Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

Brian Orakpo- 2 sacks (5.5 season) and the guy doesn't get very much snaps as a DE.

If the Skins used him correctly, he could be a 15 sack/yr. performance.
 
First I want to say, I was very impressed by the adjustments made by the offense at halftime. If it weren't for that elementary school attempt to tackle one of the NFL best RB's by Laron Landry, the game could have been much closer.

This brings me to the thumbs down, Laron Landry. He just isn't playing well this year! Was that really an attempt to tackle Turner on his 2nd TD run? And where was he on the 1st run? Oh yeah, he was running in circles!

Now, I would like to address the Orakpo situation that keeps coming up. Where on the line do you play him? Do you replace your sack leader, Andre Carter, with him? Do you put him on the other side where he is out of position also. And if he does play that side of the line, who plays LB on that side?

Orakpo is playing out of position, granted! But how do you adjust for him on the line?
 
Elephant said:
First I want to say, I was very impressed by the adjustments made by the offense at halftime. If it weren't for that elementary school attempt to tackle one of the NFL best RB's by Laron Landry, the game could have been much closer.

This brings me to the thumbs down, Laron Landry. He just isn't playing well this year! Was that really an attempt to tackle Turner on his 2nd TD run? And where was he on the 1st run? Oh yeah, he was running in circles!

Now, I would like to address the Orakpo situation that keeps coming up. Where on the line do you play him? Do you replace your sack leader, Andre Carter, with him? Do you put him on the other side where he is out of position also. And if he does play that side of the line, who plays LB on that side?

Orakpo is playing out of position, granted! But how do you adjust for him on the line?
Click to expand...
We actually have a lot of guys playing out of position, Orakpo being the most obvious one. However now that we know this season is a wrap we might as well take advantage of the opportunity to get him a wide variety of experience to improve his versatility for the future. If playing LB this year improves his ability to drop into coverage on zone blitzes and/or play the run, then it's a good thing in the long run.

As for the effect Rak's taking his spot would have on Carter, that means nothing to me. Rak is better and deserves that starting DE spot. If that means AC has to be a backup or move to LDE, so be it. Orakpo and Jarmon are the future at DE and the current state of our team means the future is now.

After OL, finding a way to get Landry back to SS should be a top priority this offseason. In the short term, I'd like to see us audition Smoot and Tryon at FS full-time so Landry can return to SS where his short area quickness would be most effective.

Another guy I'd like to see moved next year is BMW. He's lousy as a RT but he didn't look
bad at RG, at least what we saw of him in limited duty anyway.

Finally, today's game wasn't as bad as I expected. I'm really proud of our guys for being in an impossible situation and fighting hard to the bitter end. Orakpo, of course. Heyer and JC sucked it up and played through pain. Sherm Lewis, while perhaps not a top tier playcaller, clearly understands playcalling more than Zorn. The use of bootlegs and rollouts was relatively effective and gave JC a better shot at staying upright long enough to pass the ball and preserve enough brain cells to maybe remember his name after the game. Speaking of JC, he's obviously not very good as a starter but he'll make someone a very adequate backup.

Thumbs down? The defense, especially against the run and especially in the second half sucked. And there's no point in saying anything about Heyer/BMW/Batiste since we all knew they don't belong anywhere near a starting lineup at OT.
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Elephant said:
Now, I would like to address the Orakpo situation that keeps coming up. Where on the line do you play him? Do you replace your sack leader, Andre Carter, with him? Do you put him on the other side where he is out of position also. And if he does play that side of the line, who plays LB on that side?

Orakpo is playing out of position, granted! But how do you adjust for him on the line?
Click to expand...

Make Carter the backup. Orakpo should be the sack leader anyway. He has let at least 2 sacks to (due to inexperience I think) and the number might be more like 4. Put Orakpo in at RDE and start Wilson at SAM.
 
I am extremely excited about the future of our defensive line w/ Jarmon and Orakpo on the ends with Big Al and Gholston in the middle! But at this point, Carter at DE and Orakpo at LB is a much better situation than Orakpo at DE with Wilson at LB.

Fans have been complaining for years to bolster our D-line and now we are lucky enough to have a few quality DE's, so when Shawn Merriman arrives in the offseason, then we can shift Rak into his position and do whatever with Carter.
 
Yeah I would like to see the following:

Orakpo and Jarmon at DE
Wilson at SAM

move Landry to SS (but mix him in at FS)
move Smoot to FS

use Doughty and Horton in Cobra packages

activate Kevin Barnes....the guy is a 3rd rounder for Christ's Sake, we need to know what this kid can do.
 
Elephant said:
Fans have been complaining for years to bolster our D-line and now we are lucky enough to have a few quality DE's, so when Shawn Merriman arrives in the offseason, then we can shift Rak into his position and do whatever with Carter.
Click to expand...

Carter will be gone in 2010. The Skins restructured his deal so that they have an option bonus that they can choose to pick up for 2010. I expect they won't.

Why would we want Merriman if we are still running a 4-3?
If we go 3-4 then maybe, but Merriman is becoming a liability to SD as of late.
 
Orakpo should be a full time DE. On first TD to Gonzalez could see he wanted to rush Ryan, but should have followed the TE.

I don't know why teams are exploiting him at LB more often.
 
