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

We lack fire on offense and this week the defense could not get Green Bay off the field.

I have yet to see an uptempo offense - even when we are down and time ticks away. We look nonchalant. Where other teams are at the line when the ball is spotted after a guy runs out of bounds, we start our huddle then and burn another 30 seconds ... repeatedly ...

Football is a game of emotion. We currently lack the urgency the team that finished 7-0 had.

At least the Lions D is ordinary and we are at home. We need the crowd to show up and we need the offense to give the crowd something to cheer about.

Oh yeah, and everyone else lost too.

DarthMonk wrote:We lack fire on offense and this week the defense could not get Green Bay off the field.

I have yet to see an uptempo offense - even when we are down and time ticks away. We look nonchalant. Where other teams are at the line when the ball is spotted after a guy runs out of bounds, we start our huddle then and burn another 30 seconds ... repeatedly ...

Football is a game of emotion. We currently lack the urgency the team that finished 7-0 had.

At least the Lions D is ordinary and we are at home. We need the crowd to show up and we need the offense to give the crowd something to cheer about.

Oh yeah, and everyone else lost too.

RG3's running plays have been removed from our offensive play calling, which makes the O plain vanilla and easy to defend...I'm all for making him less exposed to injury, but take away that much of the offense and this is what we get. I don't have a clue what the hell's going on with the D....they were much better last year with key players out due to injuries...now we have those players back and the D sucks...makes no sense....

Bob3 is not ready to be running.

I agree man. WE LOST OUR IDENTITY. Offensively the option of RG3 being able to run with his legs out of the pocket or the read option.

Defensively our base is stopping the run. We try to get cute and try all of these exotic looks when we should be simple and dictate what they do. Biggers at safety week 1 proved the idiocy. Haslett states this D is based off the Steelers, however Pittsburgh stay unique to what their trying to do and would never have their inside lbs thinking to consistently drop back compared to pursuing. Not Londons nor Perrys strength.

No identity. Gotta stay with what works. I do believe we can change into other identities, however we will be losing while changing because transition takes time and personnel changes will have to be made.

Coaching hasnt been the best either with not having a feel for game. I feel not going for it on that 4th and 6 at the end of the 1st qtr was a real turn of the game. I agree in not putting the kicker in bad position, but we were only down 10-0 at that point.

Finally expand the variety of routes that Moss and Morgan run. Lbs and dbs are literally sitting on their predictable short routes. You have to run Morgan amd Moss deep occassionally to keep the D honest. They both have to run better routes and catch as well.

Would love to know who got more snaps today. Hankerson or Morgan. IMO Hankerson has so much more to offer as a WR because he catches the ball. This isn't the first time that Morgan has tipped a ball or just flat out dropped a pass that the defender picked off. Hankerson has size, speed and ability. The only thing he is missing is experience and if we're going to play guys at the end of games like today, Hankerson would probably be a good guy to get some rapport going with RG3. Lastly, what the hell is going on with Fred Davis. They keep him in for blocking and seem to be featuring Reed for passing situations.

I must be in the minority, but I'm much happier w what we are seeing from rgiii then what cry baby eli is doing in NY.. our wide outs are decent but probably the weakest in the division... And we still have decent numbers from bob.. Thank god we aren't watching 4 int games!

I know it's not all on the defense (our offense is horrid, except against the prevent...), but let this sink in.

I saw that the Skins defense has let in 1065 yards so far in 2 games. The most in NFL history is the 1967 Falcons, who let in 1067 yards.

Good lord.

Its on the defense. No excuse for giving up 1000 yards plus in two games.
The Ravens and Steelers for years played with mostly a defensive team with little offensive support. So I am not giving our defense a pass. They have been horrible. Other then Kerrigan who is a stud. Put it on the defense and Haslett.

Sure our offense isn't firing on all cylinders.
RG3 is coming off of reconstructive knee surgery. Why cant the rest of the team step it up? Even so RG3 is putting up a good effort out there. Our offense has managed to put up at least three Tds a game. That is something.

