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wvParticipantTwice in Fisher’s coaching career, its taken him
Four+ years, to build a winner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Fisher(Not counting his 94 team where he came
in halfway thru the season),
In the 90’s it took him FIVE years to build a Winner:95 he was 7-9
96 – 8-8
97 – 8-8
98 – 8-8
99- 13-3and then in the 2000’s it took him
Four years:
2004 5-11
2005 4-12
2006 8-8
2007 10-6
(2008 -13-3 )With the Rams its been
2012 -7-8-1
2013 7-9
2014 (6-7)
2015Jeff Fisher has never had
three winning seasons in a Row.w
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
wv.
December 10, 2014 at 3:47 pm in reply to: reporters etc (including Warner) preview the ARIZONA game #13561
wvParticipantBernie Byte: The Rams as betting favorites
• By Bernie Miklasz[www.stltoday.com]
Despite being 6-7, the Rams are a four-point betting favorite over the visiting Arizona Cardinals, who lead the NFC West with an impressive 10-3 record.
Other than the obvious thing — the betting line is directly related to wagering trends — why are the Rams favored?
Let’s take a look:
• The Cardinals are unbeaten at home but only 3-3 on the road. The Cardinals rank 24th in the NFL with a road-scoring average of 19.7 points per game, and they are 26th with only 11 touchdowns from scrimmage in road games. They rank 29th with an average of 3.3 yards per carry in road games, 25th in net passing yards per road game, and are 31st in average yards from scrimmage (299.3) when away from home.
• Home or away the AZ offense has slowed, scoring only two touchdowns in the last 15 quarters of play.
• Arizona QB Drew Stanton is 1-3 on the road with a 63.5 passer rating. That 63.5 road passer rating is the worst among NFL quarterbacks. At least until now, Stanton has been a different quarterback on the road. He’s been very good at home, having gone 4-0 as a starter with a 97.7 passer rating.
• The Rams defense has pitched two consecutive shutouts; that hasn’t happened in the NFL since Dallas did it in 2009. And the two consecutive shutouts are the first for the franchise since the Cleveland Rams pulled it off in 1945.
• The Rams defense is now second in the NFL (to Seattle) for fewest points allowed. This counts ONLY the points scored by the opposing offense against the defense. It excludes INT and fumble returns for touchdowns, and TDs scored on special teams. Anyway, Seattle has allowed 219 points from scrimmage, and the Rams defense is a close second with 221 points given up.
• Since Nov. 2, which spans six games, the Rams defense has produced an impressive set of rankings:
– The Rams have allowed the fewest number of touchdowns from scrimmage, 6.
– They have the most sacks, 29.
– They are tied for 1st for most takeaways, with 15.
– They are tied for 2nd with nine interceptions.
– They are tied for 2nd in third-down stops, with opponents converting 29.6 percent.
– They are 2nd in fewest rushing yards given up per game (58.7) and are third in average yield (3.26 yards) per rushing attempt.
– They are 6th on the list of the lowest opponents’ passer rating, at 76.7.
So you can see the basis for gamblers thinking that the Rams have a good chance of winning.
I suppose this is another sign of the Rams making progress: when the gamblers start believing in you, then you’re probably on the way to becoming a good team.
This is a rarity, by the way.
The Rams will be favored to win for a third consecutive game. That hasn’t happened since the final three games of their 2010 season.
This will be only the 10th time that the Rams entered a game as the favorite since Jeff Fisher became head coach in 2012.
In their previous nine betting-favorite games under Fisher, the Rams went 5-4 in covering the spread. That includes the team’s consecutive wins over Oakland (52-0) and Washington (24-0.)
When the Rams are the betting underdog, they’ve gone 21-15 against the point spread with Fisher as coach.
Thanks for reading …
— Bernie
wvParticipantOne interesting PFF stat.
Hill is ranked 3rd in accuracy percentage under pressure.
This ranking includes only qbs who have thrown 100 or more passes.
