The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Lavar just said that today was motived 90% by his fans!

He also said he doesn't care about being a starter, he just wants to help his team win games!

...how did Arrington look? I hope he played great!

he looked awesome made three tackles behind the line of scrimmage and played the majority of the game...He will be used a lot next week against the giants....He showed that he can be productive!!

Lead the team in tackles. Had great tackles for a loss and almost took Alex Smith's head off. Flying around vertically like LA does, but overall he helped the team.

9 Tackles 7 solo..much better than Holdman's performances although they were both on the field at the same time at points throughout the game.

I think that was a great post-game interview with Lavar, I just hope he can put this issue behind him with the coaches and solidify his place as a leader on this defense.

I didn't post this in the Lavar thread because I am just interested in what we saw on the field today.

It was great to see him out there having fun and making plays but my inmpressions were mixed to say the least. He made a few nice plays but he also made two terrible mistakes.

I put both of the TD runs squarely on his shoulders. On the first, one of the 49ers put a nice block on him but he was still too far outside. He had help to the sideline but he overpursued and then put himself in position to be blocked on the cutback. It wasn't a terrible play but that play was his to make, he was playing the lane that the RB went through. They ran it right at him and he couldn't make the play.

The second TD was just terrible though! He lined up on the left of the offensive line and the play went to the right. By the time that Gore made his cutback Arrington had overpursued so much that he was actually further to the right sideline than Lamar Marshall was! The commentators blamed Clemons for that but there is no denying that Lavar was WAY out of position and it cost us another TD.

Despite these two huge mistakes he still managed to show a lot out there blowing up a few plays and making some great tackles. If he can become more disciplined he is going to thrive in this defense.

Yes, he made a lot of nice plays but also made two bad mistakes on the TDs. He needs to be more disciplined.

I disagree. I thought Lavar had a nice game. On that first TD, I was actually impressed...he blew up the lead blocker, which is something that you need linebackers to do. It reminded me of our linebacking core with Trotter...we had no one willing to do that exact thing. If Ryan Clark hadn't run into the ref, and filled the hole a bit better, it would have been a gain, but not a Td.

As for the other TD, that was a freak play. Gore ran into the bunch, wasn't tackled and broke back. Even Lavar at a 100% isn't going to catch Frank Gore with a head start.

However, I thought that lavar made some nice plays and I think that Gregg Williams, not surprisingly, used him very well. Brought him on the blitz, off the line, and even dropped him back at some opportunte times.

All in all, it was a good game. Quick question--does anyone know what's going on with Nemo? I think he's got a lot of potential, and I'd love to see what he can do as a nice counter-punch to portis.

On the postgame show, Trevor Matich put the first TD on Holdman and praised Arrington for staying where he was supposed to be. He engaged the block and kept his outside shoulder and arm free. He had outside contain.

The runner went inside, but no one was there to hit him. Don't see how you blame LA for that one.

The second TD didn't even go to his side of the field. Nic Clemons got caught out of position there.

We can't blame every play on lack of discipline. Sometimes the other team just executes a good play. The second TD would not happen against our 1st string Defense. The first was a good call..they got everyone on a block and scored a TD...you have to give them credit.

I'm not saying he was error free, but you can't blame every play on his side of the field on him being a freelancer especially when we don't know the scheme like G.W. does. He is the person to tell if he were out of position or not, not our speculation on where we think he should have been.

The Hogster wrote:The second TD didn't even go to his side of the field. Nic Clemons got caught out of position there.

Yeah it did. I've watched it over and over. It just didn't seem like that because he ran all the way across to the other side. Lavar was lined up right behind Clemons but ended up on the left side of Lemar Marshall the MLB! He was definately out of position, no two ways about it.

weneedthegreatcharlesmann qrote:

All in all, it was a good game. Quick question--does anyone know what's going on with Nemo? I think he's got a lot of potential, and I'd love to see what he can do as a nice counter-punch to portis.

I believe that Broughton is behind Cartwright, and that Cartwright backs up Betts. So Betts is the hammer to Portis's rapier.

When Cartwright fumbled last week as the Redskins drove to take the game over, I thought, argh, why not Broughton? Then I considered that Broughton has less NFL experience, and is more likely to make the sort of mistake that Cartwright made. That is, it looked like Cartwright reached ahead with the ball only in his right hand. Not covered with both hands as the tackler put his shoulder on the ball.

