They started out looking really good in the first couple of drives, too. Then the defense apparently decided to take a break in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
I think the Bledsoe interceptions really were the bits that sealed the deal, though. Both of the first two gave the Jags the ball in Dallas territory, and led to touchdowns. The defense wasn’t playing as good around those points, but they were still playing well enough to slow the Jags down when they had to start on their own side of the field.
So hopefully this week, they will make sure to quiz Bledsoe on which color jerseys they are wearing before the game starts. Jags look like they still have a pretty solid team, too – and the Cowboys were keeping pace with them, except for those damned INTs.
Fortunately, I think the Redskins right now look more like the Redskins from the start of last season – rather than the Redskins from the end of last season. Which should hopefully bode well for Dallas this weekend.
That was an amazing comeback by the Giants. It was great to see. Hal, I got my “squeaked” out the win hopes. I feel good about going into Seattle next week.
Skins are losing badly to the Boys, that should put the East as
Giants 1-1 by tie-breakers
Eagles 1-1
Cowboys 1-1
Redskins 0-2
God, that was as horrible an offensive performance as I’ve seen in my 30 plus years following the Redskins. I felt we were in the Gus Frerotte - Michael Westbrook era. I reluctantly tip my hat to the 'Pokes, but they had plenty of help from the 'Skins in looking like the NFC East champs tonight.
It sickened me to see Jon Jansen and Chris Samuels (to a lesser degree) just overpowered by the Dallas pass rush. I’d love to pin this on Brunell and get Jason Campbell out there but Al “Offensive Genius” Saunders called a horrible game. Let’s see… Moss, Randle-El, Cooley, Fauria, Lloyd… how many passes for longer than 10 yards? Yeah, missing Portis made it harder but Cartwright, Betts, and Duckett aren’t exactly chopped liver.
I hope Dan Snyder goes Dan Snyder on his high-price coaching staff and they get their shit together.
Me too. Although I wouldn’t quite use the word “sickened”… no, that’s not it. What’s the word…?
Oh, yes. “thrilled”.
Also loved that 40 yard TD hookup from Bledsoe to Terry Glenn. T.O. has not been that much of a factor in the last two games, but at least he hasn’t thrown any tanrums yet, so things are okay in that regard. Meanwhile, Terry Glenn is as solid a receiver as he’s always been, even if he doesn’t end up getting all the attention at the end of a season. 6 catches, 94 yards, 1 TD. Kudos to Terry Glenn tonight, as well as the whole Dallas Defense.
And I was glad to see the Eagles lose this one. An even division so far, with Washington emerging as Most Likely To Stay On Bottom (unless they whip their offense into shape).
First off, McNabb threw just as many – if not more – errant balls than Eli, but it’s Eli who gets singled out. And “mostly miserable” is apparently just from sacks.
First half passing stats: 7 of 11 (64%) for 94 yards, 1 TD 0 Int. Passer Rating: 121.02
through three quarters: 11 of 17 (65%) for 138 yards, 1 TD 0 int. Passer Rating: 109.44
Seriously, I get that sacks are bad, m’kay? But anyone who actually watched the game could tell you that quite a few of those sacks were not because Eli was pulling a Kurt Warner and holding the ball too long. It was because he was getting sacked in under two seconds. The OL was a friggin’ sieve. But don’t take my word for it, since I’m clearly a homer. How about the cbssportsline in-game blog:
And this is all Eli’s fault how again? And seriously, even if there were no pressure at all, do those rate stats reflect a performance one would characterize as “consistently overthrowing” receivers? Given that he was being destroyed, those rate stats seem downright fantastic. But according to this genius, Eli was mostly miserable. He of course continues:
I’m pretty sure I saw on Sportscenter that Eli has 4 come-from-behind 4th quarter / OT victories in his short career, compared to only 5 for Peyton. (Props for his amazing one against Tampa, which was transcendant.) As an added bonus, Jay Feely has never publicly called out Eli for not having any fire.
Later he writes:
WTF? This makes no sense whatsoever from the guy who just killed Eli as being mostly miserable through three quarters, consistently overthrowing receivers all game, labeled as inconsistent and struggling, and having no fire. But I guess it’s all in context. He’s saying that Eli’s dramatic come-from-behind win for the early division lead was overshadowed by Peyton beating up on possibly the worst team in the league, because Peyton threw for 29 more yards. Ooookay.
