After a long, confusing, and drama-filled offseason, regular season football is finally here. Unfortunately for Redskins fans, it started off in a familiar fashion as the Dolphins beat the Redskins 17-10.
It was truly a game of two halves, as the Redskins owned the first two quarters only to watch in a stupor as the Dolphins came out and dominated the second half on both sides of the ball.
Without further ado, let’s jump straight into the Week 1 edition of What worked. What didn’t. What sucked.
What worked
- Reports of Alfred Morris no longer being the Redskins bellcow Running Back were greatly exagerrated, as the consistently impressive Morris rumbled his way to 121 yards on 25 carries today. His numbers weren’t inflated by any overly long gains either, with his longest carry notching up 14 yards. Instead, Morris did what he does best; hit the gaps hard and power through contact to rack up reliable yards on every carry. Matt Jones and Chris Thompson had a combined 9 carries for 39 yards behind Morris.
- The Offensive Line had some problems during preseason, but today they looked sharp. Neither Ndamakong Suh or Cameron Wake had a sack, and the aforementioned success of the ground game led by Morris was certainly helped in a big way by his Offensive Line. Special mention needs to be given to both Morgan Moses and Brandon Scherff in their first game as the new starting Right Tackle and Right Guard, as they were stalwart against some very tough opponents.
- Tight End Jordan Reed looked healthy and fierce today, hauling in the Redskins only Touchdown and leading the team in receptions, too. Reed plays with a noticeable fire in his belly and isn’t afraid of contact, however given his injury history perhaps he should be just a little more conservative in putting his body on the line. Regardless, a nice showing today.
- ‘Capital Punishment’, the new-look Redskins Defensive Line, did their part today. The Dolphins all but abandoned the run in the second half of the game after struggling on the ground all first half, including several huge stops on 3rd and 4th down.
- Quarterback Kirk Cousins moved the ball well when given the opportunity to throw it, leading the team to 12 first downs in the air. Cousins was somewhat limited by the game plan though. More on that below.
- Rookie Outside Linebacker Preston Smith had what might be the biggest ever time differential between registering a Sack-fumble and then the fumble recovery. The ball went through at least five different players hands from the snap to the eventual recovery by Smith, and it was one of the weirder plays you’ll see today;
What didn’t.
- When you can’t reliably boot the ball out of the endzone for touchbacks, you better make sure you can reliably hit mid-range Field Goals. Unfortunately for Kai Forbath, he missed a 46 yarder to the right. In a low scoring game like this was, every single scoring opportunity matters. The miss didn’t cost the Redskins the game, but it made their job a lot tougher.
- When the perception that surrounds you is that you throw interceptions under pressure, the worst thing you can do is prove that perception correct. Unfortunately for Cousins, he did that today in the second quarter. Flushed out of the pocket, he looked to fire a throw to Jordan Reed but completely missed the lurking Brent Grimes. This is the kind of interception that can often turn into a pick six, so the Redskins caught a lucky break that Grimes’ momentum carried him out of bounds. Regardless, this was a poor decision by Cousins who needed to simply throw it away.
- After losing DeSean Jackson to a hamstring injury early in the game, the Redskins did not do a good enough job of getting guys like Ryan Grant or Jamison Crowder involved. When a starter goes down, you need to trust in your backups to be able to contribute, yet the Redskins didn’t give Grant or Crowder much of an opportunity to prove themselves today.
- Third-down Running Back Chris Thompson deserves his spot on this team after working hard all offseason to develop into a more well-rounded player. However today, he struggled in pass protection assignments and didn’t get an opportunity to catch any balls out of the backfield. A combination of being under-utilized and poor coaching.
What sucked
- Injuries are never a good thing, but losing two starters in the first half of your Week 1 game hurts especially bad. DeSean Jackson appears to have pulled a hamstring, and Duke Ihenacho has a fractured wrist. Both players are quality starters for this Redskins team, and both players appear likely to spend some time on the sidelines in the coming weeks.
- After DeAngelo Hall took a shot to the ribs and had to leave the game, David Amerson came in and was immediately exposed. Ryan Tannehill targeted Amerson 5 snaps in a row, with the drive ending in a 3 yard touchdown pass to Dolphins Wide Receiver Rishard Matthews.
- At the top of the 4th quarter with the score tied 10-10, the Redskins of 2015 did something that was eerily reminiscent of the Redskins of 2014; they gave up a Special Teams touchdown on a 69 yard punt return by Jarvis Landry.
- There were numerous things that went wrong on the punt return touchdown, including soft arm-tackle attempts and inexcusable effort from multiple players not running at full speed. Not what you want to see in Week 1.
- What was most frustrating out of everything today was the play calling from Head Coach Jay Gruden. It is perfectly understandable and acceptable to play conservative in order to ease your new starting Quarterback into the season, however calls like a draw-run on 3rd and 29 are just ridiculous. Gruden made Cousins the starter because he said he believed in his ability as a Quarterback. It’s a Quarterback’s job to be given the responsibility on plays like those, and when you take it away from him you undermine the entire offense. Enormously frustrating.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
