Redskins Squeak By Cardinal

Washington narrowly escaped Sunday with a win over the Cardinal 22-21.  The game could have gone the other way after a slow, and sloppy start.  Grossman had two first half INTs that could have blown the game wide open.  But, just like last week, the Redskins Defense turned it up a notch and almost completely shutdown the Cardinals’ Offense.  Are we starting to see the beginning of a trend?  Are the Redskins Defense better than advertised?  I had them finishing in the top half of the NFL, but they look more like a Top 10 Defense.  If they continue to play like this who knows…

Kevin Kolb, was anointed the second coming of Peyton Manning when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2^nd Round of the 2007 NFL Draft.  This is the same year that it was apparent that the Eagles would finally use a high draft pick on a target for Donovan McNabb.  Ask of Andy Reid why they took Kolb in the 2^nd Round, his response, “Kevin was the best player on the board.”  My response was something like “Are you f—king serious!!”  Kolb comes in and throws for 300 yards in two games and now Donovan must leave Philly.  Kolb gets his opportunity last season, he then he gets hurt and Michael Vick comes in and takes his job.  Kolb gets traded to Arizona and gets his opportunity to finally lead a franchise.  And so far he looks like he fits in. I wasn’t a Kolb fan because of how, when and why he as drafted, but he is actually a decent QB.  But like any other QB, if he gets not time in the pocket, he has no chance of success.  And the Redskins Defense proved that again Sunday.

With the exception of Larry Fitzgerald straight cooking DeAngelo Hall, the Redskins did a good job of taking away the big plays from the Cardinals.  Make no mistake about it, the Cardinals are stacked with talent on Offense.  Kevin Kolb, Beanie Wells, Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston, Early Doucet and Todd Heap are all on Offense.  There is a chance that I am only looking at names, but if you have never seen the Cardinals play you wouldn’t understand why they thought that Anquan Boldin was expendable.  They haven’t missed a beat since losing Boldin to the Baltimore Ravens.  And Washington had their hands full trying to slow down that Offense, but they did a wonderful job.  Kolb still threw for 250 yards and 2 TDs, but they kept Beanie wells under 100 yards.  Larry Fitzgerald had 100 yards, but is that really a surprise.  The dude is just flat out good, and getting better.  But with that said, the Redskins’ Defense forced two turnovers, one coming in the final 2 minutes of the game that sealed the victory for them.  This is exactly what I expected when the Redskins switched to the 3-4 Defense with Jim Haslett at the Defensive Coordinator position.  It is like the perfect marriage.  Good Defensive coordinator with the correct personnel to run their system.  How good can this team be?

Washington hasn’t had a dominant team in the NFL since the 1991 season, in which they went 14-2.  No, I don’t think that the Redskins are going to finish the Regular Season with 14 wins, but I do expect them to win between 7 and 9 games.  Maybe not Super Bowl, but definitely Playoffs.  With games like this past Sunday you can’t help but to raise your expectation just a little bit.  I am happy that the Redskins are 2-0, but they still have quite a few tough games coming up, starting with this coming Week 3 matchup with their most bitter rival, the Dallas Cowboys.  Let the trash talking begin.

This week’s game ball goes to the Washington Redskins’ entire Defense for stops on the Cardinals’ last two drives.

Even When It's Right, You Still Say It's Wrong

So I am at the Redskins-Buccaneers game earlier this year and I am amazed at what I hear from the fans. It was almost comical. When people get rolling, they really get rolling. With all of the things that are going wrong with the Redskins this year, the Defense is not one of them. As a matter of fact the Defense was ranked somewhere in the top 5 at this point, and guess what??!! Even they had to endure criticism, but for what? We finished with the #4 Defense last year and people were not happy. Are you kidding me?

First of all, I heard that the Defensive Line needs to create more pressure. Even though that may have been true, how many teams found it easy to move the ball on our Defense? So what did we do this past April? Well we signed Renaldo Wynn for depth and experience at the Defensive End (DE) position. Our other DE Phillip Daniels returned from injury (ACL) and Cornelius Griffin also comes back. We also signed Jeremy Jarmon, who would have been in the 2010 NFL Draft, but he got suspended from his school so he decided enter the Supplemental Draft. With our 1st Round Pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, we selected Brian Orakpo who is a legit Right DE, but we wanted to see if we can make him the next Terrell Suggs and play him as an Outside Linebacker. The problem is Orakpo has to learn the position, so please give that man a break. We also signed Albert Haynesworth as a Free Agent, but people are expecting him to come in get 20 sacks. I have got news for you folks, Haynesworth is not going to get 20 sacks, but he may attract enough attention for some other people to get close. And we also brought back one of my personal favorites Andre Carter. Why do I like Carter? Because, I have heard him endure a lot of criticism, especially when he was in San Francisco and has done nothing but continue to work to get better. And just in case you have not been paying attention, he has. So I ask you, did we address the Defensive Line?