I like Hill a lot, and was pleased with the signing,
but the INT in the Viking game, and that INT
in the Charger game were horrendous. (i know some folks
think the viking-INT was due to the thigh injury, but i
dont see it that way)Now one of my Favorite plays in the Washington game —
was a play where Hill actually got sacked. The rams
were in the redzone. And Hill got sacked once, If i remember
right, but then its third down and rather than risk another
horrendous INT, Hill just basically did a duck-and-cover move
very quickly. He didnt try to ‘make something happen’ and he
didnt take any risks — he was gonna settle for the easy Three
(which legatron missed). But i loved the fact that Hill
seemed to have gotten the message from BS and Fisher — if the
game is close just dont LOSE it. Manage the game. Let
the defense and Tre Mason win it. Make the plays that are there
to make but dont risk INTs.Thats how i interpreted that sack, anyway. I
thought it was a great play.w
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
wv.
wvParticipantI dunno whats gonna happen, but this
is a game a ‘good team’ should win.
A home game against a team with a back-up QB.The Cards aint the Raiders or Washington,
thats for sure. They can street-fight
with the best of em.I’m excited.
Tavon and Cook and Hill,
need to hold onto the ball.
I dont think the Cards can win
without turnovers.w
v
wvParticipantInteresting.
w
v
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I really like JL55, but does he seem a little slow in run support? I watch him get caught in traffic a lot more than he used to. Maybe it is just the way their run fits are designed. Any insight there?
by Jesse 3:50 PMAn ankle issue has been a factor. Some games it affects him more than others. He had ankle surgery in the offseason, and I believe, aggravated the same foot in camp. Fisher has rested him on Wednesdays the last several weeks to help keep him fresh.
by jthomas 3:52 PM
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wvParticipantRemember those Saints linbebackers?
“…The Rams (7-4) needed something out of him while facing an NFC West rival that sat one game behind them in the standings. The Saints were ferocious. They boasted four Pro Bowl linebackers: Sam Mills, Vaughan Johnson, Pat Swilling, and future Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson. “They were just ass kickers,” said Rams kicker Mike Lansford, whose bare right foot6 ended up heavily factoring into the proceedings…”
wvParticipantI am just more depressed than ever.
I read a lot of the comments under the various articles on the Rams’ “Don’t shoot” and on stories of Derrick Rose and some Cavaliers wearing “I can’t breathe” shirts.
And the tenor of the comments is just depressing. A bunch of (obviously) white guys proving they don’t get it. At all.
It’s not that I didn’t expect those reactions. It’s just the sheer preponderance of them.
Well the upside iz,
the talking-monkeys will probably
destroy the biosphere before too long
and Gaia can start over. Maybe, with
talking moss, or talking grapes
or something less virulent.Nice to see Lebron being the anti-Jordan, btw.
I saw a thing on espn’s Outside The Lines.Go Rams,
w
v
wvParticipant==================
Oregon State’s Sean Mannion (6-5½, 220) drew the most praise among the seniors. He scored 36 on the 50-question Wonderlic intelligence test.
“More of a third-rounder,” one scout said. “Just lacks arm strength. Good size, good production.”
=================This guy, maybe.
w
v
wvParticipant“..Titans turned that trick…as did the two best defenses of the last 45 years, the 1985 Bears and the 2000 Ravens. Notably the two teams to record THREE straight shutouts are the 1970 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers. This defense appears to have turned the corner toward living up to its hype….”
The Cardinals
had a great Defense??I dont remember that.
w
v
wvParticipantwv wrote:
And Arizona beat KC.
Sets up a good game with the Rams.w
vActually means the Rams are officially out of playoffs
Well in a weird way, i am glad that
is out of the way. I didnt
take any of that playoff stuff seriously.Now its just playing for pride,
playing for a winning season,
setting up…Year FOUR 🙂w
v
wvParticipantAnd Arizona beat KC.
