Good, Bad & Ugly vs the Lions

[turtle28]

We haven’t done one of these in months bc I guess, everything’s been ugly and we after all are 2-9. But, since we actually won a game - despite 99% of us wishing we had lost yesterday - I figured I’d get together some Good, Bad and Ugly thoughts!

THE GOOD

1. Steven Sims, Jr. - The young WR and explosive return man continues to impress and makes everyone thankful he went undrafted and we signed him but also scratching our heads wondering how the **** did this guy go undrafted?

He had two good kick off returns yesterday totaling 124 yards on return, but his second one was something special! He dropped the ball and all of us thought, “here we go again! This is so Redskins!” But no, something magical happened when he picked it up, he broke a tackle at the 15 and scooted up the sidelines and all the way to pay dirt for a 91-yard TD. 

His explosive ability to kick off returns continues to beg the question, why is he not returning punts instead of Quinn?

And the answer to that will continue to be an enigma!

2. Haskins got his first victory as a starter - I know almost all of us didn’t want to see the Redskins win another game but, they did and as much as I wanted that 1-15 season and #2 pick, I have to be happy for Haskins and the young guys on the team who were instrumental in this win.

While struggling to hit open WRs for 4/5 of the game, something clicked for Haskins in the 4th quarter with the pressure on to deliver a come from behind victory at home infront of the 5 Redskins fans that he took a selfie with before the game was over!

On the final two drives, which both ended in field goals, Haskins was 6/10 for 74 yards and he had an 11-yard scramble for a big first down.

Now, now, don’t get your panties in a bunch Haskins detractors, Haskins will also be a part of the Bad & the Ugly sections as well!

3. The Defense played their best game of the season - Manusky actually called blitzes which got home and called an attacking defense that dictated to the Lions what their offense could do instead of the offense dictating to our defense while we try to react for once!

The defense had 4 turnovers and 6 sacks!

Moreau played in his natural position at outside corner for most of the day and played his best game in a Redskins uniform with two nice interceptions, one of which helped clinched the game for us! 

On top of Moreau playing well, Dunny also turned in a nice performance again. They didn’t totally shut down the Lions potent WR crew of Galloday, Jones & Amendola but they held them to just 12 receptions for 128 yards. 
 

The Redskins DL played well despite missing their anchor, Daron Payne in the middle. They got gashed a little in the run game in the first half but played better vs the run in the 2nd half and usually the opposite happens. They had 6 sacks as a team with Allen & Kerrigan sharing 1 sack, with Ioannidis, Sweat and Anderson getting sacks as well.
 

Then, our two young ILBs - Holcomb & SDH - both had a sack, Holcomb played his best game in a Redskins uniform so far with 13 tackles to go along with his sack. 
 

Sweat had a pass defensed - that he arguably should have caught bc the ball was catchable and a forced fumble, Allen too had a forced fumble in the game.

 

THE BAD

1. Dwayne Haskins inaccuracy and bad footwork continue. Dwayne was able to muster enough offense on the final 2 drives for Hopkins to kick two field goals and the Redskins to ink out a 16-13 victory, but let’s not let that sugarcoat what was mostly a bad performance again by our young rookie QB making just his 3rd NFL start and 5th appearance in an NFL game.

Haskins was just: 13/29 for 156 yards and 1 int with a passer 47.5 rtg.

How bad is that you ask?

Steven Sims had just one incomplete pass attempt in the game and his passer rating for the game was somehow just 8 pts lower at 39.6!

Now, we all should acknowledge that like in weeks past there was at least one pass that his receivers dropped which would be considered a definite drop, but Haskins had 6 or 7 passes to - by NFL standards - wide open receivers and he just flat out missed them wide and all outside!

Two of those attempts to Terry definitely should have been TDs and a 3rd arguably could have been a TD if Haskins hit Terry in stride instead of making him jump up to catch a pass in the 4th quarter with the game on the line.

You put that all together and I count 7 completions for about 150 yards and 2 TDs which Haskins left on the field.

Hopefully he improves his footwork and mechanics and hits more of these receivers in the future bc he should have been 20/29 (69%) and had nearly 300 yards passing with 3 TDs in the game. 
 

