Missed the game live yesterday but watched it on DVR last night. There was some good and some bad but the game boiled down to three plays:
1. A blocked punt deep in our zone that was picked up and returned for a TD. Have NO idea what Roy Helu was doing on that play. He pretty much just let his guy go right by him with little effort and it cost us a TD.
2. First drive of second half we move the ball very effectively particularly with the run and have the ball around the Houston five yard line and RG3 tries to hand the ball off to Morris but looked to trip over a lineman's foot and tried to hand the ball off as he was falling which resulted in a fumble that Houston recovered. It's easy to say watching multiple replays in slow motion from the comfort of the living room after a couple of beers that RG3 should have eaten it but in the moment at full game speed, it's understandable how that happened. Not excusing it but just mentioning that it is understandable.
3. Our next drive, RG3 throws a great ball right down the middle to Niles Paul who is running into the end zone but gets stripped from behind resulting in another fumble inside the Houston 10 yard line that the Texans recovered.
That's it in a nutshell.
Other noteworthy comments include:
1. RG3 was fine. Nothing spectacular but he was not the reason why we lost the game. The game plan seemed pretty easy to understand. The Skins were going to run and do short passes. RG3 was effective at that. He had a high completion percentage and he took what the defense was going to give him. The Texans played a lot of soft coverage and the WRs were doing primarily shorter routes so you can't fault him for the game plan.
2. J.J. Watt was tremendous. The guy was as dominant as a single player at his position could be. He blocked the PAT, recovered a fumble, had a sack and just seemed disruptive the entire afternoon.
3. Our return game is much improved. Andre Roberts is a ton better than anyone we had returning last season.
4. Defense was solid. Thought they had a very good game. Outside of not being able to stop the Texans on their final drive and giving up what looked like a botched coverage on the 76 yard TD, they pretty much shut down the Houston offense. They just looked better in general. Thought Keenan Robinson, Jarvis Jenkins, and Jason Hatcher all had good performances.
In the end, I say football games are typically decided by just a few plays and that was clearly evident in this game. When you actually look at the numbers (time of possession, yards gained, completion percentage, etc.), you would have thought the Skins came out on top but turnovers crushed us and were the obvious difference. It sucks that that happened but those things are correctable.
It's over. It's back to the drawing board. It's on to the Jax at FedEx this week.
HTTR!!!
P.S. In other relevant news, both the Puckers and Pears lost as well. Seattle looks like they are even better than last year and just outplayed GB. Cutler threw some costly picks because he LOVES throwing picks and that hurt them. Also, Fred Jackson just manhandled Conte on the final run that set up the game winning FG. He basically stiff armed him down the field. Wouldn't like to be Conte in the film room.
9 comments:
I saw most of the Skins game. I do think they will be better this year than last year because of the change made at coach. He is a rookie head coach and it will take time. The best skins fans can hope for is progression and some flashes of greatness and growth. I do not think RG3 is anything special either. He was never drafted with the expectation that he would not be the cause of any loss. Many draft picks were sacrificed for someone who could overcome the weaknesses of his team and the turnovers and win a game against a beatable opponent.
Its only one week so far and you can never tell how good a team is after just one or two weeks.
The skins don't look special, and neither do the Texans but again you just want to see some growth in the team and in RG3.
The offense was nothing special and that may have been due to Watt but the defense played as well as they could against Andre Johnson and Arian Foster.
The Packers always open the season against a juggernaut. The Seahawks are a monster team in Seattle. Seeing them first hand you really get a sense that they are well coached and very physical. I think the 49ers are the only team that can match up with them. I think the Packers lost because of self inflicted mistakes. They should fine as long as they don't get plagued by key injuries. I was happy to see the bears lose also.
Agree that RG3 was brought here to win games. However, it takes more than one man to do that. He is young and still learning. He has a new coach so he is learning a new system. That said, he needs to be a difference maker and I expect that will happen.
Also, agree that we don't know how good any of the teams after one or two games. It is not until a quarter of the season through at least that we are able to start determining who are the contenders and who are the pretenders.
The Texans were abysmal last season but we have to remember that two years ago they were 12-4 and even last year some people had them making a Super Bowl run. Their defense has been good the last few years as well.
Again, this seemed less the Texans winning the game and more the Skins shooting themselves in the foot and losing the game. The mistakes were bad but they are correctable.
We need a better showing against Jax next week.
