Sabtu, 26 Desember 2009
Are You a Depression Sufferer?
Go to your place of rest and comfort
Danny Rouhier is back with his reaction to week fifteen's ridiculous loss to the New York Giants, in this week's video we see Danny's spot on impression of definitely not the Redskins next coach Jon Gruden, some commentary on the offense and where Danny watched the second half of Monday's game.
Great work Danny, you have kept us laughing in a season that has been anything but funny.
YouTube from here.
Jumat, 25 Desember 2009
Albert Haynesworth Getting Sent Home from Practice Today TOTALLY Has Nothing to Do with Calling Out Team Coaches for Not Leading
One of these is a made guy, the other is a dead man walking
Merry Christmas to Curly R readers, most of the country may be shut down for a major national holiday, not the NFL, in fact the Redskins had a practice just today, it was just another practice in a long and miserable season.
And defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was late for it and got sent home for his trouble. He arrived an unspecified amount of time late for pre-practice team meetings and was told he would not be practicing with the team as a result of his tardiness.
In other words, sending Albert home was a disciplinary action. Suddenly the Redskins are all tight ass with their star players.
After he was told to go home he still went into the locker room and dressed in for practice, as the players stretched before practice Albert got into a quote heated debate unquote with head coach Jim Zorn, after defensive coordinator Greg Blache came and joined the discussion Albert finally relented and went home.
Coach Zorn has said Albert would be welcome back at practice tomorrow, Saturday, and that he would play Sunday night against the Cowboys.
Now here we are supposed to believe that Albert getting sent home as a disciplinary measure today has naaahhhhthing at all with the fact that Albert called out the team and coaches for lack of leadership following the Monday night blowout loss to the Giants. Nope, nothing at all.
Obviously we do not know exactly what happened, and there may be some more detail emerging tomorrow, questions I would want answered are ones like these:
- How late was Albert to the team meetings?
- What was his attitude when he arrived?
- Was he insubordinate or giving lip at the points where he should have been contrite and or silent?
- What exactly were the highlights of the exchange between coach and player? Were Albert's previous comments about quality of leadership revisited?
So given that we do not know more of the details we can only generalize and here is my generalization: Albert, like everyone else inside or outside the building has known since game five against the Chiefs that Jim Zorn was done in Washington and while coach Zorn thinks he is being some noble never say die guy that can just pretend the owner does not want to get rid of him asap, can just pretend that having his balls cut off again and again is not emasculating and that his humiliation is not obvious to his players, to everyone else he just looks like a mumbling incompetent.
Shit man the team is already interviewing for coach Zorn's replacement, secondary coach Jerry Gray is not even waiting for the corpse to cool before feasting on it (op. cit.). Rock Cartwright said he hopes he never sees Vinny Cerrato again. Jason Campbell is pretty sure the team is quitting on itself.
What Albert said after Monday night's debacle has long been on the minds of the players and the fans. Albert is in the first year of a lucrative and long term contract; Albert is not going anywhere and so he is free to say whatever the hell he wants to whomever the hell he wants.
One of Albert's teammates anonymous teammates attempted to draw some sort of professional irony that days after calling out the coaches for not being leaders that Albert, a team leader based on his role and salary, would demonstrate his own non leadership by showing up to practice late, unfortunately that misses the point.
The point is that Jim Zorn has lost this team, and did weeks ago, Albert has no respect for coach Zorn because he does not have to, coach Zorn does not command respect with his authority or with his presence.
Whatever is keeping Jim Zorn in the job, the money, the commitment, some sense of football nobility, whatever it is does not mean anything to anyone else, no one is modeling on Jim Zorn right now.
The Redskins continue to decay in orbit and rip apart violently, the wreckage is falling dangerously to Earth.
Jim Zorn and Albert Haynesworth: Uncredited image from here via here.
Season's Greetings from The Curly R
Kamis, 24 Desember 2009
Versus Giants, After Further Review
Quite a project you found for yourself
I have had a few days to digest the massive game fourteen home loss Monday night against the New York Giants, and it is not good.
The rot goes from the roots, in the management and in how the highest level business decisions are made. Clearly as we saw earlier in the season when the team was actively trying to tamp down criticism through censorship and by sending out the team's attorney to challenge all takers publicly, in print, on the radio and in the blogs. All that did for the team was make them look petty and spiteful, like the guy that wants to argue that you are the asshole for getting mad when he bails and sticks you with a bar tab.
It continues up into the trunk, how football decisions are made, how the roster was built, after the 2008 season the team itself in its analysis, what must have been the quickest self assessment ever, identified the offensive line as a big problem, it crumbled last year, taking the team down with it. What happened in the offseason? They held serve at left guard, replacing a serviceable Pete Kendall with a serviceable Derrick Dockery and that was it. The 32 year old starting left tackle and 33 year old starting right guard were both lost for the season by Halloween, there were no NFL caliber backups. The right tackle position is like two midgets fighting over a cameo on Ugly Betty, one of them will win it and no one will see it. A liability all season, that line was so heavily abused against the Giants that I was actually embarrassed for them.
Up the tree we go into the limbs, coaching, not to be pedantic, but when spending time cobbling together PVC pipe and trainer's towels is what passes for innovation, we should have known there was a problem. Any notion that Jim Zorn is holding on to prove himself or to prove a point or somehow to be noble or go down with the ship, those are so academic, which in this usage means interesting with questionable real world application, the leftovers are a team with no serious professional leadership. That was evident in Monday night's game, Jim Zorn had the thousand yard stare and no serious coach would have run that field goal trick play once, let alone twice.
