Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Well most of what we ran was pretty vanilla yesterday, both on offense and defense so I'm not going to worry so much about the score really. Obviously would have preferred that we had the 23 though. For me, the player of the game was probably Laron Landry. I was really impressed with the way he played yesterday, and Keiland Williams looked strong on the kickoff returns.

Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players "on the bubble" perform in games, so with that said I think Anthony Armstrong did a lot to solidify his chances of being on the 53-man roster come September 12.


Ok, let's get to the smack downs:

[B]The Running Game[/B] Everything about it was poor. Blocking from the OL was matador-esque. Sellers, like he's done so many times before, whiffed on a block. LJ struggled to hit the hole hard enough on multiple occassions; and looked lost on a couple of blocking assignments. Based on his training camp and OTA performances, LJ is penciled in as 1A to CPs' 1. As I said above, Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players play in games so guys like Parker, Torain, and even Williams had a chance to make a case for themselves last night to move up the RB depth chart. None of them really did. As to LJ's comments about wanting to play in the 4th quarter, I didn't take them to be a shot at anyone. He just wanted to play is all

[B]Rex Grossman[/B] Just putting this out there so I can point out that Chase Daniel was 15/21 yesterday with 3 TDs

[B]Kareem Moore's Knee[/B] Right now they're saying he could miss the first two weeks of the season, maybe more (maybe less if we're lucky). Yet another injury setback for a career that has been slow to get going. Sad

[B]Devin Thomas[/B] Can't confirm this yet, but I heard that he's had more drops than any other WR in the league this pre-season. And his poor hands are what have frustrated the coaching staff all spring and summer.

[B]LeRon McLain[/B] What's with all the trash talking afterward "Yeah we own the Beltway. This one's for Zorn!" And a Gatorade shower for Zorn? Really?

and finally...

[B]Albert Haynesworth[/B] If it was more than just "headaches" why don't you just say what it was? Sorry, but AH doesn't get the benefit of the doubt in my mind. Yes, he's a dominant DT but he's not more important than the team. And if he put more effort in, he'd probably be a first-team Hall of Famer. If he keeps it up, he'll be out of the league sooner than later because teams won't want to put up with him. Think that's impossible? Look at Jeff George. Arguably, with little argument, the best passer the league has seen in 20 years but his attitude ruined what could have been a great career. Big Al need only look around him in the locker room and see guys like Phillip Daniels and London Fletcher to know how he should act.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;722856]Well most of what we ran was pretty vanilla yesterday, both on offense and defense so I'm not going to worry so much about the score really. Obviously would have preferred that we had the 23 though. For me, the player of the game was probably Laron Landry. I was really impressed with the way he played yesterday, and Keiland Williams looked strong on the kickoff returns.

Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players "on the bubble" perform in games, so with that said I think Anthony Armstrong did a lot to solidify his chances of being on the 53-man roster come September 12.


Ok, let's get to the smack downs:

[B]The Running Game[/B] Everything about it was poor. Blocking from the OL was matador-esque. Sellers, like he's done so many times before, whiffed on a block. LJ struggled to hit the hole hard enough on multiple occassions; and looked lost on a couple of blocking assignments. Based on his training camp and OTA performances, LJ is penciled in as 1A to CPs' 1. As I said above, Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players play in games so guys like Parker, Torain, and even Williams had a chance to make a case for themselves last night to move up the RB depth chart. None of them really did. As to LJ's comments about wanting to play in the 4th quarter, I didn't take them to be a shot at anyone. He just wanted to play is all

[B]Rex Grossman[/B] Just putting this out there so I can point out that Chase Daniel was 15/21 yesterday with 3 TDs

[B]Kareem Moore's Knee[/B] Right now they're saying he could miss the first two weeks of the season, maybe more (maybe less if we're lucky). Yet another injury setback for a career that has been slow to get going. Sad

[B]Devin Thomas[/B] Can't confirm this yet, but I heard that he's had more drops than any other WR in the league this pre-season. And his poor hands are what have frustrated the coaching staff all spring and summer.

[U][B][B]LeRon McLain[/B] What's with all the trash talking afterward "Yeah we own the Beltway. This one's for Zorn!" And a Gatorade shower for Zorn? Really?[/B][/U]
and finally...

