After starting out 6–2, the Washington Redskins looked poised to possibly win the division and challenge the New York Giants for NFC dominance. Wow, a lot of things have changed in the last two weeks!
Where do I begin?
Let’s start with the offensive line, which, for some reason, has forgotten how to pass protect. They have given up 10 sacks in the last two games. Jon Jansen looks like a statue on passing downs.
Where’s Stephon Heyer, who was starting in the beginning of the season, until he was injured? He has been active the last two games, and hasn’t seen the field.
I thought the “West Coast Offense” was a “pass first to set up the run” scheme, which means you need to be able to pass protect. The Redskins haven’t been doing a good job in that area, and it’s a big reason why they sit at 6–4 now and on the verge of missing the playoffs.
The mental mistakes need to stop. They are 11 weeks into the season and guys have been practicing where they’re supposed to be, and what they’re supposed to be doing, for four months now.
If Devin Thomas doesn’t know when he’s supposed to be on the field (he has looked like a “deer in headlights” for most of the year), put him on the bench and keep him there. Offensive pass interference here, illegal formation there—these bad penalties always seem to happen when they are driving the ball—a.k.a. momentum killers!
Can the defensive line get any pressure on the quarterback?? What happened to that great pass rush they would have with Jason Taylor and Andre Carter on the ends? I understand Taylor has been injured most of the season, but he looked healthy Sunday night, and I don’t think he touched Tony Romo.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think any defensive players touched Romo. They haven’t put much pressure on any quarterback this year. Fifteen sacks in 10 games isn’t going to do it.
Do we ever blitz anymore? Where’s the coaches’ confidence in our cornerbacks to cover man-to-man? We constantly give the quarterbacks in this league plenty of time to throw the ball, and eventually, it’s going to hurt us.
Now it looks like we can’t stop the run either. Were we so worried about Romo throwing the ball on us that we forgot they had a pretty good running back, too? There’s no excuse for them running the ball 10 out of the last 11 plays in that game, and us not be able to get a stop with six minutes left.
This is a sure recipe for disaster against teams on our upcoming schedule like the New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Francisco 49ers, who have all combined, as a team, for more than 950 yards rushing each.
12 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Travis Evans 7 months ago
It's brennan's turn baby give it to him
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Dakota smith 7 months ago
Far from it.
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Troy Marine 7 months ago
I don't think it's gotten that bad just yet. I'm not sure Zorn would put him in even if we lost a couple more games. Thanks the post!
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Dakota smith 7 months ago
Don't hate on the D. The D did everything they needed to do for us to win. Produced two picks, limited the high powered Cowboy's offense to 14 points. Its our passing game that is killing us. Zorn needs throw the ball down the field more.
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Troy Marine 7 months ago
Hey Dakota,
I'm not hating on the entire D, just the D line. The secondary has played pretty well for the entire year and our linebackers are great. Just wish the coaches would trust our secondary more and blitz a couple more times! I agree we need to go down field more, but the O'line needs to give Campbell more time to do that. Pass protection was what got us those wins in Dallas and Philly. Well, Portis helped a lot too. Thanks for the comment.
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Travis Evans 7 months ago
Brennan is the key
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Jimmy Ryan 7 months ago
Travis I'm starting to think you are in fact Colt Brennan himself... Switching to Brennan would guarantee us missing the playoffs...
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N4QWZ Hamradio 7 months ago
How is Brennan the key? The way the O-line is blocking, the only key he will be is the one to unlock the hospital door, when he gets head knocked off.
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Troy Marine 7 months ago
I just don't understand why Heyer isn't playing anymore.. He was the starter before he got hurt and played well, especially in pass protection. I think Jansen has shown why Heyer beat him out in the first place. He's lost a step. Still a good run blocker, but that's it.
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Eric Moon 7 months ago
Troy it's alot of issues going on with the Skins, O-line can't protect, Zorn being to conservative, toooo much of Portis now he's banged up, no pressure from the D, corners playing to soft. Lots going on and unless they correct it starting this weekend the Skins will be watching the playoffs with us instead of playing in it.
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Troy Marine 7 months ago
But it's the same issues every year it seems like. O-line sucks, conservative play calling (Gibbs the last 4 years), no pressure from the D. So, next year let's be like the Lions and draft a bunch of wide receivers again. They have sure come in handy. We need a GM and somone that's not an idiot like Cerrato. Synder just needs to supply the money and let someone with football knowledge to the work. I'm tired of this every year. Thanks for the comment though.. =)
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Troy Marine 7 months ago
Oh, Eric, I meant also to say by fixing the O-line situation, you might see at least two of those other problems go away. If we give Campbell time to throw, it will help the conservative play calling and we can go down field, which will give Portis even more room to run. The D is a whole another issue. I think we need to blitz more if we are going to get pressure on the QB. We used to blitz the cornerbacks all the time will G. Williams. Or some safety blitzes would be nice too. The D-line is just not that good. Maybe when Taylor is "100%" healthy it will be different, but I've been hearing that for 10 weeks now.
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