Out into the foliage we go, the players, to start the season several players went off the reservation in how they handled themselves with the fans against team performance, in the last week since shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato was ousted and the team was slaughtered Monday night, it would appear all collars are off, Rock Cartwright said he hoped he did not run into Vinny at any point in the future, Jason Campbell said the team was quitting and Albert Haynesworth arrived late to team meetings yesterday on Christmas Day and got himself booted from the facilities for a day.
Maybe DeAngelo Hall was right, maybe new actual general manager Bruce Allen needs to burn it all down and start over.
Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen: Getty Images from here.
Rabu, 23 Desember 2009
Guest Post: The Case Against Mike Shanahan
We post good takes
With all the hubbub swirling around Redskins coaching and management, how much power will Bruce Allen actually have, was Bruce Allen picked by Dan Snyder or Mike Shanahan, did secondary coach Jerry Gray interview for Jim Zorn's job before it was vacant, etc. etc., Redskins fans are beginning to consider seriously what will happen in this offseason.
Below is what DC Greg, one of Curly R's most loyal readers and commenters had to say about it all.
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The Case Against Mike Shanahan
Take a look at the following list of names:
Mike Ditka
Bill Parcells
Mike Holmgren
Jimmy Johnson
Vince Lombardi
Hank Stram
Don McCafferty
Tom Flores
George Seifert
Dick Vermeil
What do they have in common? They are all coaches that have won Super Bowls…with one team and one team only. The sad fact is that none of these men have been able to duplicate their earlier success at subsequent stops in their careers, with only Parcells and Holmgren able to even make a Super Bowl appearance on the losing side.
In fact, only one coach in NFL history has been able to win championships with two different teams and that was Weeb Ewbank, who won two pre-modern NFL titles with the Colts (1958 & 1959) before capturing Super Bowl III with the Jets.
And Parcells, Holmgren, and Dan Reeves are the only coaches to even make Super Bowl APPEARANCES with different teams; Reeves lost three with Denver and one with Atlanta
Bottom line: no head coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two different teams. NFL History, it seems, isn’t kind to retreads, at least not at the championship level.
I bring this up to make an argument against the hiring of a coach like Mike Shanahan, Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy, or even Brian Billick; All Super Bowl-winning coaches.
As a quick aside, I realize that it may be unfair to include Vince Lombardi on this list, as he only had one season with the Redskins. His untimely death denied us the chance to see if his plan would have come to fruition, but I included his name anyway for posterity. You could make an argument that Joe Gibbs belongs on this list, but I didn't include him because he didn't attempt his comeback with a different team. But I digress...
Oddly enough, it IS possible for a Super Bowl-LOSING coach to come to a different team and have greater success. Don Shula and Dick Vermeil both lost their initial appearance in the big game, only to find Super Bowl glory elsewhere. This would suggest that the Redskins’ best bet might be to consider coaches such as Jeff Fisher, Bill Callahan, Ken Whisenhunt, Jim Fassel, Mike Martz, and John Fox. All of these men, like Shula and Vermeil, lost their first appearance in the Super Bowl. I’m not too keen on Martz or Callahan, although the latter is a WCO disciple, for what that’s worth. Fassel is interesting because I was dead set against his hiring in the ’08 offseason. I may have to reconsider that position. I would be good with Fisher, Fox, or Whisenhunt, if the Redskins went in that direction.
What this means for the Redskins is that if Mike Shanahan is named head coach, the odds of winning the Super Bowl don’t really change that much, if history is any indication. Oh sure, Shanny will make them respectable, maybe even contenders. They’ll always be in the conversation and will be enjoyable to watch. In the ways that matter most, however, Shanahan’s tenure would likely be a repeat of the George Allen years; Almost…but not quite.
The most ideal scenario involving the 57-year-old Shanahan is a repeat of the best aspects of Gibbs 2.0. He spends a few seasons righting the ship, all the while grooming a successor, and then turns things over to that successor when he retires.
Whether Snyder can keep from screwing up the full cupboard Shanahan leaves him remains to be seen. Let’s not forget that Gibbs left him a playoff team and a hand picked successor and we all know how that went.
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While Redskins fans have no way of knowing whether this is a done deal or will happen at all, Sport Illustrated's Peter King wondered in a Monday night interview if Mike Shanahan is not punking Dan Snyder for a better deal with the shovel ready Cowboys, we should not necessarily annoint Mike the savior of the team, there will be other qualified coaches out there, there always are, and maybe for once the Redskins could do without so much drama.
Thanks DC Greg, keep em coming.
Kansas fencepost: Don Palmer
Selasa, 22 Desember 2009
No One Came to Play Tonight
Noted without additional comment
Takeaway Drill: A giant embarrassment, pun intended, there was no offense, no defense and most definitely no sane special teams; this is what it looks like when the Redskins try against a playoff team.
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Quick jump to
Monday Walkthrough :: Soapbox :: Chattering Class :: Omnibus Spotlights :: Recaps and Stats
Monday Tuesday Walkthrough: Hands down the worst game performance of the two year Jim Zorn experiment as the New York Giants beat the tar out of the Redskins, again and again and again, 45-12, a thirty-three point blowout, to drop the Redskins to 4-10 and two merciful weeks until the end of the 2009 season. The Redskins are now 0-3 in the burgundy on burgundy uniforms.
The Redskins won the toss and deferred to the second half, New York gets the ball to start the first quarter, the Giants first possession moves in small chunks but moves nonetheless easily down the field on a nine minute, sixteen play drive to put New York up 7-0. Washington gets the ball for the first time on a short kickoff fielded by Chris Wilson, luckily former 400 pound man Mike Williams was there to fall on Jason Campbell's third down fumble and the Redskins are punting. New York's second drive is two good defensive downs then of course a third down pass to Steve Smith for a first, on the next play LaRon Landry whiffs epically on Hakeem Nicks, the Giants run their 25th play to give New York first and goal and that is where the first quarter ends with the Giants leading 7-0.
