Images Courtesy of CSN
There are not a whole lot of positives to pull out of last night’s debacle. The secondary looked shoddy, there was inconsistent pass rush, and the offense was nonexistent. However, it is only preseason, and I’m not hitting the panic button and neither should you. As a little lighter approach to a recap, let’s start with a few of the smartest comments from my facebook mini-feed from the last 12 hours (with my commentary added in italics):
Eagles Fan #1: its only preseason but damn cowboys and redskins looked like some shyt lol
…and you all dominated New England, huh?
Steelers Fan #1: Wonders how you spell Betts: Not sure but if your the Redskins you spell it Bettis: Great job spelling your own players name correctly. Looks to be a long season.
How about YOU’RE and PLAYER’S bud? Poor spelling on jerseys in the DMV is tradition now. Pot, meet kettle.
Eagles Fan #2: all you deadskins fans spouting off at the mouth are just pissed you didn't sign vick and you know it. i can't wait for him to dice you up in week 7 suckers! i'll be at fedex in my vick jersey!!
Ok so let’s avoid the fact that you lost last night too. By the way, Deadskins is original, but luckily they won three Super Bowls before they left this world. Talk to me when Vick is relevant on the field again.
Ravens Fan #1: Well, since the Ravens clearly own the Redskins now, did Dany Snyder sell the team to Bisciotti during the offseason or something?
Yes, the old “Ravens dominate the rivalry” argument. I’m glad you were able to destroy us in a preseason game. Congratulations, you’re going to the Super Bowl! Hey, 49ers fans, how did that whitewash in Osaka feel back in ’02?! Spurrier’s taking us all the way! Shut up Baltimore.
…and from my good buddy Wendy: We can only go up from here Redskins, no worries, I have faith!
It’s easy to freak out after a game like the one we were subjected to last night. Personally, I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy after what I saw, but the world isn’t ending either. Here are my few thoughts from Preseason Week 1:
• The fact that Darrell Green has publicly risked his reputation on Justin Tryon scares the life out of me. Tryon looked worse (if that is possible) than he did in 2008 against a maligned Ravens’ receiving corps last night. He had a game-high five tackles, but every one of them seemed to be running a guy down from behind. He’s a liability in coverage right now, and luckily we still have three guys in front of him. Considering he played a huge chunk of the game at one corner spot, which would never be the case in the regular season, I’m not panicking yet. After all, we did draft Kevin Barnes, who…
• …looked like shit a couple of times, most notably on a double-pump from Troy Smith (who played a great game, considering it wasn’t a bowl game…zing!) for a touchdown to Justin Harper. The big hitter didn’t get many other opportunity to shine, and didn’t do much to ease the mind of Tryon-haters.
• Marques Hagans has no business on this roster. Not only is he a Wahoo, he’s never been that good and we don’t need another short, converted QB playing wideout on the team.
• Brian Orakpo is going to be good, but I still don’t know if he should be a linebacker. He seemed much more comfortable with a hand down, but he had a couple of nice shots at the QB, and showed a lot of speed. Let’s see how he progresses, but I have a good feeling about him.
• Speaking of rookies, Jeremy Jarmon looked pretty strong as well. He got a little pressure and seemed to play well against the run.
• Jason Campbell still holds onto the ball too damn long.
• The Hokies seemed to have a good night. Will Montgomery had a strong outing at center, while DeAngelo Hall had a solid breakup at the goal line in his small amount of playing time. Justin Harper whipped the Redskins backups for 57 yards and a pretty touchdown.
• The 2nd Round Flops had 6 catches for 54 yards and two fumbles. WAKE UP FRED DAVIS!!
Overall it was a bad outing and Jim Zorn needs to get his shit together to keep the fans off his back. We must see more offensive consistency during the preseason to enter the regular season with ANY semblance of confidence. I think it will get better, but we’ll have to wait and watch. As far as the other big news of the night, Mike Vick has signed with the Eagles (as shown above). I have to say that I AM glad that he has signed somewhere, partially so we don’t have to hear about it all the time, and partially because he deserves a chance to show what he can do. However, I don’t exactly think Philly is the best fit for him, and I think their fans will be all over him as soon as they realize he isn’t going to perform like a superstar right off the bat. Vick still has potential, but he’s no savior, and people need to quit treating him as such. As far as I’m concerned, he’s still a guy fighting his way back into the league, and I think he’ll do well, but I don’t think that’s the sort of “nurturing” environment that he needs.
Here’s hoping next week goes a little better against the defending Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Illegal-Gun-Shooting, Motorcycle-Crashing, Waitress-Raping Steelers. They sure are starting to sound like “America’s Team,” huh? That’s not a compliment Pittsburghers.
