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- Dec 21, 2010
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Amazing. The Skins sit in first place in the NFC Least. Admittedly the "Least" is the worst division in football right now, but still the Skins control their own destiny with a good chance of making the playoffs which very few would have guessed 3 months ago. Last year at this time posters were arguing about draft picks.
Looking at the schedule, I really believe the Skins have an excellent chance of going on a roll, and winning the division, but for me there are a few key factors here:
1. First, and most importantly imo, the offensive coaches need to feature D Jackson the rest of the way out. Jackson is healthy, fresh, and hungry as hell. The coaches need to do a much better job of getting him the ball in different situations. Jackson is the second best player in the division(O'dell Beckham #1), and the Skins have barely utilized him thus far. Continue to throw it to him deep a couple/few times a game out of max protect play action, but also get him the ball in space, and hit him in stride on mid range patterns so he can run after the catch. This will not only put points on the board, but it will work wonders to jump start the run game and underneath passing game. Maybe even more importantly it gives the rest of the team a huge emotional boost every time they see Jax making big plays. The Skins need to target Jax at least 7-8 times game if they want to really get the whole offense rolling more consistently and putting up more points. the man is fast. Give him the ball.
2. The players need to make this whole "can't win on the road talk" personal. That's all the pundits seem to want to talk about with the Skins, but has any other team had a more difficult road schedule thus far? @Patriots, @Panthers, @Jets, @Falcons, @Giants...those are all pretty tough road games this year, especially the obvious 2. The players know this and need to rally around it. They must beat Dallas this Monday at home, and then go up to Chicago and beat the Bears. If they do that, they'll really be in the driver seat.
3. Defensive adjustments need to be made. Yes the defense made plays against the Giants when they needed to, but overall they have looked very shaky in coverage for the last several weeks, and they are missing easy tackles in the run game. The defense looked quite good at times earlier in the season, and I believe they can get back to that form, but they have to tackle better, and coverage and coverage schemes must improve.
I don't have the feeling that the Skins are real contenders to make a run deep into the playoffs right now, but you never know. If they beat Dallas, they could go on a roll.
Looking at the schedule, I really believe the Skins have an excellent chance of going on a roll, and winning the division, but for me there are a few key factors here:
1. First, and most importantly imo, the offensive coaches need to feature D Jackson the rest of the way out. Jackson is healthy, fresh, and hungry as hell. The coaches need to do a much better job of getting him the ball in different situations. Jackson is the second best player in the division(O'dell Beckham #1), and the Skins have barely utilized him thus far. Continue to throw it to him deep a couple/few times a game out of max protect play action, but also get him the ball in space, and hit him in stride on mid range patterns so he can run after the catch. This will not only put points on the board, but it will work wonders to jump start the run game and underneath passing game. Maybe even more importantly it gives the rest of the team a huge emotional boost every time they see Jax making big plays. The Skins need to target Jax at least 7-8 times game if they want to really get the whole offense rolling more consistently and putting up more points. the man is fast. Give him the ball.
2. The players need to make this whole "can't win on the road talk" personal. That's all the pundits seem to want to talk about with the Skins, but has any other team had a more difficult road schedule thus far? @Patriots, @Panthers, @Jets, @Falcons, @Giants...those are all pretty tough road games this year, especially the obvious 2. The players know this and need to rally around it. They must beat Dallas this Monday at home, and then go up to Chicago and beat the Bears. If they do that, they'll really be in the driver seat.
3. Defensive adjustments need to be made. Yes the defense made plays against the Giants when they needed to, but overall they have looked very shaky in coverage for the last several weeks, and they are missing easy tackles in the run game. The defense looked quite good at times earlier in the season, and I believe they can get back to that form, but they have to tackle better, and coverage and coverage schemes must improve.
I don't have the feeling that the Skins are real contenders to make a run deep into the playoffs right now, but you never know. If they beat Dallas, they could go on a roll.