[B]Albert Haynesworth[/B] If it was more than just "headaches" why don't you just say what it was? Sorry, but AH doesn't get the benefit of the doubt in my mind. Yes, he's a dominant DT but he's not more important than the team. And if he put more effort in, he'd probably be a first-team Hall of Famer. If he keeps it up, he'll be out of the league sooner than later because teams won't want to put up with him. Think that's impossible? Look at Jeff George. Arguably, with little argument, the best passer the league has seen in 20 years but his attitude ruined what could have been a great career. Big Al need only look around him in the locker room and see guys like Phillip Daniels and London Fletcher to know how he should act.[/quote]

:doh: [url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/08/jim_zorns_postgame_gatorade_sh.html]D.C. Sports Bog - Jim Zorn's postgame Gatorade shower[/url]

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

the k moore thing is the dagger of the whole game. sucks.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I could give a shit less about zorn or the ravens. It's preseason really???? Grow up. As for Moore that's my biggest worry. Although I do trust guys like doughty and horton, I was really hoping Moore would become a big time player. I hope he's not just another injury prone DB. Hope he is back before Dallas

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

The gatorade thing just seemed like all in good fun to me. Kinda like the "Hip-hip-horray" stuff from last year. Not a big deal by any means to me.

Devin was a dissapointment to me. U gotta make catches that hit u right in the hands especially if u wanna be a starting receiver in this league. On a positive note Armstrong is looking like a player who could give us many good years.

I think KM will be back for the Cowboys game. He walked off a little slow but he walked off. He has three weeks to work with and I can't see it taking any longer to get healthy.

The INT Donovan through was a TD if he threw it out in front of him. The ball was severely underthrown. However, I again look at it as they have only been working together for a few months. Later on in the 2nd quarter he over threw a TD to Armstrong as well. By midseason barring injuries the passing game is going to be nasty!

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

What is the big deal about the gatorade thing is right. Zorn is gone, and that is all that matters.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;722856]Well most of what we ran was pretty vanilla yesterday, both on offense and defense so I'm not going to worry so much about the score really. Obviously would have preferred that we had the 23 though. For me, the player of the game was probably Laron Landry. I was really impressed with the way he played yesterday, and Keiland Williams looked strong on the kickoff returns.

Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players "on the bubble" perform in games, so with that said I think Anthony Armstrong did a lot to solidify his chances of being on the 53-man roster come September 12.


Ok, let's get to the smack downs:

[B]The Running Game[/B] Everything about it was poor. Blocking from the OL was matador-esque. Sellers, like he's done so many times before, whiffed on a block. LJ struggled to hit the hole hard enough on multiple occassions; and looked lost on a couple of blocking assignments. Based on his training camp and OTA performances, LJ is penciled in as 1A to CPs' 1. As I said above, Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players play in games so guys like Parker, Torain, and even Williams had a chance to make a case for themselves last night to move up the RB depth chart. None of them really did. As to LJ's comments about wanting to play in the 4th quarter, I didn't take them to be a shot at anyone. He just wanted to play is all

[B]Rex Grossman[/B] Just putting this out there so I can point out that Chase Daniel was 15/21 yesterday with 3 TDs

[B]Kareem Moore's Knee[/B] Right now they're saying he could miss the first two weeks of the season, maybe more (maybe less if we're lucky). Yet another injury setback for a career that has been slow to get going. Sad

[B]Devin Thomas[/B] Can't confirm this yet, but I heard that he's had more drops than any other WR in the league this pre-season. And his poor hands are what have frustrated the coaching staff all spring and summer.

[B]LeRon McLain[/B] What's with all the trash talking afterward "Yeah we own the Beltway. This one's for Zorn!" And a Gatorade shower for Zorn? Really?

and finally...

[B]Albert Haynesworth[/B] If it was more than just "headaches" why don't you just say what it was? Sorry, but AH doesn't get the benefit of the doubt in my mind. Yes, he's a dominant DT but he's not more important than the team. And if he put more effort in, he'd probably be a first-team Hall of Famer. If he keeps it up, he'll be out of the league sooner than later because teams won't want to put up with him. Think that's impossible? Look at Jeff George. Arguably, with little argument, the best passer the league has seen in 20 years but his attitude ruined what could have been a great career. Big Al need only look around him in the locker room and see guys like Phillip Daniels and London Fletcher to know how he should act.[/quote]


Not too worried about the running game. If that was a real game we'd probably want to throw anyway cause Balt. has a weak 2ndary.

