we can't fix with kicking out of bounds.

but even with them moving the ball 5 yards closer Kai couldn't kick it even in to the end zone.
 
right, but after cutting Kai my next thought as GM would be to look at the ST coverage guys and say now you have no more excuses to fail.

If a guy takes the ball out of the end zone and runs 102 yards for a TD you might as well not show up for the plane ride home :mad:
 
I think the bottom line here is we still suck at kick coverage. The offseason was supposed to be a step forward in that regard. And then, predictably, we lose Hayward, the captain, and Niles Paul, a stalwart, before opening day. How much better we might have been with those 2 guys is debatable, but it surely did not help.

Kick coverage issues weren't going to be fixed in one year any more than the rest of the team--maybe even less, given that our ST's were historically bad--but it's a damn shame what growth me might have seen was compromised before we even got to suit up.
 
OM, I guess the issue I have with that is guys who have played ST in the NFL from Doc Walker to Monte Coleman to Brian Mitchell have said the best coverage and return teams they were on were rarely the ones with the best pure athletes.

It's a blue-collar lunch pail crew that pays attention to the details.

Coleman indicated in an interview the Redskins coverage team was so in sync you could view sideline to sideline and see the interior core group of guys reach the opposing wedge at virtually the same time.

There were no long gaps or shades where all of the cover guys were forced to one side and that opened the field for a returner to take it all the way back.

So, based on these kinds of descriptions one would think with a coach that is good at teaching technique and demanding quality reps as well as having guys that WANT to produce on teams, we COULD/SHOULD be better FASTER on ST than on offense or defense.

Now, whether the coaching is poor or uninspiring, whether we have the wrong guys out there on teams (ie guys that are 'saving' themselves for a role on the regular defense or offense, etc.), or whatever.............Gruden needs to make sure this gets fixed.

Hopefully, McCloughan has a bead on a guy that might be an upgrade as ST coordinator at the end of the season.

And again, if guys like Jeron Johnson don't want to play ST here and are miffed they aren't starting, there's the door :D
 
We're not disagreeing, BT. I would lose zero sleep if we learned Sunday night that Kotwicka was fired after the game. I have seen nothing in the time he's been here that leads to me believe he is the kind of guy who can make a difference.

All I was pointing out was that while Scot/Gruden did try to address teams this offseason, if imperfectly or incompletely, the setbacks in losing probably the two key guys before we even got to play a game really didn't help. Neither Hayward or Paul are great athletes, I see them as exactly the kind of guys you talk about from back in the day. Blue collar, hard-nosed football players.

(I wonder what Reggie Branch is up to?)

If nothing else, perhaps we've learned that simply replacing the coach isn't enough to dig quickly out of the pit of despair our coverage teams have been for a long time. Turns out maybe Danny Smith wasn't The Problem after all. Add to that the Mara cap penalty, which crushed teams as much as anything in terms of depth and the ability to sign guys to fill those thankless roles who were little more than bodies off the street.

That's all old news, though. Bottom line is that Sunday we started 2015 on special teams the same way we've ended the last several years---unable to hold our own and contributing far more to losing than winning.

About the only "good" thing I can see from that was that Scot M probably threw up in his mouth a little watching Landry gallop untouched to paydirt straight up our team's special arse.

Guarantee you there was no happy-talk in the special teams meetings this week.
 
I was being snarky BT. I figure the game after firing Forbath the new guy will miss 3 in a row straight. That would be pretty typical. I sure hope not.


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Haven't seen this posted elsewhere so I may have missed it.

Redskins inactives:

No. 10 QB Robert Griffin III
No. 11 WR DeSean Jackson
No. 35 CB Justin Rogers
No. 50 LB Martrell Spaight
No. 61 G Spencer Long
No. 68 T Tom Compton
No. 74 G Arie Kouandjio

Lambs inactives:

No. 14 QB Sean Mannion
No. 30 RB Todd Gurley
No. 34 RB Chase Reynolds
No. 63 T Darrell Williams
No. 69 G Cody Wichmann
No. 83 WR Brian Quick
No. 97 DE Eugene Sims

Per Redskins site (link) Announcement Of Inactives (9.20.15)
 

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