Steelers @ Redskins Postgame Takeaways

[Countertrey]

DLine overmatched, and out schemed in the run game. Minimal pass rush. I truly didn't get the scheme for the DB's... Norman was nailed on the offensive right side... Soooo... Breeland was humiliated all night by a truly outstanding receiver... when Norman was on Antonio Brown, the outcome was far less comfortable for Brown. Antonio found himself being handled by Norman... at one time, in the second half, Antonio Brown was sent wide to the left... and immediately started frantically gesturing to the rookie on the other side to swap with him before the snap...

So... why the hell would you not assign Norman to Brown all freaking night????

[PulpExposure]

That was ugly, but that's also generally how the Redskins do on MNF. Despite his stats, I personally thought Kirk was terrible. He was inaccurate (that early third down pass that he absolutely just missed an open receiver for a first down was inexcusable), and basically didn't challenge the Steelers at all. I know their defense was funneling him to short passes, but I think the only pass he threw over 7 yards was the one to DJax that forced a pass interference call.

1st and 10 at WSH 25
(10:10 - 2nd) K.Cousins pass deep right to D.Jackson to PIT 42 for 33 yards (M.Mitchell)

Thanks, forgot about that one. So 2 passes deep out of 35? Lol.

[cowboykillerzRGiii]

^^^I need to see bare minimum 1 per quarter. Don't have to be only to Djax either.. like maybe use some trickery? Can't he pull a safety over and hot Crowded in the slot where the S shoulda been

[markshark84]

^^^I need to see bare minimum 1 per quarter. Don't have to be only to Djax either.. like maybe use some trickery? Can't he pull a safety over and hot Crowded in the slot where the S shoulda been

I agree with this in theory, but DEFs have to RESPECT your run game in order for deep balls to be effective. Our run game is disgusting.

[cowboykillerzRGiii]

I'm more of the mind that our online needs to play better/smarter.. then to say MJ is garbage. Yet at least. Every time Jones broke a run it was negated by a stupid penalty, or we were looking at first and a mile. Smmfh

[grampi]

IMHO, Tomlin is the BEST HC in the NFL

I usually agree with most everything you post, but this? You can't be serious...you think he's better than Billichick? I don't think he's even in the same league...

I don't count Belichick. I think he is an @ss. Is he the best --- perhaps, but if I were picking, I'd take Tomlin merely because there is no way I could support him. That smug face makes me sick. I work very hard to make sure bias doesn't get in the way of my opinions/analysis, but in this case it does.....

I can't stand the guy either, but it's tough to argue against his record....he wins no matter who is playing for him...

[RigAr4456]

The Skins can pass and catch, punt and kick. Unfortunately that cannot run the football or stop the run and while they invested a lot in the defensive backfield they cannot defend the pass either. The problem as I see it is upfront. The contrast between the OL & DL of the Steeler and the Redskins is tremendous. The Steeler lines dominated at the line of scrimmage and because of that the game. People can criticize Cousins but if he was playing with the Steelers and Big Ben for the Skins the Pittsburgh winning big because they dominated up front where most football games are won.

Are you seriously comparing Roth to Cousins?

[SkinsJock]

The Steelers are MUCH better than we are and we all knew we were going to have issues with running the football and the D line

no big deal - there was a lot to be learned from this game - 1) Cousins can play a lot better - he did not have a good game and he still passed for over 300 - 2) there were way too many penalties - 3) can we please make a big effort to get guys on the field that know how to tackle and DO NOT play anyone on D who does not tackle well - 4) hopefully Norman covers the other team's best WR ...

[DarthMonk]

DLine overmatched, and out schemed in the run game. Minimal pass rush. I truly didn't get the scheme for the DB's... Norman was nailed on the offensive right side... Soooo... Breeland was humiliated all night by a truly outstanding receiver... when Norman was on Antonio Brown, the outcome was far less comfortable for Brown. Antonio found himself being handled by Norman... at one time, in the second half, Antonio Brown was sent wide to the left... and immediately started frantically gesturing to the rookie on the other side to swap with him before the snap...

So... why the hell would you not assign Norman to Brown all freaking night????

I can only think of one legit reason which is not a good enough reason after what we saw in the first half.

Having a corner follow a guy undresses the D a little and announces man-to-man long before the snap.

A few observations/stats:

The first TD to Brown was against very good to excellent coverage. The ball was actually underthrown a hair. Don't tell me otherwise. I've watched it repeatedly. It went RIGHT THROUGH BREELANDS HANDS ! He should have been batting ball/raking arms for an incomplete instead going for a cradle catch.