Sets up a good game with the Rams.w
v
wvParticipantPrime Time
This Inept heartless bunch of losers has drained all my passion and fun of a game I’ve loved since childhood.So tired of watching prideless quitters bumbling around field disgracing what Redskins once stood for!!!!
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It’s gotten so bad I almost read a book today.A book.
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I’m hearing a lot from people decrying or naysaying, saying a petition won’t work, a boycott won’t work, etc… etc… and yet I see more and more people every day making the choices I’ve made as a fan.I no longer spend money on this team like I HAVE spent until recently.
I no longer contribute to ratings by watching the games at home.
Looking like nobody showed up to the game today. If you want to show your lack of support, show it in whatever way you want. Just like the phrase “winning solves everything,” when they start doing things right, we’ll cheer and stuff. If they don’t, well, just not cheering has gotten to be underwhelming. I won’t be a fan of another football team. The NFL and its rules are progressively making football less fun for me. However, I will and have stopped watching and supporting the redskins as a football team.
I just follow rugby now.
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i’m afraid the only way dan would sell would be if someone could come up with some dirt on him, ala donald sterling.. sigh
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I despise you, Snyder. With the burning, white hot heat of a thousand suns. You and your lapdog ass-sniffing soulless corporate lackeys. There’s a Bible verse that says, “don’t throw your pearls before the swine.” Then there’s the swine, who say, “Don’t throw the pearls someone threw us to Snyder.”Geez. It was only two years ago,
the Wash-fans were all-aflutter about RG3
and their team.w
vDecember 7, 2014 at 6:32 pm in reply to: controversy: a few fans dropping the Rams because of the WRs's Ferguson gesture #13312
wvParticipanthttp://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11978096/after-ferguson-sports-stars-waking-up
The “anti-jordans”Howard Bryant
This story appears in ESPN The Magazine’s Dec. 22 Interview Issue. Subscribe today!
AFTER THE BLOOD AND FIRE of Ferguson, the video of a killing in New York that went unpunished and a 12-year-old shot dead in Cleveland, a wave of protest is rapidly defining America, awakening athletes once considered too busy with their stock portfolios to notice much of anything. It isn’t just the St. Louis Five, the Rams players united in the wake of the Ferguson non-indictment, but also Saints tight end Ben Watson speaking out on Facebook. It’s Pacers forward David West on Twitter, more invested in the black lives that fall at the hands of the police than in how his words might risk his brand. It is LeBron James and the Heat in hoodies after Trayvon Martin’s death last year, and Kobe Bryant this year indicting not Michael Brown nor Darren Wilson but an entire broken system of justice that in many ways created both of them.
The awakening represents the arrival of the anti-Jordans, the athlete as a living, breathing, thinking citizen and not just a sneaker pitchman. If the aftermath of September 11 politicized the ballfield by valorizing American militarism, athletes after the non-indictments in Ferguson and New York now reject the public demand of shut up and play. They see that America, divided by race and class, could not be less “post-racial,” a term intended to bury yesterday and soften tomorrow. It is an awakening in which some black athletes see no reward for being dutiful front men, for saluting the police as heroes at halftime; they instead see themselves reduced to a pre-racial place, no more American or human for their loyalty, so convinced that black lives don’t matter that they’ve joined the national movement demanding that they do.
These anti-Jordans know their enormous sums of money can shield their children from attending a broken public school system or from living in a neighborhood with no services, no self-determination and no hope. But they also know they cannot shield their friends, their aunts and uncles, from those same realities, and they cannot be sure that following all the rules will keep their loved ones from being shot by police. Money cannot shield players from their own consciences, or from the video of a New York policeman killing Eric Garner with a choke hold. Players’ silence has kept them tethered to systems they now find they must protest. Violence has shattered the post-racial myth and finally ended the silence.
