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What Are YOU Looking For, Starting Tonight?

More points would have been nice, but overall, not too damn shabby.

1st string, on both sides of the ball, looked like they should, in preseason game 1.

Meriweather, did look smarter on the field, than off.
So, he passes the initial, "WTF did we sign this guy for" test. But it's still early.

It was encouraging to see Polumbus, Hurt, and Gettis, play pretty well.

Aldrick Robinson looked good against the backups. As he should have. Need to see more.

Markus White needs to learn how to identify the LOS a little better, but otherwise looked improved.

Baker and Neild both looked very good. Me likey!

I'd say Crawford was my "Who is THAT guy!" last night.
Showed good judgment on punt returns. Knew when NOT to field the ball, and knew what to do with it once he did. Get...up...field. Nice concentration on the int. Seemed to always be where he was supposed to be. Yeah it's early, but he got off on the right foot.

Banks did nothing to warrant keeping him.

Rackers kicked off deep into the end zone.
Gano did not. Don't know if it was by design.

Bring on Da Bears!
 
I would say you got what you wanted there, Goal.

Yep, he made several nice throws. I would be interested to see his sideline throw to Garçon again that was out of bounds. The replay angle they showed wasn't great, hard to know if Griff led him to far, or Garçon just didn't get his feet down.

Aside from that, Griff was impressive. Very impressive, actually. Not once did he try to escape the pocket, in fact there were a couple of PA plays where he turned and had a guy bearing down on him, and he didnt panick, but kept it together and made a play. Very encouraging.

For all the handwringing about the Line, I thought they played well. Didn't look great running the ball early, but that's hard to know if it was play design or what. On the TD drive, they got into a groove and pounded the rock.

Agree with Ax, Meriweather had some nice plays, and Griffin provided some nice coverage on the outside. Nice to see two signings perform well.
 
John Keim's 10 Observations is great - personally I think he's the best in the business.

1. Ryan Kerrigan’s first sack was a total team effort. Brian Orakpo (coming from a four-point stance) pressured Ryan Fitzpatrick and forced him to step up. However, the interior had collapsed the pocket enough so that there was nowhere to go and the relentless Kerrigan pounced on him.

2. More on the offensive line Friday, but there was a mixed bag. Saw a lot to build on with the rookie linemen, however.

3. My problem with Brandon Banks wasn’t the slip. Sometimes that happens. But it’s the plays that weren’t made because of his size; that’s a worry that won’t change. On one play a defensive back jarred the ball loose after Banks caught it on a hitch route. Later on a deep ball Banks jumped but could not do much against the defensive back. It was a jump-ball situation that he lost. Banks did get open deep but the pass was underthrown by Kirk Cousins (a timing issue, not an arm one). Oh, and Banks had one good run block but there was another time in which he was overpowered near the line. That stuff matters. You can love a guy all you want, but sometimes love isn’t enough. Man, I now sound like a relationship therapist. It didn’t help Banks that Aldrick Robinson had a nice showing in the second half. Granted it was later in the second half, but he flashed nonetheless. Like Banks he was underthrown on a go-route in which he was open. It’s good to see Robinson’s speed, something we didn’t see last year – in practice or games.

3. I’ve liked Richard Crawford since the early days of camp. Always around the ball and seems to play well with his eyes. But he showed me some wiggle on his 18-yard punt return, making two defenders miss and nearly a third. Excellent feet. Crawford did what coaches tell you to do on his interception: He played with his eyes. Good read of the quarterback.

4. The thing that jumped out early in camp with running back Alfred Morris is the same thing that flashed Thursday night. His body lean. Every single time the kid ran the ball he leaned forward for more yards. Doesn’t matter if it was at the line or if it was downfield, he falls forward after contact. Not every back was like that Thursday.

5. I love how physical Pierre Garcon played. OK, really it was just on one catch (the 18-yarder) but he broke a tackle and even sought out the contact. Not sure the Redskins have had a physical receiver like him in a while. You obviously still need to see more of him, but even coach Mike Shanahan told reporters afterward, “You can see his big play ability.” On his touchdown run, Garcon made a nice cut inside and then back outside. But he received excellent blocks, too. First from Santana Moss and then from left tackle Trent Williams, who obstructed two defensive backs downfield. Garcon topped it off with a nice flip, though I’m not sure how the Russian judge would have scored it.

6. Leonard Hankerson starting for Santana Moss? Well, the coaches want to use Moss in the slot and Hankerson as the Z so it makes sense. Also, the concern with Moss is the toll that 16 games will take on his body. Yes he has looked fresh and spry in the spring and summer, but he’s 33 and has wear and tear. They want to keep him fresh. Hankerson has had a solid camp. He’s dropped a couple passes in camp, but it is not even close to last summer when it was much more noticeable. This summer it’s actually been normal. I’ve seen every receiver drop passes.

