So there was obviously a ton of hype with the return of RG3. Unfortunately, the Skins came out flat. Just a nightmarish first half. It happens. I don't like it. I don't know how to explain it but those things happen. Nothing seemed to go right for the Skins in the first half. Give Chip Kelly, Vickles, and the Iggles credit. They came out with their up tempo offense and the Skins couldn't find an answer until later in the game. Still, the question is how much of it was the Iggles offense or the Skins ineptitude in the first half? The answer is probably some where in the middle.
Skins continually shot themselves in the foot with turnovers, bad/untimely penalties, and just poor execution. The good news is that those things are correctable. It was good to see them come back from a 33-7 deficit and make a game of it to finish 33-27. I understand the Iggles game philosophy changed when they were up but still it wasn't like the Iggles gave the Skins points or didn't try to score anymore so the Skins do deserve credit for not quitting and continuing to fight.
This pretty much sums up the Skins first half: their first seven plays: lost fumble by Alfred Morris, 3-yard loss by Morris, penalty for illegal shift, screen to Morris that got back some yards, interception thrown by Griffin into triple coverage, pass dropped by fullback Darrel Young, safety that occurred when Morris bobbled a pitch in the end zone. Not a recipe for success.
Along with these miscues, the Skins had terrible field position the entire first half. I believe the average starting position for the Skins was at the 10 yard line compared to the Iggles starting from their 35 yard line. It's a huge difference.
Rookie PR/KR Chris Thompson made a number of mistakes catching punts inside the 10 yard line and trying to return kickoffs sent deep into the end zone. I understand he is a rookie and wants to make a play but it didn't work out and cost us valuable field position. Other rookie Baccari Rambo needs to play better. He does not break down in open field tackling allowing guys to get right by him. I also think he was out of position at times in coverage. On the flip side, I thought rookie David Amerson was solid at CB. Rookie Jordan Reed had himself a nice game with several catches.
As far as RG3 is concerned, I know many people are saying that he didn't look 100%. For me, he looked 100% but he just looked a bit rusty. It shouldn't be a surprise that some of his passes were off and his timing was off a bit. He never got a chance to play in the preseason and that hurts. In the end, I thought it was a solid first game back all things considered. It will take him another game or two to get back into the rhythm but I don't have any doubts about him. The tough part was that we got down so big so early that we were forced out of our running game and had to pass. In this game, our best defense was going to be our offense as we needed to keep their up tempo offense off the field . It just didn't work out that way.
Will be interesting to see how well the Chip Kelly offense is over the course of the season. This is one game so you can't get too high or low on anything. We seem to say this every season but it takes 3 or 4 games before everything normalizes and you can weed the contenders from the pretenders. I will say that our defense seemed much more effective against Vickles when we sent additional pressure. We'll see how other teams decide to defend against them.
In the end, I'm disappointed but far from concerned. As mentioned, it's one game and we have to learn from it and move on. Next week is the Puckers who present their own set of challenges. Rodgers will definitely put our suspect secondary to the test. With both teams losing their opening games, no doubt both will be fighting to stave off an 0-2 start.
HTTR!!!
7 comments:
Let me also add to the miscues in the first half with Forbath uncharacteristically missing a 40 yd FG and Rocca blowing punts. It was just an abysmal first half. Again, those of us that have watched enough sports understand that there are games like this. It's not fun. You just hope your team doesn't quit and fights through it and tries to build on something for the coming week. I don't doubt that there will be a better performance next week.
One more thing, Ryan Kerrigan is a beast. This guy is one of the most unsuspecting stars in the league. He's not a show off and doesn't have a star personality but game in/game out the guy makes plays. He left the game because of concussion like symptoms. Hopefully he is okay.
The game went pretty much exactly as I thought it would from RG3's perspective. He was off with his timing and some of his decision-making wasn't there. The second half was better, but this was like a preseason game for him because he hadn't taken any snaps until last night.
The only concern I might have from his perspective was that I thought he failed to set his feet on some throws and he may still be a bit concerned mentally about players hitting the knee. But I expect that to go away as he plays more.
Defensively, the secondary was as bad as I expected. There wasn't a whole lot of sustained pass pressure, but the coverage skills just aren't there. To make matters far worse, the Deadskins secondary could not tackle at all last night in the open field.
The alarming thing defensively was the complete inability to stop the run. I don't know if it was fatigue or scheme or just bad play, but when you give up more than 260 rushing yards on 49 attempts it is going to be a long night. Sheesh!
