Monday, September 8, 2008

Week 1

I can see how a lot of people would be discouraged by opening week for the skins but there is a lot of untapped potential in this team. The defense may have looked a little too loose in the first half but each time the giant drove the ball they got less and less. Holding them to 16 points was pretty damn good. Now there is room for improvement on defense. Holding on to interceptions would have changed this game entirely. I think i saw the redskins secondary drop four interceptions. Now that could have meant the difference between a win and loss but the defense played a very tough game sacked Manning twice and created a turnover so the real issue here is the offense. The O line that three years ago pushed defenses around and carried the redskins to the playoffs and into the second round seems a distant memory. Instead we seem too slow or too weak to stop a pass rush and unable to keep defensive penetration from stopping our backs at line. Portis was good as he always is, but his blocking seemed to prevent him from getting the 100 yard games he normally picks up. I noticed a distinct lack of passes thrown to Chris Cooley. Either Zorn needs to change his game plan to fit him in or Campbell needs to look for him more. Cooley made the pro bowl for a reason and he has lead the redskins in recieving the last two years. He's an impact player, but he needs the ball to make an impact. Recievers did pretty well. Not sure why Randle El got called for two false starts but they were running solid routes and not dropping balls. Jason Campbell played a poor game. Simple as that. He held on to the ball, locked into recievers, threw away on third down to a reciever behind the first down marker. He did throw a few passes that if they had been a foot to the left or right would have been huge gains or even points. He stayed calm in the pocket and let his blockers protect him. He played very well for his first game in the new system. He had a bad game but im not going to cast him out yet. He showed me a lot of potential and the ability to make plays. Next step is execution. He can be a great quarterback but he needs to run more off instinct. As for Zorn his play calling annoyed me greatly. Some of his play calling showed he had very little faith in Campbell. And the lack of 4th quarter urgency almost had me pulling my hair out. But overal the game showed the potential of this team and left them with a clear picture of what to work on. Next week New Orleans and the home opener. 1-1 here we come!

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