Five Bullets: Redskins Fall Short in Philly, 24-16

1. RG3's Inconsistency is Costing Games
RG3 finished the 3rd quarter with a measly 60 passing yards. Alfred Morris rushed for more in the 1st half. He finished with under a 50% completion percentage and game sealing interception. He did come alive in the 4th with two big touchdowns and two big two point conversions to bring the game to within 8 points. He drove the team down near the 20 with 40 seconds to go. Third down and one, plenty of time on the clock and the pocket collapses and Griffin throws up a wobbly floater which was easily picked off and stopped the come-back short. One 60 minute game from RG3 is what this team needs to win. No one expected the defense to mend itself overnight and the offense was expected to pick up the slack. RG3 has his moments, but this just isn't his season. Losing Jordan Reed and Leonard Hankerson early on didn't help him either but big players step up when the pressure's on. RG3 did, and then just made a bad decision he's going to have to learn from.

2. Alfred Morris Continues to Shine
You'd think that the Redskins struggles to pass the ball would mean the running game would die down but that just hasn't been the case. Alfred Morris now leads the NFL's number one rushing attack with 155 yds/game. He has been consistent when the rest of his team has not. He makes play after play and doesn't get the love the other superstars get. Lets be fair, without Morris, this is an 0-9 team. He continues to grind away at defenses even when they stack the box, the kid fights and stays humble and is without a doubt the MVP of this offense.

3. Losing Sucks
It's horrible as a fan to have to draft a superstar quarterback, win the division for the first time since 1999 and then go into next season and revert back to the losing ways the poor fans have gotten used to. It's a sick tease and simply painful to watch. No matter how bad the team does they show flashes of the brilliance of last year and you go into each game with a glimmer of hope, that maybe, just maybe, the team can put it together this week. And then you watch and it looks like it's gonna happen only for them to collapse one way or another. From a fan's view, Washington's gotta their stuff together.

4. Mike Shanahan Needs Atleast One More Year
Give the current staff one more season. Jim Haslett knew the secondary was in bad shape and he couldn't do anything about it. The team didn't have a first round draft pick and no cap space to add any difference maker free agents. The unfair and absolutely ridiculous 18 million dollar cap penalty was a huge hit. 18 million is the equivalent of 3-4 quality starters the Redskins could've added. Instead they had scrimp and pick up value free agents, the best of whom is DeAngelo Hall who has been playing lights out for most the season. Give him one full offseason with a healthy RG3, one offseason with a normal salary cap and then see if he can deliver the wins. I believe in Mike and don't think he's the problem.

5. The Defense Buckled Down When They Had To
Sure they got bullied around by Shady McCoy and Nick Foles but they kept McCoy to under 100 yards and Foles to 0 TD passes. They only gave up 24 points which isn't bad considering the state of the defense. Not only that, but after that 3rd quarter score the defense shut down all scoring and gave the offense a chance to comeback. The defense played a winnable game, but when your offense waits untul the 4th quarter to score you aren't going to win football games.

Bottomline: Writing these articles after losses simply blows. That's all.

Looking Ahead to Next Week: The 49ers come to town and after making Josh McCown and Christian Ponder look like pro-bowlers I'm worried that we've going to be the team that Colin Kaepernick finally puts up his insane numbers from last year on. Their defense held the Saints to a measly 23 points so don't have your hopes up.

Five Bullets: Redskins Blow 3rd Quarter Lead and Lose 34-27

1. Offense Continues to Move Well but Needs to Score More
The Redskins ran a staggering 73 plays for a net total of 433 offensive yards. A solid outing for a group that's been finding rhythm mid-season. And they moved without mistakes, no interceptions, no fumbles, no turnovers tonight. After a spectacular first half with 3 RG3 touchdown throws and 88 rushing yards by monster running back Alfred Morris the offense failed to put points up on the board. A field goal to start the second half looked like a sign the offensive domination would continue, but it didn't. The Minnesota defense started getting some stops and put our maligned defense back out onto the field. With the game on the line the Redskins drove down to the goal line but were stopped with 15 seconds left on the clock. Turnover on downs, game over.

