Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Back for year two, it's the start of another season of Smoot laying the smack down.

After just the first preseason game, we shouldn't panic and think the season is over (but of course we will panic). Still, we can lay the smack down.

This week I lay the smack down on

[B]
Jim Zorn[/B] Zero points is unacceptable. The score doesn't matter, sure. But you're on a short leash here and you need to realize that you were first and foremost brought here to develop Jason Campbell and get this offense moving. Could you use more talent? Sure. But let's not act like you don't have enough talent. It's on you Zorn. Step it up...plus you didn't play Chase Daniel so now I hate you :)

[B]Linebackers in pass coverage[/B] Uh oh. This could be a concern.

[B]Devin Clark[/B] I couldn't understand why your name was brought up so much this offseason...and I still can't figure it out

[B]Marques Hagans[/B] Zorn made a really interesting comment the other day when he said his #5 WR doesn't necessarily need to be a special teamer (contrary to what I always thought). That means Marques that if you want to beat DJ Hackett/Mitchell/Eloi for that last spot you better be more than just a blazer on special teams. You better be able to catch the ball and move the chains on offense. You couldn't and it's going to hurt you

[B]Everyone who gave up on Chad Rinehart because he didn't play last year and JLC had an article in February saying some in the organization thought he had a ways to go [/B] You know who you are

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Glad to hear Rinehart was solid.

How did Hackett look? I see he had a few catches.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Justin Tryon[/B] Continuously got beat like a red-headed stepchild, and at 5-9, he's not going to have much luck against guys like Miles Austin, Sam Hurd, David Tyree, Reggie Brown, Jason Avant, Jeremy Maclin, Hank Baskett (3rd and 4th wideouts who are 6 foot or taller). If he wants to secure the #4 corner spot, he's going to have to step it up several notches.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Rinehart's development is a huge step. Devin Clark..not so much at this point. Hopefully he'll do better and stop getting penalties.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Fred Davis[/B]: All of this talk about improvement in camp, yet he fumbles twice ending 2 drives where we had a chance to score. He needs to step up and hold onto the ball.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Kevin Barnes[/B]-for us to spend a 3rd round pick, this guy wont see the field this year.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

I think that's really jumping the gun on Barnes

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Jim Zorn/offensive staff[/B]-The logic behind giving your starters one or two series is all well and good when you have an established offense and you're just looking to get some reps. The Patriots had their offense in for the entire 1st half, the Eagles did the same. Both of them are well established but they wanted to get in a rhythm offensively. Our offense needed to play at least 5 drives in this game. What exactly did we learn from our starting offense last night? That for 2 drives Rinehart can hold up? That we can basically replicate 70% of our drives from last season? Last year since we had 5 pre-season games I understand doing that but in a make or break year for coach and QB, I'd think that he'd be more aggressive in getting the offense a good look with live bullets flying. This was a failure in the game planning and preparing for the season.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=vallin21;575807][B]Fred Davis[/B]: All of this talk about improvement in camp, yet he fumbles twice ending 2 drives where we had a chance to score. He needs to step up and hold onto the ball.[/quote]

He fumbled twicw loosing the ball once stopping one drive. It happens but he needs to come back and show he can hold onto the ball. JT comented that he was holding the ball away from his body and thats something they can fix in the film room so that not a big concern of mine.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;575821]I think that's really jumping the gun on Barnes[/quote]

And I knew you would, there are lots of "Maryland Lovers" on this board :). The thing is....lots of people were praising this pick, and suggesting this was a pre-cursor to getting Smoot off the field. That wont be happening anytime soon IMO, this guy has a long ways to go. Gonna end up being a situation like last years 3rd rounder(Rhinehart), he is gonna need alot of seasoning before he is ready for the bigtime.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=Paintrain;575824][B]Jim Zorn/offensive staff[/B]-The logic behind giving your starters one or two series is all well and good when you have an established offense and you're just looking to get some reps. The Patriots had their offense in for the entire 1st half, the Eagles did the same. Both of them are well established but they wanted to get in a rhythm offensively. Our offense needed to play at least 5 drives in this game. What exactly did we learn from our starting offense last night? That for 2 drives Rinehart can hold up? That we can basically replicate 70% of our drives from last season? Last year since we had 5 pre-season games I understand doing that but in a make or break year for coach and QB, I'd think that he'd be more aggressive in getting the offense a good look with live bullets flying. This was a failure in the game planning and preparing for the season.[/quote]

Speaking of the Patriots. Tom Brady looked like he hasn't missed a beat.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

hagans called for a fair catch on the 5 yard line. wtf? dont care if its preseason, you are vying for a spot on this team as a special teamer. thats unacceptable.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=roth74va;575830]And I knew you would, there are lots of "Maryland Lovers" on this board :). The thing is....lots of people were praising this pick, and suggesting this was a pre-cursor to getting Smoot off the field. That wont be happening anytime soon IMO, this guy has a long ways to go. Gonna end up being a situation like last years 3rd rounder(Rhinehart), he is gonna need alot of seasoning before he is ready for the bigtime.[/quote]

I couldn't really care less about the Maryland Terps to be honest. I still think though this was a really good move and he will be our nickel back...in 2010. But I think he'll get significant playing time in 2009.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=roth74va;575818][B]Kevin Barnes[/B]-for us to spend a 3rd round pick, this guy wont see the field this year.[/quote]

I don't know man. He got beat by a pump fake. He tried to make a play and screwed it all up. He's going to learn. Thats why we have preseason. I'm not going to hold that against him. Besides, he should have had help over the top anyways.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Too early to be making any season long predictions for guys like Barnes.

