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

It seems odd that we are so bad with turnovers. I was thinking about the amount of emphasis that Gibbs and Co. have put on forcing and minimizing turovers and then it dawned on me.

Maybe the key to solving our turnover problems are to stop emphasizing it. I am not claiming to be a pyschologist, but general Psych 101 might suggest that maybe the players are too pre-occupied with "turovers" "mistakes" "fumbles" and the like. To put it plainly, maybe they're "thinking too much" because its being drilled every day in practice.



Maybe I'm thinking too much , but I can't find any other explanation for it...we don't have an interception by a cornerback since last year..any other thoughts on a solution?

It just seems odd because we have given the ball away pretty comprably to other good teams.

For example, we have a total of 18 giveaways.
Carolina has a total of 17.

But we have only gotten 7 turnovers.
Most other teams have 20+ or at least the high teens.

I just don't understand.

We could put a strong dose of laxative in their Gatorade cooler...that might work.

Or we could wait till we play the Eagles again to boost our turnover stats...he'll throw it right to ya

I'm telling you... it's voodoo! We have been smeared with bad ju ju. There's only one way to fix it (and the mimes of the world ain't gonna like it).

And, so, we entered the dark world of ritualistic mime sacrifice...
Heeeeere mimey, mimey mimey...

The reason we don't have many interceptions is that we don't create much of a pass rush with our front four. By blitzing, you take away defenders from passing lanes. we've been good at getting the quarterback to throw an incompletion when we blitz, but presumably, some of those errant passes would be picked off if you had an exta defender or two in the secondary.

Fumble recoveries are generally blind luck, although a good pass rush could help there too. A speed rusher that comes around and strips the ball loose from the QB (see Brunell, Mark) increases the chances of getting a recovery.

I don't know if anyone will agree with me, but our defense doesn't have that killer instinct like it did last year. I think, obviously, other teams have figured out some of the things we do on defense-hence Chris looking like Phil Simms against us. But, I think not having Antonio Pierce in the middle has hurt us more than we want to admit.

Saying all that, I think it is obvious how much we need Griffin and Sean Taylor on the field.

We just don't seem to have the physical presence, "I'm gonna kill you," like we did last year. I do think that Sean Taylor has been delegated to take away anything deep that the other team tries to do. He isn't being tested this year at all on the deep ball, and he is put into coverage a lot. So we don't see him involved in as many plays as last year. He should have easily made the Pro Bowl last year as Griffin should have as well.

I do think if we can manage to hang on and win a few more close games like earlier in the year and stay healthy, knock on wood, we will build some momentum for the home stretch. Our defense will also build momentum, but it has to step up and win a road game first.

This team has the pieces to the puzzle. They just need to put them all together on a consistent basis. We shall see!

Skeletor wrote:The reason we don't have many interceptions is that we don't create much of a pass rush with our front four.

To the best of my understanding, in GW's D-scheme the front four are run-blockers. Our blitzes generally come from the linebackers and the secondary.

To the best of my understanding, in GW's D-scheme the front four are run-blockers. Our blitzes generally come from the linebackers and the secondary.

Our blitzes come from the linebackes and secondary because our front four can't generate a pass rush. Believe me, GW would love to be able to pressure with the D-line and drop 7 into coverage.

Read the article in the Washington Times today about pash rush. It really explains a lot.
http://www.washtimes.com/sports/20051116-121114-9154r.htm

The Hogster wrote:It seems odd that we are so bad with turnovers. I was thinking about the amount of emphasis that Gibbs and Co. have put on forcing and minimizing turovers and then it dawned on me.

Maybe the key to solving our turnover problems are to stop emphasizing it. I am not claiming to be a pyschologist, but general Psych 101 might suggest that maybe the players are too pre-occupied with "turovers" "mistakes" "fumbles" and the like. To put it plainly, maybe they're "thinking too much" because its being drilled every day in practice.



Maybe I'm thinking too much , but I can't find any other explanation for it...we don't have an interception by a cornerback since last year..any other thoughts on a solution?

Good post. I agree! im no pyschologist either, but i just re-read Mans Search For Meaning by a renowned Dr. Frankl, and there is a lot of info about that. How a lot of times the thing you put emphasis on or fear is actually sub conciously brought forth. Like when you cant sleep and you sit and worry that if you dont sleep how you'll be tired the next day, and the more you think about it then the more you cant sleep... interesting stuff.

You may be onto something. There is such a thing as over emphasis. I've seen really teams try to do too much in an area that had nothing to do with their strongest, and fail miserably at the HS level. How different can the game be ?