Win No. 3: Likes and Dislikes

[Bulldog]

Likes:

1. Better mix of the run and pass to keep SD off balance. The Redskins ran the ball enough on first down to keep the Chargers honest
and then were able to mix in some very effective critical passes to Reed and Garcon to move the sticks.

2. Much better jumps to start the game. Even though the team was down 14-7 through the second quarter, the offense drove the ball
and didn't sit back in a shell, while the defense did get Rivers off the field on several key third downs.

3. Griffin and the receivers. Finally, a game where the passes were accurately thrown and the receivers didn't drop them. In fact Griffin made
some amazing throws threading the ball at times that surprised the defensive backs when they were completed.

4. David Amerson. He misread a couple of plays in the fourth quarter and let Allen catch balls down the field, but he did compete.
His interception lead to the final 3 points the team needed to get to overtime, and he kept Danny Woodhead out of the end zone on SD's
final drive at the one.

5. Punt and kick coverage were a lot better this week. Players made open field, unassisted tackles on returns and the units looked more
aggressive and energized than in previous weeks.

6. Alfred Morris. He has been there this year, at times Kyle has underused him, at others the line hasn't blocked well enough to open
legitimate holes. His 121 today was a nice total, but he has been capable of this since Game 1. It's nice the team has rediscovered him.

Dislikes:

1. I was literally throwing my shoe at the HD screen in the fourth quarter, watching the defense consistently rush only 3 or 4 and drop
7 against a pro bowl quarterback. The lack of a pass rush and pressure on Rivers almost cost this team the game. You may be able to
run that kind of scheme against a Christian Ponder or Chad Henne, but you have to challenge a guy like Rivers that has limited mobility.

2. The special teams can never be 100% can they? Today the coverage was good and Rocca was good. But the FG unit was abominable, allowing two blocked kicks and again suffering anemic returns. Why have Josh Morgan back there? He averages 19-20 yards a return and
the ball comes out to the 20 on the touchback. Why this team refuses to put Niles Paul or someone else back there is amazing to me.

3. The offensive line had some key holding penalties today on run downs. It's a bit of a given that this OL is going to struggle some against the
pass due to the scheme and size of the players outside of Trent Williams. But the run game is supposed to be their strength and these
guys are supposed to be quick enough off the ball to get decent leverage on defenders moving laterally so they won't have to blatantly hold
in front of the refs.

 

[DieselPwr44]

Dislikes:

1. I was literally throwing my shoe at the HD screen in the fourth quarter, watching the defense consistently rush only 3 or 4 and drop
7 against a pro bowl quarterback. The lack of a pass rush and pressure on Rivers almost cost this team the game. You may be able to
run that kind of scheme against a Christian Ponder or Chad Henne, but you have to challenge a guy like Rivers that has limited mobility.



3. The offensive line had some key holding penalties today on run downs. It's a bit of a given that this OL is going to struggle some against the
pass due to the scheme and size of the players outside of Trent Williams. But the run game is supposed to be their strength and these
guys are supposed to be quick enough off the ball to get decent leverage on defenders moving laterally so they won't have to blatantly hold
in front of the refs.

1: I truly believed that someone could go on the field with some post hole diggers and plant a post in the ground 5 yards behind the LOS and we still couldn't touch it. lol

3: Really would like to see them try someone else in Chester's spot. Either the guy is hurt or he just doesn't have it anymore.

 

[Fear The Spear]

4. David Amerson. He misread a couple of plays in the fourth quarter and let Allen catch balls down the field, but he did compete.
His interception lead to the final 3 points the team needed to get to overtime, and he kept Danny Woodhead out of the end zone on SD's
final drive at the one.

The goal line stand AFTER that play was just as huge. The defense deserves huge props.
I thought FOR SURE after the TD was overturned, that the Chargers would just punch it in for a score,
if not the next play, then within a couple plays, seeing as they had those time-outs.
But with a 1st and Goal at the half yard line, we held stiff, and even made them lose yardage before it came to 4th down.

