Quote:
Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon
I want to take exception to one part of the logic here. This argumentation here lays the blame on the offense and says nothing about the defense
Before anyone jumps up and down and screams about the Skins being a "Top 10 defense" this year, understand that stats like that provide comfort only to losing teams. Any team that is 10-4 now and comfortably in the playoffs, is not looking at - nor does it care - where it ranks on total defense.
In THREE games this year (Cowboys, Ravens, Bengals) the Skins were in position to win/tie the game in the 4th quarter and the opposition took possession of the ball in the opposition's end of the field. What was needed was a "three-and-out"; the Skins could even have lived with giving up a first down and then forcing a punt. But NO...
In all three games, the opposition offense took the ball and ran off between 12 and 15 plays and ate up most of the clock - - and in the Bengals and Ravens game they scored at the end of that big drive. [Can't recall what happened at the end of the 4th quarter Cowboys' drive when Barber carried the ball about a zillion times in a row.]
The defense - players and coaches but mostly the players - had the ball run down their throats or they gave up a pass over the middle and didn't make a tackle on third and long to allow those drives to continue - - and continue - - and continue.
"Top 10 defenses" make things happen when it really matters; and what they make happen is not allowing a drive to consume 7 minutes of the fourth quarter and end in a score for the other guys.
Oh, by the way, the same Skins defense has been so good in first quarters recently that in the last three games the Skins have been outscored in the first quarter 38-0. That means the defense has given up six scores in the first quarter of the last three games. That STINKS!
In the second and third quarters, they don't allow a lot of yards; that's what keeps them in the "Top 10". Whoop - de - damned - dooo!
When it matters - - at the beginning of the game when it is 0-0 on the scorebard and in the fourth quarter when they need a STOP - - the defense has not done the job. You can fawn all over the players and vote for them to go to the Pro Bowl and sniff their jocks, but they haven't gotten the job done when it mattered this season. Deal with it!
Jason Campbell, Clinton Portis - - name your favorite Redskins' offensive player from the past - - can't do a whole lot when they spend half of the fourth quarter sitting on their asses on the sidelines waiting to get the ball. When it matters, this defensive unit has not delivered the goods.
Coaches to blame? Somewhat. Players to blame? More than coaching. The roster of the team itself to blame? Somewhat.
There needs to be a major overhaul to this roster. Of course, that was needed last year too and the overhaul that happened was that the Skins kept all of their draft picks on the roster even though only one of them can play right now. That's not a positive step. And that should give fans the biggest pause...
The roster needs an overhaul - - but do the people in charge of assembling the roster actually know what it needed here and where to look to find pieces to the puzzle to make it better? Recent evidence does not suggest that they do...
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Yeah. There's a bunch of defenses that are CLEARLY cut and dry better than us.
Dallas
Philadelphia
New York Giants
Tennessee
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Tampa Bay
Minnesota
And after that, you can entertain an argument for the Skins defense, and a bunch of other defenses. But we're closer to the bottom ten-twelve then we are to any of those defenses right now. Because those defenses are single-handedly winning football games, and ours is really hurting in the clutch.