1. Darrel Young Made Redskins and Nova Nation Proud
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 toNext 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.
 |
| I think everyone is jealous of RG3 and DY's secret magical handshakes |
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
No comments:
Post a Comment