The 49ers, Jets, Patriots, Browns and Jaguars all failed to put up at least 14 points. Our offense put up 20.

Tom Brady after his ACL surgery did not look good when he came back. The rest of the team stepped up. Peyton Manning returning from spinal surgery did not look like the Peyton we all knew. It took him a couple games to get back.

I found myself yelling at the tv saying things like Come on RG. When in reality it should be come on defense. We need you to help carry the load since our QB is not 100 percent. Yet our QB still looks pretty good considering the circumstances.

Freaking defense Haslett has to get it together. We know RG3 is giving us his all. I expect that from our defense too. Haslett is playing checkers while the rest of the league is playing chess. Look at the strides our offense has made. Now look at how the defense looks in the same time. Four years and no progress with Haslett. My patience has been thin with Haslett. After this year I want him gone. I do hope he can get this defense better this year but seriously he has sucked for the majority of time he has been with our team. I would say fire Haslett now but I am not sure if the other assistants would be any better. Then again could it get any worse? This may seem like I am overreacting. But seriously am I? Our defense is putrid. Someone has to be accountable. We all know Haslett by now.

The defense was really bad, but I swear a lot of yall would drink RGIII's bathwater if he asked you to.

If he isn't 100%, he shouldn't be on the field. He does NOT get a pass for rushing back and holding the offense back. Giving all of his 80% or whatever his health really is, isn't good enough and he doesn't deserve a pat on the back for it. Kirk Cousins should be our starting QB if Robert cannot help this team win.


As far as the defense is concerned.

- Fletcher is 1000 years old.
- Meriweather is still fragile.
- Hall is Hall.
- Doughty is Doughty.
- Rambo is a 6th round pick, despite the kool-aid we all choose to drink. He showed his true colors in the preseason.
- Amerson is a rookie but looks decent.

All that being said, they are who we knew them to be. With the CAP ramification and lack of picks to get RGIII, why did people think they were magically going to turn into a top 5 defense? People are talking about the Steelers and the Ravens, teams with multiple HOF players on them.... We have one and he didn't accumulate that resume mainly from being a Redskin.

And honestly, the defense could have had 4 interceptions in the 1st half and the offense would have done exactly jack-sh** with it. But I'm sure someone would have expected 4 more and complained that we didn't get 8.

Without the threat of RG Jr. Jr. running, the read option is just the read handoff. Teams are keying on Morris, and he's not getting the same holes. I'm all for protecting RGIII's knee, but he has to be able to play his game, or we won't go anywhere this year.

RG3 is NOT at 100% and the offense has been changed ... this will take some time ...

the defense is the bigger issue IMHO ... over 500 yards in each game is just BS


the good news is that the play on both sides of the ball can only get better

SkinsJock wrote:RG3 is NOT at 100% and the offense has been changed ... this will take some time ...

the defense is the bigger issue IMHO ... over 500 yards in each game is just BS

Oh my god man, aren't you the guy who was telling us all summer RGIII wouldn't be out there to start the season unless he was 100%?

Just kidding with you, and I completely agree about the defense. In my mind, its the defense' job to help keep these games close. By the time the offense gets going at all, we're down 24-0? Come on. Just read through CLL's assessment of the defense, and yeah that's a hard dose of reality.

I'm kind of tired of hearing the radio guys complaining that RGIII isn't running enough. I don't want to see him running personally, because there is no long term future in that. I want to see him delivering passes with accuracy and moving the ball that way.

We have the Lions at home and the Raiders next. Haz needs to get the defensive problems solved. I refuse to believe we don't have an offense capable of beating those two teams.

riggofan wrote:I'm kind of tired of hearing the radio guys complaining that RGIII isn't running enough. I don't want to see him running personally, because there is no long term future in that. I want to see him delivering passes with accuracy and moving the ball that way.

