What I learned tonight

Agreed, but this is a deeper & better team than last year at this time regardless of how "deeply" the Skids suck . . . and they DO suck hard.

 

Kidney stones suck....I missed being in my seat for the preseason opener for the 1st time ever.....tv is ok, but being there is what I live for.

Jarrod Cooper was anxious to hit someone.

Our defensive backs got some help in the first half by horrific Washington dropped balls.

Manning Jr. was as advertised. I was impressed with his playmaking.

I found myself scratching my head during the goal line series when we were "pounding" the ball with Michael Bates. Were was Brad Hoover or Casey Moore? Bates could not have been more out of place in that role, imho.

While Delhomme did nothing last night to take the job from Peete, the game left me with a comfortable feeling that he will be our starter by the end of preseason.

That Moose intends to get back to the Pro Bowl and I believe he will. He turns routine catches into long gains and has the ability to make the spectacular catch as well. Moose will have a great season.

Eugene Baker had his 15 minutes of fame. He won't make the final cut.

Shayne Graham had a chance to tighten his grip on the kicking job.....he blew it. Kasay boots a 50+ yarder through the uprights next week and he will become the player to beat in that battle. Kasay has a stronger leg than Graham.

Shayne Graham or John Kasay may be kicking for the Redskins when the season starts.

This is going to be a very enjoyable season.

 

I learned/decided that.....

Even though I was already leaning that way - I'm pretty sure I will be taking Carolina on opening day (-3.5).

Skins better find some DT's. Soon. Or at least start looking harder for some. Brain - going back to that thread on Big Daddy you might be right.

As good as the Panthers looked early this board might not be in as good of a mood if some of the Skins guys could actually catch.

As long as Davis holds up, y'all gonna be real happy with him.

That's about it.

Oh.... and the Bills first team D made Chris Redman look like the next coming of Johnny U. Different game, but the Bills looked as bad as the Skins on D early on.

 

I'm very skeptical of our offense. Especially our red zone offense since we tended to just pound the ball when we get inside the 20. I think I saw maybe 5/20 passes in the red zone.

Another thing was, I didn't see that many deep balls thrown, maybe 4 throughout the whole game.


Anyway,

I was on TV if you saw an Asian behind the "Fan of the Game". The guy was wearing spikes, a la Raiders fan, and called himself "Razor".

 

Imho Henning's offense often gets criticized based on perception rather than action. I believe this offense will routinely put 20 + points on the board and break 30 on occasions. Last night we made 5 trips into the Skin's redzone (tossing out the end of the game when Hicks ran out the clock). We ran 18 plays, 7 passing plays and 11 running plays. We scored 2 touchdowns, 2 field goals and turned the ball over on downs once.

The first 2 redzone attacks yielded field goals. First: ran Dee Brown for 3 yards, then incomplete pass to Wiggins and incomplete pass to Mangum...field goal. Second: pass to Hoover incomplete, Davis for 1 yard and incomplete to Mangum...field goal. A little more "pounding" may have been more effective.

The 3rd series in the redzone we handed the ball to Dee Brown for 7 yards, then gave it 3 straight times to Michael Bates for a total of 2 yards and turned it over on downs at the 2. In the regular season we pound it with Davis or a fullback and we walk away with a touchdown.

The 4th series was all Rod Smart. We handed him the ball 3 times and he scored a touchdown.

The final series in the redzone was a mix. Weinke to Baker for 1, Weinke to Wilkins was incomplete, then Weinke to Seidman for 8, Weinke runs for 2 and Hicks scores from the 4.

I am afraid I don't see how one could be skeptical of our redzone decisions, except in terms of personnel used.....but that comes with preseason.

 

I learned we have a ton of depth and that this is a super talent football team.

We are contenders for the Super Bowl.

I think the Panthers dominated that game completely. From tempo, to big plays to flat out physically overwelming the Redskins.

The Panthers do what they do VERY well. If a team doesn't stop our running game - we should beat them.

ONE GLARING PROBLEM: Redzone offense. We have GOT to get TDs!!

 

Relax. I'm not calling for ayone's head. These are some very preliminary rough impressions. I just enjoy putting them in a 53 format. I havent seen enough of Branch either. I would love for him to come on. But as of this minute, he may not have, so I noted that for myself. I decided to share just because I'm so talkative.

I was talking about #39. I always miss his name. I got close.

I know in most Ds the FS and SS are very different. But Ive read over and over again than in the John Fox D, the S's are almost interchagable. Take it for what its worth, but that's what the reporters keep writing. If he can't learn to cover, it won't matter, because he won't be playing either S. Besides, Coop is one of the fasterst players on the team, and he seems to be getting smarter.

Look at it this way. Minter is one of the team's leaders. Barring injury, he's not going anywhere. We may or may not have a spot at FS. If Coop stays at SS, he may not be here long. Why not try to get your best 2 S's on the field, if it works?

I was slightly dissapointed in Wiggins, and I know his history of getting cut. I remember they think Heinrich has alot of potential. Its just a guess of what may happen when we see 4 games. This is rough and PRELIMINARY.

Thanks for the comments.

 

I love Manning! He may be too small to play in the NFL, but I've rarely seen vets who could time their jumps & knock downs as precisely as he seemed to do repeatedly. AND he's a rookie. I thought Weinke might have had the edge last night though they all played fairly well except for Fasani who I can't see being here when the real games start. Thought Gross looked good overall for a rookie and think he's definitely benefitting from playing opposite Peppers. Washington was bad, and I don't think last night shows we're Super Bowl bound, but there is definitely reason to hope for better then last year. Cooper is a demon who will scare the !@% out of offensive players. I would have given a tiny edge to Kasay in the kicking game if money truly isn't the deciding factor. We need to be able to score TD's in the red zone, but it IS preseason and we can hope Henning will call more aggressive plays when the games count. I'm hoping our former QB gets to meet our defensive up close and personal next week! And Moose was solid almost making a completely impossible catch - I've never joined the Moose bashers, and I'm hoping he has a healthy season and gets back to the ProBowl. I think we have a lot of guys who remind me of our first two seasons - maybe on paper they shouldn't be able to compete with the stars of the league, but they have the heart to rise above any limitations. I think guys like that (the Sam Mills if you will) are very dangerous.

 

Agree on the red zone. Agree on the deep balls.

I didn't know that Razor was asian. Never seen him except from the back. It's cool that at least a couple people are willing to go that far.

 

What I learned. Dee Brown better hold on to the ball or he will be on the outside looking in. Skip Hick looked great. Ricky manning could easily be our nickle back. Emanual McDaniel looked strong. We have depth on our def. line. thats scarey for the rest of the league. Weinke looked great. Fasani should start packing because of this. Stephen Davis nuff said. What happened to all the Walter Young talk? They threw at him once and that was over thrown? Moose didn't drop a ball. Peppers while not getting a sack made his presence known