The Washington Redskins: A Sigh of Disbelief

The way this season has begun, we may look back at the Redskins 9-7 victory over the St. Louis Rams and breathe a deep sigh of relief.

Glad we won that one!

The margin of victory in the NFL is so small that a team will take any win.  Just one extra win may mean the difference between playing in the first round of the playoffs, or playing the first round of golf with your buddies in January.

Take for example the Redskins’ record last year and the insignificant-let’s-put-that-behind-us-and-move-on-loss to the Rams, had they won that game and everything happened the way it did, the Skins would have had nine wins going into the last game of the year against the San Francisco 49ers, with a playoff berth on the line. 

Instead, Redskins’ fans shook their heads in disbelief as they counted the losses to the Rams, Bengals, and 49ers as games they wish they had back. 

So be glad the Redskins beat the Rams yesterday because it could be worse.  You could be a fan of the Rams, bemoaning another 0-2 start to your season.  For there isn’t much that separates the 0-2 Rams and the 1-1 Redskins.

Consider this: Both offenses have scored just one touchdown each in two regular season games.  And the Redskins special teams have scored more points than the offense.

Once again, the defense was forced to make something happen.  For a second week in a row, the Redskins’ defense surrendered only one touchdown, but showed some signs of weakness which could get exploited by more potent offenses.

While the secondary didn’t give up any big plays in the air, the relatively soft coverage by the cornerbacks allowed the Rams’ receivers to convert some key third downs into first downs.

The only big gain the defense gave up was in the second quarter, on Steven Jackson’s 58-yard rumble down the right sideline.  In fact, LaRon Landry had a clear shot at tackling Jackson for a smaller gain, but completely whiffed on his attempt, springing Jackson free for the run.  

While Landry has the ability to bring the big hit on every play, his tendency to go for the jarring hit causes him to miss and not make the right play, which is exactly what happened on the Jackson run.  Jackson side-stepped him and raced down the sideline.  

Good defenses occasionally will give up big plays, but they make up for it by creating turnovers—especially when they need it most.  

That’s exactly what happened when Chris Horton forced a Donnie Avery fumble on the Redskins five-yard line in the fourth quarter, ending the Rams’ attempt to take a small lead.  

Instead, the Redskins’ defense, once again, was forced to compensate for the offense. If the offense couldn’t put points on the board, the defense certainly wasn’t going to let the Rams score.  

So for the second week in a row, we are coming up with answers for why the Redskins can’t score points—most importantly—why they can’t score touchdowns.

You have to start the discussion with the man responsible for calling the offensive plays: Jim Zorn.

And while you have to give Zorn credit for showing some moxie and going for it twice on fourth down, you have to question the play calling.

On the first fourth down play in the fourth quarter, with the offense facing a 4th-and-1 from the Rams’ 20-yard line, Campbell handed off to Portis, who gained nine yards on the run.

It was the right call.

You had Portis, who loves handling the ball in big moments, lined up in the right formation, and he ran behind Chris Samuels to pick up the first down.

However, later on the same drive, facing another 4th-and-short, when the simple call is a quarterback sneak with 6′ 4” Jason Campbell—even though he did tweak his ankle earlier in the game—Zorn called for another run behind left end.  

This time the played was stopped.  The Redskins turned the ball over on downs, and, most importantly, came away with no points.  

That was just one of many questionable plays that were dialed up by Zorn.  

In the second quarter the Redskins put together a nice string of short gains—by running and throwing the ball—to move into Rams territory, when Marcus Mason trotted onto the field for his first action in an NFL regular season game.

While it was good to see Mason get some time on the field, his two running plays resulted in a total of five yards and a third down situation.  Fortunately, Campbell was able to find Santana Moss for a first down, and the drive continued, resulting in another field goal.  

The fact that the drive ended with a field goal, reinforces the questionable play calling by the offense.  

It just seemed like the wrong time to throw Mason in the mix.  His two run plays stalled the momentum the drive had built up, and Campbell, facing a 3rd-and-10 after a false start by Derrick Dockery, had to scramble out of the pocket to complete the pass to Moss.

The Redskins found themselves inside the red zone four times yesterday, and came away with no touchdowns.  Zorn, willing to try anything within ten yards of the end zone, went for the predictable halfback pass which resulted in an incompletion. 

Don’t we have two tall receivers—Marko Mitchell and Malcolm Kelly—to throw, essentially, jump balls to in the end zone? Yet, there was not one call for that play.