New York continues its second possession into the second quarter on first and goal, on second and goal Ahmad Bradshaw walks in over left side for a touchdown, Giants are dominating in a 14-0 lead. Washington gets the ball for second time, a good Devin Thomas reception was nullified by a penalty yada yada punt. New York gets the ball for the third time and damn if that screen pass does not still work, the Giants move inexorably down the field, only a sack of Eli Manning by Albert Haynesworth saves the touchdown, Lawrence Tynes kicks a 38 yard field goal to put the Giants up 17-0 and it's getting away from Washington. The Redskins get the ball for the third time, still less than three minutes total time of possession, Jason Campbell gets creamed, then it's PUNT. New York gets the ball for the fourth time, Hakeem Nicks doses Fred Smoot for a 44 yard game then Eli tosses a corner fade to Steve Smith over Justin Tryon for a six yard touchdown and the Giants are running away with it, 24-0. The Redskins get the ball for the fourth time, the Redskins move from minus two to minus four yards then Jason Campbell finds no one on second down then has to run for the team's first first down, an intentional grounding penalty against Jason takes it all away and the Redskins are punting. The Giants get the ball for the fifth time, AND ZOMG IT WAS A THREE AND OUTS!!1! Washington get the ball for the fifth time with just over a minute left in the half, sack by Osi Umenyiora and Jason Campbell goes down and needs assistance on the sideline, Todd Collins warms up, then comes in as Jason Campbell heads for halftime early, only a false start penalty protects Todd from a jailbreak wipeout, Todd's first pass was 46 yards to Santana Moss, and the Redskins are in field goal range with less than a minute in the half, Fred Davis almost scores or turns it over, depending, then finds Antwaan Randle El to the Giants 20 and there are two seconds left, the Redskins line up in field goal then shift to a trick play, the Giants call a timeout then Washington runs the same play again, the ball is intercepted and the half ends 24-0 and the Redskins are embarrassing themselves and me.
The Redskins got the ball to start the third quarter, Washington's sixth possession and it's RUN ROCK RUN, the Redskins look like anthropologists in the jungle running from cannibals before Jason Campbell finds Fred Davis for an eleven yard touchdown but Graham Gano's extra point is blocked as the Redskins get on the board, 24-6. New York gets the ball for the sixth time, it is another inexorable drive to success as every Redskins player you know gets beat before some guy named Derek Hagan catches a 23 yard touchdown as the Giants go up 31-6. The Redskins get the ball for the seventh time, on first and ten Jason Campbell drops back, pump fakes and tosses to... no one on his right, Terrell Thomas intercepts the ball and takes it in fourteen yards for the touchdown and the Giants are winning in a laugher 38-6. Washington gets the ball back, it is their eighth drive, Marcus Mason is in the backfield, the darkness descends and I have to fight to pay attention, Marcus and Fred Davis team up and Quinton Ganther runs it in for the touchdown and the Redskins pull to within 26 points, 38-12 Giants. Graham Gano kicks off for the Redskins and Ahmad Bradshaw carries once in New York's seventh possession, and that is the end of the third quarter with the Giants winning 38-12.
New York continues their seventh possession to start the fourth quarter, two plays in there is a scrum on an in the grasp sack of Eli Manning, there was a scrum, Albert Haynesworth was assessed a bullshit penalty, the yada yada is the Giants score again, on a pass to Mario Manningham and New York leads 45-12. The Redskins get the ball for the ninth time, the memorable moment there is Jason Campbell's 20 yard scramble, the Redskins go for it on fourth down, sadly, and linebacker Chase Blackburn intercepts Jason Campbell and it is Giants ball in a game that will live in infamy. New York's eighth drive, they send in quarterback David Carr for mop up duty, blah blah and the Giants are punting. Washington gets the ball for the tenth time, I have totally lost the plot and here at home we are all arguing whether Jason Campbell will be remembered positively in Washington, the Redskins turn the ball over on downs. The Giants get the ball for the ninth time, it all seems academic, the Giants move into victory formation territory and that is that, the Giants win a giant blowout 45-12, the Redskins let us down on every level.
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Soapbox: Boy did I get this one wrong. I never thought the Redskins were going to kill the Giants, I did think this game was going to be a defensive struggle, probably totaling less than forty points, the Giants have been inconsistent on defense and the Redskins seemed to be getting a rhythm on offense, if the defense could just get back where it needed to be this game could have been competitive.
Wrong.
What we saw tonight was what happens when a real team with real experience and a real roster has real playoff chances and really needs a win plays a team with brittle players, little professional depth and lame duck coaching. The string that is being played out is quickly unraveling and a dog is chewing at the ends.
On New York's opening drive, the Giants ran sixteen plays and held the ball for nine minutes, moving inexorably down the field, no quick scores on long touchdown passes over secondary players juked on simple stutter moves, nosiree, from the outset of the game the Giants dictated an in your face down your throat pace and Washington had no answers.
LaRon Landry aka LaRon Liability was again a featured mistake maker. He was burned again in coverage and at least twice we saw LaRon miss tackles, apparently going for a hit. The shoulder chip on Hakeem Nicks in the Giants second possession was just pathetic, Hakeem shook LaRon's hit off and kept going, he was like, was that a mosquito that hit me?
Eleven plays into the game and Albert Haynesworth was on the sideline. He can say whatever he wants about Redskins coaching and whether he has been used properly this season, and he may have a point. He is also a guy that missed three games and seems to get winded or dinged up way too easily.
