Yeah, yeah, yeah – this is a day or six, and probably a couple of dollars short. The cool answer is that it took this long to work out the alcohol consumed during the Redskins thrilling 38-31 victory over the Cowboys last Thursday. The honest one is that I actually just forgot to actually POST the blog after I had written it. (Hey, maybe the alcohol can actually be blamed!)
I digress, here’s five no-longer-quick-thoughts on the game:
It’s hard to believe, but there truly looks to be “more” competition for roster spots on the Washington Redskins this year than last year. Seriously, other than quarterback, kicker and punter, there’s an abundance of quality players battling for a position. The offensive line, defensive line and receiving corps all could see some changes, but the most intriguing area to me is the defensive secondary.
Take a look at the names on the roster:
Over on my blog, Don’t Laugh, People, I’m evaluating the 2011-12 Washington Redskins. Every day over the next week+, I’ll be evaluating the Redskins in groups. Players, phases, and coaches will all be evaluated. I’ve decided to contribute this material here at TheHogs.net since Mark has been cool enough to allow me to post here and opened avenues to new audiences.
First up: Secondary…
I was both impressed and amused by Deangelo Hall’s new found fiestiness… in an “Awwww, come on, dude” kind of way… Here’s this little guy, never known for his physicality, talkin’ “AH MA GONNA TAKE’EMOUT” smack with Tony Romo on Dallas Week.
Deangelo: “Absolutely. I want to get a chance to put my helmet on whatever’s hurt,” Hall said. “Romo’s ribs—I’m going to be asking for some corner blitzes. If I know Felix Jones’(notes) shoulder’s hurt, I’m not going to cut him. I’m definitely going to try to hit him up high, so that’s just part of it.
“If you know something’s wrong with an opponent, you’re going to try to target in on that. We’re going to try to definitely get as many hats on that team as possible.”
Does it get any better?
We swept the Giants this year, with a very solid game against the Giants yesterday, following up on a very good performance in a shootout against one of the best teams/offenses in the league in New England. That was following a decent performance through 50 minutes against the Jets with Rex having a very off day. And that’s following a very good win against a young Seahawks team who just seems to give everyone fits.
Rex Grossman’s play has been up and down, as expected, and he still makes way too many mistakes, and some of them crucial. But under Rex Grossman, this offense seems to take a little flight. It’s true that receivers like the ability to go deep and not have to get smacked around in the middle after a 5-yard slant. It’s also true it opens up those 5-yard slants to keep defenses honest to the threat. Rex Grossman gives us a chance to be a lethal offense… but that’s it… a chance.
The Skins dominated possession. It was a good win, one that, in prior seasons, would have been a loss… but, there was good and bad to be gleaned from yesterday’s victory over the Cards.
First of all, for all the people shocked at the chippyness of this game, and how these two teams could possibly be rivals, I’ll say to you that you can look no further than any other game we’ve played against the Seahawks. They’ve all been chippy, and they’ve all been tough. While Trent Williams was the key guy in a lot of the video getting into it, and while it’s documented that the Seahawks may have started it by taking offense to a Redskins huddle at midfield, I wouldn’t count out veterans like Mike Sellers and Santana Moss having a lot to do with it before the game on our side.
On to the game, the opening drive was refreshing. It’s been a long time since this team has started a game with a long drive, and even longer since scoring (a touchdown at that) on the opening drive. It was a bit disappointing following up that drive with drives that just fell short, or ended early due to penalties in this chippy game, but my biggest praise goes to Kyle Shanahan for sticking with the run. There were definitely times we didn’t run enough still, but the early influx of the run definitely kept the Seahawks honest enough.
Time to dig up an old format of article that THN has been doing since, ohhhh, about 2002. It’s called the Six Pack – just some observations, mixed with maybe some humor, and you guessed it – there’s SIX talking points. Here’s this week’s six pack:
For those who read my last blog about Grossman (Redskins Start With Grossman) you’ll note I kind of predicted this last weekend’s performance.
For the game, Grossman was 21 of 34 (62% completion) for 305 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions (though one was close) and one fumble. While Antrel Rolle may whine about how the Giants would beat the Redskins “95 out of 100 times” Rolle has failed to recognize that we didn’t beat New York because our offense was better; we beat them because our defense was.
The Redskins made their biggest move of the day early Thursday morning by shipping disgruntled defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to the New England Patriots in exchange for a 2013 5th round draft pick. This ends a dark chapter because Haynesworth is widely viewed as arguably the biggest free agent bust in franchise history, which should say something. Ironically, Haynesworth heads to another team with a 3-4 defense and a coach regarded as even stricter than Mike Shanahan in Bill Belichick.