How great is it to open the season with a win. Depsite the fact that our prize QB had a poor outing against Miami (0 TD's and 2 INT's), the running game was in fine form and regardless of whether you win in regulation or OT, it's great to have a win.
Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts seemed to coexist pretty well and my biggest concern following the loss is the fact that the Skins may have lost Jon Jansen for the season. In nine NFL seasons Jansen had played in every game except for one year and now it looks like Washington will be dependent on a rookie (former Maryland Terp Stephon Heyer) or a journeyman (Todd Wade) to plug the hole.
It was injuries to key players that cost the Skins last year but it was an injury to Patrick Ramsey the year before that showed us Mark Brunell had one more playoff run in him. Sunday's game against Philly will tell us how much the Jansen injury will affect this season. If Heyer or Wade can fill in well, we could witness a season similar to 2005 and we can truly forget 2006.
Showing posts with label game recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label game recap. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Preseason Game 2 recap
Observations from Saturday's 12-10 loss to Pittsburgh:
1. How many times are we going to watch stars go down with injuries in meaningless games before a different approach is taken. Luckily it looks like the Jason Campbell injury isn't too serious but losing Marcus Washington could be almost as big. Washington's loss wasn't felt too bad last night but if he misses any regular season games, the defense may have a hard time trying to erase last season's struggles.
2. Speaking of the defense, it looks really good considering the competition at this point but anyone who thinks this defense will be like last year's is going to be sadly mistaken. London Fletcher seems to be a great addition in the middle and seems to be providing a much needed spark.
3. Again, it's only the preseason but Todd Collins looked good when he came in for Campbell and marched the offense down the field for a score while Mark Brunell again looked old. Brunell moved the offense somewhat in the final drive and it wasn't his fault that last pass was intercepted - he can't control his receiver tipping it to a defender - but where he threw the ball was what concerned me. With no timeouts and less than 20 seconds, a long pass down the middle of the field was probably not the right place to throw the ball in the first place. If that pass had been caught, I find it hard to see the offense getting set up and stopping the clock with a spike before time ran out. He should have gone to the sidelines in hopes of being able to get the field goal team on in time.
Despite the loss things seem to be encouraging but we won't have any idea how much impact this work in the preseason will have until the first games are played. The battle for I-95 is up next.
1. How many times are we going to watch stars go down with injuries in meaningless games before a different approach is taken. Luckily it looks like the Jason Campbell injury isn't too serious but losing Marcus Washington could be almost as big. Washington's loss wasn't felt too bad last night but if he misses any regular season games, the defense may have a hard time trying to erase last season's struggles.
2. Speaking of the defense, it looks really good considering the competition at this point but anyone who thinks this defense will be like last year's is going to be sadly mistaken. London Fletcher seems to be a great addition in the middle and seems to be providing a much needed spark.
3. Again, it's only the preseason but Todd Collins looked good when he came in for Campbell and marched the offense down the field for a score while Mark Brunell again looked old. Brunell moved the offense somewhat in the final drive and it wasn't his fault that last pass was intercepted - he can't control his receiver tipping it to a defender - but where he threw the ball was what concerned me. With no timeouts and less than 20 seconds, a long pass down the middle of the field was probably not the right place to throw the ball in the first place. If that pass had been caught, I find it hard to see the offense getting set up and stopping the clock with a spike before time ran out. He should have gone to the sidelines in hopes of being able to get the field goal team on in time.
Despite the loss things seem to be encouraging but we won't have any idea how much impact this work in the preseason will have until the first games are played. The battle for I-95 is up next.
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