Bye Bye Cundiff!

Billy Cundiff is out after just five games in Washington as the Redskins have decided to sign talented but unproven kicker Kai Forbath, a source confirmed Tuesday.
No surprise.  In fact, if there was a surprise it was that him getting cut didn't happen right after the game.  He sucked and needed to go.

Forbath replaces Billy Cundiff, who was released Tuesday after missing four of his last five field goal attempts. Forbath, 25, secured his first NFL job after beating out veteran free agents Josh Brown and Olindo Mare in a tryout at Redskins Park.

Forbath earned the reputation in college as an accurate kicker with a strong leg, though he was not used on kickoffs, he said.  He won the Lou Groza award as the nation's top kicker so he does come with some credentials.

“Distance is something that’s always been in my game,” Forbath said. “I work on that as much as I work on short ones. I don’t expect to miss any long ones. I kick ‘em just like PATs.”

As for his lack of experience with kickoffs, he added: “That’s been the key thing I’ve been working on.”

Asked if he was aware that the Redskins have gone through 19 kickers since 1994, Forbath smiled and said, “I am. And I’m hoping stay here for a long time.” 

We'll see how long he lasts.

Rexy vs. Cuz

We all know that RG3 suffered the concussion on Sunday.  There's talk that he will practice starting Wednesday and he and the Skins are optimistic he will be able to play this Sunday against the Viqueens.

However, assuming he can't go who should get the nod under center.  Should it be rookie Kirk Cousins who has been serving as the backup this season or veteran Rex Grossman who has been the third stringer? 

Give an answer and reasons why.

Skins fall to Falcons 24-17

Another close game.  Again, this is largely what I wanted to see this season.  I am less focused on the record and more wanting to see us be competitive and see improvement week to week.  Here are my thoughts on the game:

1.            Defense much improved. I did like that we cut the zero blitz nonsense and gave the secondary a lot of help by having the LBs drop and take mid range passes away from the WRs.  Seemed like the DBs were playing back and Ryan had to check down a lot during the day.  It was a much better job of coaching and executing.  You will never stop Jones and White but I thought we did a decent job of slowing them down.  I did think that because we dropped so many guys back we were not able to generate as great of a pass rush.  Still, I was pleased with the overall performance of the group.  Kerrigan obviously had the big play with the INT for a TD.  Thought Perry Riley made some nice defensive plays. 
2.            Offense was okay.  Morris continues to impress.  Thought the O line did a nice job creating lanes for him.  RG3 was okay (more on him below).  The biggest issue I had with this group was the inability to convert third downs.  What was most frustrating was that we often had third and shorts but we could not convert.  I believe we are the worst in the league at third down conversions – that hurts big time.
3.            RG3 SLIDE!!!  Obviously RG3 took the hard hit scrambling to the side lines.  He HAS to know he needs to slide or throw the ball out of bounds or run out of bounds anything but take that hit.  That is all on him.  We need him and him getting knocked out of the game hurt us bad.  Cousins came in an did a okay job.  Obviously, he got the big play to Moss which was big but he made typical rookie QB mistakes in his INTs.  He stared down the WRs and he didn’t recognize zone coverage and ended up throwing an INT when he didn’t see the DB in zone coverage.  That is going to happen with Cousins.  He’s decent but he isn’t ready for prime time.  Honestly, if RG3 can’t go this week, I would rather see Rexy in there than Cousins.  I think Rexy gives us the better chance of success. 
4.            Cundiff sucks!  If he is on the team after today, I will be shocked.  Missing a 31 yarder after last week’s performance is inexcusable.  I hear that he is making everything in practice and he talks with confidence but it isn’t translating to game day.  His miss was huge as it would have been a 10-0 lead late in the first half.  Instead, the miss was deflating for us and the Falcons were able to march down the field and score a TD tying the game going into half time.  Getting a new kicker is imperative. 

In the end, it was a decent performance against one of the best teams in the NFC.  Hopefully RG3 is able to return and while it was tough to take the loss, it is exciting to see that we are more consistent and competitive and we certainly seem like a much stronger team than previous years. 

HTTR!!!

Jay George is an arse

Dude is just an arse.  Frustrated at one point over the Bears' inability to much anything going in the first half, Cutler got up from the bench and walked away just as Tice sat down to discuss the gameplan.

ESPN Power Rankings - Week 5

Skins climb four spots to #18.

Pears climb two spots to #9.

Puckers drop one spot to #8.

Still, after a quarter of the season, it's wide open.