Seattle doesn't really have any weaknesses and GB was outmatched. Looked like GB was going to go run game and shorter passes as well because of the crowd noise and the stout Seattle D.
Again, it's one game so no reason to get too up or too down on any team. At this point, I'm just happy football is back.
Paulie: All I can say is, that's a lot of unnecessary analysis on why the skins lost...I can sum it for you, as I had predicted several weeks ago: Texans D kicked butt!
Arjun, those are small words from a small man. : )
I think J.J. Watt was a beast yesterday. Otherwise, we moved the ball pretty well for the final three quarters. Turnovers will kill you and that was the difference.
I only got to see a few highlights of the Redskins game and it was everything that I wanted to see as an Eagles fan ;-)
Watching the Redskins try to convert RG3 into a pocket passer brings back memories of what Andy Reid tried to do with Vick in 2011 and that failed badly for the Eagles. One difference is that RG3 is still young and he has time on his side to learn a totally new way to play QB but can he do that at an elite level? So far he's only shown that he can talk big without the results. The good thing for him is that Redskins made such a huge investment that they can't get rid of him even if he goes 4-12 this season.
Redskins should be able to win against the Jags at home next week which will silence some of RG3's critics for a few days.
RG3 was an accurate passer going into and coming out of college. He is an athlete but he has the accuracy to become a pocket passer if that is what is expected. Also, Gruden doesn't want RG3 to stop running. If it is there, he wants him to take it. However, I'm sure he will limit the number of designed runs. Look, it's just playing the position and being a QB. It's not like they are changing the entire make up of the guy. Fans and media want to throw out these terms like pocket passer and mobile/running QB and talk about it like it is a COMPLETELY different way of playing the position. This is football and this is quarterbacking. I'm sure there are some differences but at the end of the day it is basic throwing and catching and that is what he has been doing his whole life.
RG3 had a fine game yesterday. The problem is that he is under a microscope and everyone is expecting/demanding perfection. I like RG3 but I won't follow the guy blindly. He certainly has to produce but lets also be fair and realistic that perfection is not going to happen. That doesn't happen for any QB. He will make mistakes just like any QB. However, just like the rest of the team and coaches, we hope to see improvement. He is in a new system with a first year NFL head coach so lets see if this comes together.
Again, for what the game plan was yesterday, RG3 was solid. The numbers were decent but we had critical mistakes at very inopportune places on the field and that was the difference. I can't imagine those things happening week in/week out.
One other thing that amuses me is that fans/media are complaining all last year about how he is running too much and he needs to stop that because he is going to get hurt/shorten his career. I was listening to the radio today and there are people wanting him to run more.
People LOVE to complain and jump on and off the bandwagon and want the world. I know this will not change but it's just amusing to see how this happens.
RG3 is definitely under a microscope. Probably more than any other player in any other market. The expectations for him are way too high. I understand that much of it has to do with what was given up for him, but also as a result of years of free agent spending I think an average Skins fanatic is conditioned to believe that one superstar player is the key to glory. Since the free agents signings never seem to pan out in taking this team to the promised land or even making them consistent playoff contenders, Skins fanatics have been starved and teased for success of their team. What makes it worse is every offseason there is the promise of a playoff bound team. The let down is worse than beginning the season knowing that the team sucks. As a result any up or down in the teams performance and RG3 performance being extremely magnified and analyzed and made too much of.
Much of what we believe about this team is media based. Its their job to make controversy and talk up a storm. No one wants to listen to good news all day long. I wonder how much the media influenced the firings of Shanahan. I am sure players and coaches and owners listen to the media and use it as a source for knowledge also in making their own decisions also.
Agree that what the Skins gave up has put him under a magnifying glass but how RG3 has conducted himself has only magnified the lense that much more.
The days of free spending on FAs has been over for several years now. Also, nearly every market across the U.S. goes into the football season with high hopes so I don't think D.C. is unique in that.
Media loves to talk about controversy and create stories and will take a phrase said by a player or even a facial gesture and analyze it to the Nth degree. It's pretty ridiculous.
RG3 is a polarizing celebrity. He has a rare skill set and took the league by storm his rookie season. He suffered a setback last season for a variety of reasons. He has a new coach and new system this year and most "fans" have very little patience and want perfection immediately. It will take a little bit of time. I think RG3 has all the tools to be successful and works very hard. I do like Gruden and his honesty as related to RG3.
This is an important year for RG3 and time will tell if he is making the necessary improvement we need to see.
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