The second TD to Brown was also against good to excellent coverage. The ball was PERFECTLY THROWN - over the outside shoulder.

I may be off by one or so but I think Brown was targeted 4 times while being covered by Norman. He caught either zero or one of those. He was targeted 9 times when being covered by Breeland and caught 8 of those.

Yahoo! say 11 total targets w 8 catches. Either way, either all his catches were against Breeland or all but one.

[riggofan]

So... why the hell would you not assign Norman to Brown all freaking night????

You know man, I heard both B. Mitch and - I think it was - Portis reacting to this criticism very strongly in the past two days. Both of them basically reacted like its the most idiotic suggestion ever. I know Mitchell's comment was something along the lines of, "Nobody in the NFL does that. EVER." Basically saying it sounds great in theory, but just doesn't work that way. And one of the commentators during the MNF game seemed to be saying that because of the way Brown lines up and moves around before the snap, its kind of impossible to do.

I don't know if any of that is true, just throwing it out there for comment. At a minimum, I would kind of think that the coaches are smart enough that they would have done it if it was just as easy as saying, "Ok Josh covers Brown all night."

[riggofan]

That was ugly, but that's also generally how the Redskins do on MNF. Despite his stats, I personally thought Kirk was terrible. He was inaccurate (that early third down pass that he absolutely just missed an open receiver for a first down was inexcusable), and basically didn't challenge the Steelers at all. I know their defense was funneling him to short passes, but I think the only pass he threw over 7 yards was the one to DJax that forced a pass interference call.

1st and 10 at WSH 25
(10:10 - 2nd) K.Cousins pass deep right to D.Jackson to PIT 42 for 33 yards (M.Mitchell)

Thanks, forgot about that one. So 2 passes deep out of 35? Lol.

I just demand accuracy from rants!

Don't you think though that the issue isn't really that he didn't throw more deep balls, but that the Steelers were dropping 8, giving us the underneath and we weren't able to take advantage of that? I don't care if we're throwing short or deep as long as we are moving the ball.

[riggofan]

The Steelers are MUCH better than we are and we all knew we were going to have issues with running the football and the D line

no big deal - there was a lot to be learned from this game - 1) Cousins can play a lot better - he did not have a good game and he still passed for over 300 - 2) there were way too many penalties - 3) can we please make a big effort to get guys on the field that know how to tackle and DO NOT play anyone on D who does not tackle well - 4) hopefully Norman covers the other team's best WR ...

I'm with you on all of this, SJ. Cousins threw for 329 yards and for everybody bitching about his accuracy, he still completed 70% of his throws.

Stats don't win games though. We settled for FGs twice in the first quarter when we needed TDs. Didn't convert on third and fourth downs. Two bad INTs. I also heard C00ley make a great point reviewing the tape this morning that 7 or 8 times Cousins had perfect opportunities to roll out and extend the play. Was too quick to get rid of the ball instead.

Love the numbers, but he needs to make more plays. Like the QB on the other team demonstrated.

[Deadskins]

The Steelers are MUCH better than we are and we all knew we were going to have issues with running the football and the D line

no big deal - there was a lot to be learned from this game - 1) Cousins can play a lot better - he did not have a good game and he still passed for over 300 - 2) there were way too many penalties - 3) can we please make a big effort to get guys on the field that know how to tackle and DO NOT play anyone on D who does not tackle well - 4) hopefully Norman covers the other team's best WR ...

I'm with you on all of this, SJ. Cousins threw for 329 yards and for everybody bitching about his accuracy, he still completed 70% of his throws.

Stats don't win games though. We settled for FGs twice in the first quarter when we needed TDs. Didn't convert on third and fourth downs. Two bad INTs. I also heard C00ley make a great point reviewing the tape this morning that 7 or 8 times Cousins had perfect opportunities to roll out and extend the play. Was too quick to get rid of the ball instead.

Love the numbers, but he needs to make more plays. Like the QB on the other team demonstrated.

Jon Gruden made that point a number of times during the game. The Steelers rushed 3, Cousins had all day, and could have easily moved to avoid what little pressure there was, but he didn't, and either forced the ball or threw it away. Also he only had the one pick. The supposed INT in the waning seconds obviously hit the ground, but the replay officials just wanted to end the game, and didn't reverse the call.

