Smugly applying grades to the 1st Quarter of the season.

[Destino]

I will start with a bit of bad news friends; today a full quarter of the football regular season has been completed. The offseason is so long and aggravating and it seems that the football season goes by so fast when it finally arrives. Clearly it’s time to extend the season to 80 or so games. Just think of the advancements to sports medicine such a move would bring with it?

Ok on to the point of this post, The Washington Redskins (shut up, Mike Wise). With a quarter of the season under the belts it’s time to look back and see what we’ve got so far. We’ll start with the stats and compare them to last season.

Offense 2011 vs 2010total
Yards per game: 356.0 to 335.9
Points per game: 20.8 to 18.9
Rushing yards per game: 126.8 to 91.3
Passing yards per game: 229.2 to 244.6

Defense2011 vs 2010total
Yards per game: 296.5 to 389.2
Points per game: 15.8 to 23.6
Rushing yards per game: 84.5 to 127.6
Passing yards per game: 212.0 to 261.7
Sacks: 15 to 29.0(the entire season)

Wins and Losses:
3-1 2011 vs 2-2 2010

As you can see we’re better than we were at the end of 2010 in every category other than passing yards per game where we are down by a small amount. The defense certainly seems a world apart from the unit that horrified fans last season.

So let’s get to the fun part and grade the units ourselves. Screw the professionals, let’s use our eyeballs and subjectively assign grades. This is the stuff forums are made for people. Grades should take the league into consideration not just the skins. If you say “A” that means it’s amongst the best performances in the league.

Offense overall. C+
Leaving too many points on the field and not scoring enough. Compared to the league average the scoring is not average. The yards per game have been average. The results have been more wins than losses.

Quarterback. D+
Started off strong but has been fading each week. Rex delivered great week 1, a horrible week 4, and two below average games in between.

Running Backs. B.
It’s not just the fact that Torain is back and looking like the Juggernaut *****. The entire stable of horses we have here are good in my opinion. Yards per game are top ten. I really like the young backs we have and what they are able to do.

Offensive Line. C.
They’ve been more good than bad and seem to be about average compared to what I’ve seen from other teams. If you’ve been a skins fan for a while the idea of having an average line is a great thing.
Wide Receivers. C.
They’ve had some good moments and some moments where they can’t seem to get open. The reality however is that this team has no skill position player that the QB can throw it to, while in single coverage, and just trust him to go get it. Until we get a true #1 wide out I don’t see this unit being better than a C.

Tight Ends. A.
Simply put we have two probowl caliber tight ends on this team. Chris Cooley has been consistently a top 5ish tight end (statistically) in the league. Fred Davis is emerging as a game changing player for us when used properly. Having two tight ends that can do so much offensively is a luxury.

Defense Overall. A-
They’ve given up some big plays and haven’t been clutch enough to become one of those frightening defensive teams. Despite that they are keeping teams from scoring and containing opposing offenses tremendously well.

Defensive Line. B
Compared to what the skins have been used to this line is a dream come true. Younger faster stronger but healthy enough to not require extensive participation by medical experts.

Linebackers. B.
Ryan Kerrigan has proven to be a good draft pick so far and has resulted in Orakpo getting held by one player instead of two this season. Rocky seems to have found his place in the 3-4 and of course Fletcher is still the tackling machine and leader he has been.

DB. C+
They have been more good than bad but they’ve given up some major plays consistently enough for me to say they are slightly above average by league standards.

Redskins Team: B+
Would be an A if we had defeated the Cowboys. ****ing Cowboys, man!

 

[China]

Don't forget special teams. They've been anything but special.

Blocked kicks, muffed snaps, poor return yards and penalties.

C-

 

[McD5]

Nice thread. Although I would rank Cooley as about the 15th best TE in the league right now, bringing down the combined TE score to a B.

I'm off to bed, but look forward to responses to this thread over the next few days.

 

[Goaldeje]

Great line about Rak being held by one guy instead of two. I lol'd.

I know it's an oft-beat drum, but I would grade the offensive coaching staff about a C- right now. With some better play calling, I wouldn't have had to look through my fingers at the end of the game yesterday, and could have enjoyed things more. Last week against Dallas really showed Kyle's limitations as far as I'm concerned.

Aside from that, great post, very entertaining. I would say our defense has been impressive, to say the least. Seems like teams are putting up a lot fewer points against us than they do against the next team they play. That's a good feeling.