1. This offense will not work if RGIII doesn't run. Why? See point #2.
2. RGIII is NOT a pocket passer AT ALL. Can he makes reads and throws from the pocket? Yes. Theres more to it than that. RGIII cannot move within the pocket. He cannot buy himself time. His legs are either on or off, there's no middle ground, yet... Those skills were supposed to be groomed this offseason, but he was too busy rehabbing.
3. He needs to run SMARTLY this season to alleviate pressure off of Alfred.


This line is not built for drop back passers, especially ones that are not mobile within the pocket. And honestly, we saw this last year but his pocket awareness isn't THAT great.

riggofan wrote:We have the Lions at home and the Raiders next. Haz needs to get the defensive problems solved. I refuse to believe we don't have an offense capable of beating those two teams.

We don't... How is the defense the reason for the offense being incapable of scoring...? When the offense is on the field they're incapable of scoring until the opposing defense plays soft. Regardless of what our defense is doing, the offense can't score.

Really folks, our offense just went up against to really mediocre defenses and were completely SHUTDOWN. COMPLETELY SHUTDOWN. And they offense only scores when we're down by 21+ points... It's not coincidence, the opposing defenses are playing soft.

Chris Luva Luva wrote:The defense was really bad, but I swear a lot of yall would drink RGIII's bathwater if he asked you to.

If he isn't 100%, he shouldn't be on the field. He does NOT get a pass for rushing back and holding the offense back. Giving all of his 80% or whatever his health really is, isn't good enough and he doesn't deserve a pat on the back for it. Kirk Cousins should be our starting QB if Robert cannot help this team win.

+1,000,000

I am getting sick of hearing how well Griffin "settled down and played late in the game". For 2 weeks straight now, he's put up some nice stats in garbage time when the game was already over. But because he's Griffin, the excuses get made. He should have been benched at half time (for at least a series) in week 1, and he should have been benched at half yesterday. People need to lay off the koolaid. He is mediocre without the run threat he had last year.

Chris Luva Luva wrote:1. This offense will not work if RGIII doesn't run. Why? See point #2.
2. RGIII is NOT a pocket passer AT ALL. Can he makes reads and throws from the pocket? Yes. Theres more to it than that. RGIII cannot move within the pocket. He cannot buy himself time. His legs are either on or off, there's no middle ground, yet... Those skills were supposed to be groomed this offseason, but he was too busy rehabbing.

If this is true then we wasted those draft picks on RGIII. He'll never last in the league if he has to run as much as he did last year.

I understand your point about mobility and moving out of the pocket. I'm talking specifically though about designed running plays. There was a lot of griping on the radio yesterday that RGIII wasn't running.

Obviously the defense isn't to blame for the offense not putting up points, but is it really so unusual for the offense to start a game with a three and out? Or to not put up points early in the game?

Do you know how many points the Broncos put up in the first quarter yesterday? ZERO. In the meantime, their defense did their job and held the Giants to THREE.

riggofan wrote:

Chris Luva Luva wrote:1. This offense will not work if RGIII doesn't run. Why? See point #2.
2. RGIII is NOT a pocket passer AT ALL. Can he makes reads and throws from the pocket? Yes. Theres more to it than that. RGIII cannot move within the pocket. He cannot buy himself time. His legs are either on or off, there's no middle ground, yet... Those skills were supposed to be groomed this offseason, but he was too busy rehabbing.

If this is true then we wasted those draft picks on RGIII. He'll never last in the league if he has to run as much as he did last year.

I understand your point about mobility and moving out of the pocket. I'm talking specifically though about designed running plays. There was a lot of griping on the radio yesterday that RGIII wasn't running.

Obviously the defense isn't to blame for the offense not putting up points, but is it really so unusual for the offense to start a game with a three and out? Or to not put up points early in the game?

Do you know how many points the Broncos put up in the first quarter yesterday? ZERO. In the meantime, their defense did their job and held the Giants to THREE.

