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OF: 1-0 Redskins Raise the Bar

Om

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Sept. 13, 2012

Last week I predicted that the Redskins would make a game of it Sunday in New Orleans, but in the end their defense would not be able to control the quick-release and savvy of Saints QB Drew Brees. Nothing beats being loud wrong than being loud wrong about losing.

Mr. Haslett? Well done, sir.

Some Kid Named Bob

Millions of words have been written this week about the sparkling debut of Robert Griffin, III, the Redskins instant-star rookie quarterback. "Obviously," as head coach Mike Shanahan might say, "any time a rookie quarterback makes his first NFL start, on the road against a playoff contender, and plays smart and as well as Robert did and has the best debut of any rookie quarterback in league history, you have to be happy."

By and large, talk from the media and fans alike have reflected that fuzziness. And of course there were a few obligatory "yeah but" contributions. That's what we have writers like Sally Jenkins for. Hard to tell if she really believed the football world needed reminding it was just one game, or simply drew the short straw when they were handing out assingments Monday at the Washington Post.

So, rather than try to find a fresh way of saying "wow," let me simply single out a piece that truly stood out for me. The last paragrash,in particular, succintly put into words my own takeaway from week one, heading into the nascent RGIII era. From Chris Brown at Grantland...

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Nice job, as usual.

For myself, I didn't see my concern as being "here we go again", as much as it was, "It ain't over yet folks. That's still Drew ****ing Brees over there."

I did get the sense that Haslett took his foot off the gas, though.

I expect Bradford to feel like a thousand of brick have fallen on him. If we stop the truck (Jackson), I'm thinking 5+ sacks, and winning the turnover battle.

I expect Robert to have at least one "rookie moment."

I hope for a nice, relaxing 4th quarter, with a winning outcome for the Burgundy & Gold already assured.

Of course, like my dear ole Daddy likes to say, "Hope in one hand, and **** in the other...See which one fills up first."

Skins 27
Rams 13
 
After facing Brees this is just the kind of game the defense would go out and lay an egg in previous seasons.

The Rams receivers are nothing to write home about and the qb is operating behind an injured OL.

I sure hope the Redskins come out focused and make them LOOK that way.
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Another job well done, Om.

I was thinking after reading this that one interesting, and perhaps notable, fact about the New Orleans game was the Redskins scoring 10 points in each of the four quarters. I haven't dug around for historical facts on this...yet, anyway :), but maintaining a fairly methodical offensive output like this is something rather uncharacteristic.

And welcome, by the way.
 
I loved it. I just have an issue with Haslett. We scored 40 points and still barely won. Our offense did more than enough, but Haslett has a bad habit of going into prevent as soon as we have a lead. As he's proven time and time again, that's been our achille's heel. To think we scored 40 and still nearly blew it shows me he still doesn't get it. And it worries me.

Oh, and **** the prevent defense :D
 
I loved it. I just have an issue with Haslett. We scored 40 points and still barely won. Our offense did more than enough, but Haslett has a bad habit of going into prevent as soon as we have a lead. As he's proven time and time again, that's been our achille's heel. To think we scored 40 and still nearly blew it shows me he still doesn't get it. And it worries me.

Oh, and **** the prevent defense :D

Hasett did backpedal a bit too much for my tastes, but the Defense realistically gave up three TD's and a FG even of the punt return counts on paper.

Not that I'm happy about them giving up even three TD's and a FG, but we don't really know where NO's offense truly stacks up just yet.

Nick
 
I was actually more concerned with the offense pulling in its horns than the D. Seems to me like we got pretty conservative there on O at the end of the 3rd quarter, and the result was putting the D back on the field too much and giving Drew Brees the chance to work his magic.

I want to see Mike and Kyle stay with what's working with a lead rather than trying to Riggo Drill teams. We're not built that way and the league has changed too much to get away with that on a consistent basis.

At least that's my feeling this week. :cool:
 
I would agree that in previous years, the over confidence factor would've been high for coaches, players, and fans alike. However, Coach Shanahan is savvy enough to know that he is going against a good defensive coach that gave the Lions a lot of fits last week. Being over confident is one thing and being confident is another. I'm thinking that the team is looking at the latter and not the former.

It is great to see a much younger team on the field. Too, it is a talented team that has something that it lacked for so many years - depth. We lost Meriweather for a few weeks, but DeJon Gomes has more than taken up the slack and let's hope it continues. That is what depth can do for a team - lose a key player or two and another one is able to step in and do an admirable job.

Another fine blog Om - thanks.
 
The end was tense to be sure and smacked of an all too familiar feeling. Brees has proven he can hang points on a team in a hurry. I'll never understand the theory behind abandoning the defense that has kepth them reigned in all game. I can understand dialing the Offense back against in the context of wanting to get RG3 out of the game wtih a truck load of confidence. The rookie mistakes will come so I get trying to minimize the possilbe impact with a solid lead. The D just cannot let those types of leads disappear.
 
That blocked punt made things closer in terms of looking at it than the defense really allowed.
 
Personally, I think both can be true. I suspect we are all remembering Haslett go into fetal position defense over the past couple of years, and so even if he only slightly take his foot off the pedal, we are going to experience flashbacks and groan.

However, our D just held the Saints to 24 points. The Saints. The same team that didn't lose at home all year, averaging 41 points at home. Those Saints. I can understand come being worried about the tendencies Haz apparently has, but I am more than happy with the D so far.

As a side note, I went back and looked at some of the defensive series. If the Saints don't have the best or second-best TE in the game, the score isn't even close. Fletch did a GREAT job of defending Graham, but Graham is a monster, and is as close to indefensible as you can get. Fortunately, there aren't too many Grahams running around the league right now.
 

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