In the end, I do think the Eagles have good offensive talent and their offensive line is much improved. By mid year Vick will get hurt and defenses will catch up to them. I also expect the Deadskins to play far better in coming weeks. But the schedule does not favor the Deadskins and they look like an 8-8 team this year.
It's not surprising that RG3 was rusty. He played better later in the game but he looked rusty. It'll probably take another game or two for him to get back in the flow (both passing and running). In the end, he really had a pretty solid game. There was obvious pressure on the guy and he was under a microscope and I think people expect to see perfection from him but he was solid and he'll only get better. Not worried about him.
There was some poor tackling particularly in the secondary. By in large, I thought Amerson had a solid game. Rambo is a concern. It was also a concern that Josh Wilson was starting at SS. That meant you had a guy playing out of position coupled with a rookie at the safety positions. It's tough. Meriweather is hurt. Tanard Jackson still suspended. The other rookie safety is hurt. Not sure about Doughty maybe was concerned with Philly's speed and decided to put a CB at the S position. Whatever the case, we were shorthanded at the safety position. This will change next season as guys will come back healthier/better and we will have money to spend in FA.
Pass pressure was much better when we sent in a blitz and we were much better at defense. It was in the beginning when we couldn't muster much pressure with the front four. Give Vickles enough time, he was able to carve us up. I am curious to see the Iggles offense over the coming weeks and see how well it works.
It was an unknown coming into the game but teams will have game film and will be curious to see how opposing teams adjust.
I was pretty impressed with the Eagles fast pace offense. I think RG isnt 100 percent. I remember one play where he tried to take off and a DL caught him from behind and tripped him up. He wasnt stepping in to his throws. Whether its because of injury or reluctance, he didn't look the same. The success of this skins offense revolves around the threat of RG3 taking off and the read option. Without that, this offense is average at best. I have to say that the Eagles were sitting in a soft zone for much of the second half which made it easy for the types of completions RG was making. I wouldnt put too much stock in their second half performance and stats. i think the Eagles went too soft in the second half and underestimated the Redskins ability to score and also their own fitness level. That is the inexperienced coaches fault. That's why the game got close. A concern is that the RG3 may not be willing to run as much and maybe becoming more of a pocket passer. That changes everything. Who knows but like you said it takes 4 to 5 weeks to see a better picture.
I think RG3 will improve and get more comfortable in the pocket, but I am not sure his real speed will come back. JKSD pointed out that RG3 runs fast but doesn't look like he runs that fast - that is true, but he just does not seem to have the blazing speed at this point.
RG3 and Alfred Morris had dream years last year and I am not sure they can repeat the season they had. The secondary just looks bad and add to these things that they are playing a tougher schedule as a result of winning the East last year and the road looks a bit bumpy.
It is only one game, but there should be real concerns, especially with a trip to Lambeau up next to play an 0-1 Packer team that also needs a win.
So I get annoyed with the majority of fans and media that have kneejerk reactions. A win and all is glorious. A loss and the world is crashing down.
It was one game. It was a nightmarish first half. Anyone that has watched enough sports knows that these things happen. I can't explain it and I don't like it when it happens to my teams but it happens. I don't want to take anything away from the Iggles as they looked impressive but we certainly made things very easy for them giving them the ball deep in our territory multiple times (turnovers, safety, bad punts, etc.).
JSR, the Iggles continued to blitz late in the game as they did throughout the game. RG3 completed 30 of 49 passes for 300+ yards and the completions were of varying lengths. Just as I gave the Iggles credit for their first half, the Skins deserve credit for fighting back. Sure, the Iggles game plan is going to alter given the score but to think they are going to allow us to score and not try and score themselves is silly.
Bottom line is that it is one game and everything will normalize in the first quarter of the season.
My thoughts are that RG3 is healthy but he is rusty. It will come back to him in the next few games. Peyton Manning looked terrible to start the season last year and then started looking more like himself as the season wore on. I remember an early game on national tv with the Broncos going up against the Falcons and Manning had three bad INTs and fans/media started wondering if Manning could come back. We all know the answer to that. RG3 will be fine.
My concern is the secondary. We need a healthy Meriweather to come back as we don't have a backup to him. Rambo needs to be better too. I'm okay with Hall, Wilson, Amerson, and Biggers at CB. Still, the CBs rely on the safeties to help and if they aren't helping it weakens the entire secondary.
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