Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=Schneed10;1150669]These are the number of 3rd down conversions allowed per game. Note the bolded. With small sample sizes like this, any statistical observation is bound to revert towards the mean, at least somewhat.

We'll get better on 3rd down defense, and the Eagles will begin to get exposed a bit more often. I expect a tight race between all 4 teams coming down the stretch.

Rank Team 2016
[B]1 Philadelphia 3.3 [/B]
2 NY Jets 4.0
3 Oakland 4.0
4 Indianapolis 4.2
5 Seattle 4.2
6 Houston 4.5
7 Tampa Bay 4.5
8 Miami 4.8
9 Cincinnati 4.8
10 Pittsburgh 4.8
11 Carolina 5.0
12 Buffalo 5.0
13 Baltimore 5.0
14 San Diego 5.0
[B]15 Dallas 5.0 [/B]
16 Cleveland 5.2
17 Green Bay 5.3
18 New Orleans 5.5
19 Atlanta 5.5
20 Tennessee 5.8
21 Chicago 6.0
22 Detroit 6.0
23 New England 6.0
24 Kansas City 6.0
25 San Francisco 6.2
26 Arizona 6.2
27 Denver 6.2
28 Los Angeles 6.5
29 Jacksonville 6.5
30 Minnesota 6.7
[B]31 NY Giants 6.7
32 Washington 6.8 [/B][/quote]

Interesting -- there are some good defenses (Denver, Minn, NE) near the bottom of this list. Very early in the season for this stat to be too significant, perhaps, but I agree with the sentiment that we will get better in this department. If we do not, we're not going to win many more ballgames.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=calia;1150670]Interesting -- there are some good defenses (Denver, Minn, NE) near the bottom of this list. Very early in the season for this stat to be too significant, perhaps, but I agree with the sentiment that we will get better in this department. If we do not, we're not going to win many more ballgames.[/quote]

I think the difference is in margin of victory. If you're letting up a lot of 3rd downs when the game is close - conclusion is your defense is sucking balls. If you're letting up a lot of 3rd downs when you're up a couple scores, like Denver Minnesota and New England have been several times, then you're in prevent mode and just looking to contain chunk plays. Clock is your friend at that point, giving up a first down is not a concern.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

Loved that they made an effort to have Balance.
This is the type of gameplan/play calling I want to see going forward.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=calia;1150668]BTW, let's hear it for Coach Kotwica. Special teams has been very good this year -- our PK and P are as good as any in the league, coverage has improved over last year, and Crowder has helped our return game tremendously.[/quote]

Good call. I can't remember the last time the punter and kicker were both super ballin.

Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[QUOTE=Chico23231;1150676]Good call. I can't remember the last time the punter and kicker were both super ballin.[/QUOTE]



And we executed a fake punt! Hopkins has been awesome - he's hit some long ones this year.


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Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

I really want to see him win the starting LG position:
[url=http://m.redskins.com/news/article-1/Arie-Kouandjio-Makes-A-Big-Impression-In-First-NFL-Start/f1f16ea3-87eb-4aed-80d3-69d0a29161fd]Redskins Home[/url]

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=30gut;1150674]Loved that they made an effort to have Balance.
This is the type of gameplan/play calling I want to see going forward.[/quote]

Agreed!

Even the defense play calling was better imo, lot more blitzing than the 3 first weeks.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

Let me tell all you delusional homers one thing. If this defense doesn't improve drastically really soon. You can forget about winning the division. This defense is by far one of the worse in the league. Good teams aren't going to turn the ball over three times in one quarter. We are going to have to line up and stop people. Right now we can not do that. Until they show me they can I have no reason to believe they will.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=redskinsfan1980;1150700]Let me tell all you delusional homers one thing. If this defense doesn't improve drastically really soon. You can forget about winning the division. This defense is by far one of the worse in the league. Good teams aren't going to turn the ball over three times in one quarter. We are going to have to line up and stop people. Right now we can not do that. Until they show me they can I have no reason to believe they will.[/quote]

We might not have to. The offense so far has been scoring close to 30 points each time, so as many of us predicted, scoring 30 points a game gives us the best chance to win. Many of us believe with our current defense, we will finish 8-8 or 9-7. Either *might* be good enough to win the division, we will have to wait and see.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=redskinsfan1980;1150700]Let me tell all you delusional homers one thing. If this defense doesn't improve drastically really soon. You can forget about winning the division. This defense is by far one of the worse in the league. Good teams aren't going to turn the ball over three times in one quarter. We are going to have to line up and stop people. Right now we can not do that. Until they show me they can I have no reason to believe they will.[/quote]

You could have posted this same thing this time last year. Fact is, we can improve as the season progresses...the season is ebb and flows. Things change...

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

I see the optimism police have arrived.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=Chico23231;1150703]You could have posted this same thing this time last year. Fact is, we can improve as the season progresses...the season is ebb and flows. Things change...[/quote]

Exactly. One of the things that really helped us last year was McCloughan's mid-season free agent pickups. Who knows who might get injured, and who knows who might ride in to the rescue. That's why I say our depth is an advantage. All teams suffer injuries. I just think we're much better equipped to handle them than most.