And what can we even say about the blocking? Stephon Heyer came out at right tackle but was replaced at the half by former practice squadder Will Robinson, I do not even have the energy to make a Danger Will Robinson joke. The pressure came from everywhere on Jason Campbell and the Redskins had no answers.
And speaking of Jason Campbell it really is shame how he has been treated this season. From Mark Sanchez and Jay Cutler in April to five more sacks tonight and actually begging his coach put him back in the game. No one can be upset with Jason this season if his performance drops off here at the end, he has been beat to shit, keeps getting up, wants everyone in the world to see he can take it, he is not a prima donna and if his team wants to give him no blocking, well he can take that too. He called tonight the worst experience of his career.
And what was up with the most ridiculous special teams trick play ever tried in NFL history? The iconography of that play is destined to stamp this era of Redskins forever, we can only hope that quote this era unquote is coming to a merciless end with the arrival of Bruce Allen and the stepping back of Dan Snyder, and not continuing on like a bad arthouse movie.
This entire game was either the last failing gasp of a team that did not until tonight realize it really is bad after all, or a big giant fuck you, the players pissed off at the coaches, the coaches pissed off at ownership, backstabbing and secret deals everywhere.
Remember where you were tonight Redskins fans, we witnessed one of the lowest moment in the history of the team. Bring on season's end.
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Chattering Class: I will bring you football tastemaker reaction to this game in this space.
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Omnibus: Broadcasters: It is Monday Night Football so we get the ESPN team of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden, speculation will continue to swirl the rest of the season whether new actual general manager Bruce Allen will convince Jon to coach the Redskins… before he ultimately does not.
Uniform Watch: The Redskins for the third time are wearing the awful burgundy on burgundy combination, Washington is 0-2 in this combination and 0-1 on Monday Night Football, losing previously to the Steelers last season and at Dallas this season.
Buck buck number one: Albert Haynesworth is back, he will make a difference.
Say no to Chucky: As Redskins coach? DO NOT WANT!
Maroon and black: You would think with Jim Zorn's famous gaffe in his introductory press conference last season that he would not be so inclined to wear a maroon and black jacket.
Eleven plays into the game and Albert Haynesworth is already on the sideline.
Meet me in the hole: On second and goal in the Giants first possession, Giants tailback Brandon Jacobs took the ball up into the middle, London Fletcher met Brandon right in the hole for a dead stop, sadly though the Giants scored on the next play, which featured a flagrant facemask on Ahmad Bradshaw by London.
All in all that nine minute, sixteen play drive is exactly the reason the Giants own the Redskins these days, Eli is dead on in short range and the running game easily gets to the second level.
Gahh! On the Giants kickoff after that score it was a short kick that was fielded by linebacker/defensive end Chris Wilson, CHRIS IS NOT A GUY THAT SHOULD BE CARRYING THE BALL!
Oh, this was Jason Campbell's 50th start, I did not know that.
The Redskins first possession was high snap, tipped pass (first down), five yard run (second down), sack fumble (third down), punt. Football Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome: Mike Williams lets Justin Tuck come through and sack Jason Campbell for a fumble, then gets to be the hero and recover Jason's fumble.
As neighbor Paul noted after that first awful drive the broadcast did not even have time to get through the boilerplate and introduce the Redskins offense. Guessing we will see that in the second drive.
Giants first drive: sixteen plays, nine plus minutes. Redskins first drive: three and out.
LaRon Liability: In the Giants second drive, first quarter, Hakeem Nicks caught a short pass on second and five, LaRon Landry had Hakeem stopped short of the first down, Hakeem just stuttered and LaRon ran right out of bounds and Hakeem got the first down. Time to bench LaRon.
One minute nineteen seconds left first quarter and the Giants are already six for six on third down. First quarter stat on time of possession: fourteen minutes to one minute.
Nice vest douchebag, Dan Snyder in a banana yellow sweater vest in the owner's box, second quarter.
As predicted, the broadcast introductions of the Washington offense were delivered in the Redskins second possession, which happened to be in the SECON D QUARTER.
First time I realized Fat Albert was back in the game was when he was sacking Eli Manning in the Giants third possession, second quarter.
Workshop gamewrap titles: No One Came to Play Tonight; Boy That Screen Pass Sure Works; Some of the Worst Football I Have Ever Seen; Oh Snap, Guess What I Saw; Boy Was I Wrong About This One; Giant Embarrassment.
Nine plays, minus two yards, that is Washington's summary through three possessions.
LaRon Liability: Giants fifth possession, second quarter, second and ten, LaRon Landry just WHIFFS on Ahmad Bradshaw. Time to sit the guy down.
Epically stupid: The Redskins ran the same open gate play out of the field goal formation to end the half, rather than take the three and go to the half they tried not once but twice to run a trick play that ended up in a Giants interception and the Redskins were blanked at the half.
During halftime Mike Tirico said he had never seen so many bewildered looks in the pressbox.
Will Robinson came in at right tackle to replace Stephon Heyer to start the second half.
Man, the whole Redskins team cannot tackle Brandon Jacobs.
Get rid of Sellers: On Quinton Ganther's touchdown in the Redskins eighth drive, third quarter, Quinton ran wide and fullback Mile Sellers missed his block… again, it was only Quinton's feet that got him in the end zone. Bye bye Mike.
We heart Philadelphia: Snowballs from the stands made their first appearance in the Giants seventh drive, fourth quarter, on third and five Eli Manning was sacked in the grasp, Brandon Jacobs and DeAngelo Hall went at it, Brandon threw punches at DeAngelo, Reed Doughty pulled DeAngelo out of the play, Albert Haynesworth bulled his way into the scrum throwing punches, Albert was eventually assessed a personal foul, total bullshit, even Mike Tirico was flabbergasted. The Giants would go on to score on that possession.
