It was ugly but the Skins pull out a great win on the road and beat the Pears 17-14. It was basically the D. Hall show as the guy comes up with 4 (YES, 4!) INTs! Here are my general thoughts on the game as always in no particular order:
1. D. Hall, D. Hall, and more D. Hall. Clearly, he will be the NFC Defensive Player of the Week tying a game record of 4 INTs in the game including a huge 94 yard pick six. Not taking much away from D. Hall but Jeff Cutler seemed like his favorite receiver was D. Hall as a few of these seemed to go right to him. The TD was a floater where pressure was coming and Cutler just laid it out there. The one to Hester, Hester just didn't come back for the ball. The one deep in Pear territory on a slant to Johnny Knoxville, Hall had great position on and it was just a bad throw. The deeper ball towards the end of the game was right to Hall. He was basically the story of the game.
2. Missed opportunities. The Skins controlled the game for most of the first half. Our defense manhandled Cutler and the Pear offense and I think held them to like 40 yards of total offense in the half. We consistently had a great field position which has been rare to come by this year but we did not do anything with it. A few dropped balls and other missed opportunities kept us from opening the game up. The scary thing was the Pear defense came up big with a tipped ball on McNabb that was intercepted and returned for a TD so the game was close throughout the half and then the Pears got a good drive scoring a TD shortly before the half and despite their offensive struggles, the Pears went into halftime with the lead and the ball to start the second half. The Skins really needed to take advantage of the great field position and have to learn to put teams away early.
3. Good special teams. While I didn't like Hunter the Punter losing a lot of yardage by kicking out of bounds too early in his punts. It was still the right move to keep it out of Hester's hands. As I mentioned last week, the one thing I ABSOLUTELY could not tolerate is if Hester beat us so great job keeping it away from him. Gano is a concern. I felt earlier in the year we were pretty settled at the kicker position but I am starting to feel a bit worried with him back there. Seems like anything 40+ is a crap shoot with this guy. Also, worried with his recent struggles and being a young guy his confidence is taking a hit.
4. Strong running game. Torain is not easy to bring down. Typically, one guy and one hit will not bring the guy down. He is a strong power runner and although he had a couple of fumbles which could have really hurt us, he did a good job of closing out the game getting a couple of first downs to ice the game for us. He ended up with like 125 yards on 22 carries. Nice work.
5. Good O line play. I can't remember hearing Peppers or Urlacher's names all game. Those guys were pretty much non factors. I have seen two other Pear games this year (Giants and Packers) and Peppers was a major disrupter on the defense but again, he was pretty much non existent out there so great job O line and particular Trent Williams who seems to relish the challenges of going up against the best week in week out.
6. Strong defensive play. Osakpo got to Cutler twice and Haynesworth had a big game. Haynesworth seems to be coming around a bit. The team really seems to be rallying behind the guy and hopefully this is more of what we will see. He had a good game against Philly and even a better game against the Pears. His sack where he bowled over Williams like a rag doll and pushed him right into Cutler was almost enough to warrant that salary. Clearly, when this guy plays, he is still one of the top DL in the game.
7. Pears are who we thought they were. Not taking anything away from the Redskins but the Pears, who started out 3-0, really aren't that great. After their strong start, they have been 1-3 and taken back to back losses at home. Their offense is bad as it seems like they have no identity and just seem out of sync. They almost look like they are still trying to figure things out that should have been figured out in the offseason/preseason. Jeff Cutler looks bad and continues to make bad throws and you have to wonder how much of it is him just trying to be a hero and make bigger play as opposed to checking down and taking what is given to him or him getting tired of getting hit all the time and it's now affecting his play. The O line is not very good. The receivers are mediocre at best as they don't run the best routes and they had a few dropped balls. Martz's offense does not seem to be clicking. Forte is not getting any running yardage and doesn't seem to get the ball enough to find a rhythm. Chester Taylor has been grossly misutilized as they brought him in, paid him a boat load of money, but are barely even playing the guy. When he did get in there, he seemed to provide a spark as he looked quicker but then they pulled him out and I didn't see much more of the guy. Clearly, that offense is in need of work as it is clear even to the Pear crowd (by their booing) that it just is not working.
In the end, the Skins pulled out the victory and we now find ourselves at 4-3 and with the Eagles loss yesterday and if the Giants lose to the Assboyz tonight, we find ourselves tied again a top the NFC East. Going into Week 8, I don't think many people would have figured us to be 4-3 and in the thick of things so I'll take it.
