It's one game, relax...

[itvnetop]

Every season, the board goes through bi-polar swings every week... relax folks- we're not going to see a smooth offense for a while. I've been watching the highlights on SportsCenter replays- we were short a yard or so a bunch of times on third. I think those first downs will come (in addition to higher YACs).

As much as people are raining down on JC, I've seen incredibly worse performances by others on any given Sunday. The score would have been much worse if Campbell would have forced a bunch of those third down passes. Even Eli's had terrible days with three or four picks... Campbell overthrew some fairly easy passes (notably in the flat), but some of those misses were timing issues. The stat-line could have been much more disastrous than it really was.

That Portis block on Kiwanuka might be the best block I've seen by a skins RB in a very long time. The overall game last night was nasty- tension was high on both sides (fights, helmets flying off, Jacobs over LL, Portis pancaking a DE)... I'm glad football is back and the NFC Beast looks to be off to a vicious start.

[budw38]

JC will < should > get better as the season goes , the rest of the offense should as they think less and just play . However , until we bring in a beast on the OL and either get Cooley to make an effort to hit someone , no play calling will help ,,, you have to control the line of scrimmage . Defense , the same ,,, if our DL gets blown off the ball , your DB's will not look so great .The good news ,, I doubt we sign or draft another WR for another few years .

[Kope65]

What about terrible QB play? WOW as bad as I ever seen a Redskin QB play!

You missed Heath Shuler and Jeff George.....

In terms of long term stability and success the wins and losses in the begining of this season don't matter near as much as Zorn's leadership. How he goes about fixing things and his ability to maintain the players belief in his system is what I am looking for. The players and the coaches are going to have to go thru some adversity together before the will totally trust each other. That is what the begining of this season is going to be about - building trust and belief and turning that into positives; i.e. confidense and poise.

Teams arnt built around talent, they are built around heart and commitment. That is a flat truth, and it takes time. If this is the worst game we play all year I will take it in a heartbeat.

[That Guy]

new system, rookie head coach... what exactly was everyone expecting?

you can't judge JC on one game in a new offense - it takes time.

that said, i would have rather won that one...

[EternalEnigma21]

After digesting overnight, my offensive concerns are

1) JC staring down his receivers. I only saw him attempt to look off a defender at the end of the game and then make a throw into coverage in the endzone. I can't believe we didn't get picked off...

2). Playcalling. No way in the wco there's nothing but draw and dive plays in 2nd and 18... 3rd and 20. Also sometimes its okay to have underneath routes on third downs that are short, but if that's the only place you EVER look, you're going to get stopped.

3). Clock management. This looked WORSE than Gibbs. I wasn't sure it could get worse, but it did.

Having said that... We all knew this offense was going to take time to click and install. I think a lot of us looked at the first couple of preseason games and got higher expectations than should have. Throwing out what we saw in the last couple og PS games was overly optimistic... and dismissing now, after 1 shaky loss, the things we saw in the first couple is equally pessimistic.

The season is not over. Its funny how everyone wants youth and to build through the draft, but wants to win today as well. Rookie wideouts almost never have much of an impact... So we're not going to have a great set of receivers this year.

JC has to pick things up, because I think in Zorns press conference I can pick up on escalating impatience.

I predicted 28-13, so I was impressed by our short field D.

[rypper11]

Originally Posted by EternalEnigma21

The season is not over. Its funny how everyone wants youth and to build through the draft, but wants to win today as well. Rookie wideouts almost never have much of an impact... So we're not going to have a great set of receivers this year.

JC has to pick things up, because I think in Zorns press conference I can pick up on escalating impatience.