This was one of the worst Redskins game I have seen, ever.
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Shooter: Quarterback Jason Campbell took the field for his fiftieth start, and got the crap beat out of him, again. Jason was sacked five times, fumbled once and threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a short touchdown. It is hard to fault Jason for a poor game, or for breaking down as the season winds down, he has been battered, has had no blocking and no doubt has to tell himself to keep on keeping on every day. I will bet a dollar his opinion of his team and how it treats him is different when no one else is around.
Fat Contract Albert: After missing his third game last week, defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was back, and was promptly out of the game eleven plays in, no word on whether he was injured or it was just his usual union mandated smoke break. Albert also got involved in the fourth quarter scrum with Brandon Jacobs and DeAngelo Hall and got himself penalized. That Brandon was not assigned a penalty for swinging DeAngelo around by the facemask is outrageous but beside the point. After the game Albert ripped his coaches for not using him properly the season (op. cit.), combine those comments with DeAngelo Hall's urging of new actual general manager Bruce Allen to burn down the team and start over and we have clearance for the team finally to start consuming itself in a blaze of failure.
OH CRAPPO: Rookie hybrid defensive endbacker Brian Orakpo was neutralized in this game, the Giants gameplanned against him and fellow sack machine Andre Carter, even with one offensive lineman out and another leaving during the game. The frustration was visible on Brian's face in one shot on the sideline. Yes Brian, this is life with a bad team.
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Washington Post recap, photo gallery. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos, video highlights.
Other recaps: Mark Newgent at Redskins Examiner,
Next up,
Jason Campbell getting the crap kicked out of him, yet again: AP Photo from here.
The Redskins won the toss and deferred to the second half, New York gets the ball to start the first quarter, the Giants first possession moves in small chunks but moves nonetheless easily down the field on a nine minute, sixteen play drive to put New York up 7-0. Washington gets the ball for the first time on a short kickoff fielded by Chris Wilson, luckily former 400 pound man Mike Williams was there to fall on Jason Campbell's third down fumble and the Redskins are punting. New York's second drive is two good defensive downs then of course a third down pass to Steve Smith for a first, on the next play LaRon Landry whiffs epically on Hakeem Nicks, the Giants run their 25th play to give New York first and goal and that is where the first quarter ends with the Giants leading 7-0.
New York continues its second possession into the second quarter on first and goal, on second and goal Ahmad Bradshaw walks in over left side for a touchdown, Giants are dominating in a 14-0 lead. Washington gets the ball for second time, a good Devin Thomas reception was nullified by a penalty yada yada punt. New York gets the ball for the third time and damn if that screen pass does not still work, the Giants move inexorably down the field, only a sack of Eli Manning by Albert Haynesworth saves the touchdown, Lawrence Tynes kicks a 38 yard field goal to put the Giants up 17-0 and it's getting away from Washington. The Redskins get the ball for the third time, still less than three minutes total time of possession, Jason Campbell gets creamed, then it's PUNT. New York gets the ball for the fourth time, Hakeem Nicks doses Fred Smoot for a 44 yard game then Eli tosses a corner fade to Steve Smith over Justin Tryon for a six yard touchdown and the Giants are running away with it, 24-0. The Redskins get the ball for the fourth time, the Redskins move from minus two to minus four yards then Jason Campbell finds no one on second down then has to run for the team's first first down, an intentional grounding penalty against Jason takes it all away and the Redskins are punting. The Giants get the ball for the fifth time, AND ZOMG IT WAS A THREE AND OUTS!!1! Washington get the ball for the fifth time with just over a minute left in the half, sack by Osi Umenyiora and Jason Campbell goes down and needs assistance on the sideline, Todd Collins warms up, then comes in as Jason Campbell heads for halftime early, only a false start penalty protects Todd from a jailbreak wipeout, Todd's first pass was 46 yards to Santana Moss, and the Redskins are in field goal range with less than a minute in the half, Fred Davis almost scores or turns it over, depending, then finds Antwaan Randle El to the Giants 20 and there are two seconds left, the Redskins line up in field goal then shift to a trick play, the Giants call a timeout then Washington runs the same play again, the ball is intercepted and the half ends 24-0 and the Redskins are embarrassing themselves and me.
The Redskins got the ball to start the third quarter, Washington's sixth possession and it's RUN ROCK RUN, the Redskins look like anthropologists in the jungle running from cannibals before Jason Campbell finds Fred Davis for an eleven yard touchdown but Graham Gano's extra point is blocked as the Redskins get on the board, 24-6. New York gets the ball for the sixth time, it is another inexorable drive to success as every Redskins player you know gets beat before some guy named Derek Hagan catches a 23 yard touchdown as the Giants go up 31-6. The Redskins get the ball for the seventh time, on first and ten Jason Campbell drops back, pump fakes and tosses to... no one on his right, Terrell Thomas intercepts the ball and takes it in fourteen yards for the touchdown and the Giants are winning in a laugher 38-6. Washington gets the ball back, it is their eighth drive, Marcus Mason is in the backfield, the darkness descends and I have to fight to pay attention, Marcus and Fred Davis team up and Quinton Ganther runs it in for the touchdown and the Redskins pull to within 26 points, 38-12 Giants. Graham Gano kicks off for the Redskins and Ahmad Bradshaw carries once in New York's seventh possession, and that is the end of the third quarter with the Giants winning 38-12.