2. The Defense Finally Cracked
It's a sad day in hell when our defense makes Christian Ponder look like an all star. Ponder had an 81% completion percentage, threw two touchdowns and nearly ran in a third. The guy that got benched for Matt Cassel AND Josh Freeman should've been an easier assignment than Phillip Rivers but the defense played down to the competition. The defense played winnable football in the first half, getting a few stops and a turnover but failed to stop the Vikings from scoring in the 2nd half. Seriously, the scored on every single possession in the 2nd half. Our offense can't be expected to score on every single drive (which they did until the 3rd quarter) and the defense needs to make stops late in the game. Peterson was held to 3.75 yards per carry and only rushed for 75 total but still had two touchdowns and key 4th down runs late. While the defense ultimately gave the offense the ball back with a chance to tie the game it shouldn't have come down to that. Another stop or two and the game doesn't fall to the last play.

3. The Officiating was Terrible
I'm not one to ever complain about officiating but this game just pissed me off to no end. The officials consistently gave Minnesota ridiculously favorable spots of the ball, let their offensive line get with head-locking Orakpo and Kerrigan on a regular basis and missed an obvious holding/past interference call in the endzone on the last drive of the game. The Redskins aren't an all star team and definitely aren't going to win with the officials not being fair.

4. Don't Blame Kyle Shanahan for Goal-Line Struggles
I ripped on Kyle Shanahan for his terrible play calling in the 2nd half of the Denver game, but I wouldn't knock him for his series at the end of the game. Sure, it would be great to pound it in with Morris but Minnesota would be expecting that. RG3 hasn't thrown many touchdowns near the goaline, Morris, Helu or Young have the been the ones doing the dirty work down there. Additionally, when you consider that the Redskins had no time outs remaining, running the ball was a dangerous option. And even if time wasn't an issue, if the Redskins failed running the football, their subsequent plays would be much easier to predict. The plays should've worked, Garcon and Reed dropped balls, and a holding call was missed on a play where Reed was open, Santana Moss almost had the game winner, but didn't get that 2nd foot down. This time it was execution, not the play calling at fault.

5. Is RG3 Back?
I don't know. The Chicago game is probably RG3's only consistent game were he balled out for 4 straight quarters. It's hard to judge because his comfort in the passing game seems to be based off of how much he runs/how well the team is running the football. The team has been clutch down near the goal line because Alfred Morris, Roy Helu or Darrel Young pound it in. The Redskins don't have too many passing touchdowns down near the goal line. I said he'd be back by Week 8 and I guess I was wrong. He's been too inconsistent to gauge if he's 'back' or not.

Bottomline: Another disappointing first half of the season, another 3-6 mark. Are the Redskins going to make a 7 game winning streak to enter the playoffs? No. Granted I said that last year too but playoffs are not happening this year. And even if by some miracle it does happen the team won't make it too far.

Looking Ahead to Next Week: Redskins face the Eagles in Philly this upcoming Sunday, and Philly's been looking pretty good with Nick Foles under center. Sure they have a ton of problems like every other NFC East team but a hot Philly passing attack against the same secondary that make Christian Ponder look like Peyton Manning? No thanks.

Five Bullets: Redskins Top Chargers In OT 30-24

1. Darrel Young Made Redskins and Nova Nation Proud

I think everyone is jealous of RG3 and DY's
secret magical handshakes

Darrel Young played linebacker here at Villanova, which made me excited to hear my school's name announced during the game multiple times. He went undrafted in 2009 but was picked up as a free agent linebacker. Mike Shanahan and company saw something in him and decides to convert this defensive player to fullback. He has been solid replacing longtime Redskins fullback Mike Sellers but only scored 1 rushing touchdown in his entire career. He was at the bottom of the Redskins stat sheet yesterday with 12 yards on 5 attempts and a 2.4 average but struck gold on 3 out of those 5 carries; scoring 18 of the Redskins 30 points, including the game winning touchdown in overtime. San Diego had no answer for Young at the goal line and the Redskins kept feeding him, converting on all their goal to go opportunities. Look for the Redskins to fake to Young this week as Minnesota is sure to focus on him near the end-zone.