The Broncos actually have a good defense. The Chargers put up 33 points against Philly and the 49ers put up 30+ against the Packers. We could do neither. Our defense is NOT the only problem this year.

riggofan wrote:If this is true then we wasted those draft picks on RGIII. He'll never last in the league if he has to run as much as he did last year.

1. RGIII has to learn how to operate within the pocket. He doesn't need to run. BUT...
2. He didn't have a chance to develop those skills cus he was in rehab.
3. If he wants to succeed this year, he'll have to run or they're in for a long season.

riggofan wrote:I understand your point about mobility and moving out of the pocket. I'm talking specifically though about designed running plays. There was a lot of griping on the radio yesterday that RGIII wasn't running.

Somehow, some way, his legs need to be more involved.

riggofan wrote:Obviously the defense isn't to blame for the offense not putting up points, but is it really so unusual for the offense to start a game with a three and out? Or to not put up points early in the game?

Do you know how many points the Broncos put up in the first quarter yesterday? ZERO. In the meantime, their defense did their job and held the Giants to THREE.

The Broncos have a beastly defense. An amazing secondary. Their offense may not have scored but they put up drives. Gave the defense a rest. Why are we comparing our mediocre defense to these guys? Why compare them to the Ravens? You and fans have only yourselves to blame if you THOUGHT thats what we had on our hands.

We do not have a defensive team, it's an offensive team. We have a Ferrari of an offense and the engine is toast.

I would agree that the offensive game plan has to find a way to make the defense not just be looking for RG3 to just hand it off or drop back - there has to be a better offensive game plan ...

I think the defense has more work to do to be effective than the offense but our offense has got to find ways to stay on the field longer

I did expect more from RG3 - he is looking rusty and I agree with CLL - in that he's not showing any mobility at all

I actually think CLL is right on with RG3 not being a pocket passer. But...since his legs aren't right, maybe this is his opportunity to learn how to be one. Think about how good this kid could be IF he had the traditional drop back ability, plus mobility. I hope he takes this time to learn how to read a defense from the pocket...that means more for the long term of this team than winning a game or two right now.

SkinsJock wrote:I did expect more from RG3 - he is looking rusty and I agree with CLL - in that he's not showing any mobility at all

I think, looking back... We fooled ourselves. Me included. The same way people fooled themselves about this defense.

PulpExposure wrote:I actually think CLL is right on with RG3 not being a pocket passer. But...since his legs aren't right, maybe this is his opportunity to learn how to be one. Think about how good this kid could be IF he had the traditional drop back ability, plus mobility. I hope he takes this time to learn how to read a defense from the pocket...that means more for the long term of this team than winning a game or two right now.

I think his legs are fine. He just doesn't have the skillset, he doesn't have the pocket awareness yet. Those were his deficiencies and he hasn't had a chance to work on them. His legs are more than capable enough to slide around in the pocket, it isn't natural to him.

The read option masked his weaknesses, just like it did for Pat White. The mask is done and you're seeing the incomplete QB that he is. It's a hard dose of reality that nobody really wants to own.

Chris Luva Luva wrote:The mask is done and you're seeing the incomplete QB that he is. It's a hard dose of reality that nobody really wants to own.

Post of the century.

Chris Luva Luva wrote:I think his legs are fine. He just doesn't have the skillset, he doesn't have the pocket awareness yet. Those were his deficiencies and he hasn't had a chance to work on them. His legs are more than capable enough to slide around in the pocket, it isn't natural to him.

The read option masked his weaknesses, just like it did for Pat White. The mask is done and you're seeing the incomplete QB that he is. It's a hard dose of reality that nobody really wants to own.

I think you're right. But this is a great opportunity for him to learn those skills. If he's as hard working and as smart as we all think he is, this is it.

StorminMormon86 wrote:

Chris Luva Luva wrote:The mask is done and you're seeing the incomplete QB that he is. It's a hard dose of reality that nobody really wants to own.

Post of the century.