Let’s move to the Linebackers. Now I was really sad to see Marcus Washington go, but we did try to replace him. Unfortunately, we are trying to use Brian Orakpo to fill that spot. We have H.B. Blades, who can play all 3 Linebacker positions, but has only mastered the Middle Linebacker position, and I have feeling that Blades will not see much time there. Our other Linebacker is Rocky McIntosh, who has steadily improved. But you’d really have to understand the position to really evaluate his play. Not to mention we also drafted Robert Henson from TCU this past draft (2009 NFL Draft). But the man in the middle is on a record setting pace when it comes to tackles. London Fletcher currently is leading the NFL in tackles, partly because of Albert Haynesworth and Cornelius Griffin (the forgotten man at DT, who is also a beast). London Fletcher is a perfect example of why it is important to know how to evaluate talent. Fletcher came from a Division 3 school, and has played in every game since entering the NFL. He has always been tops in tackles, but even with him perfecting what I think is a lost art in football, his play is not appreciated. If it has, he would have gone to at least 1 Pro Bowl. Is that too much to ask? But again I ask did we address the Linebacker position?

Here is where the fun really starts. The Defensive Backfield of the Redskins have endured so much criticism, I started to skip over bringing it up. But I know some of you are chomping at the bit. So I will through you bone. Fred Smoot, Carlos Rogers, DeAngelo Hall, Justin Tryon, Kevin Barnes, Reed Doughty, Chris Horton, LaRon Landry and Kareem Moore make up our Defensive Backfield. I want to start with Carlos Rogers, the 2004 Jim Thorpe Award Winner. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is the award given to the best Defensive Back in college football. So it should not be a surprise that we took Rodgers with the 9th Overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. Now fans are saying that he is not good, or that he has not lived up to the “hype.” But I ask, do you know how to evaluate the Cornerback position? See I am not an expert, nor do I claim to be, but I do know one thing. A taller player will win most match-ups in football when it comes to the passing game. Have you all not noticed that the WR position is starting to produce more 6’2”+ players? I ask you, do you know how many CB (Cornerbacks) in the NFL are over 6’2,” and are actually on the field? See this is where Pass Defense relies upon disrupting the other teams Offensive timing by (drumroll please), creating pressure up front.

There are very few CB’s in football who can cover any player for more than 4 seconds. I don’t care who the WR is, they have the advantage when their QB gets time. So if I know that, I have to start looking for Safeties that have range and are good at closing out with a solid hits and good tackling ability. If you get a ballhawk at Safety, that is even better, but very few Safeties are ballhawks. This is where Sean Taylor changed our entire Defense, because we could do more to create pressure. When you all need to start worrying is when Carlos Rogers is just flat out getting burned by backup WR’s. See Calvin Johnson (6’6”) is a headache for every CB in the league. See Bryant Johnson (6’3”), whom I had to pleasure of meeting this past Summer, is a good young talent that has played for two small market teams (Arizona and San Francisco), so you may not have heard of him…. I have. He is going to be a great WR. See Dwayne Bowe, (6’3”), is another young talent that doesn’t get enough attention because he is in a small market (Kansas City), but trust me, he will be another good WR in the NFL. See what most people do not understand is, you are not going to completely shut down any WR. As a matter of fact, you cannot expect any CB in the league to not get beat from time to time. The question you have to ask yourself is, do they give up the big play? Carlos Rogers is fine. What people get in their feelings about is him dropping Interceptions. If he catches half of what he drops, people would be saying he is one of the best CB’s in the NFL. His job is to disrupt the other teams passing games. My theory is, if he is dropping picks that is telling me that he is in position to make plays and the other teams WR’s are not catching the ball.

Now this brings me to DeAngelo Hall. Here you have a guy that is doing what Rodgers does, and gives use those timely interceptions, and I still hear people say that he is not worth the money. People are judging him based off of his time in Oakland. Can you name me 5 players in the last 10 years that went to Oakland and performed well? Remember “they” said that Randy Moss lost a step when he went to Oakland? Well Randy did lose a step… off of his 40 Yard Dash time. He goes to New England for a 4th Round Draft pick, comes into camp, runs a 4.29 40-Yard Dash Time, and then turns around and breaks the record for most Receiving Touchdowns in a Single Season. I guess “they” knew what they were talking about. By the way, I hate when I hear “They say” because more often then not, it is usually followed by a lie. But I digress. DeAngelo can match-up against the other teams #1 WR and do a fairly decent job on him. People are looking for shut down CB’s. I have news for you people. The do not exist. There is at least one WR who has that top CB’s number. Don’t let the highlights fool you. Watch an entire game of two other teams aside from your favorite team. Pick any top CB in the NFL and watch him work. There are no gimmies in the NFL. We have some very crafty, fundamentally sound CB’s in football, but we do not have a shut down CB. The media fooled you people. Heck, I play Flag Football and I am pretty sure I can put together a great highlight film of all of my Interceptions from the Safety position to make any QB think twice about throwing in my direction.

The Redskins may not have the best player in the league at any one position, but together they made up one of the best Defenses in football last year. And with the new additions and a few new wrinkles, our Defense is actually better. But because the Offense is not playing well, the Defense is getting criticized too. What do you want from our Defense people? Even though it is not broken, I still hear some fans talking about how they would “fix it.” Well, I will tell you what, go apply for the position and do a better job than Greg Blache. If you can, I will tip my hat to you.