Grossman seems to be the same type of guy. Makes some really nice plays and follows it up with stuff that can lose a game for you.

Too bad about Moore. Do we have anyone to replace him?

Thomas plays hard but he just doesn't seem to be consistent enough.

IMO we just need to cut our losses and let AH go. Enough is enough.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I think the status quo for AH is fine. Let him play with the 2nd team defense until he shows that he can play with 1st team.

Donovan was solid, although he did have a lot of inaccurate passes, which are what he was criticized for in philly. The deep strike to armstrong was underthrown, the 3rd & goal pass on the first drive was way off target, and so was a dumpoff to portis that CP couldn't bring in. Still, the 3rd down completion to cooley on the 1st drive under heavy pressure made me happy, and also made me laugh about what campbell would have done...

I think portis is without question the starter this season, and will probably rush for 800 yards or more. I remember seeing a couple really good blocks in pass protection from him; I think one was the deep bomb to armstrong but I dont remember.

Injury to kareem hurts, but I like doughty, who while probably a better fit at SS, is one of the better tacklers on our team.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

With a few exceptions, rather dismal game in general. Generally lacked positive consistency.
Need a running game, and a blocking game for same....
DMac, please stop acting like JC (your pressure evasion not withstanding)
lose the Dropzies
lose the revolving door blocking technique
Need a dynamic return game
It's ok Trent, he does that to everybody
Actually, perhaps we can just play Buffalo again and.....NO worries
Well.........thats why he have pre-season............

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

On a side note Marc Bulger is still a really good QB. Balt made a nice move in picking him up if Flacco struggles. Very accurate passer and the ball comes out very quick.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

If we had played Bartel, we would have won 52-23.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I could absolutely careless about the gatorade shower. It seemed very Zorn-like, so whatever. I was bothered more by the fact they had to run a fake punt play, it f*ing preseason, which on the play Moore will now miss time because of.

Several things:

The Good:
1. First Team D played great. Almost got a couple turnovers. Laron, Fletch, McIntosh all played great.
2. Anthony Armstrong welcome to the team.
3. Its still only the second week of preseason.

The Bad:
1.Our first team offense running the ball has been poor both weeks. I saw Silverback f up on too blocks where he just got dominanted. LJ was a disappointment.
2. Passing game...as the half wore on, McNabb seemed to get wild with his throwing. Throwing to his left he was not accurate. Lots of drops last night too. Davis should have made that catch in the back of the end zone.
3. Special teams...looked special last night.

The ugly:

Albert Hanyesworth. The transcript was bad last night reading it b4 bed. Then to get up this morning and see it on ESPN with him talking in front of his locker with the media just really pissed me off. This guy is a piece of sh*t. Bottomline. Horrible, horrible, horrible signing Vinny, thanks.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I loved what I saw from dmac on the first drive. Still moves well and has a great arm. Oline looked ok not great not horrible. CC will have a monster year, as should Davis. Armstrong has really good speed. Maybe the 2 WR . LJ looks old and done. I wish we could have scored a td on the first drive but it happens. Davis dropped a wide open TD!!

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I thought DM looked rusty. Yeah he threw some nice passes and moved well in the pocket but he also missed guys, flat out missed a TD to Armstrong and underthrew himon another, he threw behind guys. Overall an up and down night. But one thing I like about DM is he's aggressive and he isn't scared to throw the ball down the field.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Oh and flacco doesn't impress me that much in fact I think he's JC type QB. Good deep ball but not that accurate, and stares down his wrs

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

What i found alil uncool was the way landry acted during the first 5-6 D snaps of the game.