Of course, it’s not just Eli. This guy seems to have a hard-on for the G-Men, which is why I think he lost money on the Eagles:
I won’t even get into how he slobbers the Colts for beating up on the Texans. Yeah, Addai is a beast, he ran for 82 yards against Houston. Whatever you say, buddy.
Ellis, don’t forget that the “costly interception” was on a tipped ball that Tiki should have caught for a first down (or possibly should have been flagged for PI).
Ellis, I agree with pretty much all your comments, although I think the line about Peyton throwing for 400 was meant as a bit of a joke. The bit about Shockey is strange, the guy was playing hurt and still caught the pass at the end & got out of bounds to set up the tying field goal.
They played even worse. The amazing thing is that, until Brunell threw that INT late in the third quarter, they were very much in it.
But ultimately they got shredded. And deserved it.
It’s easy enough to say the Redskins will be better when Portis and Shawn Springs return. But in a 16-game season, injuries to key players are almost inevitable; you’ve got to find ways to deal with them.
I’m not gonna put this one all on Brunell (after all, the defense did give up 27 points), and maybe my standards have been reset by watching too many games during the Spurrier era where Ramsey was having to work just to stay alive, but the pressure on Brunell didn’t exactly strike me as extraordinary. Sure, they could have protected him better than they did, but there were plenty of times when he wasn’t being pressured, or the pressure was coming but he still had a couple of seconds, and he still missed wide-open receivers (one play ‘to’ Cooley stands out in particular, but there were others), or just threw it away.
I’m assuming there’s no deep game because either Brunell knows he can’t get it there, or Saunders knows it, or both.
At any rate, Brunell looked mediocre a week ago, and looked pathetic last night.
Where I’m going with this is simple: this isn’t going to be the Redskins’ Super Bowl year, and in the unlikely event I’m wrong, it won’t be Brunell that gets them there.
So why not go ahead and give the ball to Jason Campbell? Brunell’s not going to be their guy next year either, but if it’s gonna be Campbell, the time to make him a starter is now.
Yep – and while they had way too many penalties, Washington was flagged for more. Check out the penalty stats in this one – over 200 yards in penalties between the two teams!
Give it some more time RTEfirefly. Right now (maybe because they played the Redskins - Ouch :rolleyes: ) Dallas and MN are the number 6 & 7 defenses in the NFL …
I want to wait before giving up on the season. 14% - that is the number of NFL teams that have made the playoffs after starting 0-2, but most of those teams, ~86% , were bad as the 'Skins looked last night any way (IOW they weren’t playoff teams off to a slow start).
If the team we saw last night can beat the Texans, Jaguars and Titans at home and lose to the Giants and Colts on the Road they will be 3-4 going into Dallas II (at home). *THAT ** game (and scenario) is where I would make the Campbell decision - at that point he still has time to play 8 games - half a season if the Redskins are 3-5 after Dallas but * if they are coming around and are 4-4 I think I wouldn’t pull the trigger on Campbell, just then. Certainly not now.
That was an exciting end to the Giant-Eagles game – I dunno how I felt – like watching the Iran-Iraq War to me…but wow
Methinks Dallas has a half-way decent chance of going 8-1 or 7-2, and finishing at 11-5 or 10-6
9/10 @ Jacksonville L 24-17
9/17 Washington W 27-10
9/24 BYE
10/1 @ Tennessee (2-1)
10/8 @ Philadelphia (3-1)
10/15 Houston (4-1)
10/23 NY Giants (5-1)
10/29 @ Carolina (6-1 or 5-2)
11/5 @ Washington (7-1 or 6-2)
11/12 @ Arizona (8-1 or 7-2)
11/19 Indianapolis (8-2 or 7-3)
11/23 Tampa Bay (9-2 or 8-3)
12/3 @ NY Giants (9-3 or 8-4)
12/10 New Orleans (10-3 or 9-4)
12/16 @ Atlanta (10-4 or 9-5)
12/25 Philadelphia (10-5 or 9-6)
12/31 Detroit (11-5 or 10-6)
Is anybody else feeling that this division, touted as “one of the best in football,” per the OP, just not that strong? Washington has looked terrible so far, and Dallas hasn’t looked that great either. Their win over the Redskins was pretty deplorable – dropped balls and penalties everywhere. To me, every division in the AFC, with the exception of the West, looks just as strong or stronger.
So you think Dallas will win on the road in Philadelphia and at home versus the Giants, but might lose on the road in Carolina. What color are the skies in your world?
If Carolina keeps playing like the first two weeks, that one will likely end up in the win column for Dallas. But on the road in Philly will be tougher.