Rams receiver Kenny Britt’s message on his taped wrists-“Mike Brown” on the right, “My Kids Matter” on the left-directly challenged that tethering, a severing of those ties. The patronizing aftermath-the St. Louis Police Officers Association demanded the NFL discipline Britt and his teammates-validated Britt’s voice, the massive overreaction connecting protected black players to the abandoned black poor.
The racial divide in this country is most powerfully demonstrated by white America’s ironclad belief in a legal system that black America views as hopelessly, oppressively broken. Ferguson flayed open the division. For African-Americans, race is personal, all day, every day, legally and emotionally the defining characteristic of our American existence. For whites, race is often but a topic, one to be debated and engaged or dismissed as whining and tabled for another day. It is a gap that cannot be bridged by flimsily blaming hip-hop culture or demanding that blacks need to be more responsible, for black responsibility is inseparable from blockbusting, redlining, and the other government and cultural forces that created the debilitating conditions in the first place.
The current awakening confronts the intersection of race and power, but if players successfully challenged power by toppling Donald Sterling, and if they now feel emboldened to protest police brutality, domestic violence is a reminder that the activist male player should not get too comfortable. Men must now confront another power, and that power is themselves. The next awakening will be in discovering just how many of these dots players choose to connect, for the trinity of class, race and gender is inseparable. The masculinity system, like the justice system and the racist and classist elements that fuel today’s protests, now requires reform. Players’ actions will tell us whether they are more than just a commercial. If so, maybe their awakening will be complete.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
wv.
wvParticipantRams pitch second straight shutout; RGIII enters late
By Chris Wesseling
Around the NFL Writer
Published: Dec. 7, 2014 at 04:12 p.m.
Updated: Dec. 7, 2014 at 05:58 p.m.http://www.chatsports.com/nfl/a/Rams-pitch-second-straight-shutout-RGIII-enters-late-1-10833036
It took a late-game Colt McCoy neck strain for Robert Griffin III to get back on the field for the Washington Redskins in Sunday’s 24-0 loss to the St. Louis Rams.
With the game no longer in doubt and McCoy struggling mightily to move the offense, Griffin came on for five fruitless plays over the final two minutes.
It will be interesting to see if coach Jay Gruden considers yet another quarterback change after watching McCoy’s game film. McCoy clearly was in pain and in a hurry to get to a hospital for further evaluation, according to ESPN’s John Keim.
Here’s what else we learned on Sunday:
1. The Around The NFL Podcast has dubbed the Rams the best 5-7 team in NFL history. Now they are the best 6-7 team, thanks to a swarming defense that is first in the NFL in takeaways and second in sacks over the past six weeks. They dominated this game, recording two interceptions, seven sacks and 11 quarterback hits en route to the franchise’s first back-to-back shutouts since the 1945 Cleveland Rams. This roster is a franchise quarterback away from contending for the NFC West in 2015.
2. Colt McCoy is who we thought he was. He has struggled out of the gate in every game he has started this season. Redskins fans actually started an “RGIII” chant after Tavon Austin’s 78-yard punt-return touchdown staked the Rams to a 24-0 lead late in the third quarter. We have been saying for three weeks that Jay Gruden should be playing Kirk Cousins, but none of the quarterback options is particularly appetizing. That doesn’t speak well of Gruden, who was brought in to fix the offense.
3. Ryan Kerrigan might not get the recognition because he plays on a miserable team, but he’s enjoying a Pro Bowl-caliber season. He already has a career-high 11.5 sacks and spent the afternoon putting a clownsuit on Rams right tackle Joseph Barksdale. Kerrigan is the lone bright spot on a defense that has become known for blown coverages.
4. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is finally getting creative with his use of Tavon Austin. Although Austin has been a non-factor as a wide receiver, he piled up a season-high 46 rushing yards on five carries Sunday, putting his season total at 341.
[www.nfl.com]
wvParticipant
wvParticipantwv wrote:
Maddy wrote:
Fisher had the six players from the RGIII trade as coin toss captains. That’s pretty good.OMG, are you kidding me?