It's not said as a slight towards him. Any/all second year QB is an incomplete player. His injury really stunted his growth, it's disappointing. But thankfully he has the work ethic to not let it totally derail him.

grampi wrote:
RG3's running plays have been removed from our offensive play calling, which makes the O plain vanilla and easy to defend...I'm all for making him less exposed to injury, but take away that much of the offense and this is what we get.

RGIII's running plays haven't been removed from the playcalling, they just haven't been calling them. We've been given a couple of BS reasons for this over the last two weeks, but the fact is just about every DC in the league (all that saw the Redskins on their 2013 schedule) spent the off-season trying to figure out how to stop it. Half the OC in the league that didn't have it in their playbooks have added it.

The Skins have been running quite a bit of the pistol formation, and a lot of the read option in the first half of both games until they fell way behind and switch to more of a spread. Falling behind caused them to switch from a run based scheme to a pass first scheme is the BS explanation I mentioned above, although it's accurate it's not factual because when they ran the RO out of the pistol Robert never kept the ball. Garcon has had some nice catches and Morris had a few good runs on those plays but it was a few times he should have ran it and didn't.

It's a option... the QB has the option, so we don't know if he's choosing not to keep it or was instructed not to. If so by who?

Then again I remember hear that Cousins should start the season even if RGIII was healthy for week one, those same people said starting 2-2 or 1-3 coming out of the bye wouldn't be a problem...

What's the difference? RGIII is running the same scheme Cousins would have run and defense would have scheme just the same knowing Cousins isn't a running thread?

The difference is Cousins wouldn't have back to back 300+ yard passing games, and after the bye RGIII would've had another month of rust and no live action. Over the last two weeks you see the rust coming off.

This did a lot to help speed up the process:

Until that happened RGIII had all kinds of un-answered questions in the back of his mind. Some of them were answered and his play picked up.

Doesn't happen if he's not in the pocket, definitely not if he had sat until after the bye.


He got his knee brace broken during Sunday's game... let's see where that leads

grampi wrote:I don't have a clue what the hell's going on with the D....they were much better last year with key players out due to injuries...now we have those players back and the D sucks...makes no sense....

I could re-post what I just wrote and that might give you a clue, but it won't fully explain what we are seeing. Honestly the offense has to take a lot of the blame, week one they had two turnovers and safety on their first three possessions, Sunday they were 4 of 13 on 3rd and 4th downs. That keeps the defense on the field.

Before you reply with some fact less post dismissing this reasoning let me help you out...


Everyone made a big deal out of Philly running 53 plays in the first half of last weeks game... that was only a handful(47 or 49 or something like that) of plays more than what RGIII and the Redskins ran in the 2nd half of that same game. So the D was rested in the second half but still could stop Philly's offense (whom put up 30 in a lost yesterday)

The remainder of the mystery is out there in plain sight, and we all love it at it's worst. They've starting to move Kerigan around and lining him up as a DL, combine that with their nickle package (which they run most of the game) equals 3 rookies (Jenkins, Rambo, and Amerson) in the back seven, a group that is lead by a aging MLB that can no longer play in coverage effectively. The frontseven has a returning major contributor that can't be eased back into a unit that evolved without him because his replacement (who played at a very "high" level) is suspended for four games.

That was the long response to you're post...

The short response would be unlike you, I'm willing to wait until after the bye... because just like you I don't think the D has a clue as to what they are doing right now.

I think the thing some of you are overlooking is when his designed running plays were part of the game plan, THAT made the passing game that much easier because defenses didn't know what to defend against...now that the designed running plays have been taken out of the game plan, this has made the offense MUCH easier to defend...which also means RG3 would have to be almost perfect with his passes as that's what opposing Ds are looking for...if his knee is healthy enough for him to run, then the running plays should be part of the offense...otherwise the losses will continue to mount until one of two things happen...either RG3 gets healthy enough to run full bore, or he becomes a perfect pocket passer...