Walking Deadman said:
Carter will be gone in 2010. The Skins restructured his deal so that they have an option bonus that they can choose to pick up for 2010. I expect they won't.

Why would we want Merriman if we are still running a 4-3?
If we go 3-4 then maybe, but Merriman is becoming a liability to SD as of late.
Click to expand...


Ok, first I think you are right about Carter, he will be gone. Gotta make room for Orakpo. It is obvious this kid is gonna be something special. But I don't get the seeming disdain for Carter. He is on track to have his best season as a Redskin and everyone calls for him to be benched? That doesn't make sense. You don't cast someone aside who is having a possible pro-bowl year in favor of someone who is currently filling another role. And say what you want, but out of position Orakpo is a better option at SAM than Wilson. This is not the area this team needs help!

The Merriman comment was more in jest/disgust/sarcasm/prophecy. I like Shawn Merriman, have since his days at UM. He probably would not fit in here and you are right it appears he is on the down swing in his career. But this is exactly the type of splash that Snyder would make in off-season via FA that would excite the fan base, the average fan base. He is a childhood fan and Snyder would have himself a new buddy, showering him with untold wealth.
 
Elephant, not sure how you get that Orakpo is a better SAM option than Wilson. Chris has looked good at SAM every time they put him in. He is not really playing line at all right so can concentrate on it. I think the team would be better served putting it's play makers in their relative positions of strength.

That means playing Orakpo at RDE. Yes, I know Carter is having a Pro Bowl type year. I would point out that Orakpo is just a sack behind him in limited playing time at DE. Imagine what he might have if he were there full time and could concentrate on being a great DE only.

It also means playing Landry at SS. He was a FS in college and a ball hawk so I thought he would be at least solid at the Pro level in the position. He is not. He was such a superior athlete in college that he could play anywhere. At the pro game, he just doesn't have the instincts of a FS. I would rather play Horton at FS as he at least plays smart or give Smoot a look at FS full time.

Gotta wonder if this team is regretting letting Springs go yet...I know I am.
 
I agree completely with Elephant, on the current use of Orakpo. It's the best possible use of him under the current circumstances.

Thumbs up - Another loss while wearing the gawd awful all-whites. All time the taken, deciding to play out of uniform, would be better spent tuning up blocking/tackling/throwing/catching skills. The sooner those fugly rags are banished, forever, the sooner our players might concentrate on doing their ****in job. So, if we're gonna lose, it's good to see it happen in the Good Humor Klaniforms, to taint them further.

Thumbs down - Wasted time deciding to play, out of uniform, that could have been used working on blocking/tackling/throwing/catching skills.
 
Neophyte said:
It also means playing Landry at SS. He was a FS in college and a ball hawk so I thought he would be at least solid at the Pro level in the position. He is not. He was such a superior athlete in college that he could play anywhere. At the pro game, he just doesn't have the instincts of a FS. I would rather play Horton at FS as he at least plays smart or give Smoot a look at FS full time.

Gotta wonder if this team is regretting letting Springs go yet...I know I am.
Click to expand...

I still don't think Orakpo is doing a poor job in the position he is in. In fact I think he is doing better as a rookie who is out of position than most rookies who would play that position. I know he has missed coverage. But come on, it was Tony Gonzalez. Orakpo is there because he is not as strong against the run on the D-line.

Now Laron Landry is a situation that is more worthy of changing than the one we are belaboring, yet a similar situation arises. Do you put Doughty back there? Or is Chris Horton gonna fill that role. I know Landry needs to be put right back where he belongs, but right now he needs to remember his fundamentals. The kid has lost something because he is a shell of the player he was just 2 years ago.
 
Not really a disdain for Andre, just the typical level of underachievement disappointment that we seem to get from the FA/trades that the Skins make.

Carter has been very up and down as a pass rusher during his tenure here and his run defense is average to poor. He cost the team a TD with the blown containment in the Eagles game (of course had Landry or Rogers made a tackle it would have only been a really big play and not a TD). Also, Atlanta ran at him all game long and they well, kicked his ass as most of the plays got bounced outside and turner ran for daylight.

I get that they want to groom Orakpo for the DE spot and improve upon his run defense as well, but when you draft a guy at #13 it just makes more sense to play him where he can make the biggest impact and I just don't see SLB as that spot.

Hopefully, this is just a one year deal. Have Orakpo learn to play SLB so they can use him in Zone Blitzes and confuse offenses by lining him up in various spots. But that gives this team alot of credit in long term planning and when have the Skins done that in the last few years?

As for the Merriman comment, I figured the sarcasm and yep that's a Snyder move for sure. Had to double check though, when I was on another message board there were Redskins fans who actually would be serious about that and think it's a great move:insane:
 
WD, I think Carter has been a victim of double coverage his whole tenure as a Redskin. Yesterday, Atlanta had 2 men on him all day. Whoever schemed the Offensive game plan for Atlanta, did a great job of exploiting our defensive scheme. They used quick slants often to kill that cushion Blache likes to use w/ the CB's and when Turner was given huge holes, our secondary blew it!

I was looking at Carter's stats. The seasons where he had some pressure from the tackles to alleviate the constant double teams, he has had double digit sacks and is on track for that this year.

I don't know, I think Orakpo is definitely the future, but I like Carter. He has been playing solid football this season.
 
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