New York continues their seventh possession to start the fourth quarter, two plays in there is a scrum on an in the grasp sack of Eli Manning, there was a scrum, Albert Haynesworth was assessed a bullshit penalty, the yada yada is the Giants score again, on a pass to Mario Manningham and New York leads 45-12. The Redskins get the ball for the ninth time, the memorable moment there is Jason Campbell's 20 yard scramble, the Redskins go for it on fourth down, sadly, and linebacker Chase Blackburn intercepts Jason Campbell and it is Giants ball in a game that will live in infamy. New York's eighth drive, they send in quarterback David Carr for mop up duty, blah blah and the Giants are punting. Washington gets the ball for the tenth time, I have totally lost the plot and here at home we are all arguing whether Jason Campbell will be remembered positively in Washington, the Redskins turn the ball over on downs. The Giants get the ball for the ninth time, it all seems academic, the Giants move into victory formation territory and that is that, the Giants win a giant blowout 45-12, the Redskins let us down on every level.
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Soapbox: Boy did I get this one wrong. I never thought the Redskins were going to kill the Giants, I did think this game was going to be a defensive struggle, probably totaling less than forty points, the Giants have been inconsistent on defense and the Redskins seemed to be getting a rhythm on offense, if the defense could just get back where it needed to be this game could have been competitive.
Wrong.
What we saw tonight was what happens when a real team with real experience and a real roster has real playoff chances and really needs a win plays a team with brittle players, little professional depth and lame duck coaching. The string that is being played out is quickly unraveling and a dog is chewing at the ends.
On New York's opening drive, the Giants ran sixteen plays and held the ball for nine minutes, moving inexorably down the field, no quick scores on long touchdown passes over secondary players juked on simple stutter moves, nosiree, from the outset of the game the Giants dictated an in your face down your throat pace and Washington had no answers.
LaRon Landry aka LaRon Liability was again a featured mistake maker. He was burned again in coverage and at least twice we saw LaRon miss tackles, apparently going for a hit. The shoulder chip on Hakeem Nicks in the Giants second possession was just pathetic, Hakeem shook LaRon's hit off and kept going, he was like, was that a mosquito that hit me?
Eleven plays into the game and Albert Haynesworth was on the sideline. He can say whatever he wants about Redskins coaching and whether he has been used properly this season, and he may have a point. He is also a guy that missed three games and seems to get winded or dinged up way too easily.
And what can we even say about the blocking? Stephon Heyer came out at right tackle but was replaced at the half by former practice squadder Will Robinson, I do not even have the energy to make a Danger Will Robinson joke. The pressure came from everywhere on Jason Campbell and the Redskins had no answers.
And speaking of Jason Campbell it really is shame how he has been treated this season. From Mark Sanchez and Jay Cutler in April to five more sacks tonight and actually begging his coach put him back in the game. No one can be upset with Jason this season if his performance drops off here at the end, he has been beat to shit, keeps getting up, wants everyone in the world to see he can take it, he is not a prima donna and if his team wants to give him no blocking, well he can take that too. He called tonight the worst experience of his career.
And what was up with the most ridiculous special teams trick play ever tried in NFL history? The iconography of that play is destined to stamp this era of Redskins forever, we can only hope that quote this era unquote is coming to a merciless end with the arrival of Bruce Allen and the stepping back of Dan Snyder, and not continuing on like a bad arthouse movie.
This entire game was either the last failing gasp of a team that did not until tonight realize it really is bad after all, or a big giant fuck you, the players pissed off at the coaches, the coaches pissed off at ownership, backstabbing and secret deals everywhere.
Remember where you were tonight Redskins fans, we witnessed one of the lowest moment in the history of the team. Bring on season's end.
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Chattering Class: I will bring you football tastemaker reaction to this game in this space.
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Omnibus: Broadcasters: It is Monday Night Football so we get the ESPN team of Mike Tirico, Ron Jaworski and Jon Gruden, speculation will continue to swirl the rest of the season whether new actual general manager Bruce Allen will convince Jon to coach the Redskins… before he ultimately does not.
Uniform Watch: The Redskins for the third time are wearing the awful burgundy on burgundy combination, Washington is 0-2 in this combination and 0-1 on Monday Night Football, losing previously to the Steelers last season and at Dallas this season.
Buck buck number one: Albert Haynesworth is back, he will make a difference.
Say no to Chucky: As Redskins coach? DO NOT WANT!
Maroon and black: You would think with Jim Zorn's famous gaffe in his introductory press conference last season that he would not be so inclined to wear a maroon and black jacket.
Eleven plays into the game and Albert Haynesworth is already on the sideline.
Meet me in the hole: On second and goal in the Giants first possession, Giants tailback Brandon Jacobs took the ball up into the middle, London Fletcher met Brandon right in the hole for a dead stop, sadly though the Giants scored on the next play, which featured a flagrant facemask on Ahmad Bradshaw by London.
All in all that nine minute, sixteen play drive is exactly the reason the Giants own the Redskins these days, Eli is dead on in short range and the running game easily gets to the second level.
Gahh! On the Giants kickoff after that score it was a short kick that was fielded by linebacker/defensive end Chris Wilson, CHRIS IS NOT A GUY THAT SHOULD BE CARRYING THE BALL!
Oh, this was Jason Campbell's 50th start, I did not know that.
The Redskins first possession was high snap, tipped pass (first down), five yard run (second down), sack fumble (third down), punt. Football Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome: Mike Williams lets Justin Tuck come through and sack Jason Campbell for a fumble, then gets to be the hero and recover Jason's fumble.
As neighbor Paul noted after that first awful drive the broadcast did not even have time to get through the boilerplate and introduce the Redskins offense. Guessing we will see that in the second drive.