The Falcons look like the cream of the NFC and the Texans look like the top team in the AFC.  Despite being undefeated, I don't believe in the Cards yet.  I think the 49ers are also one of the top teams and after their drubbing of the Jets it looks like their loss last week to the Viqueens is more of a hiccup.  Ravens look solid. 

Will be interesting to see how things shake out in the coming weeks. 

Meriweather and Robinson hurt in pregame warmups

Freak accident in last week's pregame looks like will cost us Brandon Meriweather for at least a couple more weeks.  It's actually a pretty bad collision as Meriweather's knee looks to bend awkwardly.  Too bad as he was set to make his season debut against the Buccaneers.  It's tough because Gomes was replaced by Reed Doughty.  I like Doughty but he is more of a special teams stalwart as opposed to a starter at safety. 

Also too bad for Aldrick Robinson who is having himself a pretty decent season.  However, his loss is not as difficult to handle as we have good depth at the WR position. 

Meriweather sprained the MCL and PCL in his already injured knee.  Hopefully he returns soon as we certainly need the help in the secondary. 

Skins beat Bucs 24-22!

Looked like it was going to be an easy win but the Skins will find a way to make it tight in the end.  The good thing was that they were able to find a way to win it.  It was an exciting game (frustrating at times) but I thought it was a good learning game for RG3 and this young team.  Here are my grades:

1.      Offense:  B+:  Good mix of run and pass.  Morris was solid again in the ground game.  He fits the zone blocking scheme well and can find that hole and he is pretty tough to bring down.  WRs were all pretty solid.  Good to see Hankerson, Garcon, and Morgan all play a part in the passing game.  Line was solid for the most part.  It’s a tough TB D line and protection and run blocking was solid the entire game.  RG3 was very good again.  Sound decision making.  Good in both the run and pass.  No real mistakes.  However, the highlight was his being able to drive the ball down the length of the field and get us in a position for the game winning field goal.  This guy continues to impress me each week and he is proving to be well worth the price we paid.

2.      Defense: C: Once again the run defense was stout.  The pass defense was okay.  However, once again, we gave up big plays.  The first one was Josh Wilson on Mike Williams.  Wilson let Williams blow by him and then it appeared that there should have been safety help but Madieu Williams was late to get over there.  I am not sure on the safety responsibility on the play but it just appeared to me that he needed to get over there.  The second big play was the deep ball to V. Jackson.  D. Hall looked to have pretty good position but it looked like he misjudged the ball and slowed up for just a half second and when he dove to tip the ball was just short.  I was a little disappointed with D. Hall on the play but I was more frustrated with the pass rush as we sent extra pressure but didn’t get in on Freeman fast enough.  Frankly, the pass rush the entire game seemed a little weak.  The only guy that was consistently getting pressure was Kerrigan who I thought had a great game.  Speaking of pass rush, where is Jarvis Jenkins?  Not sure how much he is playing I am assuming he is getting more time because of the Carriker injury but I have rarely heard Jenkins name being called.  Finally, the TB first touchdown with Freeman throwing to Jackson in the corner…what was D. Hall doing.  He is playing bump and run against a 6’5” physical WR.  If he misses, it’s an easy TD which is exactly what happened.  He needs to back off.  That is poor positioning.  We have to be able to get more pressure from the up front guys and then we have to somehow figure out how to stop the big plays especially since Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and Roddy White are coming to town this Sunday.

3.      Special Teams: D: Cundiff sucks!  He almost cost us that game.  He probably saved his job for this week with the game winning 41 yard FG.  However, missing three FGs in the game (two very makeable ones) is not going to cut it.  Banks had a nice punt return and coverage was fine.

It was a big win on the road for us.  Again, there were frustrating moments and this had a classic Skins finding a way to lose written all over it. That said, it was nice that we were able to claw back and find a way to win.  It may have been ugly but I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.  As mentioned, I also thought that this was a good learning experience for RG3 and this team.  So I am getting all I hoped out of this team thus far.  I said all along that I just wanted to be competitive and expected to be around .500 on the year and that is exactly what we have been a quarter of the way through the season.  The only surprise is that I expected less from the offense and more from the defense and that hasn’t been the case.  I am loving everything we are getting from RG3.  I love the way we are using him for the most part as the offense looks very dynamic.  I also love the running of Morris.  On the flip side, I am very disappointed in the secondary and the coaching of the secondary.  The good news on that is that I feel the coaching can correct some of the problems we are having back there so hopefully that group improves. 

In the end, a good victory and on to preparing for the high flying Falcons.

HTTR!!!