You are, arent you.w
vNo it’s true. JT tweeted it.
Well that is just a little ornery.
And humorous.w
v
wvParticipantYa know, its true that the
Raiders and Washington suck,
but the 99-GSOT team beat-down
a ton of awful teams. It wasnt
the fact they beat bad teams
that was salient — it was the “way”
they beat them.This team has beaten two awful teams
in an intriguing way. (with a backup QB)w
v
wvParticipantFisher had the six players from the RGIII trade as coin toss captains. That’s pretty good.
OMG, are you kidding me?
You are, arent you.w
v
wvParticipantTavon Austin with 203 all-purpose yards today: 46 rushing, 14 receiving, 143 on punt returns.
Shouldn’t a penalty have been called on
his long punt return?
I mean, is it legal for him to actually
return one without a penalty?w
v
wvParticipantJust got home and saw the score.
Looking forward to reading the posts
and watchin Replay.Damn. 2 shutouts in a row.
Maybe they can make it 3 next week 🙂
w
v
wvParticipantWell, some of the ‘running qbs’ have
had a bad year, but a ‘running qb’
still quarterbacked the team that won
the Ring last year.And yes i know about Seattle’s
D and running game. But ask
any seattle-watcher what they think
of R.Wilson. He’s clutch.w
v
wvParticipantThe Universe wants
Fisher to be 8 and 8.w
vDecember 6, 2014 at 6:51 pm in reply to: The fact that Rams seldom win in DC makes this a big game. #13243
wvParticipantI would bet on the Rams this week…
But, it’s time. Barring a catastrophic wave of injuries, I think this team takes a step tomorrow. I think they play up to their ability, not down to the weakness of the opposition. More importantly, they win a game that matters….
I think tomorrow we take that small step leading to the bigger step against AZ. I think things are set up well for us and against WASH. I think we’ll get it done.
Holy Shit.
RFL just picked the Rams.
O dear lord, this cant be good.Dogs and cats will rain from the sky.
The apocalypse is near.Washington 666
Rams 0w
v
wvParticipantsdram wrote:
I like it when the Rams are able to keep the players they draft and develop.I like it when the players the Rams draft and develop are worth keeping.
I dunno. Bringing back Hekker
is bound to cause a QB-controversy.w
v
wvParticipant<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>wv wrote:</div>
Aaron Donald‘s contract, btw:
6/12/2014: Signed a four-year,
$10.136 million contract.
The deal is fully guaranteed,
including a $5.692 million signing bonus.
2014-2017: Under Contract, 2018: Club Option, 2019: Free AgentNow, how good does THAT
look now
w
vApples and Oranges. You can’t compare the two contracts at all.
Donald’s contract is his rookie contract. It is set by the CBA.
Hekker’s contract is his second contract after being all pro last year and having a very good year this year.If you want to compare contracts try Apples to Apples. Like Donald’s and Hekker’s rookie contracts.
Or Hekker’s contract with Quinn’s contract or maybe what Donald will receive when his rookie contract is up.No, i wasn’t “comparing” the two contracts.
I was simply noting that A.Donald’s contract
looks great to me. An allpro DT for not-so-big-bucks.w
v
wvParticipant
wvParticipant========================
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/06/19/philadelphia-buffalo-writers-vow-to-stop-using-redskins-in-print/
… Tim Graham, the former ESPN.com writer who again is part of the Buffalo News’s sports department. Graham wrote a lengthy piece earlier this month, explaining his view. “I’m not out to change the world or the NFL or what you believe,” he began. “My plan is to change me and how I operate. Beyond the period at the end of this sentence, I intend never to use the word redskin again.”
—————–http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/06/19/philadelphia-buffalo-writers-vow-to-stop-using-redskins-in-print/
… Philadelphia Daily News sports columnist John Smallwood, who grew up in the Maryland suburbs and has been writing about sports for 25 years. He said he was inspired by Graham’s piece to make his own stand.
