Forlorn Zorn: Redskins are Giant Disappointment
Yet again, the Redskins were faced with a monster game—one with emotion, playoff implications, and against a fierce division rival. Yet again, they blew it—losing yesterday 23-7 without making it remotely interesting.
After fans and players celebrated the life of Sean Taylor and the unveiling of his name and number in the Ring of Fame, the game began. In no time, the Giants proved that execution trumps emotion. After a pumped up Redskins squad went three and out, the Giants came out of the gate quickly, moving the ball with precision and scoring when Amani Toomer beat Fred Smoot deep.
While there were glimpses of “maybe this could be competitive” in the first half, there was never any doubt who was winning the battles at the line. The offense was downright pathetic through most of the first half, but got a breath of life when rookie Devin Thomas ran a reverse 29 yards for a touchdown- making the score 10-7. The defense did a good job stopping the run in the first half--holding Brandon Jacobs to just 14 yards. Sounds good, but when you give up over 200 yards passing in that same half, there is little to celebrate.
In the second half—the Redskins offense picked up where it left off—marching downfield at a pace of two yards at a time. When they weren’t running the ball for one yard, or throwing sad little screens for two yards, the Redskins were giving up one sack after another.
AP Photo/Nick Wass
One critical play typified the Redskins problems on offense. With time running out in the fourth quarter—the Redskins needed to keep a drive alive, and went for it on 4th and 1. Naturally, they handed the ball to their workhorse, Clinton Portis, right up the middle. Stuffed. As Zorn crumpled up the game plan and threw it to the ground, the replay showed that left tackle Chris Samuels chose not to block anyone. Miscommunication or not, it’s pretty safe to say that a left tackle is supposed to block someone on a fourth and one.
The defensive squad didn’t seem to have an answer to the Giants either. Obviously outcoached, nearly every play call the Redskins defense made, the Giants seemed to have the perfect response. Right side blitz=screen right= 25 yard gain. Left side blitz=short dump to tight end Kevin Boss=19 yard gain. While disappointing, it was not as if the Redskins had any choice. The defensive line once again failed to produce any type of pressure on Eli Manning. Most of the game, it seemed as though he was checking his third and fourth option, sometimes re-checking his first.
Despite losing 3 of their last four, the 2008-09 Redskins have proven a few things.
1. Home-field advantage is anything but an advantage. Whether your stadium is being overrun by the competition (Pittsburgh) or copying the competition (Rally Rags the following week), home is hardly sweet these days. If the Redskins do make the playoffs this year (and that is one big-ass “if”), they’ll most likely be on the road. For this team, that would be a blessing, as FedEx has been unkind to say the least.
2. Mediocrity is alive and well. For a time, “experts” classified the Redskins as a “top-five” team. Never has a team’s mediocrity been so apparent. When you barely beat terrible teams (Lions, Seahawks, etc.) and get worked over by good teams, you are average at best. This team personifies average.
3. Ryan Plackemeier is chubby. Very chubby.