And can we start spelling Rinehart correctly already? My gawd.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

I was more concerned about how the backup DBs (Tryon, Barnes, Dutch, etc) looked frustrated after getting burned. They can't let themselves get down mentally when playing that position. They have to be able to get right back out there as if nothing just happened.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=Paintrain;575824][B]Jim Zorn/offensive staff[/B]-The logic behind giving your starters one or two series is all well and good when you have an established offense and you're just looking to get some reps.[COLOR=Red][B] The Patriots had their offense in for the entire 1st half, the Eagles did the same. Both of them are well established but they wanted to get in a rhythm offensively. [/B][/COLOR] Our offense needed to play at least 5 drives in this game. What exactly did we learn from our starting offense last night? That for 2 drives Rinehart can hold up? That we can basically replicate 70% of our drives from last season? Last year since we had 5 pre-season games I understand doing that but in a make or break year for coach and QB, I'd think that he'd be more aggressive in getting the offense a good look with live bullets flying. This was a failure in the game planning and preparing for the season.[/quote]

Yeah, I don't think Zorn can afford to leave them in that long. Having a lack of depth on the team means that we can't expose our starters to injury in a prolonged stay in a preseason game. The Pats and Eagles are pretty deep teams so they are afforded the luxury of leaving people in there longer.

Also, they don't rely on the output or welfare of one key player, as witnessed when Brady went down. They scheme their roster around their gameplan so the responsibility doesn't just fall to one or two key players.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

I think they should leave the first team in until they can score a touchdown, eff an injury. If Randy can't play, cut him. If Samuels gets hurt, there should be someone with talent that can step up.

Losers = those who do not win.

Jimmie Johnson = Winner
Tigger Woods = Winner
Pittsburgh = Winners
Lakers = Winners
Obama = Winner
Michael Felps (however you spell his name) = Winner

Big Losers = those who don't win and can't even score [U]a point[/U]!

That's how I see it, plain and simple.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=roth74va;575830]And I knew you would, there are lots of "Maryland Lovers" on this board :). The thing is....lots of people were praising this pick, and suggesting this was a pre-cursor to getting Smoot off the field. That wont be happening anytime soon IMO, this guy has a long ways to go. Gonna end up being a situation like last years 3rd rounder(Rhinehart), he is gonna need alot of seasoning before he is ready for the bigtime.[/quote]

I am far from a Terp fan. But third rounders typically do need seasoning before they are ready for the big time. Otherwise they'd be first rounders.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

With how shaky the OL has been and the injuries, I think the coaches were overly cautious and didn't want to risk any further injuries to them or to JC. That said I think in the next two games we'll see the starters get an extensive look in these next 2 games.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

While it [B]IS[/B] early, I am disappointed what transpired last night. I did not see the game and can only hope that our starters basically did not see the field.
For the good of all, a statement needs to be made with the steelers. We don't necessarily need to win, but our first needs to prove it can do some damage against their first.............
HTTR

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Disappointing, to be sure, but I'll withhold some judgment until I see more.

We saw that we have some problems in pass D, at least when we leave these guys out on an island. But we're trying to see who will step up, and that's one way to do it. (To say no one stepped up last night is an understatement!)

As for the O, the pass-pro was better than we feared, at least until Devin Clark began to get beaten like a drum. But we did not do much in the run game, which concerns me as well. Of course, the Raisins are one of the best defensive teams in the league, but still.

Overall, though, not scoring ANY points and giving up 500 yards of O is not acceptable in any context. Sure, we can take the positives here (what else is there to do?), but WTF? As a skins fan who lives and dies with this friggin team, I do not want to be subjected to a pathetic beat-down like that in ANY CONTEXT! It's preseason for Baltimore too, but they looked fine. Why did we suck so very bad? Oy.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

It was only a preseason game. But it was only a preseason game for Baltimore also. As others have pointed out, to perform so dismally is disconcerting.

The last time we had a truly poor preseason was in Gibbs 2nd season where expectations were high and the players seemed to have a cavalier attitude about the offense's lack luster performance ("It will be fine in the regular season"). We went on to a losing record. I am hoping this year and the reaction to this preseason game is not a repeat of that debacle.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Those teams that played their starters longer on O (philly & NE) likely have fewer bubble players on their rosters that they need to look at for extended periods. For all those that have commented on d. clark's performance, consider it part of the coaches strategy to get some serious looks at these guys. The backup O linemen might be playing a lot this year so they really need to make the right decisions when its time to trim the roster.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Equipment Manager:[/B] Ladell Bettis?? Really? :)

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

It's funny how folks are giving up on Barnes and at the same time are praising Rinehart, a 3rd round pick that took a year to develop.