[DarthMonk]

The Skins can pass and catch, punt and kick. Unfortunately that cannot run the football or stop the run and while they invested a lot in the defensive backfield they cannot defend the pass either. The problem as I see it is upfront. The contrast between the OL & DL of the Steeler and the Redskins is tremendous. The Steeler lines dominated at the line of scrimmage and because of that the game. People can criticize Cousins but if he was playing with the Steelers and Big Ben for the Skins the Pittsburgh winning big because they dominated up front where most football games are won.

Are you seriously comparing Roth to Cousins?

I think he's comparing the O-lines and D-lines.

[RigAr4456]

The Skins can pass and catch, punt and kick. Unfortunately that cannot run the football or stop the run and while they invested a lot in the defensive backfield they cannot defend the pass either. The problem as I see it is upfront. The contrast between the OL & DL of the Steeler and the Redskins is tremendous. The Steeler lines dominated at the line of scrimmage and because of that the game. People can criticize Cousins but if he was playing with the Steelers and Big Ben for the Skins the Pittsburgh winning big because they dominated up front where most football games are won.

Are you seriously comparing Roth to Cousins?

I think he's comparing the O-lines and D-lines.

Fair enough. I would take Big Ben with our OLine and the 85 Bears D entrenched on the other side of the line of scrimmage over Captain Kirk behind their OLine any day and everyday. C'mon Man

[DarthMonk]

We played as if we had never seen a zone defense.

"Oh no. No one is open deep. I have time though. I guess I'll throw it away."

Hopefully, Kirk rebounds big time.

We just missed Reed for a big TD early. Kerrigan falls on the ball and we can score another. We were a few inches from 17-0 in the first quarter. We have to capitalize on all opportunities against a team that good.

Anyone going to the Dallas game?

[Countertrey]

The first TD to Brown was against very good to excellent coverage. The ball was actually underthrown a hair. Don't tell me otherwise. I've watched it repeatedly. It went RIGHT THROUGH BREELANDS HANDS ! He should have been batting ball/raking arms for an incomplete instead going for a cradle catch.

Why would I tell you otherwise? Against any other receiver, that ball is defensed... Brown was already in Breeland's head. Not an excuse, but Breeland out and out got schooled by a premiere receiver, and let him mess his mind. I suspect he is ripped with himself. We all know that he's a good corner... but he's not up to a talent like Brown.

[cowboykillerzRGiii]

Yet.

First year he man handled Des.. and he's always close. I think with Norman directeting qbs to go Breelands way instead, homie had better step up big time this year.

[langleyparkjoe]

Takeaway from Pit game.. we some bush

[DarthMonk]

From another thread:

Dallas will post 200+ yards rushing against us.

I hope Josh Doctson turns into a great wide receiver because choosing him over an obvious need area of DL is hard to handle. Offensive line and defensive line win games. We all know that. It's pretty straight forward.

Watching the Skins line get mauled by Pittsburgh took away my confidence in the 2016 Skins. I watched a bit of a Dallas game and the their OL was opening big holes for Morris. Elliott didn't do much while I was watching but Alfred was enjoying a great game.

I agree with you about the Doctson choice. I hope he turns out to be a big part of the offense long term and I am aware Jackson and Garcon are both in contract years but I wish the Skins had used that pick for a starting OL in stead of a WR.

The Dallas replacement QB was looking good also so the Romo injury didn't seem to slow Dallas down. It will get ugly if the Skins get bullied up front and lose the game.

I share all these feelings to some degree.

There is some positive from the Pit game. We shot ourselves in the foot early and threw away a chance at a 17-0 lead yet with 7 minutes to go we were only down by 8 - and that was based on two amazing throws and catches against real good coverage - one of which was on 4th down.

THEN they truly ran on us.

We need to play from even or ahead.

Let's hope it was not as bad as it looked late.

#perfectstorm?

[riggofan]

Takeaway from Pit game.. we some bush

[SkinsJock]

simple for me - they had players and coaches that executed really well beginning with domination on both lines of scrimmage - let's face facts - even if we'd had players and coaches executing their jobs really well there's little chance we would have won when the other team is executing at a very high level

we needed the Steelers to not play at the level they're capable of and for our players and coaches to have really good games

didn't happen - no big deal - there are some here with sense enough to know that this team is a lot better than what we saw on Monday

those that think we can win games with coaches and players executing below the level we're capable are obviously stupid

[Burgundy&GoldForever]

If you want to see my takeaways from the Pittsburgh game, read my blog:

http://www.the-hogs.net/blogs/2016/09/17 ... s-cowboys/

Read it anyway. I need the views.