Instead of the official nickname, I will refer to the team as Washington, Washington’s football team, the ‘Skins, the R’s or some other reference. It won’t be hard, but it could potentially make life on deadline a bit more troublesome for the copy editors if higher-ups don’t agree with my stance and decide it is not my place to make personal policy a part of the newspaper. Still, I won’t write it.”——————————
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/06/19/philadelphia-buffalo-writers-vow-to-stop-using-redskins-in-print/
—————————–http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2012/10/18/hail-to-the-pigskins/
In October, Washington City Paper editors decided that publication would henceforth refer to the team as the Pigskins.——————
http://dcist.com/2013/02/we_are_very_proud_to_omit_the_name.php
In February, DCist announced it would refer to the Redskins as “the Washington football team…or some variation.”
——————————–
The Kansas City Star has had a policy for several years of usually working around the team nickname.
—————————
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920218&slug=1476314
(in 1992) The Oregonian no longer prints the nicknames of teams like the Cleveland Indians, the Atlanta Braves or the Washington Redskins. It is the first U.S. newspaper to adopt such a policy.
“Names are only a small part of it,” said Managing Editor Peter Thompson yesterday, following Sunday’s announcement of the change.
“American Indians seem to be clearly saying they’re a race of people and not a bunch of mascots and their rituals and their religion should not be mocked as part of sports fervor in sports arenas across the nation.”—————————-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301863.htmlThe Seattle Times, honoring its 15-year policy of keeping Indian nicknames out of headlines and captions, allowed its writers to use the Redskins nickname only on first reference. All other references must read “Washington.”
…”But I’m dreading them coming,” said Joe, a member of the Swinomish tribe, which resides about 70 miles north of Seattle. “I really don’t want to hear how their nickname honors us.
“It’s like we’re slipping back in time. The fans with the war paint on their faces, the feathers, the bad costumes — I mean, don’t they know how that looks and makes us feel?” …
==============
wvParticipantAaron Donald‘s contract, btw:
6/12/2014: Signed a four-year,
$10.136 million contract.
The deal is fully guaranteed,
including a $5.692 million signing bonus.
2014-2017: Under Contract, 2018: Club Option, 2019: Free AgentNow, how good does THAT
look now 🙂w
v
wvParticipanthttp://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/for-jay-gruden-the-best-place-for-robert-griffin-iii-is-elsewhere/2014/12/03/911e0cde-7a69-11e4-9a27-6fdbc612bff8_story.html?wprss=rss_redskins-page-shell&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
by Jason Reid – Washington Post“…If it were up to Gruden, the Redskins would make a clean break in the offseason, taking whatever they could get for Griffin in a trade. But despite Griffin’s awful performance — he hasn’t won a game in more than a year while being benched in successive seasons — the situation may not be so clear-cut for Snyder and Allen, who had key roles in the decision to trade four high-round draft picks for the opportunity to select Griffin….” see link
======================
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/washington-redskins-secondary-remains-primary-concern-heading-into-game-vs-rams/2014/12/04/150711e6-7c0c-11e4-b821-503cc7efed9e_story.html
by Liz Clarke – Washington Post — Secondary concernsf there is a defining image from a loss the Washington Redskins would prefer to forget, it is of cornerback David Amerson flinging his arms skyward in disbelief Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium as he ran full-tilt, in futile pursuit of Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Donte Moncrief.
Moncrief streaked into the end zone for a 48-yard touchdown early in the third quarter. And with another blown coverage by the Redskins’ shorthanded, unseasoned and undisciplined secondary, Washington fell hopelessly in arrears.
Jim Haslett’s defense surrendered 42 points en route to the 49-27 loss (the Colts’ other score came on a fumble returned for a touchdown), dropping Washington to 3-9.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since the defeat, Haslett said Thursday that the mistakes, while disappointing, were “correctable.”
“That stuff is correctable, but it should have never happened in the first place,” Haslett said.
