Om Field: Redskins vs Bills: Stream-of-Consciousness Review

[Om]

August 14, 2010

By now, with almost 24 hours to digest last night's epic 42-17 pasting of hapless Buffalo in Mike Shanahan's Redskins debut, you have probably read a dozen "game impressions" blog posts from around the web. And I bet some of them were pretty damn good.

So rather than go all serious on you, here's something a little different. An experiment. What follow are raw real-time notes jotted down during the game. They weren't intended for publishing, just as reminders of what I wanted to comment on and hopefully capture the vibe to flesh out later.

I have only polished it up for some grammar, punctuation and spelling. The content was written "hot" while also juggling a cold beverage (or two) and simultaneously working on a "formal" article I believe you will be seeing ... well, soon. I'd tell you more but then I'd have to kill you. And who wants that? Especially while we're basking in the afterglow of a burgundy and gold woodshed job?

Not sure if we'll reprise the post format or not, but what the heck.

It's preseason.

*​

8/13/10, 7:20 pm

- Almost gametime. So, is it normal to have butterflies before the first preseason game? Weird.

- Never have quite understood why offensive players are allowed to facemask and defensive players are not. See it every week. Weirder.

- Haslett's new defense isn't exactly starting well. Definitely isn't aggressive like we say in camp last wee. Not a lot of presnap movement, hardly any blitzing. It will look different in September. Hopefully.

- No disrespect, but NBC's coverage sucks. No down and distance half the time, silly commentary by Joe Theismann; Donovan fooling camera man so bad on a simple playfake he's STILL trying to figure out how the hell the ball ended up 40 yards downfield on the other side of the field.

- Torain looked like Ladell Betts reincarnated there. Good strong tackle break on first carry turns 3 yard loss into 5 yard gain. Good first impression.

- Starting to get offensive rythim on 2nd drive. Did you notice? In and out of huddle quickly, snapping ball on quick count ... love it. Campbell's offenses always seemed to operate methodically ... lingering mental image is JC standing over center, scanning field, standing over center, scanning field, standing over center scanning ... JASON CALL HUT ALREADY. I wrote earlier this offseason that younger Redskins fans were going to know "offensive rhythm" when they finally saw it. First official taste came on 2nd drive of the first preseason game...

CLICK HERE to read more

 

[beamish]

good read, om! to be honest, i was so giddy when the positives kept piling up, i threw objectivity out the window and just enjoyed watching the game -- can't even remember the last time i did that! now looking forward to an even better test against ray-ray and the ravens...

 

[Ax]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/us_sport/2171766.stm

The NFL pre-season clicked into gear on Sunday as the Washington Redskins beat the San Francisco 49ers 38-7 in the American Bowl in Osaka, Japan.

New coach Steve Spurrier imposed his signature "run and gun" style on the Redskins.

His new charges passed for five touchdowns on his debut, throwing the ball 45 times and running it just 21 times in an exciting display.

The final score of the NFL's first exhibition game of the season meant little, however.

But yeah, it was fun to watch.

 

[Goaldeje]

You have such a nice way of putting into words what the rest of us have trouble forming sentences about. Command. Confidence. That's what makes me smile. I know it is just preseason. Devin Thomas will almost certainly never be that wide open again, but the fact that he caught it in stride, over his shoulder was a beautiful thing to watch.

Starting to get worked up here. Not good.

 

[servumtuum]

Excellent piece, OM-one of your best, IMO. Succinct, pithy, quick but insightful observations on what you were seeing in the game. Real-time reactions expressed in a down-to-earth manner. I could empathize with how you were reacting while reading it, really a good one here.

 

[Jimbo]

In Theismann's defense, I thought the Bills should have gone for it on the 4th down play as well. It's preseason. You're already getting your butt kicked but you have been able to run the ball a little. What better time to practice your 4th and 1 plays? Not making it sure as heck won't affect the outcome of the game.

Joe did have his head up Danny's butt though. That was just embarrassing.

John Beck gave me flashbacks of Jason Campbell. Thankfully, he didn't put the ball in the air during the Riggo drill TD.

During the regular season, I would have applauded Byron Westbrook tackling Lendy Holmes after his INT, especially in a close game. Seeing as it's preseason, why not let him get up and see if he can do something big? Wondering if he had flashbacks of Kareem Moore against the Saints.

Ade Jimoh? Great Scott man, are you a masochist?

I know they had a lot of guys out but the Bills looked BAD. If they were trying to keep their AFC East opponents from figuring out their Offense OR Defense, they did a GREAT job.