Posts
While everyone keeps talking about McNabb's greatness and our pathetic running game, the horrid performance of the defense is being completely overlooked. I know we seemed to hold the Cowboys, but we are dead last in total yards against, giving up 453 yards per game! This mostly comes from having the 2nd-worst passing D in the league. Here is my imaginary exchange with everyone drinking the kool-aid.The Skins are middle of the league in terms of points allowed thanks to holding the Cowboys and even scored a defensive TD!
That is a product of luck. Football Outsiders (FO) makes the point clear by ranking us as the #31 defense, with the #30 pass D and #24 run D...ouch. That defensive TD thing is a fact, but also pure luck. I thought our defense would take a step back after last season thanks to the switch to a 3-4 and the fact that the scheme is not a great fit with our personnel. I should also note that any grandiose ideas D******* Hall has about being on the level of Revis are just absurd. He might be our best cornerback, and certainly putting him, instead of Phil Buchanon, on Andre Johnson in certain situations would have helped, but he is not elite by an measure except in ego.
So what, we are in first place and obviously heading to the Super Bowl behind heroic D-Mac's heroics!
FO actually has us as the #25 ranked team overall! The reason that is possible is because the Cowboys outplayed us in week 1, but lost because of several mistakes and unlucky plays. The offense has indeed improved, but it is not clear how much just yet.
Well at least we can beat the Rams!
Not so fast, we are actually going up against FO's #23 team, and on the road. It should be noted if you combine FO's preseason projections with actual performance, we come out as the #13 team in the league, so we have that going for us.
It's only 2 games into the season, so who knows what will happen!
Fair enough, we are only 2 games into the season, but don't be surprised if we lose on Sunday and are headed for a 6-10 season......not that we ever get our hopes up.....
(Image courtesy of media.timesleader.com)
This is pretty negative considering how awful the team was last season. I'd also like to think that most rational Redskins fans don't think this team is going to the Super Bowl, even with McNabb stabilizing the QB position.
ReplyDeleteYes, the defense is bad. That's what happens in the first season after you switch schemes without having the necessary personnel to run that scheme. Still, the defense does tend to force turnovers and get sacks, two things a Redskins defense hasn't done for a while. And when they play offenses with good quarterbacks with offensive lines with the ability to pick up blitzes, they're going to struggle.
Anyway, to me, the Redskins look like a 7-9, 8-8, or 9-7 team. Is that so bad?
Everybody gives up a ton of yards against Houston. Look what they did to Indy. Dallas/Washington is always an ugly game on boths ides of the ball. Plus 2 games in, what has that really proven. Id wait until at least 4-5 games into the season and see where we stand then. Plus we are 1-1, who the fuck cares about the FO rankings. This isnt college football, the only thing that means anything are wins and losses.
ReplyDeleteI have been all over the map on the Skins, starting with a 6-10 prediction, steadily moving up to 9-7 after the Dallas game, 8-8 after last week, and now thinking of dropping back to 7-9. Any of those records would be welcome given last season, and 9-7 looks like it will earn a wild card berth and maybe even win the division.
ReplyDeleteI know it is really early, but I mostly want to make the point that there is a good chance the Skins are worse than everyone thinks. ESPN.com has us at #14 in their power rankings, which is about what public perception is right now. I am not saying I believe we are horrible, but just want to put out the possibility (this is me NOT going out on a limb).
11 of our 14 remaining games are against teams below us in those same power rankings. We also still get the Rams, Lions, Jags, and Bucs, but may not be much better than those teams.
I am not hitting the panic button, and still have this team contending for the playoffs if McNabb stays healthy. I think we are better than the #25 team overall, and will improve as the season goes on thanks to getting used to the new regime. As Jay said, our record is what matters though, but our 'success' will be a product of the schedule more than anything.
The defensive touchdown isn't luck. It takes skill to strip a ball and skill to grab a ball while running. If you don't believe me try it sometime. What you (likely) mean and what FO means is the fact that it happened isn't predictive. In other words, because it happened once doesn't mean its any more likely to happen again.
ReplyDeleteThat is true, and your overall point of our defense sucking so far is true as well, but its very important to point out that only two games have been played. That isn't close to enough to make any kind of solid identification as to the overall quality of our defense.
look at it this way. Week 1 the D won the game for the Skins. Week 2 they (and special teams failures) cost the Skins. As stats go we're the worst D in the league.... but I expect the D's ranking to improve after this week.
ReplyDeleteAre the Redskins a top 10 D? No. But they're doing a few things that I liked better than the top 10 Blatche D's that did the old bend don't break approach.