But with the ranks of defensive backs thinning and the recent gaffes occurring on the simplest coverages in Washington’s playbook, it appears a leap of faith that appreciable fixes can be made in time to right a season that has gone horribly wrong.
What Haslett said he can’t and won’t do is make the concepts any simpler, noting that some of the mistakes against the Colts occurred on plays familiar to high school players and installed on Day 2 of training camp.
Coach Jay Gruden and veteran safety Ryan Clark lamented much the same earlier in the week.
“If he simplifies it any more,” Clark said of Haslett’s scheme against the Colts, “I’d be able to let my son play, and he’s 13. We have a lot of stuff [in the playbook], but you don’t always use it all. The plays that they scored on, it wasn’t like it was exotic. It was simple things; they just spread us out.”
Haslett enumerated instances in which cornerbacks had their eyes locked on the wrong player or abandoned their responsibility in an effort to make a bigger splash, only to get beaten. “That’s poor,” Haslett said. “That not doing a good job. Obviously I didn’t get through to them, and we didn’t do a very good job of getting it executed. That falls on us.”
Amerson, 22, who was making his return to the lineup after being benched the previous week for missing a team meeting and part of practice, acknowledged he was among those who made mental blunders against the Colts.
“Definitely that last game was an embarrassment for our defense and secondary,” Amerson said. “It’s just little mental mistakes — knowing every time what’s supposed to happen, whether it’s this call or that call, who’s supposed to be where, not having those mental busts that we had in the last game.”
But he grew weary of the mea culpa.
“I feel like we do a lot of great things, but when we do things great, no one says anything about it,” Amerson said. “If something goes wrong, it’s all this and that.”
The Colts’ top-ranked offense represented the biggest challenge Washington’s defense had faced. Gruden said he was prepared for third-year quarterback Andrew Luck to make his share of plays. But he didn’t expect to see the Colts “waltz down the field and have guys 30 yards wide open” multiple times, he said afterward.
Four of Luck’s career-high five touchdown passes were for 30 yards or more; most were scored by receivers running free, unencumbered by pressure of any sort. Luck would have had a fifth of more than 30 yards had tight end Coby Fleener not dropped a sure-fire 50-yard touchdown throw early in the game. As it was, Fleener settled for scores of 30 and 73 yards.
The Colts’ 49 points made irrelevant a 27-point effort by Washington’s slow-starting offense that should have been enough to win most NFL games.
It also brought renewed scrutiny to Haslett’s job performance. And it highlighted the secondary as a glaring area of need heading into the 2015 NFL draft.
The fixes touted as shoring up the unit during the recent offseason have proved little more than stopgap measures. Clark, signed last spring, has been a stabilizing presence, particularly after cornerback DeAngelo Hall was lost for the season in Week 3. But at 35, he said this week he’s not counting on his NFL career continuing beyond this season.
While Washington’s upcoming opponent, the St. Louis Rams (5-7), can’t match the Colts’ offense, it is coming off a 52-0 throttling of the Raiders. That’s plenty to give Haslett pause, particularly with injuries mounting.
Washington may well be without starting strong safety Brandon Meriweather for Sunday’s game. The eight-year veteran has been unable to practice this week after spraining a big toe during the loss at Indianapolis.
His backup, first-year player Phillip Thomas, was elevated from the practice squad only recently and had a shaky outing in relief Sunday.
Neither backup cornerback — E.J. Biggers, featured in nickel packages, and Chase Minnifield — was able to practice Thursday, still dealing with the concussions.
Haslett has cobbled together his defensive backfield much of the season but was forced to improvise even more against the Colts, sliding rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland, a strong athlete and dutiful student, into the role Biggers typically plays, covering slot receivers, and installing Minnifield in Breeland’s spot. Breeland did well, Haslett said. But more lineup shuffling is likely in store against the Rams.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 3 months ago by
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AuthorPosts


