Game Review: Redskins fall to Eagles 27-17

Well, the fans at FedEx Field booed owner Dan Snyder when his named was announced before the game. That's a good thing. Otherwise...

The Redskins lost 27-17 to the Philadelphia Eagles at FedEx Field tonight before a surly and disgruntled crowd. The loss drops the Redskins to 2-5 going into the bye week. The Redskins have the toughest schedule in the NFL in front of them, with three of their next 5 opponents owning a 4-2 record and the other two opponents, Denver and New Orleans, undefeated.

TE Chris Cooley was injured in the first half and did not return.Cooley has a broken right foot or ankle and should miss a significant amount of time, possibly the remainder of the season. Washington's passing game, already among the weakest in the NFL, just lost its best pass-catcher.

QB Jason Campbell completed 29 of 43 passes for 284 yards, two TD passes, one INT returned for a touchdown and also a fumble. Once again, Campbell left some big plays on the field, but he also had to run for his life for much of the game, getting sacked 6 times by the blitz-happy Eagles and being knocked to the turf many other times. Campbell still appears too hesitant to throw the ball downfield and though it is understandable for him to be suspicious of his offensive line, to play that way leads to too many 3 and outs. Campbell needs to do a better job of recognizing the blitz because he's not getting out of plays where the protection insufficient.

TB Clinton Portis rushed for 43 yards on 14 carries, once again providing almost nothing to the offense. The team could bench Portis for the season and it wouldn't make much of a difference. The offensive line doesn't generate a lot of push for Portis and he's not fast enough to get around the edge or burst through a hole when those opportunities do present themselves. Portis is almost surely the most overpaid mediocre running back in the NFL. His decline from the first half of last season is absolutely stunning.

With Cooley missing most of the game, TE Fred Davis got a chance to play and responded with 8 catches for 78 yards and a touchdown catch with less than 2 minutes left in regulation. Davis made a number of nice plays as a receiver, but he's a total menace to the quarterback as a blocker and cannot be relied upon to stay in front of a pass-rusher. The Redskins must give Davis help as a blocker if he's going to be used that way. Nevertheless, Davis finally showed some real promise as a football player. He's a physical runner after the catch and has a knack for finding the soft spot in a zone defense.

C Casey Rabach cost the team points when he muffed a shotgun snap with about 4 minutes left in the game. LT Stephon Heyer gave up sacks and penalties and just doesn't look like a starting NFL lineman to me. It was a bad game for the offensive line, that didn't help out Portis or Campbell much at all.

Read the rest

http://dcprosportsreport.com/2009/10/27/game-review-redskins-fall-to-eagles-27-17.html