Last year in Texas Stadium, the Redskins were ready to win their first game against the Cowboys in Dallas in almost a decade. 41 year old Vinny Testaverde threw a long touchdown to Patrick Crayton. (You should probably say "who?" now.) Heartbreaking.
Well it didn't take long for the Skins to get return the favor, coming back from 13-0 to win 14-13.
First let me say, I don't want to hear from a single person saying this was a fluke, because I've got two words and a phrase for you: "Flea Flicker" and "One good fluke deserves another." Hey, I'll be the first to say that the Skins aren't juggernauts, at least not the offense. But it comes down to this: when your offense isn't scoring in a close game, you need to find what you can score with. And the Skins found it late with Mark Brunell's arm and Santana Moss's legs.
Unfortunately it took Joe Gibbs, having his team down 13-0 with about 9 minutes left in the game to go for the long ball. And they missed the first few times. In the drive before the first TD drive, passes to Moss and David Patten went incomplete. But eventually they scored on a Cowboys secondary that they should have been attacking with medium to long stuff from the get go. (Honestly their secondary isn't exactly stellar. Roy Williams is a very good player but I think he's a linebacker in a strong safety position. I wouldn't want to run at him, or have to block his blitzes, but throw behind him and it should be money. I certainly wouldn't try to run against the Cowboys at the beginning, though. Heck, I couldn't even name another DB (okay thats a lie, Newman) but I could probably name half the starting DL and LBs... well maybe not buy I know Ware, Glover, Canty, and Nguyen.)
I have to agree with Michael Wilbon when he says that it looked like the rust came off on that second TD throw. And considering he didn't spend all preseason getting starter reps, I'ld say thats a pretty quick "derusting." But really, he's had a whole year now to learn Gibb's system (with this years mods to boot!). The main difference I saw was that Brunell never seemed to lose his confidence. But also as Wibon noted, only the game against the Seahawks will tell. It almost makes the Bye week THAT much more important.
Now, on to stuff that bothered me: For the first 3 quarters the pass protection was... well, not there. My only complaint about the defense was no turnovers (I know, picky huh?). And I'll be the first to say that giving Gibbs a Gatorade shower was REDICULOUS. But hey, maybe it will drive home the point that going long isn't exactly bad. (How that equates I'm not exactly sure.) Gibbs went for the shotgun, so why wouldn't he be willing to throw 2 or 3 early long balls per game, especially when other things aren't working. About my top #15, I am definitely not giving the Redskins the #5 spot. I'll give the Giants #5, Eagles #6, Steelers #7, and Skins #8.
Finally, When the Skins scored that first TD making it 13-7, I truly felt they had a chance to win because of two things: First and foremost their defense and second because they finally scored and then had no choice but to throw the rest of the way. So now I think they have a chance this season because of two things: First and foremost their defense and second because after this game they might finally learn from last year's loses. It's weird that the confidence of win, is how one might learn from a loss.
No comments:
Post a Comment