2. RG3 Rebounded Nicely After a Poor Outing in Denver
It seems like whenever RG3 gets to run around, be it on bootlegs, options or scrambles his accuracy improves. He seems to be more comfortable in the pocket when he's able to run around more. The play calling also helped him forget a bad game last week. His stat sheet isn't spectacular but he had a 71% completion percentage for 291 yards. His only interception wasn't on a poor throw or bad decision but on a batted ball in the endzone. This was probably his only flaw, he had some four or five batted balls during the game. He focuses on his first option a little too much. Linemen know where the balls going and can time their jumps properly, RG3 needs to look off the defense a little more where possible but overall had a solid game and controlled the offense well. He didn't do much on the ground but had some nice pitches on the triple option and also had a spectacular hurdle for a 3rd down conversion which eventually lead to a Darrel Young touchdown.

3. The Defense is Playing on Another Level
The run defense was again spectacular with only 69 rushing yards yielded, and only giving up 34 to red hot starter Ryan Mathews. Phillip Rivers came in as the most accurate quarterback in the league, with 15 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions and a whopping 71% completion percentage for the SEASON. The Redskins defense held him to an 83 quarterback rating, 63% completition percentage and got two interceptions from him. They also got six stops on 3rd down including a decisive goal line stand with the ball on the one and the game on the line. Holding a potent San Diego offense to only 17 points is spectacular. The defense is playing winnable football. Considering the talent level in the secondary this level of play is more than acceptable and hasn't been the at fault for the Redskins last two losses, which is fantastic considering how they played the first few weeks of the season.

4. The Offense Moved the Ball Well
After throwing away the Denver game Kyle Shanahan kept to what worked and stuck to the running game. The pass plays he called worked, through a combination of an accurate RG3 and a fantastic Pierre Garcon, who probably deserves his own bullet on this list. He had 172 yards on some impossible catches, and also came through on many 3rd downs. Garcon stepped up and helped keep the offense moving. Also, Shanahan's play calling, Alfred Morris's tough running and RG3's accuracy resulted in a whopping 40 minutes of time of possession and a flawless overtime drive for the game winning touchdown. The offense could've scored a little bit more but a win is a win.

5. Special Teams Still Need to Improve
The kick and punt coverage units have improved and played a good game, but the punt/kick returners need to provide the offense with better field position. Kai Forbath needs to angle his kicks a little better, the 59 yarder is excusable, the 25 yarder is not. It's a chip shot field goal, angle the ball a little higher so it doesn't get blocked. You lose distance with higher angled kicks but when you're so close it's better to be protected against the block since you don't need the extra distance anyways. We make one of those two field goals and this game doesn't go to overtime.

Bottomline: If the offense can continue moving the ball like this and the defense keeps playing at this level the Redskins should be in contention every game this season. There are only three teams left on the schedule with a  winning record. Kansas City can't continue winning games with the defense doing all the scoring, and the Redskins can compete with Dallas no matter what either team's record is. Colin Kaepernick's Niners are the toughest team left on the schedule but there's no reason we can't compete with them, considering we went toe to toe with two of the best offenses in the league in Denver and San Diego. Keep competing and take it week by week.

Looking Ahead to Next This Week: Thursday night the Redskins travel to play the Vikings in Minnesota. They don't have the strongest passing attack as they have a quarterback carousel going on up there. Adrian Peterson is a force to be reckoned with but the Redskins have historically done very well against him and our rush defense is the strongest part of our defense. If the Redskins play at a similar level as yesterday then there is no reason we can't be 4-5 heading back home.