So...just my hunch...Byner coaches the RB's, so he, Breaux, Bugel, and Gibbs decide the depth chart. They've all proven themselves.

hkHog wrote:

The Hogster wrote:The second TD didn't even go to his side of the field. Nic Clemons got caught out of position there.

Yeah it did. I've watched it over and over. It just didn't seem like that because he ran all the way across to the other side. Lavar was lined up right behind Clemons but ended up on the left side of Lemar Marshall the MLB! He was definately out of position, no two ways about it.

So which is it, was Lavar or Clemons out of place? If you are admitting that they both pursued the ball, then both of them would have made a mistake.

I just don't think we should feed into all of the "free lance" "free lance" fits when there was a breakdown by other players other than just Lavar.

Its the game of football. People pursue the ball one way and don't always anticipate complete directional changes, that is not just Lavar, that is football.

Lavar was not in the game against the Chiefs last week where Priest did the same thing. He also wasn't in the game where Tatum Bell squirted up the sideline. Was that his fault too? Was that free lancing there? No, its an example that the other team is out there too. Its a game of momentum and broken plays like that happen especially against 2nd and 3rd string players.

Not saying the guy was error free, but I think its a bit much to run back to the computer to blame the broken plays all on him.

tcwest10 wrote:Again...I can't wait to see a fully healthy, rested and chip-on-the-shoulder LA come out in front of the home crowd and...
follow his assignment.

Sometimes you get what you wished for!

I think that today's effort takes care of this subject. Are there any questions about how well our coaches are handling this team? This is a great job by both Gregs and Gibbs.

as dandy dan used to say/sing? "turn out the lights..the party's over"

I noticed a lot of 3-4 packages in there. It seemed like the injuries to our DT's are finnally getting to us, as much as Greg likes to deny it. I saw several plays where Lemar, Holdman, Washington, AND Arrington were all in there, with three DTs lined up. I think if Greg can use this more, we could confuse opponent's game plans each week, making them not sure what they are going to be up against.

hkHog wrote:I put both of the TD runs squarely on his shoulders.

I don't think both TD runs were "squarely" placed on his shoulders. Our whole defense is very aggresive, and that cutback run was just a bad bounce. The play was not designed to be a cutback, but we had shutdown the right side of the field with 9 players and had none left to stop him from going left. Yes, Lavar was out of position. Yes, Nic was very out of position. Also, Bowen took a HORRIBLE angle and could have stopped him (or at least slowed him down) in the secondary. Many things occured in that run that shouldn't have. On the second run, I thought there was quite a bit of holding by the lead blocker, I thought there should've been a call.

All in all, you can't deny Arrington had a GREAT game and deserves to be in many more packages.

hkHog wrote:

The Hogster wrote:The second TD didn't even go to his side of the field. Nic Clemons got caught out of position there.

Yeah it did. I've watched it over and over. It just didn't seem like that because he ran all the way across to the other side. Lavar was lined up right behind Clemons but ended up on the left side of Lemar Marshall the MLB! He was definately out of position, no two ways about it.

No he wasnt! He was chasing the hunt and no one knew that he was going to cut back.

Clemons was out of position where were the safety help?? The whole team thought he had the guy stuffed.

Kill the Lavar hate spewing. He did good today. He has discredited all 0f your threads of hate against him. Get over it!

Lavar's a beast. And he's back - to stay, hopefully. I thought he had a great game considering everything that's been going on. A bunch of key tackles, a lot of energy drawn from the crowd, and a solid performance while taking about 50% of the snaps.

Besides, don't they teach players in football to always pursue the ball? I'm aware that Lavar can "get out of position;" but so do a lot of other guys. If he misses a guy on one play, but makes great tackles on five others, he's still top-notch in my book.


I'm glad he's back. Hopefully, that performance yesterday will get him even more playing time through the season. I think we could have been 1-1 on the road if he had played, and I think we're gonna need him against NY and Philly.



Great win yessterday! FedEx Field Scoring Record!!!

coach williams had this to say:


Steve Czaban: Coach, with his performance, has LaVar regained his role as the starter on this team?

Coach: Um yeah LaVar has regained his start--he's one of the 25 starters on this team.

Freudian slip? I think so.

skinsfano28 wrote:coach williams had this to say:


Steve Czaban: Coach, with his performance, has LaVar regained his role as the starter on this team?

Coach: Um yeah LaVar has regained his start--he's one of the 25 starters on this team.

Freudian slip? I think so.

Awesome.



I love GW's mentality.

The Hogster wrote:On the postgame show, Trevor Matich put the first TD on Holdman and praised Arrington for staying where he was supposed to be. He engaged the block and kept his outside shoulder and arm free. He had outside contain.