 

[Bulldog]

I really did think that Haslett's strategy in the fourth quarter of trading yardage for time almost cost us the game.

I would prefer to see more pressure and an up tempo attack toward the LOS against a good quarterback like Rivers.

We were making it far too easy for him to pick up receivers in the intermediate zone.

 

[Go Deep]

I still don't think our offense played well.

We only scored 7 points in the 1st half(granted we had a FG blocked) against a team that's arguably the worst defense we'll play against all year and statistically #23 in the league.

Last year I can't remember the offense not scoring in 1 of the first 2 possessions of a game. This year I don't think we've scored in either of our first 2 possessions of a game yet.

They mentioned a stat in todays game where we have been trailing like 60+% of the time with only the Jaguars being worse. The offense is not complementing the defense at all and making the D look worse than it really is.

I agree it looked like we could've brought a little more pressure against Rivers, but make no mistake, the D won this game with the 2 ints and the GL stand. The offense had 2 chances in the 4th quarter to put it out of reach and went 3 and out both times.

 

[tshile]

I've been hard on the offense all season and been saying the defense has been playing well, and today the defense let me down. They played well until the 4th quarter. Maybe it's a bit unfair since Griffin's pick 6 was the only reason SD was still in the game, and they did make that goal line stop...

Otherwise - Special Teams sucks. Morgan sucks at making decisions - screw his actual returns, he can't figure out whether to let it go or actually return it, much less get any yards when he decides to return it. 2 blocked field goals given up in 1 half to a team that hasn't had a ST block in 11 years?

Rocca booms the ball during warmups - pre game and half time - but can't kick worth a **** when it matters.

From top to bottom ST sucks and something has to be done about it.

I'm not thrilled about how we won today - I think we tried to give it away - but we need a win and for the first time this season the passing offense looked competent.

And Kyle's play calling looked ok this week for the most part.

Griffin's leap for the first down was scary but we needed it. Props to him for making that play.

 

[Bulldog]

The Redskins converted 60% of their third downs today. It's not Griffin or the offense's fault that the ST had 2 FG's blocked - make either FG and the game would have ended in regulation. Morris had 121 yards rushing and Garcon had 172 yards receiving. Griffin completed 71% of his throws after recent games of 50% completions.

Give credit where credit is due, the offense played with energy and enthusiasm today and no one was focused on kicking the FG in overtime, all effort was for pushing for the game-winning TD.

 

[Dead Money]

And Kyle's play calling looked ok this week for the most part.

That pass play with 3rd and 4@ 2:20 left in the game was a crap call. Run the ball there to get down to the 2 min warning instead the bolts got like 2-3 extra plays. Silly.


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[tshile]

Yeah that was not what I would have done...

 

[bird_1972]

That pass play with 3rd and 4@ 2:20 left in the game was a crap call. Run the ball there to get down to the 2 min warning instead the bolts got like 2-3 extra plays. Silly.

So glad someone mentioned this. My friends were looking at each other like "WTF" after we saw that call. You have to run the ball there in order to get the clock down to 2:00 warning.

Overall, I still think our interior OL is garbage and is in dire need of improvement in the offseason, especially with a QB who doesn't seem to have much pocket presence (I sure hope this improves). We also need another legit WR for the slot.

Would a better NT or DE (or both) free up Kerrigan and Orakpo to get to the QB? Its still maddening to me that we can't generate consistent pressure with a 4 man rush.

 

[Nobody]

I really did think that Haslett's strategy in the fourth quarter of trading yardage for time almost cost us the game.

I would prefer to see more pressure and an up tempo attack toward the LOS against a good quarterback like Rivers.

We were making it far too easy for him to pick up receivers in the intermediate zone.