HAIL SKINS!!!
9 comments:
The game turned on 1 play. Cutler scored a TD on the goal line. It was clearly a TD.
I didn't like the play call that much. I'd like the Bears to just run the ball with Forte or Taylor, but fine - no big deal.
Then, the refs blew the call. It was clearly a TD, but fine calls are missed.
Even if you don't call a TD, Cutler's progress was stopped and he was going backward. Fletcher launched himself helmet first and speared Cutler w/a helmet to helmet hit and knocked the ball out after the play was stopped. The refs couldn't decide what to rule so they ruled fumble. Fine, again, bad calls happen.
Lovie didn't throw the challenge flag. Bad decision because the replay would have given the Bears a TD and an insurmountable 21-10 lead. The Deadskins were not going to score 11 points on offense - basically after the first two or three drives of the game the Deadskins did nothing offensively.
Late in the fourth they broke off a couple of runs, but the Bears were trying to strip the ball (and got it once).
S**t happens. We'll get our breaks in another game - it is a long season.
It was probably the wrong call and Cutler looked to have crossed the line. Bad calls happen every game so too bad.
What was more egregious was Lovie's failure to challenge. FAIL!!!!
Bottom line, the Skins come away with the victory and the Pears are reeling and trying to figure out what to do with their pathetic offense. Consider the Pears second half possessions. The second half was a joke. It goes fumble, interception, nterception, fumble, interception, punt, interception. Ladies and entlemen, your Bears’ second-half drive chart.
Regarding Cutler and having D. Hall as his primary receiver, look at the lines of Hall vs. Hester and Olsen:
Hester/Olsen:
Receptions: 8
Yards: 73
Avg.: 9.1
TD: 0
D. Hall:
Receptions: 4
Yards: 92
Avg.: 23
TD: 1
Lovie, Martz, and Jeff Cutler better get this thing figured out soon because their games only get tougher during the season. The tough part is with poor O line play, mediocre receivers, and no identity on offense where personnel are being misutilized/underutilized, they is only so much you can do. People were thinking the Pears could get to 7-1 but that seems like a long time ago. Basically, they are who we thought they were.
As ugly as it was, at the end of the day, there is only one stat that matters and the Skins come out with the W.
LOL! Way to downplay the result of the game you had been waiting for all season, Robs.
Sure, Cutler held the ball across the plane of the goal line and it should have been a TD, but it happened so fast that I don't blame the refs for botching the call. The blame should go on the Pears' coaching staff for not having the doodads to challenge the call. There was even a TV timeout after the play to give them more time to look it over and they still screwed the pooch.
I think it was pretty clear that the 'Skins were the better team yesterday. Both teams have deficiencies, but the Pears' O-line, QB, and run-D were all suspect. The 'Skins have some sorting out to do on offense and McNabb isn't getting consistent protection from the O-line, but after the Bears took the momentum at the end of the 2nd quarter and into the 3rd quarter, the Skins took it back and held on. I was a little disturbed by the lack of intensity from the Skins after we took the 10-7 lead, but a win on the road is always impressive, so I give the nod to the 'Skins as the better team at this point.
Good luck Pears Fan! HAIL SKINS!
Sorry, I looked at the drive log and the Deadskins' 4th drive was the 72 yard TD. Other than that drive they Deadskins did very little offensively in the game.
I'm not downplaying anything. I told you what play decided the game and why.
It happens. You can agree or disagree, but if the Bears go up 21-10, the game is over.
If, if, if...If Jay George wasn't an overrated hack, the Bears would be a good team. Bottom line is the 'Skins controlled this defensive struggle of a game for 45 of 60 minutes with a short blip where your Pears had to capitalize. They couldn't. The 'Skins made game-changing plays to win whereas the Pears were unable to.
Every game comes down to a handful of plays - one in this game in my opinion. The Bears didn't get the TD call and the coach didn't challenge - it happens.
We can talk about hypotheticals all we want. If this happened or if that happened and what could possibly happen as a result of those possibilities happening. Bottom line, Lovie failed his team. Skins get an ugly but good win on the road and have to be feeling pretty good having won 3 out of their last 4 with the only loss being a close loss to Indy.
HAIL SKINS!!!
Since that play seems to be the focus, you have to give a shout out to Haynesworth for an awesome play. It was quite amazing how Haynesworth seemed to be a man among boys (the Pears O-Line). I'm sure those pitiful fools will have nightmares for weeks. Perhaps they should be referred to as the Booboos (i.e., Yogi's pale Booboo).
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