7. Was told that tight end Chris Cooley would play quite a bit in the preseason, but he came out rather early Thursday night. But the Redskins also need to get Niles Paul a lot of action at this position. Paul and an uneven night; he needs to show better hands as a target. His blocking, at least on first glance, seemed fine. Saw him drive back a linebacker on an inside zone and saw him take care of another linebacker on another inside zone. Did see him miss one block, but overall he was good here. But he needs to show he’s a legitimate threat with his hands.

8. Meanwhile, Logan Paulsen did a good job as a blocker, especially moving forward. These tight ends seem to have a tough time when they’re asked to block just going down the line; saw Paulsen get moved back one time off the line. But just one time. It happened to Fred Davis a few times. Davis started out sloppy as a blocker; allowed too much penetration. He improved later in the quarter, but it continues his pattern of inconsistency.

9. Nose tackle Chris Baker just makes plays and clogs lanes. What you saw tonight is what we’ve seen most of training camp. He was instrumental in the goal-line stand, not just with his ability to clog the middle. He didn’t make the tackle, but his strength inside made the play. Also during that series, did you see Jordan Bernstine fly in to take on the lead blocker a couple yards deep? Bernstine sold his body to take out the blocker. The coaches will love seeing that on film. Or tape. Or whatever it’s called these days.

10. Kirk Cousins at times looked excellent. Other times he did not. Though his debut won’t cause a stir like Robert Griffin III, it provided moments where you think the Redskins have a chance to turn this position into a strength. Imagine that. Cousins showed his arm strength and he’s able to move a little bit. Liked one throw in which there was pressure so he pumped; stepped up and reset and threw the ball. He stood in well vs. pressure. He does have a tendency to throw interceptions; that’s been true all summer.
 
I like Keim's observations, though I think the OL looked very spotty. Griffin looked great. Really really great. And I don't think it was a coincidence that the running game suddenly picked up after he started completing passes. We may be passing to set up the run this year. Frankly, I could live with for now.

But it's still very very early, and really all you can say is that it's better to look good in the first pre-season game than crappy. :) Other than that, no significant injuries is the big plus.
 
From Neo's link:

Two plays later, on a free play with Buffalo clearly offside, Griffin took advantage of the stop-and-start by the Bills' D and found Garcon for 18 over the middle. Now he was in gear, looking confident and poised.

Forgot about this because it happened so quickly, but the poise he showed during this stretch as a whole, and this play in particular was very impressive.
 
While I didn't pay much attention to the right side of the o-line when the substitutes came on (I was busy watching Leribeus and Compton on the left), Doc Walker went on and on late in the radio broadcast last night about how impressed he was with Jordan Black. In the postgame, he mentioned that the guy could play and that he moves well with his feet.

Time will tell, as Black still likely has a long way to go being a guy off the street, but I'll take the positive critique from Doc for now.
 
All I've seen so far are the highlights, but while Griffin definitely looked poised, I did not see the pinpoint accuracy I was expecting. Seemed a little "off" on his throws. I'm sure some of that was butterflies, but it was just something I noticed. Anyone else?
 
Interesting RB analysis:

The Washington Redskins' first preseason game featured only three of the four running backs who are likely to see significant carries this season. Tim Hightower, who would be the starting running back if healthy, did not play because he's still recovering from last year's knee surgery. It's possible he won't be full strength in time for the regular season, in which case one (or more of) the other three guys will have to take his place. Those other three guys played Thursday, and so let's take a look at how they did and see if we can figure out anything about the way the race to fill Hightower's spot is shaping up.

Evan Royster: 7 carries, 21 yards (3.0 ypc)
Positives: He was the starter for the game and ran with the first team, which I believe tells you something about the way the Redskins coaches view the current roster hierarchy. The people I spoke with in Ashburn last week indicated to me that they believe Royster to be the best runner of this group. He's shown an ability to break tackles that Roy Helu has not, and he's made some strides in pass protection, which may be the most important thing he can do if he wants carries in this offense. He had 22 yards on four carries, including a 12-yarder, on the Redskins' touchdown drive.

Negatives: He struggled to get going early, though it's hard to tell whether that was his fault or the fault of an offensive line that was missing three starters. He also dropped a handoff from Robert Griffin III that led to a turnover, though the fumble was charged to Griffin and did not seem to really be all Royster's fault. He was not targeted in the passing game.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/41687/checking-in-on-the-redskins-rb-battle
 
The two incompletions I believe were the “out of bounds” to Garcon and a quick little sidearm flip pass to the line of scrimmage that was blasted out of the receivers hands by a hard tackle, Griff had to flip the ball on the quick 'cause a defender was about two steps away from crushing him.

All of the passes were easily within reach and catchable any that were not "perfect" might have had something to do with pressure.
 
I was as impressed with his hard count that got the Bills to jump off sides as much as anything else he did. Not too many rookies show that in their first game. Preseason, or not.
 
To be fair I think you'll get away with the hard count more often early in the pre-season than you will during the regular season. It was nice to see our guys keep playing after it worked though.
 
