Redskins lose to Falcons

I didn't expect to win this game and as I have mentioned, I prefer to lose the rest of our games so that it increases the likelihood for needed change. However, I just don't want to be embarrassed and I want to see guys compete and not just lay down. That said, here are my thoughts:

1. The first half was a complete embarrassment. In particular, I was disgusted with the penalties we took. A Falcon 4th and 1, we jump offsides for a first down. A Falcon 4th and 4 and they punt, we jump offsides resulting in a Falcon 1st down. A Falcon 3rd and I believe 15 they throw and incomplete pass but we are called for roughing the passer resulting in an automatic 1st down (I actually didn't agree with that call but that doesn't matter). Those are three drives that we allowed to continue because of undisciplined penalties.

The O line was worse than it ever has been. Allowed 5 sacks and I believe 4 in the first half. A couple of them were allowed when the Falcons were only rushing 3 guys. That's pathetic even for these guys. It's like these guys are just getting worse.

First half was just a complete and utter embarrassment. Again, I was not watching this game thinking we were going to win but the lack of effort was embarrassing to me as a fan.

2. Laron Landry - just a very disappointing effort on his part. I'm fine with Landry and think he has a ton of talent and can be a very good player but his effort yesterday was VERY poor. The hit out of bounds yesterday may have been frustration but it was just a dumb penalty. You have to know the QB is going out of bounds and he still tried to give him a shot. Just dumb. On multiple occasions, he took bad angles and put himself in poor position to make a play. His non hit on Turner that led to his long TD was ridiculous. When I watched the replay, I was thinking about how he tried to hit Jacobs last year and was bowled over. Maybe he was thinking of that and just decided to go for the ankles but any semi decent player will just sidestep or jump over him and he takes himself completely out of the play. There is a reason why you are called Safety and that is because you are the last line of defense and the safety net. You have to be able to make those tackles. Just a poor effort and poor technique. Landry has done that a couple of times throughout the year and I know he is a young guy that looks for that impact hit but he just needs to settle down and play within himself and the defense. I am confident that he will be a good player so I am not too down on the guy. He just needs to mature. Still, yesterday's effort was very poor. I will give him credit for the one great play on the Falcon RB on the 3rd and short where he came up, fought off the stiff arm, and made the tackle short of the first down. Outside of that play, he was pretty useless.

3. Another point on the lack of effort and Landry's unsportsman like play - after he did it, D. Hall came over and tried to get Landry out of there and ended up jawing with a lot of the Falcons and even their coach. I don't like Landry's play. It was dumb but he did it and when all the Falcons jumped all over D. Hall, I would have liked to have seen some of the Redskins get in there and mix it up. I'm not saying fight but defend your player. Show some heart. Show some toughness. Show some attitude. It's par for the course, we will just take it and not show any emotion.

Again, I don't condone that play and prefer it to not have taken place but it did and I know good teams when one of their own is in a scuffle, the rest of the team will get in there and defend that player. Didn't like that we just didn't do anythign about it.

4. Second half - completely different than the first half. We played well. We dominated that half, particularly the third quarter. Honestly, it was probably the best I had seen the Skins play all year. The line held up pretty well, the play calling was good, and the execution was good. We scored a TD when we were in the red zone and we did it on a 4th and short at the goal line and we just sent Betts up the middle on the run. Loved the call. Loved that we didn't get cute or do some kind of stretch run but just sent it up the gut. Loved that the defense stepped up on the ensuing Falcon drive and sent them 3 and out. Our offense came back and marched down the field again and we scored another TD in the red zone to start the 4th quarter. Again, it was pretty exciting football for a while. We looked like a different team. We had 10 penalties in the game 7 in the first half. I believe we gave up 5 sacks in the game and 4 in the first half. Apparently the coaches got in the players faces at halftime and let them have it. While it was great to see the total change in attitude and play, why did it have to take an entire first half and a yelling at halftime to get these guys going? It is bothersome that they couldn't come out and play that way from the get go.

5. Defense - was pretty happy with them. The Falcons had given up only 9 sacks all year but we were able to get Ryan 3 times and had good pressure on the guy. All in all it wasn't a bad performance by the defense. Where we really failed was on the stupid penalties that kept drives alive and then for the second consecutive game, we gave up a couple of big plays that proved to be the difference. That comes down to a couple of individuals totally blowing their assignments and allowing the big play to happen. It wasn't a great defensive performance but I feel pretty good about this group in general.

6. Playcalling. In the third quarter, I thought we were just hitting on all cylinders. I liked the playcalling. We did some misdirectional stuff and I like the playaction rolling out play to Davis. I like the WR screen to Moss. I like the end around to Moss (same play Desean Jackson ran for the long TD against us). I like them because we get the ball into our playmakers hands but also because we know we don't have an O line to buy JC much time so these plays get the ball out quickly and allow our playmakers to do something. I really didn't like the 4th and short call in the 4th quarter. Instead of just running up the gut. We got cute and had Sellars run all the way behind the line (ran from left to right) but got chipped as he was running and wasn't able to get separation. Don't mind a pass play but that play takes too long to develop and just didn't seem like a high probability for success. We didn't get the first down and the pretty much ended the game.

7. JC - I still like the guy. I think he can play. I feel badly for him because he has to feel like every play he is going to get hit. It makes it very hard to do your job when you don't have confidence in your line. I imagine it is like sitting at your office desk and every now and then somebody is going to blow an air horn from behind you. Even when he doesn't blow it, you will be on edge because you know it is coming. The other thing I REALLY liked about JC this week was he was decisive when he was going to run the ball. He had a few really nice runs where he got significant yardage. JZ and JC have both been saying much of the year that he needs to get better at that and he did a good job with that yesterday. His numbers were solid and I still would love to see JC play behind a decent line with a solid running game. I really feel like he could be a good player in this league.

There were some positives but again I was thoroughly embarrassed in the first half. I was disappointed with every part of our team in that first half. Players were executing, they were making dumb mistakes, and the coaches didn't seem to have them prepared or motivated to even come out and play. That is a HUGE issue. It took the first half and a yelling at halftime to get them going. That is unacceptable and that is where I have the bigger problems with yesterday's game.