And all teams tinker. As much as I don't like Joe Barry at the moment, he is no doubt tinkering with concepts and may find something that works better on 3rd downs. Who knows.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

The NFC is wide open...when your best team in the conference is QB'ed by Sam Bradford and your star RB is out, anything can happen. Carolina and Arizona could be borderline tail-spinning if either of their QB are out for a significant time....

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

I'm going to stay positive no matter what because I believe we're heading in the right direction as a team and I've thought from Day 1 of the Scot M. era that the team build would take at least three years.

Right now, I accept that teams are going to be able to run on us. But the team is playing hard every week and we've shown strength in other areas. If things go our way, we can compete for the division title this season.

Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

Right now I am up in the air about "the direction of this team". As well I should be. We are 2-2. We could be 3-1. We could be 0-4. That is reality. That is how we are playing. Depth, as Schneed pointed out, has seemingly improved. I mean in past years these injuries would have decimated us. Murphy, Dunbar, our O-line - there appears to be real solid depth there.
Cousins seems to be getting on track. Jones and CT, and more importantly Grudens decision not to take them out of the game , seems to have actually given us a credible run game. No doubt that our defense up the middle needs help. Probably not in the form of mid season pick ups but who knows. Most likely (pray to God) this is addressed with the utmost of importance during the offseason. If we get some guys back, continue to improve, and stay healthy otherwise, than this team can win 9-10 games and be in it at the end. Which is all you need to be - see the Giants last two championship teams. If you remember correctly they were calling for Coughlin, and Eli's heads midway through both of those seasons.
Now, if next year we are 5 weeks into the season and our defense still looks like this, and our redzone offense is struggling than I think the optimism police have a legitimate gripe. Let us remember what a complete disaster this roster was two years ago though. We have enough pieces right now to make some "unexpected" noise. With one more draft and free agency period we "should" be fielding a complete team.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=KI Skins Fan;1150708]I'm going to stay positive no matter what because I believe we're heading in the right direction as a team and I've thought from Day 1 of the Scot M. era that the team build would take at least three years.

[B]Right now, I accept that teams are going to be able to run on us. But the team is playing hard every week and we've shown strength in other areas.[/B] If things go our way, we can compete for the division title this season.[/quote]

I know we have a pretty mediocre defense and there are tons of room for improvement in talent and the coaching staff. But, I feel sometimes people expect a shutdown defense out of this bunch.

Right now we have a defense that can't stop the run and has trouble getting to the QB. Yet, they are in the top 10 in the league in takeaways. And that's going to be the reality of the defense for the most part. They can't/won't be able to carry the team and will give up yards, but they can provide opportunities for the offense with turnovers and in some cases key stops.

We will win games if the offense plays to its potential and plays as the strongest unit of the team. And if they can continue to capitalize on the defense's takeaways as they did against the Browns.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=MTK;1150705]I see the optimism police have arrived.[/quote]

Yeah I guess some people prefer to never believe than to expect something and take the chance to be deceived... Don't be so coward, the worst that could happen is you're deceived, not the end of the world. I just don't see the point of being a "fan" of a team if you're 100 % sure you gonna lose even when your team's leading in the 4th quarter...

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

[quote=Ruhskins;1150710]I know we have a pretty mediocre defense and there are tons of room for improvement in talent and the coaching staff. But, I feel sometimes people expect a shutdown defense out of this bunch.

Right now we have a defense that can't stop the run and has trouble getting to the QB. Yet, they are in the top 10 in the league in takeaways. And that's going to be the reality of the defense for the most part. They can't/won't be able to carry the team and will give up yards, but they can provide opportunities for the offense with turnovers and in some cases key stops.

We will win games if the offense plays to its potential and plays as the strongest unit of the team. And if they can continue to capitalize on the defense's takeaways as they did against the Browns.[/quote]

Mostly true, but I think the defense is still better than they've played so far overall. I think they're not communicating well, they're not staying disciplined and thus are out of position in a lot of cases, and then flat bringing weaksauce tackling.

I think some of these issues will get cleaned up. Will the Cowboys still have success running the ball against us, sure. I'm not asking them to be top 10, hell I am not even sure I'm confident they can be top 20. All I want is better tackling and to get off the field on 3rd down at a more normal rate. Those things alone will put the ball back in our offense's hands, where the strength of the team is. We can win the division that way. Barry needs to coach better and we need to tackle better, but we have it in us.

Re: Redskins 31 Browns 20 post game talk
 

Eagles have a tough schedule from here on in:

at Lions
at Redskins
Vikings
at Cowboys
at Giants
Falcons
at Seahawks
Packers
at Bengals
Redskins
at Ravens
Giants

Their schedule is looking tough to me because the Falcons appear to be much better on offense this year and playing in Seattle is a nightmare. 4 out of their next 5 games are away games.

This is a winnable division.