1st play he talks unprovoked smack to rice.

next play or so he talks some smack when he was a few feet inside the ravens sideline due to a play that got pushed out of bounds on their sideline.

a play or so later, mason catches a ball and landry talks smack to him. mason smacks landry in the helmet.

on the ravens punt after the mason smack, a ravens player is talking closely to landry.

next D play for skins, its a short/intermediate pass, mason is standing near the down raven reciever. landry comes up and mason and landry do a quick slap of the hands.

landry didnt seem to talk smack after that.

i was lil embarrassed by landry feeling the need to come up to every raven player who had the ball and get in their face or ear.

if a stand up vet like mason smacks you, if your landry and mason catches a ball in preseason, you dont talk smack to him.

thats like darren mcfadden getting tackled for a short loss by fletcher in a preseason game and mcfadden gets in fletchers face.

i was glad teh ravens player talked to landry after that punt b/c i thought the ravens might target him and his knees if landry kept up his antics.

just unproffessional, i especially didnt like that he got in masons face unprovoked or unwarranted. mason is a professional vet, he deserves to be treated with respect.

rant over.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=over the mountain;722926]What i found alil uncool was the way landry acted during the first 5-6 D snaps of the game.

1st play he talks unprovoked smack to rice.

next play or so he talks some smack when he was a few feet inside the ravens sideline due to a play that got pushed out of bounds on their sideline.

a play or so later, mason catches a ball and landry talks smack to him. mason smacks landry in the helmet.

on the ravens punt after the mason smack, a ravens player is talking closely to landry.

next D play for skins, its a short/intermediate pass, mason is standing near the down raven reciever. landry comes up and mason and landry do a quick slap of the hands.

landry didnt seem to talk smack after that.

i was lil embarrassed by landry feeling the need to come up to every raven player who had the ball and get in their face or ear.

if a stand up vet like mason smacks you, if your landry and mason catches a ball in preseason, you dont talk smack to him.

thats like darren mcfadden getting tackled for a short loss by fletcher in a preseason game and mcfadden gets in fletchers face.

i was glad teh ravens player talked to landry after that punt b/c i thought the ravens might target him and his knees if landry kept up his antics.

just unproffessional, i especially didnt like that he got in masons face unprovoked or unwarranted. mason is a professional vet, he deserves to be treated with respect.

rant over.[/quote]

Great post.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=over the mountain;722926]What i found alil uncool was the way landry acted during the first 5-6 D snaps of the game.

1st play he talks unprovoked smack to rice.

next play or so he talks some smack when he was a few feet inside the ravens sideline due to a play that got pushed out of bounds on their sideline.

a play or so later, mason catches a ball and landry talks smack to him. mason smacks landry in the helmet.

on the ravens punt after the mason smack, a ravens player is talking closely to landry.

next D play for skins, its a short/intermediate pass, mason is standing near the down raven reciever. landry comes up and mason and landry do a quick slap of the hands.

landry didnt seem to talk smack after that.

i was lil embarrassed by landry feeling the need to come up to every raven player who had the ball and get in their face or ear.

if a stand up vet like mason smacks you, if your landry and mason catches a ball in preseason, you dont talk smack to him.

thats like darren mcfadden getting tackled for a short loss by fletcher in a preseason game and mcfadden gets in fletchers face.

i was glad teh ravens player talked to landry after that punt b/c i thought the ravens might target him and his knees if landry kept up his antics.

just unproffessional, i especially didnt like that he got in masons face unprovoked or unwarranted. mason is a professional vet, he deserves to be treated with respect.

rant over.[/quote]

It's pretty well documented that Landry is a mega-douche. He's just below AH on my list of least favorite current players. At least Landry shows up and works hard though. But man oh man is he a mouth.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=over the mountain;722926]What i found alil uncool was the way landry acted during the first 5-6 D snaps of the game.

1st play he talks unprovoked smack to rice.

next play or so he talks some smack when he was a few feet inside the ravens sideline due to a play that got pushed out of bounds on their sideline.

a play or so later, mason catches a ball and landry talks smack to him. mason smacks landry in the helmet.

on the ravens punt after the mason smack, a ravens player is talking closely to landry.

next D play for skins, its a short/intermediate pass, mason is standing near the down raven reciever. landry comes up and mason and landry do a quick slap of the hands.

landry didnt seem to talk smack after that.

i was lil embarrassed by landry feeling the need to come up to every raven player who had the ball and get in their face or ear.

if a stand up vet like mason smacks you, if your landry and mason catches a ball in preseason, you dont talk smack to him.

thats like darren mcfadden getting tackled for a short loss by fletcher in a preseason game and mcfadden gets in fletchers face.

i was glad teh ravens player talked to landry after that punt b/c i thought the ravens might target him and his knees if landry kept up his antics.

