So, we get a new coach for our new season, and start off with New York, and then New Orleans.<\/p>\n
Okay, so the Redskins didn\u2019t exactly knock anyone\u2019s socks off in New York. Probably a good thing since I can\u2019t imagine how knocking someone\u2019s socks off really translates into doing a good job. Whatever the Redskins did, it was certainly the opposite of a good job.<\/p>\n
As far as that phrase goes, it would appear that the Redskins actually helped add layers of more socks, which I suppose could be a good thing for people in New York (I\u2019ve heard it gets cold there).<\/p>\n
The Redskins offense played so bad, that most people totally missed the defense making some good adjustments at the half and shutting down New York for the final two quarters. The defense actually kept the Redskins in the game.<\/p>\n
Not a bad day\u2019s work when you consider their best corner was out, and a quarter of their defensive line was playing on a gimpy knee.<\/p>\n
Certainly Eli Manning helped the defense\u2019s cause, but the defense finally started to play tighter.<\/p>\n
Going into this season, my main concern was the defense. It seemed like the defense was an after-thought throughout the off-season, but they seemed to pull it off, at least for this game.<\/p>\n
Jason Campbell, however, had a tough night.<\/p>\n
His very first play, he tried to roll out instead of step-up into the pocket and ran right into the blitzer. Not good Jason. His night really didn\u2019t improve much.<\/p>\n
People of Washington don\u2019t like extra socks in September.<\/p>\n
The biggest positive on offense was that we had no turnovers. The biggest negative on defense was that we only had one turnover.<\/p>\n
The defense has got to start playing the ball. Right now it seems like with most passes, our guys are caught flat-footed. They are just standing there waiting to tackle the receiver after<\/em> he\u2019s caught the ball. I thought the idea of defense was to prevent the offense from gaining yards. You can\u2019t do that when you just stand there and let the receiver catch the ball. Sure, you stop them from getting yards after the catch, but that doesn\u2019t mean much when you keep giving them first downs on passing plays.<\/p>\n To it\u2019s credit, the defense seemed to have figured that out in the second half, so now they need to focus on catching<\/em> the ball when it hits them in the hands. For the time being, I\u2019m happy with them knocking the ball down, but turnovers are just that much better.<\/p>\n On offense, well where do we start? I guess first off they need to pass-protect and run-block better. Recievers need to be aware of where the first down marker is on third down, and Campbell needs to learn how to exploit the defensive backs by looking off a safety, and\/or pump-faking the line backers.<\/p>\n Granted, Campbell doesn\u2019t get a lot of time to do that since we still need to work on pass-protection.<\/p>\n And penalties; for the love of God, stop getting penalties. There aren\u2019t a lot of calls in the playbook for third-and-23.<\/p>\n The Redskins are matched up against the Saints this week. Even though the Saints looked pretty good in their opening performance, they were playing Tampa Bay. Not exactly a stout defense there. The Redskins on the other hand were facing a team that won the Super Bowl largely on the backs of their defense.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still early in the season, so team rankings really don\u2019t mean much. New Orleans defensive team ranking is 23rd, and the Redskins defensive ranking is 24th. It is worth noting that Tampa\u2019s defense was ranked 28th, and New York\u2019s was ranked 5th.<\/p>\n Now obviously, these ranking were based solely on each team\u2019s respective opponents, but if I had to pick a tougher defense, even without last week\u2019s stats, I\u2019m still saying New York\u2019s defense is tougher than either Tampa or New Orleans\u2019.<\/p>\n It is also worth noting, the last time the Redskins faced New Orleans at Fed-Ex was also in a week 2 home opener back in 2002. The Redskins lost that game.<\/p>\n The Redskins definitely need to step it up, and get to sock-knocking this week, or history is certain to repeat itself.<\/p>\n Go \u2018Skins!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"