Positives From First Preseason Game

The Hogster · Post by **The Hogster** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 1:22 pm

To the optimists, the first pre-season game did show some positives. To the pessimists, they may seem more like excuses. But in any event, the Redskins as a team did actually show signs of having an offense that is much improved from last year.

1. The only thing that can be said about the defense is that it was missing its starters. (Griffin, Daniels, Arrington, Shawn Springs, Sean Taylor didn't play with first team, Carlos Rogers, and Garnell Wilds were also out of action) So it makes sense that the tandem of Ade Jimoh and Harris allowed passer ratings of over 110 for both Weinke and Delhomme, especially without a pass rush.

2. We actually sustained drives on offense. Ramsey lead a drive that put us into field goal position. Jeff Chandler missed a field goal = 3 points. Brunell lead an 82 yard drive that spanned 14 plays. We all can appreciate that, we only saw that type of drive in the Giants game last year.

3. Turnovers by backups changed the score of the game. Backup running back Brock Forsey forgot to take the ball from Campbell deep in Carolina territory. This lead to an easy Panthers score.
After a great drive by Campbell, Johnathan Combs fumbled on the one yard line when a touchdown seemed imminent. Just with the missed field goal by our backup kicker, and the fumbled touchdown from a 4th string running back, that is 10 points that would have put the Redskins up to 20 points and much closer to the goal of 21 per game.

4. We ran the screen play effectively to our running backs. Chris Cool

ey looked good. Nemo Broughton looks like the short yardage back we need. David Patten continues to get wide open, it is now up to our quarterback to throw the ball close to him.

5. Shotgun formation and three wide receiver sets looked great, especially in the end of the game. Campbell and Brunell especially hit our receivers in that formation.

6. NO injuries to speak of.

7. Pass protection looked solid.

8. Running game also looked very effective. Portis, Betts and Nemo are a very solid trio.

9. All in all we look like an offense that can score at least 21 points a game as long as we do two things. Get a bit more accuracy from our quarterback when he throws to our wide receivers. And 2, minimize turnovers.

10. The good play by Brunnell scares most of us, but it is also a positive. Forget about a short leash, football is a physical game, and if Ramsey is injured, it is always a good thing to know that Brunell may be able to get it done for us.

11. Two quarterbacks threw for over 100 yards. Last year we struggled for one of them to do that.

air_hog · Post by **air_hog** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 2:29 pm

Here are my top 5 posotives:

1. Campbell. He was great, and I thought he was the best part of the game.

2. RB depth. I thought we had great backs, unfortunately I don't think Combs will make the team.

3. WR depth. I think every single one of our main WR (Moss, Patten, Thrash, McCants, Dyson, Brown, and Jacobs who DNP) were excellent. While our top 2 WR's may not be the eilite of the NFL, I think our depth is excellent.

4. Our O-Line was phenomional. I think they will be the ones who control the power of our offense, and they looked awesome!

5. And we were injury free

Overall, I thought we were a little sloppy, but it was only game 1, so I think we will greatly improve from here on out.

SkinsChic · Post by **SkinsChic** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 3:59 pm

Positives...it's over and no major injuries.

oafusp · Post by **oafusp** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:56 pm

I thought the O-line was GREAT. They were moving quick, and were sustaining their blocks.
Pass protection and run blocking were good. Much improved over last year IMO.

In particular....Raymer on the screen pass, big boy got down the field!

NikiH · Post by **NikiH** » Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:58 pm

I agree Oafus. Raymer looks like a guy whos gonna fight for his starting job all of the sudden and I love that.

skinsfano28 · Post by **skinsfano28** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:21 am

IMO, the thing that impressed me was the organization by Gibbs' staff. We all know that he is always and will always be one of the best gameplanners and most organized coaches, but did you notice that not one time did we have to call a time out because of the play clock running down, and i dont think there were any offsides/encroachment penalties, nor were there any missed assignments (except brock forsey's little episode of playbook amnesia). above all else, the redskins were able to do the little things right, and since its only preseason it doesn't matter whether you win or not. i think that if we can continue to do the little things right, like clock management, getting the plays in and executed, we will turn a lot of heads this year.

