Washington Redskins: What Two Games Reveal About a Promising Season

Washington Redskins fans are now forced to deal with the aftermath of Sunday's 30-27 painful overtime loss to the Houston Texans.  But in doing so, there are too many positives to ignore.

So, the Redskins found another creative way to lose a game, up 17 points and allowing 20 unanswered.

Sure, they still have a number of flaws leftover from last year (or the last decade, at kicker).

But that misses the overall point.  With a new coaching staff, the Redskins are a legitimate football team. It may not translate into wins this year, but building towards something is a great start.

So, some of the flaws are obvious and not worth too many words just plowing over the same ground again.  The Redskins secondary continued to struggle yesterday, especially with communication in zone coverage. 

DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rodgers are great cover corners and do best in man-to-man situations.  The Redskins won't have a cover safety until Kareem Moore comes back. 

When you have flaws like that, Matt Schaub can throw for 497 yards. The Redskins have two weeks to fix their secondary.  Then the Packers and Colts come to FedEx Field.

This year, the Redskins can't find a single reliable running back when they had four last year (Portis, Betts, Cartwright, Ganther). 

However, Donovan McNabb has clearly transformed the Redskins offense.  Not only in terms of its production, but in terms of the breadth of plays Kyle Shanahan has at his disposal.  The ceiling for this offense is ten times higher than it ever was with Jason Campbell.

Last year, the Redskins had to play a certain way, with a very limited offense and risk-averse defense, to prevent getting blown out.

The Redskins have been at their best the last two weeks when they've blitzed LaRon Landry and thrown the ball with Donovan McNabb.  This is a new team, one shaped by the Shanahans and Jim Haslett. 

They are competitive, even if they retain fatal flaws from last year.  And anything, even if it doesn't mean pretty wins on Sunday, is better than last year.