 

[tshile]

Special teams is an area of concern for me... Gano was shaky the first few games, but seems to have started to put it together.

Banks has done nothing. It may be the coverage's fault, but if you're going to keep a player to play one position - return kicks - then you need to get some return on that investment.

The punter has been awesome and has (in my opinion) clearly helped us win games. Forcing the other team to start inside their own 20 all day with a solid defense and winning the time of possession battle adds up to winning the field position battle which more often than not adds up to winning the game.

 

[Henry]

I agree that the playcalling has been ... not great. This week was particularly interesting in that regard.

Anyway, I'd give our linebackers an A. That's about the only change I have.

 

[Ax]

Offense - D+ As much for the play calling, as the poor execution.

Defense - A They've played winning football in every game, only to see the offense, and/or special teams try to, and in the case of last week, succeed in, giving them away.

Special Teams - F Rocca's punting is the only thing preventing an F- squared.
Return game is pathetic. As has been mentioned, if Banks isn't making big plays, every week, then he's wasting a roster spot. The only thing automatic about field goals is everyone crossing their fingers and hoping. The buck stops at Danny Smith's feet.

Overall, it's an A+

I mean, Jesus H. Christ!!! We're in 1st place people. For now, the "if's and but's" ARE candy and nuts!!!

WooHooo!!!!

 

[Lanky Livingston]

My man Torain showed why he was not cut (and Goaldie had such a beautiful signature for a week) yesterday - dude is a tank. Still runs too high, but beastmode was in full effect.

 

[tshile]

Yeah. I'm hopping the idea is to keep using hightower and helu, and reserve torain for when we need him.

We can't afford to lose him for the season on a play that's meaningless. not that we've had very many meaningless plays this year, they've all be pretty tight games

 

[Dead Money]

Defense - A They've played winning football in every game, only to see the offense, and/or special teams try to, and in the case of last week, succeed in, giving them away.

Sorry to be the voice of reason here but the same way we discount how other teams in the NFC East's defense play can be said about us. They got after the QB but what else did they really do well? They stopped the run? Who hasn't stopped StLouis?

The pressure up front helped out greatly, but wasn't it the broken-ribbed, cramping 2nd receiver, that couldn't even beat the niners - cowgirls who marched down the field a few times and took a victory away from us last week? Over this allegedly, now all of the sudden superb defense?

We beat a Gnats team that was damaged goods on both O and D... We beat a one trick pony cardinals team that let the Gnats beat them in the 4th qtr yesterday... and we beat a woeful 0-4 Rams squad that if they caught half of the passes they dropped would have beat us. And sorry but "coverage" had nothing to do with many of them.

D(minus) Hall scares me now more than ever. Penalties need to be nipped in the bud and our brilliant offensive coordinator needs to realize, hey that's not young Brett Favre back there and our passing game is behind where it was last year? Cooley takes a step back and Gaffney takes a step forward...

Mediocrity. Get real.

I know I know...you don't wanna hear it. What happens when we play a team with two receivers that can catch and a running game?

Offense C- Defense C ST D (would be an F if it wasnt for Rocca)

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they have won 3 games, but my expectations aren't raised much from where they were a couple of months ago.

 

[Ax]

Sorry to be the voice of reason here but the same way we discount how other teams in the NFC East's defense play can be said about us. They got after the QB but what else did they really do well? They stopped the run? Who hasn't stopped StLouis?

The pressure up front helped out greatly, but wasn't it the broken-ribbed, cramping 2nd receiver, that couldn't even beat the niners - cowgirls who marched down the field a few times and took a victory away from us last week? Over this allegedly, now all of the sudden superb defense?

We beat a Gnats team that was damaged goods on both O and D... We beat a one trick pony cardinals team that let the Gnats beat them in the 4th qtr yesterday... and we beat a woeful 0-4 Rams squad that if they caught half of the passes they dropped would have beat us. And sorry but "coverage" had nothing to do with many of them.

D(minus) Hall scares me now more than ever. Penalties need to be nipped in the bud and our brilliant offensive coordinator needs to realize, hey that's not young Brett Favre back there and our passing game is behind where it was last year? Cooley takes a step back and Gaffney takes a step forward...

Mediocrity. Get real.

