[Spence]

The Washington Redskins offense in week 1 looked pretty much like the Washington Redskins offense of the last two months of last season. The offense looked confused, discombobulated, and completely lacking in confidence. The team came out flat, completely unprepared to play an NFL game. That's very poor preparation. It would be shocking, but it happens so frequently that no Redskins fan could be shocked by it anymore.

Jim Zorn was determined to rush the ball, but the Giants would not permit it. After a 34-yard run on their first offensive play from scrimmage, Clinton Portis and the rest of the running backs did nothing, gaining 51 yards on 20 carries.

Jim Zorn can talk all he likes about his increased confidence in his quarterback and offensive line, but that's clearly a lot of nonsense. After the defense made a terrific stand to stop the Giants on 4th and 1 at the 2 yard line, the Redskins ran three meek running plays and punted, giving the Giants the ball at the 43 yard line and leading directly to a New York touchdown. In other words, the goal line stand by the defense made no difference. Why did Zorn run 3 obvious running plays when he clearly needed to pass his way out of the shadow of his own end zone. The only reasonable explanation is that he didn't trust his quarterback or he didn't trust his offensive line to pass block for his quarterback or, most likely, he didn't trust either his quarterback or his offensive line. No wonder the offense appears to lack confidence. It does lack confidence.

Read it all.