Giants first drive: sixteen plays, nine plus minutes. Redskins first drive: three and out.
LaRon Liability: In the Giants second drive, first quarter, Hakeem Nicks caught a short pass on second and five, LaRon Landry had Hakeem stopped short of the first down, Hakeem just stuttered and LaRon ran right out of bounds and Hakeem got the first down. Time to bench LaRon.
One minute nineteen seconds left first quarter and the Giants are already six for six on third down. First quarter stat on time of possession: fourteen minutes to one minute.
Nice vest douchebag, Dan Snyder in a banana yellow sweater vest in the owner's box, second quarter.
As predicted, the broadcast introductions of the Washington offense were delivered in the Redskins second possession, which happened to be in the SECON D QUARTER.
First time I realized Fat Albert was back in the game was when he was sacking Eli Manning in the Giants third possession, second quarter.
Workshop gamewrap titles: No One Came to Play Tonight; Boy That Screen Pass Sure Works; Some of the Worst Football I Have Ever Seen; Oh Snap, Guess What I Saw; Boy Was I Wrong About This One; Giant Embarrassment.
Nine plays, minus two yards, that is Washington's summary through three possessions.
LaRon Liability: Giants fifth possession, second quarter, second and ten, LaRon Landry just WHIFFS on Ahmad Bradshaw. Time to sit the guy down.
Epically stupid: The Redskins ran the same open gate play out of the field goal formation to end the half, rather than take the three and go to the half they tried not once but twice to run a trick play that ended up in a Giants interception and the Redskins were blanked at the half.
During halftime Mike Tirico said he had never seen so many bewildered looks in the pressbox.
Will Robinson came in at right tackle to replace Stephon Heyer to start the second half.
Man, the whole Redskins team cannot tackle Brandon Jacobs.
Get rid of Sellers: On Quinton Ganther's touchdown in the Redskins eighth drive, third quarter, Quinton ran wide and fullback Mile Sellers missed his block… again, it was only Quinton's feet that got him in the end zone. Bye bye Mike.
We heart Philadelphia: Snowballs from the stands made their first appearance in the Giants seventh drive, fourth quarter, on third and five Eli Manning was sacked in the grasp, Brandon Jacobs and DeAngelo Hall went at it, Brandon threw punches at DeAngelo, Reed Doughty pulled DeAngelo out of the play, Albert Haynesworth bulled his way into the scrum throwing punches, Albert was eventually assessed a personal foul, total bullshit, even Mike Tirico was flabbergasted. The Giants would go on to score on that possession.
This was one of the worst Redskins game I have seen, ever.
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Shooter: Quarterback Jason Campbell took the field for his fiftieth start, and got the crap beat out of him, again. Jason was sacked five times, fumbled once and threw two interceptions, one of which was returned for a short touchdown. It is hard to fault Jason for a poor game, or for breaking down as the season winds down, he has been battered, has had no blocking and no doubt has to tell himself to keep on keeping on every day. I will bet a dollar his opinion of his team and how it treats him is different when no one else is around.
Fat Contract Albert: After missing his third game last week, defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was back, and was promptly out of the game eleven plays in, no word on whether he was injured or it was just his usual union mandated smoke break. Albert also got involved in the fourth quarter scrum with Brandon Jacobs and DeAngelo Hall and got himself penalized. That Brandon was not assigned a penalty for swinging DeAngelo around by the facemask is outrageous but beside the point. After the game Albert ripped his coaches for not using him properly the season (op. cit.), combine those comments with DeAngelo Hall's urging of new actual general manager Bruce Allen to burn down the team and start over and we have clearance for the team finally to start consuming itself in a blaze of failure.
OH CRAPPO: Rookie hybrid defensive endbacker Brian Orakpo was neutralized in this game, the Giants gameplanned against him and fellow sack machine Andre Carter, even with one offensive lineman out and another leaving during the game. The frustration was visible on Brian's face in one shot on the sideline. Yes Brian, this is life with a bad team.
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Washington Post recap, photo gallery. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos, video highlights.
Other recaps: Mark Newgent at Redskins Examiner,
Next up,
Jason Campbell getting the crap kicked out of him, yet again: AP Photo from here.
Senin, 21 Desember 2009
Game 14: Redskins (4-9) vs. Giants (7-6)
vs. 
Out of the box: Amidst the snowpocalypse, a football game as the New York Giants come to Washington for a Monday night game, 8:30pm ET, hey what's 25 million pounds of snow between friends?
Follow along with me as I build this preview up through kickoff...
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Quick jump to
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The Story So Far: Well this was not exactly just another long week in a disappointing 2009 NFL season now was it? Just when we thought the plot was exhausted and we were just playing out the string, BAM it's a twist of pretty much epic proportions. What happened this week is in a very real sense unprecedented in the Dan Snyder era of Redskins history. But let us go back to the beginning of the week...
After a heartening road win against a turns out actually inferior Raiders team, one of the first things we heard was that running backs coach Stump Mitchell had at some point had a phone interview for the head coach job at Southern Methodist University (ibid.). Good luck to Stump on that and if I were anyone on Jim Zorn's staff I would not be waiting around until January to see if I still had a job before I started looking through my contacts.
Then we heard the Redskins were cleared in the tampering case of Albert Haynesworth's signing, so when the Redskins managed to negotiate a one hundred million dollar contract in just over five hours, why everything there is just fine, another way of putting this is the league found no evidence of wrongdoing in its investigation of itself.
