Quick Hitters: Epic Fail!

[Spence]

Few teams have it in them to collapse the way the Redskins did today, but the Redskins ARE one of those teams. Everyone got in on the act, too. Jason Campbell threw a hideous interception late in the game, Mike Sellers fumbled in overtime, Kareem More intercepted a pass and then let a Saints receiver rip the ball out of his hands and take it for a touchdown, Kevin Barnes got in the way of a live ball on a punt and Laron Landry played pass defense as if he was secretly working for the Saints.

The Redskins have now lost their last 3 games by a grand total of 7 points. In all 3 of those games the Redskins held a lead late in the 4th quarter. So they’ve figured out how to keep games close. Now they need to learn how to close games out. That’s a tougher lesson to learn.

The Redskins are still playing hard. The young receivers are showing improvement, Jason Campbell continues to improve, the offensive line does the best it can with limited talent and the defensive line is stout as hell against the run, particularly on 3rd and 4th down. But talking about how hard a team plays is another way of saying the team is losing a lot of games. It takes a team with some talent and determination to get up 10 points on the Saints, but it also takes a team prone to stupid mistakes and poor mental discipline to lose that same game. The Redskins just find ways to lose. It sounds like something Yogi Berra would say, but here it is anyway: Winners find ways to win and losers find ways to lose. I don’t need to tell you which the 3-9 Redskins are.

Read it all.

 

[Henry]

The last two weeks the Redskins deserved that. They didn't this week. A short put bouncing off the back of a blocker is a fluke. The two replays that both went against us were so close the announcers thought both were going to go in our favor. Campbell's interception cost us nothing, as opposed to Brees' interception which cost him ... negative seven points.

Landry, on the other hand, deserves all the criticism coming his way. So does Suisham. But even so, the Redskins don't deserve to be called chokers for this one.

 

[Boone]

The other thing to keep in mind is that we were playing the undefeated 12-0 New Orleans Saints folks. Errors or no errors, we outplayed arguably the best team in the NFL today. We deserve plenty of criticism for letting one we should have won get away. But hard to be too down after a performance like today's.

 

[Chris]

Piling on has apparently become second nature.

 

[servumtuum]

The other thing to keep in mind is that we were playing the undefeated 12-0 New Orleans Saints folks. Errors or no errors, we outplayed arguably the best team in the NFL today. We deserve plenty of criticism for letting one we should have won get away. But hard to be too down after a performance like today's.

This game was labeled a "trap" game for the Saints for good reason-short week, coming off a hell-bent-for-leather drubbing of the Patriots, with a probable accompanying let down-and the Saints were flat against both Atlanta and Carolina at home winning by 8 and 10 points respectively.

Don't get me wrong-just listening to the game and reading responses it was evident the Skins played their lights-out best game this season-possibly in the last two seasons. It's just that it's likely we caught New Orleans at less than their best which is why it was nip-and-tuck the whole way.

Against the Saints team I watched Monday-it would have been a moral victory to have stayed within two touchdowns.

I also think now the Saints can be had-they may not finish unbeaten and will be vulnerable to being knocked off in the playoffs.

 

[China]

But even so, the Redskins don't deserve to be called chokers for this one.

The word I used in the other thread was 'snakebit'. The calls and bounces always seem to go the other teams' way.

 

[Henry]

The word I used in the other thread was 'snakebit'. The calls and bounces always seem to go the other teams' way.

That's the term I was looking for.

 

[Bulldog]

the one area where Campbell does not seem able to improve is his end of game performances.

when the team was at the Saints 45 yard line with a chance to get down and try a field goal, he threw a ball when rushed off his back foot to a receiver that was covered across the field.

smart quarterbacks don't force that throw, they either take the sack or throw the ball away.

I am still waiting for Jason to salt away a game by taking the Redskins on that long drive that eats the clock and ends up in the winning TD.

Is it coming?

 

[Neophyte]

Against the Saints team I watched Monday-it would have been a moral victory to have stayed within two touchdowns.

In fairness to the Skins, the Saints team you watched Monday night was not facing our defense. Games are two sided affairs and part of the reason Brees looked like that Monday night is that NE can't generate an effective pass rush against a high school team this year without blitzing. Brees loves it when you blitz too.

We made him move in the pocket all day and usually did it with just 4 guys which allows for better coverage downfield. Several times I saw a good pass rush generated by just 3 guys. NE just did not do that Monday night. Their defense has been great in the past but they are merely average this year and just don't have what it takes to slow down a team like NO.

I think the defense deserves some credit for making NO look mortal. Hell, if Landry remembers to keep the receivers in front of him, we are talking about the Skins holding them to their lowest point total of the season.

 

[Henry]

the one area where Campbell does not seem able to improve is his end of game performances.

when the team was at the Saints 45 yard line with a chance to get down and try a field goal, he threw a ball when rushed off his back foot to a receiver that was covered across the field.

smart quarterbacks don't force that throw, they either take the sack or throw the ball away.

I am still waiting for Jason to salt away a game by taking the Redskins on that long drive that eats the clock and ends up in the winning TD.

Is it coming?

What should have happened was that the guy who intercepted it should have fumbled the ball during the runback right into Santana Moss' hands and then he could run it in for a TD.

 

[servumtuum]

I think the defense deserves some credit for making NO look mortal. Hell, if Landry remembers to keep the receivers in front of him, we are talking about the Skins holding them to their lowest point total of the season.

Actually, Neo, I was thinking more about the Saint's defense. Frankly I was expecting GW to come in to FedEx and slam the door on the Skins pretty hard but our offense ate them for breakfast most of the game. However, after Miami's win I'm pretty well convinced our D could hold the Patriots to less than 17 points-especially if they came to FedEx.