I know I know...you don't wanna hear it. What happens when we play a team with two receivers that can catch and a running game?

Offense C- Defense C ST D (would be an F if it wasnt for Rocca)

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they have won 3 games, but my expectations aren't raised much from where they were a couple of months ago.

Winning football=Good enough to win.

It does not mean, superb. And, in comparison to last year, so far, this group deserves the "A". With last year's version, we're 0-4 right now.

Do we need to play much, much better on defense too? Duh!

This is a progress report, not a final grade. The "A" stands.

 

[Henry]

I think you are trying a little too hard to be the voice of reason DM.

Sorry to be the voice of reason here but the same way we discount how other teams in the NFC East's defense play can be said about us. They got after the QB but what else did they really do well? They stopped the run? Who hasn't stopped StLouis?

Well, before they played us the Rams had the 11th ranked rushing offense, 8th in ypa, and Steven Jackson hadn't played most of the season. He averages 4.6 yards a carry and historically kills us. Yesterday he averaged 2.6 ypc. And the Rams, who averaged 108 rushing yards a game through three weeks, got 45 against us.

The pressure up front helped out greatly, but wasn't it the broken-ribbed, cramping 2nd receiver, that couldn't even beat the niners - cowgirls who marched down the field a few times and took a victory away from us last week? Over this allegedly, now all of the sudden superb defense?

The Cowboys have scored 24, 27 and 30 points against their other opponents. Against us they scored 18. It sucks we lost the game but I don't think that falls primarily on our defense.

We beat a Gnats team that was damaged goods on both O and D...

What was the big damage on the Giant offense when they played us? The Giants are 3-1. Their offense has scored 28, 29 and 31 points against three other teams, and 14 against us (and our defense scored 7 off of them on top of that.) Was their entire first team out with the flu opening day or something?

We beat a one trick pony cardinals team that let the Gnats beat them in the 4th qtr yesterday... and we beat a woeful 0-4 Rams squad that if they caught half of the passes they dropped would have beat us. And sorry but "coverage" had nothing to do with many of them.

You can only beat who you play. Nobody has blown out the Cards yet, one trick pony or not. The Rams scored more against both the Eagles and the Giants than they did against us, and we held them to their lowest yardage total of the season. You think we're the only team that benefitted from drops against them? Some teams stink. It's good to beat them.

D(minus) Hall scares me now more than ever.

I agree with this. He's not having a good year. Fortunately we have more up front to minimize the impact of his marginal play.

Penalties need to be nipped in the bud

Even with one bad week we are still one of the least penalized teams in the league. Sure, we can't have 10 penalties every week, but if we have 10 over three weeks (such as weeks 1 through 3) I think we'll be ok.

and our brilliant offensive coordinator needs to realize, hey that's not young Brett Favre back there and our passing game is behind where it was last year? Cooley takes a step back and Gaffney takes a step forward...

Mediocrity. Get real.

I know I know...you don't wanna hear it. What happens when we play a team with two receivers that can catch and a running game?

Offense C- Defense C ST D (would be an F if it wasnt for Rocca)

I don't think anyone here is suggesting our offense is playing all that well. But I do think you are being unfair to our defense. They are playing very well.

And I think you are harping on things (such as penalties) which are not a chronic problem.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they have won 3 games, but my expectations aren't raised much from where they were a couple of months ago.

I guess if you were expecting 8-10 wins I'd agree with you. For those of us who were expecting 4, this is pretty nice.

 

[servumtuum]

I'm giving the team an "I". Incomplete.

We're still in re-construction mode. There are parts that are more complete than others, parts where the construction has glitches, parts where the rebuild has components that need upgrading or replacement.

Overall, however, alluding to Ax's comment, to be 3-1 at this point is ahead of the schedule that I had expected and is proceeding satisfactorily. I expect complaints I may have to be addressed and I have confidence in the construction management.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I guess if you were expecting 8-10 wins I'd agree with you. For those of us who were expecting 4, this is pretty nice.

This about sums it up for me - the only thing that could make this season a disappointment for me is finishing 0-12, as I predicted 3 to 4 wins (I can't remember). Looking at the schedule, there are at least 2 more wins on it, so anything above that is gravy!

What has me more excited is the play of the front-7, which next season will be getting a huge boost with Jarvis Jenkins back in the mix.