just unproffessional, i especially didnt like that he got in masons face unprovoked or unwarranted. mason is a professional vet, he deserves to be treated with respect.

rant over.[/quote]

I noticed the smack talk too. You'd think one the vets like Carter of Fletch would get in his ear and tell him to cool it. He's been doing this crap since he got here. Just let your play do the talking. Here we are coming off a 4-12 season and this guy feels the need to talk shit to a playoff team. It's time for LL to grow up.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=skinsfan69;722933]I noticed the smack talk too. You'd think one the vets like Carter of Fletch would get in his ear and tell him to cool it. He's been doing this crap since he got here. Just let your play do the talking. Here we are coming off a 4-12 season and this guy feels the need to talk shit to a playoff team. It's time for LL to grow up.[/quote]

Daniels has been able to walk the line between being his friend and being a leader on this team. No one can talk any sense into him. We'll be lucky to get a third round pick.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Landry trying to play head games with a cool customer like Derrick Mason is futile. The guy needs to be a cool customer himself and do the talking with his coverage and tackling.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

taped the game this morning and just finished watching it.A little dissapointed,could have been better.Mcnabb had a few bad throws,and a few drops,I'd grade him a C+ for the game.I thought pass protection looked good,run blocking still looks like crap.Recievers,why is Galloway a starter? I think most people thought when we signed him he was just a body in camp.I havent seen a pass even thrown his way.If a roster spot comes down to Thomas or Armstrong,I'd say byebye to Thomas.
The defense is so so,not that bad but not that good.Hopefully Fat Al will work his way into the starting lineup and we'll look better.Punting was good and bad also,some short and some boomers,kickoffs were good but gotta make that 47 yarder.I hope Banks makes the team,would rather have him than Thomas also

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=skinsfaninok;722921]Oh and flacco doesn't impress me that much in fact I think he's JC type QB. Good deep ball but not that accurate, and stares down his wrs[/quote]

I watched the game at 10 am this morning, and I also noticed that Flacco stared down his WR's. Boy, what a cover 4 with a robber could do against him twice a year.........

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Wow, I didn't know about the Kareem Moore injury. It really bothers me that we have a whole bunch of strong safeties and no free safety. I know that Haslett's defense doesn't distinguish one from the other, but I think this is an issue. We need a good covering safety in the middle, and I don't think any of the current safeties in the roster fit that.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Any FA free safeties that are available that are half decent Ruhskins?

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=GusFrerotte;722963]Any FA free safeties that are available that are half decent Ruhskins?[/quote]

Lendy Holmes will make the roster for a few weeks. Fortunately we're deep at safety. So it's not a huge problem, but it would be nice to have Moore starting at FS.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I wonder why Al Saunders also didn't get a Gatorade shower.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Zorn getting a gatorade shower was very bush league. I do not find the humor that others do in that, it was much more a slap in the face of the Redskins and all of us then something done in jest.

I still have not watched the game in full so I will check back in after I watch it.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Gatorade bath or not, better the Ravens have Zorn then us cause the us would mean he would still be our HC. I'll take Shanny any day and should we meet later hopefully we humiliate them.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I wouldn't worry about it Art. Zorn should have known his ass was grass when he got hired. Anybody in the NFL already knew what playing for DS/Cerrato was all about. Zorn just took the big gamble as chance to get a HC job and pad his resume at the very worst. He obviously was in over his head, but the FO really backstabbed him after the Detroit loss. AFter that he was neutered and had enough class to just stick it out and take it like a professional. Can't blame the man for being bitter.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

edit. just finished, moved to post # 34.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

MSU guys just don't cut it in the NFL as starters. Last guy that did half decently was Lorenzo White and that was like 15 years ago.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Armstrong has so a strong case for him being on the roster. If Austin can show some spark in the next two games and Kelly is unable to play, it couldb e most likely bye bye for him.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723002]edit from post # 31[/quote]Just got done looking over the game. A few thoughts:

[B]McNabb:[/B] He should've been 14-26 TD, 2 INT. He's still trying to find his comfort level with the offense and WRs. Several passes were behind WRs. The INT was ugly. That being said, his ability to keep plays alive is huge and will be a major plus in the regular season. Accuracy hasn't been McNabb's strong point throughout his career, but hopefully by Week 6 or 7 he and the receiving corps are more comfortable and timing is better. It's good to have an unquestioned leader at QB.