2. The offensive line continues to be inconsistent with run blocking pass blocking and penalties. Guice had a nice run but it was called back for holding. Other mistakes by them also set us behind the chains throughout the game and they again missed some blocks but it wasn’t as bad as last week when Double G sent more exotic blitzes after the kid and he, the OL and the running backs failed to communicate and pick up the blitzes.

3. You wouldn’t think anything could be worse than the passing game with Haskins airmailing at least 7 open receivers but the running game was non existent. Haskins’ two scrambels were by far the best runs of the game for our offense...

Hey! Not bad for an unathletic out of shape immobile QB! His 11-yard scramble for a first down on the last drive of the game was arguably the 2nd biggest play for our team all day besides the Sims kickoff return for a TD.

THE UGLY

1. Dwayne Haskins’ selfie with a fans while the game still had a minute left to play which, caused him to miss the kneel down to secure his first victory as a Redskins starting QB.

I mean I like the guy and want him to succeed, but it’s arguably the most bonehead thing I’ve seen during the course of a football game ever! 

And this is coming from a huge fan of his, not some hater! Now, instead of answering football questions after the game and all week, he has to answer questions about why he was taking a selfie with fans while the game wasn’t over!

Come On Dude!

2. Ryan Kerrigan’s concussion - to my knowledge this is Ryan’s first concussion that’s knocked him out of a game in his career. Which, is good but, I’d hate to see this cost him games or the rest of the season in what could be - but probably won’t be - his last 6 games in a Redskins uniform.

3. Bill Callahan’s press conferences! Just the worst thing in the history to have to listen to.

4. Having Montae Nicholson continue to suit up and play while the family and friends of the 21-year-old young woman who died of an overdose after he took her to the hospital from his house protests Nicholson playing outside of the stadium!

Just when you think the Redskins football decisions & PR can’t get worse they go and totally redeem themselves!

Edited November 26, 2019 by turtle28

[RSkinGM]

You know -- It's the same footwork ( probably ) as it was at OSU and he threw fifty, 50! TD passes using it. You think anyone ever correct Johnny U's footwork? Or Sonny J ? 

I don't know -- just ruminating ..

PS_ Excellent ,,and long,, writeup Turtle .

[ARTMONK HOF]

I was wondering how Belichick would have handled the Haskins selfie issue. That would have been some sideline entertainment. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by ARTMONK HOF

[turtle28]

4 hours ago, ARTMONK HOF said:

I was wondering how Belichick would have handled the Haskins selfie issue. That would have been some sideline entertainment. 

Lockeroom

[Thaiphoon]

One of the NFLs worst pass defenses, and Haskins did poorly. I hope he is much improved by week 17

[turtle28]

8 hours ago, Thaiphoon said:

One of the NFLs worst pass defenses, and Haskins did poorly. I hope he is much improved by week 17

I feel like we won't see any true improvement until next season. There's just not enough time to fix his footwork and timing with the WRs. It's going to take most of an offseason to see noticeable improvement.

One thing that's very noticeable to me is that bc Haskins played in the preseason a lot with Harmon that he has good chemistry with him, possibly even better chemistry then Haskins has with Terry. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by turtle28

[Thaiphoon]

1 hour ago, turtle28 said:

I feel like we won't see any true improvement until next season. There's just not enough time to fix his footwork and timing with the WRs. It's going to take most of an offseason to see noticeable improvement.

One that's very noticeable to me is that bc Haskins played in the preseason a lot with Harmon that he has good chemistry with him, possibly even better chemistry then Haskins has with Terry. 

Oh, I don't disagree that much of this will have to wait. I just need to see some measurable improvement by the end of the season.

[Woz]

6 hours ago, turtle28 said:

Keenum had just one snap in the game, a kneel down to end the game - while Haskins was working on a fans Instagram post before the game was over - and Keenum’s passer rating for the game was somehow just 8 pts lower at 39.6!

Actually, no.

Keenum has no passer rating as he attempted no passes.

[turtle28]

6 hours ago, Woz said:

Actually, no.

Keenum has no passer rating as he attempted no passes.

That's not what it said on my yahoo sportacular app. Crap! Nevermind, that rtg was for Steven Sims who had one pass attempt but it was incomplete.

Edited November 26, 2019 by turtle28