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Redskins To Repeat 2008 Collapse?

Bulldog

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The Redskins won 4 games with a tough first half schedule.

But when you go back and look at the team fundamentals, how well the team runs the ball, passes the ball, protects the quarterback, stops the run and limits the pass, Washington is near the bottom of the NFL statistics.

The one statistic in Washington's favor has been the turnover differential - 2nd best in the NFL.

That is what contributed the winning points in the opener against Dallas, against Green Bay and certainly against the Chicago Bears.

So, what happens when that fickle bounce of the ball goes the other way?

We saw a glimpse of that in the Detroit game. McNabb threw an ill-timed interception, and the game turned for good on the Grossman sack/fumble.

In the meantime, Detroit didn't throw the game to the Redskins. There was no pick six for Hall or sack/fumble for Orakpo to return for an easy 7.

The end result was a 12 point loss to a team that lost the next week to the 0-7 Bills 14-12.

The Redskins back end schedule is not easy. And there is no way the turnover differential is going to maintain itself in current balance.

One wonders whether the pass protection problems and failure to establish a ground game will ultimately catch up.
 
One wonders whether the pass protection problems and failure to establish a ground game will ultimately catch up.

This was a concern with many when Shanahan was hired. The ZBS is simply not made for the NFC East. The interior of our O-Line would probably not start for at least 2/3 of the teams in the NFL. Artis Hicks is playing like the career backup he is. Rabach is not even average at Center anymore and Lichtensteiger in place of Dockery has the majority of us thinking Shanahan or the O-Line coach is :insane:

Jamal Brown has been playing on one leg all year and, as a result, has done nothing. When he goes out and Heyer comes in, it becomes a nightmare.

I don't like admitting our wins have been fortuitous. Hall against Dallas, Vick getting knocked out in Philly, Clay Matthews getting hurt and Landry's pick against Green Bay and Jay Cutler being stupid enough to keep throwing at Hall. We won games but we really haven't BEAT anybody. In the games we lost, with the possible exception of the Rams, we rose to the occasion and were actually IN each game.......until now.

The soft underbelly has been exposed. No amount of creativity from Haslett can help this sorry excuse for a 3-4 Defense. If it's all about getting guys to learn it and buy in so they are better at it next year then they will continue to suffer the remainder of this year. OR.....you could adapt your Defense to the personnel, play a 4-3 the remainder of the year and actually challenge opposing Offenses. I'm pretty sure Haslett and Shanahan will stick with the former and that means we'll continue to suffer, defensively, against good teams.

I'll be watching the remainder of this horror movie with my hands covering my eyes, occasionally peeking through my fingers at the less-scary parts and praying the good guys don't get killed in the end.
 
Aside from the Houston game, our offense really hasn't done squat this year. Yeah, you look at scores and wins we've put up a few points and wona few games. But as Bulldog has pointed out, those wins were form things like the pick 6, not from having consistant drives for scores

I said 6-10 this year, but looking at the rest of the schedule, I'm not seeing it. Wonder what position 4-12 gets us in the draft?
 
If we go 4-12, or 5-11, Shanahan should be fired.

Why? Because with all his experience, a better QB, and his so called better staff, he would have done no better than Zorn.

Unacceptable for someone of his tenure.

And no, I don't think that will happen
 
The one statistic in Washington's favor has been the turnover differential - 2nd best in the NFL.

That is what contributed the winning points in the opener against Dallas, against Green Bay and certainly against the Chicago Bears.

So, what happens when that fickle bounce of the ball goes the other way?

We saw a glimpse of that in the Detroit game. McNabb threw an ill-timed interception, and the game turned for good on the Grossman sack/fumble.

We saw more than a glimpse against the Eagles. Three McNabb interceptions led directly to 21 Eagles points. The Redskins can barely score 21, they can't afford to spot another team that many points (or any points for that matter).
 
We saw more than a glimpse against the Eagles. Three McNabb interceptions led directly to 21 Eagles points. The Redskins can barely score 21, they can't afford to spot another team that many points (or any points for that matter).

In all fairness, I can't pin the first one 100% on McNabb.
 
I don't blame McNabb for the first one.

The second one was his fault, but ... Joey Galloway? Is he REALLY still on the team? I swear, our WRs are just awful. Yes that pick was McNabb's fault but I just have a sneaking suspicion that had we had a WR that wasn't a gabillion years old on the other end of that pass something positive (or at least non-negative) might have happened.

The third one I didn't see, but given that we were 478 points behind by then and everyone knew McNabb was going to be throwing it, picks are bound to happen.

I'm not trying to excuse McNabb really. But the way our defense was playing we could have been +3 in interceptions and still lost going away. Our turnovers added insult to injury, but they weren't the reason we lost.

Oh, and to answer BD's question: Yes. We could see another collapse. I knew that was a possibility all year, but I was enjoying the ride while it lasted. Given the fact that the Redskins haven't played a complete season in about 20 years, that's all you can do.
 
I have no idea why Galloway is still on the team. Every time I see him he is dropping a ball or seemingly not giving effort. A waste of roster space.
 
Can't pin first or second pick on McNabb IMO - 2nd was a terrible route from Galloway. 3rd pick was an ill-advised throw, but doesn't matter much as we were already down several zillion points. Plus, protection broke-down almost immediately on the play.
 
I never said the picks were the sole reason we lost. But they definitely changed things. Without that early INT, they're only down 7 instead of 14. Would they have lost anyway? With the way the defense was playing, there is no question. But at least it might have been a more competitive game, and not a rout.
 
I just saw on Sportsline that Galloway had two targets, with two INTs.

Awesome.
 
Can't pin first or second pick on McNabb IMO - 2nd was a terrible route from Galloway. 3rd pick was an ill-advised throw, but doesn't matter much as we were already down several zillion points. Plus, protection broke-down almost immediately on the play.

I didn't think about the second. I'm still not sure. Either McNabb or Galloway gave away that route. It's was plain to a blind man. I just don't know which of them it was.
 
I guess I need to know what is meant by "collapse" in this context because right now I don't see a team in a position to collapse in the 2008 sense of the term.

Two years ago we were 6-3 after nine games and 2.5 games behind the NY Giants for the division lead. Right now we are 4-5 and 2 games behind NY and Philly for the division lead but I can tell you that this morning those 2 games feel more like 20 games.

Sure, we have won some games against decent teams, not great but decent. However, those wins didn't feel like wins most of the time. More like escapes.

As I have noted elsewhere, this is not a good team right now and it is not getting better as the season goes on. Guys are getting hurt, the QB seems to be regressing rather than progressing and the coaching staff seems to be expecting more than the current starting lineups can do. Add to that the fact that early on we snuck up on folks with an overhauled roster and new coaching staff where now teams have film to look at and figure out what we will do.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, I see 3 winnable games which would put this club at 7-9 and pretty much right around where most folks thought they would be . . . a .500 ball club, give or take a game.

I don't call that a collapse.
 
I wouldn't call 7-9 a collapse either. I don't think that's what BD is talking about.
 
Neophyte hit the nail on the head. This team is NOT getting better as the season progresses, we don't see younger players stepping up and becoming solid contributors.

Instead the ground game is gone. The passing game is now registering more interceptions than touchdowns. The third down offense is the worst in the NFL at 21%.

And we have the 34 year old McNabb throwing to the 39 year old Galloway.

How is that supposed to help the team get better?

How about ending the charade and bringing up Terrence Austin from the PS and giving him a chance in the second half?
 

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