[B]Grossman[/B]: Is what he is, a game manager that will make some good plays and knows the offense, but will make some plays that just make you shake your head (INT pass). Let's hope for a healthy McNabb all season.

[B]First Unit OL:[/B] Trent Williams was solid for the most part. He did get abused by Suggs on the LJ drop, and gave up a sack but Suggs is a Pro Bowl player. He also got blown up by Suggs on 3rd & 1 on the Skins 2nd possession (more on this later). Brown looked a bit rusty, but I expect he'll be in form by Week 1. Dock & Rabach, average, nothing particularly good or bad. I think Rabach will have the same problems in pass pro as last year, should be OK in the run game as he really just needs to get to a spot and isn't asked to move anyone. Hicks is a concern. He was abused on a stretch play, missed a blitz pickup and appeared to be a half-step or so slow. Hopefully he'll be more solid in the next two games.

[B]Back-up OL:[/B] Heyer will be OK as a RT, I would like to see Rinehart get a good deal of time the next two weeks. He didn't play, is he injured? Lichtensteiger seemed solid. He didn't anchor well and got blown back on one play, but Grossman rolled away. Didn't see too much problem with Robinson, but that's because the Ravens were too busy explioting the A gaps. E. Williams completely missed on two consecutive A-gap blitzes and didn't come down to help at all. Montgomery shouldn't be on an NFL roster. Capers' first two plays he looked like his feet were stuck in cement, he's bad. He looked exactly like what we saw at the Senior Bowl. Cook and Oldenburg haven't shown anything to warrant keeping them around.

[B]RBs:[/B] Portis looks quicker this year, solid in pass pro. LJ is more of a downfield runner, although he got to the edge on the first play of the game. He also tripped over Hick's feet on what would've been a decent run. I don't believe LJ is going to turn out to be a good fit for the zone-blocking scheme. However, if KS gets his head out of his ass on 3rd/4th & short run calls LJ should be productive (again more later). LJ missed on a blitz pick-up and had his dropped pass to cap off a "stellar" performance. K. Williams showed good hands out of the backfield and will help as a KR. If he doesn't make any major mistakes the next two weeks, he'll be on the roster.

[B]Sellers:[/B] I would really like to see our rookie Morris get a good look in the next two weeks. Sellers whiffed on one block badly and got jacked up on another. This isn't the first time we've seen this happen either.

[B]TEs:[/B] Cooley and Davis each had a drop, but they both made good plays. These two will be fine and I expect good prodcution from both this year. Cooley's deep whip route on the first drive and the seam route on the 3rd posession were both excellent.

[B]WRs:[/B] Moss made some very good plays. He did have drop in traffic. Armstrong showed good hands and playmaking ability. He really helped himself tonight. Roydell Williams had a couple of good plays, but they were against 2/3rd unit guys. Thomas.....the physical ability is there, but unfortunately GTripp's assessment of him coming out of MSU may be correct unless he can have better focus and concentration. No excuse for the drops he's had. He'll give us enough as a KR and 3rd or 4th WR, but unless he works to improve his hands he'll never be an every down WR in the NFL. I'd hate to give up on Kelly, and I don't think the team will just yet, but if he can't get on the field consistently by mid-season he's gone.

[B]Secondary:[/B] Rogers played well. Excellent pursuit on the reverse play. Good coverage and solid tackling. Hall surprised the heck out of me tonight and made two very good tackles. He appeared frozen and got beaten on a go for 20 yds late in the first half, but other than that looked good. Barnes missed three tackles. He's disappointing me in a big way, the last thing I thought we'd see from him is piss-poor tackling, maybe coverage mistakes but weak physical play I didn't expect. Buchanon missed a tackle too, the 2nd unit CBs need to pick up their physicality. Tyron had a nice strip (yes it was a fumble) and an excellent play to stop the slant for a TD. He helped himself tonight.

Landry looked aggressive and played well. If he's used near the LoS on attack mode or given a specific man to cover he should do well. He's another guy that doesn't function well in space or with read-react.