So if you can’t score a touchdown in the air near the goal line (or hold onto a pass, Mike Sellers and Devin Thomas), then you have to run it in. 

Again, another area of concern for the rushing game.

To make matters worse for the offense, right guard Randy Thomas appears likely to be out for the season, injuring his right triceps muscle early in the game. 

So an already shaky offensive line is down a key player on its most delicate side.  That means Will Montgomery, listed as the primary backup to center Casey Rabach, will have to work with right tackle Stephen Heyer to hold down the right side.

Does this mean we will eventually see a Chad Rinehart sighting? 

With a patched-up offensive line, it will be nearly impossible for the Redskins to run effectively on the right side; and with an injury to Samuels, Dockery, or Rabach, any hopes of the offense finding a rhythm and scoring touchdowns appears to be unlikely.

So there are a lot of issues the Redskins will need to address this week as they prepare for another winnable game against the Detroit Lions.

So let’s be grateful the Redskins gritted out a win. 

But I think we should have lowered expectations for the Redskins for the rest of the season, unless they can show us something better on offense.

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What To Expect In Week Two For The Washington Redskins

Before we talk about what the Skins need to accomplish against the Rams this Sunday (clearly, a BIG win), we need to talk about how the Rams shouldn’t be overlooked.  This isn’t the same team that Pete Kendalled their way to a victory last year. 

With a healthy Marc Bulger, an always game Steven Jackson, and a new head coach who has faced the Redskins offense before, the Rams could be looking to repeat last year’s outcome.

If you haven’t clicked away to another article by now (please don’t, stay awhile), you are probably saying aloud, “John, you have got to be kidding me, right?” Of course, I am.  The Redskins will win this game.  And win big.  And here’s why.

Even with a new defensive mindset, brought on by rookie head coach Steve Spagnuolo, a man who has beat the Redskins before, as a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, the Rams defense is straight up porous. 

The Seattle Seahawks manhandled the Rams in 28-0 shellacking at Qwest Field.  Matt Hasselbeck, demonstrating complete command of the West Coast offense that Zorn runs in Washington, picked apart the Rams secondary for over 250 yards and three touchdown passes.  Even Julius Jones had a big day.  He ran for 117 yards and a touchdown.  This is the same Julius Jones who has never rushed for more than 94 yards against a Redskins defense.

OK, so we know the Rams defense isn’t very good. That doesn’t mean they don’t have the know-how to beat Jason Campbell and the Redskins offense.

A Spagnuolo-coached defense has beaten a Redskins offense three out of the four times they have squared off.  The lone win came in 2007, when the Redskins beat the G-Men to continue their late-season rally into the playoffs.  That being said, his defensive players in New York were lights-out scarier than anything Campbell will face on Sunday.  Looks like James Laurinaitis will get some tackles (14 in the first game, who does he think he is, London Fletcher?) and Chris Long may get a hustle/coverage sack, but that’s about it.

The Rams defense will come out ready to play—they don’t want to get victimized for the second straight week—but they shouldn’t be a problem for a Redskins offense that is hungrier, maybe even more desperate for a big showing.

I think we all know the Redskins offense needs to show some significant signs of improvement on Sunday.  But how much?  A lot.  If the Redskins don’t run into the locker room at halftime, sporting at least a two touchdown lead, the Skins offense may never get on track.  I’m serious.  I want to see Marcus Mason picking up some yards in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter, with the Redskins holding a 35-6 lead. 

Five touchdowns!?  I know that sounds crazy, considering the Redskins have never topped 30 points under Zorn’s offense, but that’s what they need to shoot for.  I’ll accept four touchdowns.  But the Redskins need to prove to themselves that they can consistently score points with Campbell at quarterback and Zorn running the offense.

An offense that scores on average 16.6 points a game clearly won’t win you many games.  That kind of scoring output puts too much pressure on the team’s defense to make something happen.  The Redskins defense couldn’t make that much happen last year.  They were good, but not good enough to have to overcompensate for the offense.

This year, the defense looks like it will make something happen.  More pressure on the quarteback leads to more turnovers, which means better field position and numerous scoring opportunities for the offense.

So what should we expect on Sunday?

We should expect to see some improvement by the offense.  It won’t be a 30-point effort like I hope it will be, but it will be enough of an increase to help the team gain some confidence.  I look to see the Redskins winning 24-7, coming on two touchdown passes by Campbell and a rushing touchdown by Clinton Portis. 

Will it be enough to keep Redskins Nation happy?  I don’t know.  But I’ll take the win at home. 

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