Also, kudos to the offensive line for playing well, I know just about everyone was predicting gloom and doom about that unit before they took a snap.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

On a positive note Orakpo is a BEAST!! The offensive line had to hold him on almost every play to keep him from sacking the QB

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=Lotus;575878]I am far from a Terp fan. But third rounders typically do need seasoning before they are ready for the big time. Otherwise they'd be first rounders.[/quote]

Yeah I understand like Cooley needed a full year before contributing right? If you make the right pick, the guy will contribute right away. Barnes is a rookie, so I wasnt expecting much, but to put him ahead of Smoot is crazy. Tryon will be the 4th corner(scary), Barnes will see only see time on special teams at best.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

In Barnes' defense, he was playing injured (hyperextended knee). And to me, that shows you what kind of player he is. He wants to be there for his team and he wants to move up the depth chart.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Its all well and good to want your young DB's to get reps(Barnes.Tryon), but neither of these guys is ready for live bullets..If we had to rely on them in a regular season game,we'd be screwed.....Its time to look at a FA nickle corner right away

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=Skinny Tee;575858]Yeah, I don't think Zorn can afford to leave them in that long. Having a lack of depth on the team means that we can't expose our starters to injury in a prolonged stay in a preseason game. The Pats and Eagles are pretty deep teams so they are afforded the luxury of leaving people in there longer.

Also, they don't rely on the output or welfare of one key player, as witnessed when Brady went down. They scheme their roster around their gameplan so the responsibility doesn't just fall to one or two key players.[/quote]

Furthermore, Darth Hoody can do whatever the hell he wants in New England (that's what three SBs will do) and is not under the scrutiny that Zorn is by the ownership and the fans. Had Zorn left the starters out there for a couple of more series, and someone had gotten hurt, this forum alone would have blown up with "why the hell did Zorn leave the starters out there" comments.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

We only have two offensive players who we NEED to get out of the game asap as to protect their health for the Giants week one, but when those two guys leave, it makes logical sense to remove some of the other talent we have on the field because they have little left to prove.

I'd like to leave the first defense out there longer. Maybe give them two series in the next game with Haynesworth and Fletcher, and then give them two more series without those two before turning to the backups. But there's certain players on offense (Samuels and Campbell) that we need to have out there on gameday, and it makes no sense to get them more than a cup o coffee in the preseason.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;575821]I think that's really jumping the gun on Barnes[/quote]


I agree. He went for a pump fake. This happens all the time and especially on rookies. He acknowledged the mistake and will learn from it.

I am starting to feel bad for Tryon. Someone mentioned that he is fighting for the #4 corner. I wonder if he is fighting for a spot on the team. Throwing at him was almost a guaranteed first down.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=Pocket$ $traight;576133]I agree. He went for a pump fake. This happens all the time and especially on rookies. He acknowledged the mistake and will learn from it.

I am starting to feel bad for Tryon. Someone mentioned that he is fighting for the #4 corner. I wonder if he is fighting for a spot on the team. Throwing at him was almost a guaranteed first down.[/quote]It's also the coordinators responsibility to make sure that primary zone coverage players like Hall and Tryon don't end up in man coverage very often.

I mean, if Tryon develops into a nice man corner, that's one thing. There's nothing wrong with testing his weaknesses in the pre-season. You just don't release somebody based on their inability to perform a specific skill that is a non-essential quality of a dime back.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Blache doesn't seem to have a problem with Tryon and Zorn said he'll learn from this because he's that type of player. So apparently he hasn't damaged their regard for him.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

I just watched something like the first 6 passes and I saw Tryon's number 20 every pass. He wasn't even close to some of the receivers. I can't imagine his zone coverages would be any better...

But I think it should be try-OUT. I don't think I'd ever want him in a game for us after seeing this. A major liability for sure. If I was the opposing QB, I'd target him on every pass, like Flacco did.

I'm still hopeful for Barnes, and will give him the benefit of the doubt. Sure, it doesn't make any sense -- but after seeing that one play knocking a receiver out & making him puke -- I feel like he's a baller.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;575840]I couldn't really care less about the Maryland Terps to be honest. I still think though this was a really good move and he will be our nickel back...in 2010. But I think he'll get significant playing time in 2009.[/quote]


Yeah Maryland Schmaryland. I get sick of this Maryland/local kid angle. It's pure boilerplate for lazy writers who have to do a Redskins story a day for all of camp. They pull up last year's story and change the name. Heyer, Buzbee, Barnes.

Maybe we should try loading up on players from teams that you know WIN their conference and a better conference at that. People act like Maryland is some factory when they are in actuality, middle of the pack in a conference that has not been taken all that seriously of late. All the athletes are in the SEC and at the Florida schools.

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

Don't get me wrong.........I love Maryland as I grew up there, attended UM, etc. BUT, nobody in S. Fl is worried about U of M

Re: Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Preseason Week 1)
 

[B]Sages - [/B]What the hell? You promised me if I gave you $200 the Redskins would win 23-0.