[B]DL:[/B] Here's where the serious concern starts. In the first series on the second play, a stretch L, Kemo was pushed back in a big way. Two plays later he was handled by the Ravens C 1-on-1 on a toss R. He didn't stand out later in the game one way or the other. But....it's not a good sign when the anchor of your defense isn't anchoring. All the "trade AH" talk sounds good, but it's hard to run a 3-4 without a stong NT. NT is going to be a team effort between AH & Kemo this year if we're going to be successful on D. Now, if a 4-3 team that's a contender losses a starting DT, we can get some value for AH (2nd rounder min.), and they (or AH) pay back a large portion of the $21M check he just got, then maybe we make a move. Barring that, he'll finish the year here and NT will be our #1 priority in the 2011 draft.

Our DEs did nothing to stand out other than Golston was driven inside badly on the second play of the game. On the second unit, Darrion Scott was dominated on the GL TD run and had two other major negative plays. Howard Green did nothing to help himself and AH was obviously just going through the motions for over 50% of the plays he was in. Rob Jackson and Jarmon did nothing to stand out.

[B]ILBs:[/B] Rocky and Fletch wil be fine. Blades and Riley are still making some mistakes but I think will be adequate backups.

[B]OLBs:[/B] This is the major area of concern for our defense. We have two converted DEs starting at OLB. AC showed in SF that he wasn't an OLB, he's confirming that again now. First play of the game AC bites on the action to the left and gets beat by the reverse... basic football....when action goes away and you are contain, B-C-R Backside, Counter, Reverse. This is high school stuff. Same possession on the toss play, AC is not quick enough on the read to make the play. Next possession in addition to the rest of the front seven AC is beaten for a resulting 6 yd gain. He also had the dropped INT.

Orakpo may ultimately make the transition to OLB, but not if he keeps playing like he did tonight. Second play of the game he gets WAAAY to far upfield creating a huge running lane. On the Rice's fumble recovery run Rak comes in completely out of control and Rice makes him look real bad (so will Felix Jones, A. Bradshaw or L. McCoy twice a year if he doesn't learn to play under control). He got sucked inside on the 4th play of the next Raven possession which resulted in a +5. Rak is a prototypical RDE, he's not good in space....yet. We'll know by the end of this season if he's capable of making the transition. If he still isn't cutting it, he would have good trade value to a team running the 4-3.....in the AFC.

For our second unit guys, Chris Wilson had a couple of nice rushes off the edge. Draft (I believe) got crushed on the GL run. Other than that nothing noteworthy.

[B]And finally......my major gripe[/B].....on 3rd or 4th and short why are we still running stretch plays? We saw this too many times last year as well. Zone blocking in short yardage DOES NOT WORK. It's fundamental physics, you cannot take a lateral step and expect to drive back a person coming straight at you, full speed. That's why TW got blown up by Suggs. I don't blame him, I blame the playcall. And we did it more than once.

Note to KS, install a power run package for short yardage. It's not blasphemy against the Zone Blocking gods to run an ISO on 3rd & 1. O-Lineman like to line up and play smash-mouth. F the finesse crap in short yardage, IT DOESN'T WORK. If anyone from Redskin Park wants to PM me, I've got some basic stuff that works real well out of a Tackle Over, a Jumbo I, or we can go old-school with a Power I.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Orakpo should have stayed a D linemen.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723052]
[B]And finally......my major gripe[/B].....on 3rd or 4th and short why are we still running stretch plays? We saw this too many times last year as well. Zone blocking in short yardage DOES NOT WORK. It's fundamental physics, you cannot take a lateral step and expect to drive back a person coming straight at you, full speed. That's why TW got blown up by Suggs. I don't blame him, I blame the playcall. And we did it more than once.

Note to KS, install a power run package for short yardage. It's not blasphemy against the Zone Blocking gods to run an ISO on 3rd & 1. O-Lineman like to line up and play smash-mouth. F the finesse crap in short yardage, IT DOESN'T WORK. If anyone from Redskin Park wants to PM me, I've got some basic stuff that works real well out of a Tackle Over, a Jumbo I, or we can go old-school with a Power I.[/quote]

I disrespectfully disagree :mad: lol

Still I think that this time around with the coaching, the system, and the fact that the O-Line is still gelling that it's way to early to judge the short distance running game. It's not like they weren't successful with it in Denver rather I'd say we still have a sour taste in our mouths from the avalanche of run left calls in the red zone under our last head coach. Ironically though the reason Zorn did that so often was because those same plays worked like a charm in Seattle. Of course they had the Jones, Hutch, and Alexander in their primes for those plays but they all Zorn seemed to remember was it worked.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=SmootSmack;722856][B]LeRon McLain[/B] What's with all the trash talking afterward "Yeah we own the Beltway. This one's for Zorn!" And a Gatorade shower for Zorn? Really?[/quote]