In depth chart news, it looks as though poor Rock Cartwright has lost all his primary jobs now, after carrying only once in the Raiders game as tailback Quinton Ganther carried the load and was spelled by Marcus Mason, Rock had to suffer the indignity of Devin Thomas taking his original main job, that of kickoff returner, Rock thinks he is in the doghouse and is resigned to being cut after the season (op. cit.). Now Devin Thomas may even be in the backfield catching a few punts this week (op. cit.), Antwaan Randle El continues to embarrass himself back there and head coach Jim Zorn continues to embarrass himself not only by keeping Antwaan back there, but also by actually backing him, saying he has confidence in Antwaan and wants a guy with hands as sure as Antwaan's fielding the punts (op. cit.). Antwaan is unhappy about the demotion, but tough shit, he sucks in that role.
There are many things I can forgive about Jim Zorn and his rookie style, the myriad mistakes of mismanagement that get made when someone gets promoted ahead of their curve, however the mushmouth coachspeak in situations when you either need to be forceful on your point or let silence be your answer is really annoying.
Speaking of coaches, defensive coordinator Greg Blache broke his media silence, again, this time to lobby on behalf of linebacker London Fletcher and defensive end Andre Carter for the Pro Bowl. No one this decade has registered more tackles according to the NFL's unofficial number than London, he is once again playing at an elite level. Andre, he has eleven sacks and leads the league in tackles for loss, both these guys plus hybrid defensive endbacker Brian Orakpo should be in for the playoffs.
Then, Thursday morning the bomb dropped: shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato was out and Bruce Allen, son of Redskins legendary coach George Allen, was in. And while Redskins fans have become an exceedingly easy group, happy to grasp on to any connection to faded glory, Bruce actually has football credentials. Fans rejoiced. Players were stunned and generally agreed the organization was in need of change. In his resignation letter, Vinny Cerrato listed the great coaches he had the privilege of working with in Washington, Jim Zorn, the man Vinny recommended for the job, was left off the list. Way to keep it classy Vinny.
Now Bruce has a big job ahead of him, trying to change a dysfunctional culture, improve draft quality, select and sign free agents, hire a head coach and over see it all. Good luck with all that.
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Curly R Aside: In a week as heavily dominated by the departure of shadow general manager Vinny Cerrato and the hiring of actual general manager Bruce Allen, it is somewhat hard to pin down anything other than those moves and the implications, hopes and speculation that surround them, but I am going to try.
Jason Campbell should be this team's quarterback of the future. Curly R has been a strident supporter of Jason's, and will continue to be, he is having a career year, he has improved as the season progressed, he has taken everything in stride, from the team trying to get rid of him not once but twice in the offseason, to major injuries to starting linemen to the swirl around playcalling and bingo to getting the shit knocked out of him every single game, he has taken it all and what has he done with it?
His passer rating is at a career high, and has improved every year. His receivers have the number one ranked yards after catch in the league, god how I wish that was an official statistic. He gets nailed point blank every game and gets back up.
I agree with Ron Jaworski, or rather chronologically, Ron Jaworski agrees with me, the Redskins can win with this guy. Bruce Allen if you are reading this, look at the facts, look at the available options and look at the opportunity cost. Run the numbers then sign this guy to a long term deal and start putting some real blockers in front of him.
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Oppo Research: The Giants seemed to be on a trajectory for another Super Bowl early in the season, after starting 4-0 they then lost five in a row and are 2-2 since the end of their skid. Offensively they can still put up points, the story seems to be their offense, head coach Tom Coughlin had to come out and voice up confidence for new defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, he that replaced almost Redskins coach and current Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo, man the Eagles dropped 45 points on the Giants just last week.
We know this team well, they have beaten the Redskins three times in a row, the last time the Redskins beat the Giants was in a frigid game fourteen in the dramatic four game win streak to end the 2007 season, and our own pride of Walpole Todd Collins was the quarterback.
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Trainer's Table: Defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth has missed three games with an ankle sprain and re-sprain, he missed practice Wednesday, as did cornerback DeAngelo Hall with his MCL sprain and fullback Mike Sellers with his thigh and fumblitis (ibid.). DeAngelo has also missed three games this season.
Tailback Clinton Portis, he has been on injured reserve for almost three weeks and is coming to grips with the notion that he may be part of the change that is certain to occur in the offseason, Clinton has no plans to retire and would like to stay in Washington, he is also fine if not.
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Gameplan: This is a winnable game, despite starting seven different combinations along the offensive line, the past four games have seen the team give up less than two sacks per game, the Giants are slowing down and their defense is vulnerable. Albert Haynesworth being back will help and these defensive backs have access to ample Eli Manning game tape. Get a helmet up Eli's giblet, put some pressure on his receivers and try one time not to let him make you look silly.
It is a division game so there are no secrets.
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My Take in 60 Words or Less: Everyone, and with no salary cap for 2010 I do mean everyone, is playing for their jobs, go out there and beat these guys, they act too much like they own you.
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Washington Post interactive gameday, keys to the game, key matchups, Redskins roster; broadcast coverage is N-A-T-I-O-N-A-L folks, it's Monday Night Football!
Other previews: Mark Newgent at Redskins Examiner has his regular exchange with the Examiner blogger covering the week's opponent; again for Washington's second Monday night game this season the guys at Covers.com asked me and a blogger covering the opponent to answer a few questions geared toward the spread and degenerate sports bloggers like myself, here is the post and be sure to check out James Trotta's NFL-Giants, one of Curly R's oldest blogfriends. Jamie Mottram of Mister Irrelevant hosts the Comcast SportsNet chat, head over there, and Rich Tandler hosts his usual game chat.
Enjoy the game folks, we are still snowed in on Swarthmore Drive and will be gathering at neighbor Bill's for this one.
This is a gameday open thread.
NFL helmet logos from here.
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