Very good point. Rookies and second year players struggle. They miss blocks, run wrong routes, take poor angles and generally blow assignments.
The only thing ruined right now is our 19-0 season. I don't care if we lose the first 7 games as long we then win the last 13 (including SB and playoffs).
Boo-hoo we lost on the road against the SB Champs by 9 points. We weren't blown out by the Dolphins or a scrub team.
By Tuesday morning 16 teams will be happy and 16 will be bitching the world is ending. The reality of sports is that every team in every game has good plays and bad. This week we had more bad. But the Giants get paychecks too. I don't think our Run D was horrible, but that they have a great OLine and a bruiser that runs people over (I'm sure Landry will not like seeing the game film).And despite losing Osi and Strahan, this is a great defense. By the end of the year I'm sure they'll be top five in almost every category.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

I guess I'll be the optimist (or idiot depending on perspective) to try to prop up the sky from falling, but it's one game. There is really no shame in going into the home of the defending champs on opening night and losing a hard fought game. For those of you that thought we 'got dominated' the whole game, from the mid 2nd quarter on we stood toe to toe and didn't give in. We put ourselves in a hole and didn't play well enough to get out.

The offense looked pathetic for the better part of the game and Zorn's playcalling was dubious at best. I'm glad it's September and not December. There's time to correct those errors. JC looked tentative and unsure early, but as he showed last year, the more he throws, the more comfortable and in rhythm he gets and good things happen.

On defense, we dropped 4 picks. Carlos Rogers simply has the worst hands I have ever seen on a human. I'd be terrified to let him hold a baby. Fletcher isn't going to last all season if he's gonna rack up 17 tackles a game, but that's one of the best OL we're going to see this season. The DL will improve in stopping the run which will lead to longer 3rd downs and more opportunities to get to the QB. Our field position all night (avg. start at our own 25 yd line) was crap, we need the defense to tilt the field in our favor.

I'm as pissed, disappointed and disgusted as any one of you, but I also realize we've got 15 more games and we're going to improve.

Very well put and I couldn't agree more. I'd call that more of a realist perspective than anything else. There was some good, there was quite a bit of bad, but it's only the first game and there's a lot of football to be played.

And the comment about Rogers had me laughing out loud in my cubicle to the stares of passers-by.

[mheisig]

I thought I'd point out the real bright side to all of this:

We finally have a solid answer to all the questions about whether our last two preseason games were a fluke or not.

We really answered that one quite well last night - left no doubters.

[Schneed10]

We are not done by any means.

But fans STILL need to adjust their expectations. Do I think we'll go 3-13? No, because that would truly be a sky is falling situation, and we're not at that point. But do I think we'll make the playoffs? Absolutely not.

To expect our passing game to do much better than it did last night is unrealistic for the first 8 games. If we're going to remain competitive, we have to grind it out with Portis and just scrap on defense.

I'm thinking 3-5 in the first half.

[DFI]

good thread, some of the others I am not even going to read. I like everyone else am disapointed by the loss but after we gave up the 16 the D got pretty solid and shut the giants down. once the O got going they looked pretty good at times as well.

my biggest concern, throwing passes to short to get the first on third down. it was an issue last year also and needs to be corrected.

on to week two

[Mwoody85]

If anyone keeps stats on DB's droping INT's, I would put money on carlos rodgers being in the top 3.

[RedskinPete]

Originally Posted by Mwoody85

If anyone keeps stats on DB's droping INT's, I would put money on carlos rodgers being in the top 3.

Smoot had a big one as well!

[MTK]

Good thread.

People definitely need to chill the hell out. It's one game of 16. As we've seen in recent years you can't throw in the towel even when things look totally lost things can turn on a dime.

New offense, young QB, rookie HC... there's going to be a learning curve. If we're still looking this bad on offense in week 4 or 5 I will start to get concerned. Until then they just need to play through it and continue to work on improving.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Good thread.

People definitely need to chill the hell out. It's one game of 16. As we've seen in recent years you can't throw in the towel even when things look totally lost things can turn on a dime.

New offense, young QB, rookie HC... there's going to be a learning curve. If we're still looking this bad on offense in week 4 or 5 I will start to get concerned. Until then they just need to play through it and continue to work on improving.

I'm not so much in to throwing in the towel as I am in to wringing it. Or maybe whipping someone with it.

[doughtydoubter]

i keep the faith on jc..but my optimsm with zorns "offensive mind" has waned a little.
i didnt expect playoffs or superbowl this year, but i didnt expect every possession to be three and out, or every run to be up the middle....we have GOT to be more inovative and get away from run run pass...