Holy cow... I didn't see the end of the game, but they really gave him a Gatorade shower? For a pre-season game?! Did they also carry him out on their shoulders, shouting hip-hip-hooray? LMAO

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

I thought this game showed how far the Skins still have to go to compete with the top teams in the league.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

Exactly Irish, we might have to temper our expectations a bit back down to reality.

Re: Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)
 

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723052][B]DL:[/B] Here's where the serious concern starts. In the first series on the second play, a stretch L, Kemo was pushed back in a big way. Two plays later he was handled by the Ravens C 1-on-1 on a toss R. He didn't stand out later in the game one way or the other. But....it's not a good sign when the anchor of your defense isn't anchoring. All the "trade AH" talk sounds good, but it's hard to run a 3-4 without a stong NT. NT is going to be a team effort between AH & Kemo this year if we're going to be successful on D. Now, if a 4-3 team that's a contender losses a starting DT, we can get some value for AH (2nd rounder min.), and they (or AH) pay back a large portion of the $21M check he just got, then maybe we make a move. Barring that, he'll finish the year here and NT will be our #1 priority in the 2011 draft.

[/quote]

I'm going to give Kemo a pass for now and hope he can shake some rust off before the regular season.

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723052]
[B]OLBs:[/B] This is the major area of concern for our defense. We have two converted DEs starting at OLB. AC showed in SF that he wasn't an OLB, he's confirming that again now. First play of the game AC bites on the action to the left and gets beat by the reverse... basic football....when action goes away and you are contain, B-C-R Backside, Counter, Reverse. This is high school stuff. Same possession on the toss play, AC is not quick enough on the read to make the play. Next possession in addition to the rest of the front seven AC is beaten for a resulting 6 yd gain. He also had the dropped INT.
[/quote]

Yeah, we knew what we were getting into with AC, but I'm not giving up on him just yet. Coming from DE he's naturally a bit more aggressive than he should be at OLB, but I think AC is a pretty smart guy and he'll learn to play the position better.

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723052]
Orakpo may ultimately make the transition to OLB, but not if he keeps playing like he did tonight. Second play of the game he gets WAAAY to far upfield creating a huge running lane. On the Rice's fumble recovery run Rak comes in completely out of control and Rice makes him look real bad (so will Felix Jones, A. Bradshaw or L. McCoy twice a year if he doesn't learn to play under control). He got sucked inside on the 4th play of the next Raven possession which resulted in a +5. Rak is a prototypical RDE, he's not good in space....yet. We'll know by the end of this season if he's capable of making the transition. If he still isn't cutting it, he would have good trade value to a team running the 4-3.....in the AFC.
[/quote]

I pretty much feel the same about Rak as AC, and like you said, he needs to learn to play under control. Just too aggressive for now. He'll learn, but it might take a few really good beatings.

[quote=Slingin Sammy 33;723052]
[B]And finally......my major gripe[/B].....on 3rd or 4th and short why are we still running stretch plays? We saw this too many times last year as well. Zone blocking in short yardage DOES NOT WORK. It's fundamental physics, you cannot take a lateral step and expect to drive back a person coming straight at you, full speed. That's why TW got blown up by Suggs. I don't blame him, I blame the playcall. And we did it more than once.

Note to KS, install a power run package for short yardage. It's not blasphemy against the Zone Blocking gods to run an ISO on 3rd & 1. O-Lineman like to line up and play smash-mouth. F the finesse crap in short yardage, IT DOESN'T WORK. If anyone from Redskin Park wants to PM me, I've got some basic stuff that works real well out of a Tackle Over, a Jumbo I, or we can go old-school with a Power I.[/quote]

I agree. This is also really frustrating to me. The offensive linemen have the advantage on every play, given the fact that they dictate when the ball is snapped. If the lineman can't get a 1 yard push on their guys, then something is seriously wrong. It's easy, just like you said, dive and trap from the I. If you can't get a yard like that, then you can't get a yard and you have to hope the defense will give you one.