To be fair I think you'll get away with the hard count more often early in the pre-season than you will during the regular season. It was nice to see our guys keep playing after it worked though.
Oh, I agree it should be. I still don't think you see it much with rookies in their first game. They're usually trying to process so many things that a hard count doesn't make it into the mix. Even if it's called from the sideline, it still speaks to the idea that this kid could be special. Don't recall either Grossman or Cousins trying it.
 
I like the way Griffin played in a vanilla offense. He showed poise and quick decision making. The Bears D will provide a good test and hopefully will see some continued improvement.

I think these first games are showing why we need NFL refs vs replacement refs.
 
The starting offensive line pass protected fairly well against a better than average Buffalo front seven. The running game was so-so. It was hard to tell if the problem was blocking, RB or just solid defensive play. Let’s call it a work in progress.

Chris Baker looked very good at NT. He just LOOKS like a NT for one and he held the point of attack very well allowing others to make plays. Exactly what a NT should do.

Except for the one nice run I didn’t see the burst I was hoping to see from Royster. The Buffalo defensive front is very good against the run though so that needs to be factored in. After seeing him at the end of last season I thought he might have a chance to earn the starting job. He still has time to show more of what he can do.

Rex Grossman is what we thought he was, terrible. He was telegraphing his throws, forcing the ball and making questionable decisions. I know that he knows that he’s no longer the starter for this team but man…..it brought back memories of last season that I’d sooner forget.

Cousins looked inconsistent but definitely showed some promise. I’d start him over Grossman even if the season were to start tomorrow.

Garcon is only listed as 6’ 185lbs but he looked a lot bigger to me than he did in Indy. I’m glad to see him developing such a good relationship with RGIII. They were beside each other and talking on the sideline quite a bit.

Our starting defensive front seven can get after the QB. They were getting nice pressure on Fitz for the time they were in. I was trying to pay attention to our DBs and Safeties as well and I think they played very well. A stout pass rush will always help the DBs. There were a couple of passes we should have picked off. There also seems to be something else that makes me very happy, depth. We seem to have solid reserves just about everywhere on the defensive side of the ball. We haven’t seen that in many moons.

Banks is probably not going to make the team as a receiver. He wasn’t able to get any separation with his speed or route running and wasn’t big enough to create his own space. Some of issues you could blame on Rex I guess but not all of them.

For it being the first pre-season game of the year I came away fairly pleased.
 
I wanted to watch the tape again before I commented today and have. After watching a 2nd time, I am more impressed than I was last night.

First thing...Lanky, I don't know why Shanahan would have said what he did in the Rich Campbell quote, but Trent wasn't even in on the PAT. It was definitely Hurt rolling up on the back of his foot on the TD.

I thought Griff led Garçon on that incomplete pass out on the sideline, but it was placed almost perfectly. I watched it about 6 times from 2 different angles, neither of which gives a clear view, but I would swear it was a completetion. It looks like Garçon has his right foot planted on the ground when, simultaneously, he catches the ball and drags his left foot. The problem is there is a Bills defender in the way to be 100% sure. But I would have taken a 2nd look if it was a regular season game were I Shanahan. Garçon takes the blame, but it really does look like it was closer than we were led to believe. From the angles visible by the broadcast you cannot tell for sure. (There's something to be said of the major network broadcasts)

The second incompletion was to Paul, who should have caught it. He did get hit, but he didn't have control of the ball as the hit comes. He's got to get his hands on the ball.

So it looks like it should have been 6 for 6.

Brandon Banks is just too small to play WR in the NFL. If he is on the final roster I would be very surprised considering the job Crawford did...that is if both continue to perform how they did last night. I don't think Banks was terrible, he is just way to small to get separation at the line of scrimmage and too small to use his body to shield the defender.

As for Rex, yeah pretty much the same but there were a lot of dropped passes last night. Same for Cousins, his receivers dropped a lot of passes. Gotta like the way Cousins moved around in the pocket. The 3rd string OL seemed to play better than the 2nd team OL, but that may just be indicative of Cousins mobility over Rex's.

And I gotta say, Gettis and Hurt did a pretty good job. Run blocking early was tough, but once they got the nerves out the whole offensive 1st team looked solid.

One more thing I will probably catch a little heat for saying, but London concerns me in pass coverage. Not that he did a bad job last night, but taller TE's will continue to make catches against him like we saw last night. We saw it happen last year. Against the run when he is running side to side, there are not many I would rather have but his coverage skills at this stage in his career and the evolution of the TE position concern me...just a little.

Oh yeah, one more last thing. Antwan Randle El is the next in a long line of athletes who have no business with a microphone in hand! HE IS TURRIBLE!!!
 
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Great write ups, guys! Thanks!

El, most LBs have trouble covering the new hybrid WR-TE, so I wouldn't let that concern me much.
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Looks like it should've been at least 5 for 6:

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One last thought: Buffalo's punter was money. He was consistently leaving us with crappy starting field position.
 

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