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:27 am

oafusp wrote:In particular....Raymer on the screen pass, big boy got down the field!

That was great stuff... talk about the defender having the old 'deer in the headlights' look.

I would too.

Cory's such a great guy (see sticky in this forum for the latest Q and A with him), I like to see him do anything positive and further fortify his position on this team. Some people seemed to think that the signing of Rabach could spell the end for Cory, but you just don't let character guys like that go... and he's fantastic depth if nothing else. He's also a stabilizing factor for Casey I'm sure.

The Hogster · Post by **The Hogster** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 10:57 am

If you look at the boxscores, we actually did a lot of things well. We got more first downs than Carolina, and outgained them through the air. We struggled on the ground, and turned the ball over, two things that I think we will improve on.

cvillehog · Post by **cvillehog** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:04 am

Don't forget that we had very few penalties.

Compare that with the Giants-Browns game where there were so many penalties I lost count. And, compare that to the Spurrier era.

Gibbs and Co. are truly transforming this team.

oafusp · Post by **oafusp** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:09 am

Oh yeah....did anyone else see the play when Derrick Dockery knocked pro bowler Kris Jenkins on his ass?

GREAT!

skinpride1 · Post by **skinpride1** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:14 am

cvillehog wrote:Don't forget that we had very few penalties.

Compare that with the Giants-Browns game where there were so many penalties I lost count. And, compare that to the Spurrier era.

Gibbs and Co. are truly transforming this team.

I like that part we had way to many penalties last season.All we need is just some more time to grow.

oafusp · Post by **oafusp** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:51 am

Actually, I think we had a lot.

Wasn't it like 6 for 70/80 yards?

Carolina only had 2 penalties.

cvillehog · Post by **cvillehog** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 11:54 am

oafusp wrote:Actually, I think we had a lot.

Wasn't it like 6 for 70/80 yards?

Carolina only had 2 penalties.

2 in the first half, I believe. One was a BS pass interference (the Gardner TD), and one was the illegal forward pass on the blocked kick play. Right?

6 penalties is not a lot for a preseason game.

hkHog · Post by **hkHog** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 2:26 pm

The Hogster wrote:If you look at the boxscores, we actually did a lot of things well. We got more first downs than Carolina, and outgained them through the air. We struggled on the ground, and turned the ball over, two things that I think we will improve on.

Yes, and even though Ramsey was out of sorts he completed his first eight passes. The only problem is one of them was to a Carolina defender.

The starting O-line played great against an excellent Carolina D-line. Pass protection was great but on a few running plays in particular they opened GAPING holes in the defense. If Portis had been playing he would have had some huge plays. That sort of run blocking wasn't there last year.

ShortDawg · Post by **ShortDawg** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 2:33 am

The fact that our o-line is protecting to QB's are a BIG positive, I think or hope that the fact that Ramsey is not hitting the receivers is because he is gun-shy, I mean come on who would blame him. With time he we gain trust in them.

The Hogster · Post by **The Hogster** » Tue Aug 16, 2005 1:53 pm

ShortDawg wrote:The fact that our o-line is protecting to QB's are a BIG positive, I think or hope that the fact that Ramsey is not hitting the receivers is because he is gun-shy, I mean come on who would blame him. With time he we gain trust in them.

This bodes well for Ramsey settling down and making good decisions. If we can keep him off of his back, then he will be more comfortable and will hopefully fall into a groove.

We need him to complete at least 60 percent of his passes, but also connect at a higher rate to the receivers. We have to get the ball in Moss and Patten's hands.

Did anyone notice that we didn't throw one wide receiver screen pass? That was the favorite play of the team last year.