That asshole had me livid. Nothing I hate to watch more than almost blowing a game you should be putting the final nail in, because you take a bend but don't break approach. It has a nearly 100% failure rate across the board in the NFL, it makes me wonder why these coordinators all still insist on doing it. We were literally an inch from 2-6 because of that bull****, I'm so over Haslett. Even in a victory i can't find anything nice to say about him, because he doesn't ever deserve any praise.

That being said.....it was a great win, I was tickled to see us pounding the ball, and I miss Danny Smith more and more every week.

 

[Nobody]

The Redskins converted 60% of their third downs today. It's not Griffin or the offense's fault that the ST had 2 FG's blocked - make either FG and the game would have ended in regulation.

Make either FG, and the Chargers go for it on 4th and goal from an inch out, and likely win in regulation. I think it was one of those rare times where missing a FG actually benefited us.

 

[Bulldog]

Yep, on 3rd and 4 I was expecting to see Morris or Griffin keeping the ball and trying to get to the edge.

If the team was going to throw a pass you would figure it would be targeted for Reed or Hankerson given their height advantages.

 

[Nobody]

Some of my key observations.....

1. Jordan Reed is a superstar in the making.
2. We need to run the triple option at least a dozen times per game.
3. Use DY in every short yardage or goal line situation, because even when they put bodies on him, he's assured 3-4 yards.
4. The refs can't get anything right most of the time.
5. Haslett is still terrible.

 

[Bulldog]

I know it gets everyone's back up and we split into camps about this issue, but it is my contention that the defense is better suited to a 4-3 alignment and if we were playing that scheme you would see MORE out of guys like Barry Cofield, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan, Jarvis Jenkins and London Fletcher.

 

[tshile]

Chargers had time outs. I don't think it would have gone down to the 2 minute warning if we didn't get the first down. Not if they didn't want it to. Could have burned a timeout though.

 

[bird_1972]

Chargers had time outs. I don't think it would have gone down to the 2 minute warning if we didn't get the first down. Not if they didn't want it to. Could have burned a timeout though.

Perhaps, but then you at least get them to burn a time out. Either way, it's still the right thing to do vs. passing it in that situation.

 

[bird_1972]

I know it gets everyone's back up and we split into camps about this issue, but it is my contention that the defense is better suited to a 4-3 alignment and if we were playing that scheme you would see MORE out of guys like Barry Cofield, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan, Jarvis Jenkins and London Fletcher.

Considering that we have a 3-4 alignment, either we don't have the talent to run that scheme (would be surprising since they had 3 years to draft/sign players necessary for it) or we don't have a DC who knows how to run it.

I'm voting 25% the first since we need a true block eating NT and 75% the second since Haslett seems middle of the road at best and I'm not so sure we are getting the most out of our guys with him.

 

[fansince62]

1. referees were making phantom calls all day - very obvious on TV.

2. Polumbus needs to discover the new world of pass blocking. he's horrendous.

3. looks as though hazlett compensates for a lack of dominating physical talent on the inside 7 by masking the defense up to the very last second. I'd prefer dominating talent.

4. Kyle's strategy of passing early an often made sense to me - teams are trying to stuff the run early with 8 in the box. we hadn't made em pay up to this point cuz the passing game was so pathetic. today was different.

5. we almost blew a 10 pt lead - knuckleheads. two weeks in a row now that lead have been squandered - rather easily I might add.

6. we're in the thick of it for the lead in the worst division in the NFL!!!!

7. Robert is till getting killed. he needs to get rid of the ball faster or he aint going to enjoy a 10 yr career.

8. starting to think less of our LBs. none of them really stand out to me. (I see Rak/Kerrigan more as d-line).

9. run defense was bad early on but established itself by the 2nd qtr - thank goodness. made a big difference.

oh yea...as I stated after the draft, during preseason and on into the season: Jordam Reed da man!

another oh yea: the pitches to Reed and Santana were an interesting wrinkle. high risk plays.

 

[SkinsFTW]

London Fletcher is done. Great player until 2 years ago but he shouldn't even be starting at this point.