The runner went inside, but no one was there to hit him. Don't see how you blame LA for that one.

The second TD didn't even go to his side of the field. Nic Clemons got caught out of position there.

We can't blame every play on lack of discipline. Sometimes the other team just executes a good play. The second TD would not happen against our 1st string Defense. The first was a good call..they got everyone on a block and scored a TD...you have to give them credit.

I'm not saying he was error free, but you can't blame every play on his side of the field on him being a freelancer especially when we don't know the scheme like G.W. does. He is the person to tell if he were out of position or not, not our speculation on where we think he should have been.

Good points. On the Gore TD, the entire defense overpursued but what can you do when everyone is bunched up and your players can't see him until he busts it outside. Plays like that will happen.

On the Barlowe TD, Lavar was in position but even if he shedded the pulling Guard, he would then have gotten hit by the Fullback following. He almost made a good play by spinning inside off the block and swiped at Barlowe going by. A second earlier and he would have possibly tripped Barlowe.

All in all, I think that Lavar looked good. He still needs to get back to "game speed" and in "game shape". This game was a good game for him to get back into the mix with us going to New York next week. I just hope that Lavar can stay healthy and continue to operate within the scheme and wisely picks his spots for the "big play."

I think that the issue appears to be his fitness and him being proactive in the classroom. It's easy to go along with the flow but sometimes you have to make an effort and also show some pep in your step. My only problem with this whole thing was if it was Lavar legs not being there, then why not come out and say that instead going back and forth in the media. As a player, Lavar feels that he is 100% but as a coach GW has to be assured that he can get to the spots where he belongs with explosiveness and quickness.

I am not "truly" convinced that Lavar is fully back into the fold but I guess we have to wait and see.....

He will get lot more plying time as the season progresses>

Lavar was great and he fed off the crowd who was ecstatic to see him on the field. However, my concern is whether he will continue to play. This was the 49ers, the worst offense in the league. The Giants have a much better offense and we'll see if Coach Williams will feel comfortable putting him in in a game of that magnitude.

Lavar needs to be out there, he flat out makes plays that our other defensive players don't, even if it was against the 49ers. I don't know that this is the end of this issue.

With Lavar being inserted back into the fold, where does this defense go from here if he continues to improve and get reps?

If Lavar can stay healthy and play within the "scheme", we are looking at moving from #5 to a #1 or #2 defense in the league. If Lavar and GW can cultivate a positive relationship and Lavar play within the scheme (which I think that he can), then we should see GW put in more packages and take more gambles using Lavar to get to the QB and get turnovers. It will allow us to run multiple blitz packages and different sets like the 3-4. Especially since we may have injuries on the D-Line. Lavar has to show the defensive coaches that they can rely on him at all times to be where he is supposed to be.

If GW can really get Lavar to "buy in", then teams will not be able to effectively plan against him and our defense. A healthy and happy Lavar puts our defense over the edge. This will also put GW in a situation where he can really be creative on defense because he can rely on Lavar.

The Giants now have to game plan for defense plus Lavar. I don't think that Lavar will be ready this week to cover Barber out of the backfield but I think that he can be effective in putting pressure on Manning. On their last drive against Denver last night, Manning had all night to throw. With Lavar, we should be able to get some pressure Manning to throw his timing off and maybe create some turnovers.....

kspeed10 wrote:Lavar was great and he fed off the crowd who was ecstatic to see him on the field. However, my concern is whether he will continue to play. This was the 49ers, the worst offense in the league. The Giants have a much better offense and we'll see if Coach Williams will feel comfortable putting him in in a game of that magnitude.

Lavar needs to be out there, he flat out makes plays that our other defensive players don't, even if it was against the 49ers. I don't know that this is the end of this issue.

Hey, what could be better??? The uncertainty of whether Lavar plays is a plus for this team. Here's why:
opposing team's game plans can be rendered moot if they think Lavar will not be there, so when they see him there, they'll have to adjust on the fly, and THAT's when we'll see hte magic happen.

True, it's wishful thinking, and maybe a bit naive on my part to think so, but don't count out the fact that this coaching staff might be using Lavar as a secret weapon of sorts. And, as we saw yesterday, that's a good thing.

REDEEMEDSKIN wrote:I still wish he'd tone down his celebrations after a tackle. After all, he's only doing what he's handsomely paid for, for crying out loud.

I'd usually agree but I can let him slide under these circumstances.