 

[Ax]

On a side note, how great is it to be debating, disagreeing, disparaging, and even denigrating how and why we're 3-1 and in 1st place.

My God! If we were to make the post season, Boone & Co. might have to declare Martial Law around here.

 

[Neophyte]

Sorry to be the voice of reason here but the same way we discount how other teams in the NFC East's defense play can be said about us. They got after the QB but what else did they really do well? They stopped the run? Who hasn't stopped StLouis?

The pressure up front helped out greatly, but wasn't it the broken-ribbed, cramping 2nd receiver, that couldn't even beat the niners - cowgirls who marched down the field a few times and took a victory away from us last week? Over this allegedly, now all of the sudden superb defense?

We beat a Gnats team that was damaged goods on both O and D... We beat a one trick pony cardinals team that let the Gnats beat them in the 4th qtr yesterday... and we beat a woeful 0-4 Rams squad that if they caught half of the passes they dropped would have beat us. And sorry but "coverage" had nothing to do with many of them.

D(minus) Hall scares me now more than ever. Penalties need to be nipped in the bud and our brilliant offensive coordinator needs to realize, hey that's not young Brett Favre back there and our passing game is behind where it was last year? Cooley takes a step back and Gaffney takes a step forward...

Mediocrity. Get real.

I know I know...you don't wanna hear it. What happens when we play a team with two receivers that can catch and a running game?

Offense C- Defense C ST D (would be an F if it wasnt for Rocca)

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased that they have won 3 games, but my expectations aren't raised much from where they were a couple of months ago.

There is an old saying in this league, DM, and it goes something like this..."First you win, then you get good."

The idea is winning begets more winning and it really doesn't matter how ugly the early wins are.

 

[Henry]

This about sums it up for me - the only thing that could make this season a disappointment for me is finishing 0-12, as I predicted 3 to 4 wins (I can't remember). Looking at the schedule, there are at least 2 more wins on it, so anything above that is gravy!

What has me more excited is the play of the front-7, which next season will be getting a huge boost with Jarvis Jenkins back in the mix.

That's the big difference I see between this team and every other Redskin team since we were consistently good: We have two bona-fide pass rushers on the line (well, on the edges. Whatever you want to call it in a 3-4.) We haven't had a strong front seven in almost 20 years, and I think we do now ... or at least we're a lot closer than we've been in a long time.

The rest of the team, frankly, looks exactly the same as it has for years. But that defense might just give us something to hang our hat on. Which is a nice step in the right direction.

 

[Dead Money]

I guess if you were expecting 8-10 wins I'd agree with you. For those of us who were expecting 4, this is pretty nice.

I was and still am in the 6-8 win camp.

We will just have to wait until we play someone with an offense I suppose.

I may be wrong but I thought the gnats had te and wr issues in our game in the second half. May be, my bad if so.

Quote all the stats you want, this isn't baseball. Look up from the box scores and you will see that our D is vulnerable to a QB who can beat the blitz. I know many of you forget this because we:

A.) Haven't had a decent pash rush in years
B.) Haven't had a QB that could beat the blitz in decades.

Blitz happy Haslett showed what he's really capable of against a 1/2 speed Pokes team. There's (4) teams left on our schedule that think this team is capable of beating the way they are playing defensively. If a QB has any accuracy and wrs that can catch they will burn our scheme. Again, this is IMHO. Now if our offense gets its collective sh** together this is subject to change, but as of now? I'm not hopeful.

Michael Vick
Cam Newton
Ryan Fitzpatrick ( I heard he's super-smart)
1Alex Smith?
2Chad Henne?
Tony Romo
3Tavaris Jackson?
Mark Sanchez
Tom Brady
Eli Manning
4Christian Ponder?
Michael Vick

I'm not bagging on our defense as much as I am the fellas here issuing A's all around! "Oh its a progress report" again... my bad.

To be a solid defense they are to be helped by the offense with ball control. Our team hasn't really figured that out yet. Whether the switch is taken to Kyle, Rex or both of them I care not. It better happen during the bye.

Again, Happy to have won a few games, but I know there is nowhere up to go from and A, and we have no A's on this team besides the Punter.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Kev, maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any review giving As all around.
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[Lanky Livingston]

And for the record, Sanchez is terrible, but agree for the most part. Brady and Welker might gouge us for 500 yards between the two of them if we get blitz happy against NE.
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