Weekend Round-Up

Ok guys, I'm alive. Promise. It was tough to post during homecoming weekend because I: a. didn't bring my laptop with me, and b. was only able watch two of the four relevant games to this blog (way to be cheap and not have cable Jeremey/Stephen). However, the long weekend was nice, and I do have plenty to talk about, so strap in...we'll take this team-by-team (saving the best for last with regards to recent performance).

Redskins lose to Carolina 20-17:

Terrible. This was one I wasn't able to watch. Thanks to my trusty Blackberry (that I almost threw against the wall), I saw that we managed to play an ugly game, at least according to the ESPN gamecast. I saw lots of fumbles, lots of sacks, and no Chris Cooley. That is not a combination for winning. To make matters worse, Phillip Daniels and Chris Samuels both appear to have suffered reasonably significant injuries. Wonderful. Any momentum (and there wasn't much) coming out of the win against the Bucs is now gone, and we'll be lucky to compete against the lowly Chiefs this weeked. God help us all. Can we just take this season out back and shoot it already? We could put ourselves out of our own misery.

Caps fall in Detroit 3-2, then poop their pants in the third period for the fourth straight game and lose to the Devils in a shootout.

More terrible in some ways because unlike the Skins, they have no business playing this way. I wasn't able to watch the Detroit game, but I did watch last night. As much as I hate Nylander, maybe Boudreau needs to send a message to Boyd Gordon about late game penalties. The lacka of dissaprine is no good. We're tied with Tampa for the division lead for God's sake. Jose Theodore looks spectacular at times and overmatched at others, but the blueline is KILLING us. I don't know that I've seen such terrible play out of Tom Poti in his now 2+ years in Washington. We have no elite defensemen right now. Not good. I have confidence that they'll turn things around, as they've been in games despite their own stupidity, but Gabby's got to start preaching accountability to the boys in red.

And finally, Hokies take BC behind the woodshed instead of playing down to their opponent.

Maybe it was the three consecutive regular season losses to the Eagles. Maybe it was the fact that I radiate amazingness and was present in Lane Stadium for the dominance. Maybe Bryan Stinespring has finally decided to keep his head out of his butt and call a football game. Maybe Tyrod Taylor is a legit QB. I don't know that these are all the reasons why we won on Saturday, but I think they all made a difference (especially point #2). Now after seeing this team in person, I know that they have the ability to be special. N*%#$ C#*@#& special (yeah, I'm not saying those words)? I don't know...maybe. I don't think we'll win out. I've said it over and over, but we have the ABILITY to win out. Tyrod looks poised, accurate and confident under pressure, as evidenced by his touchdown pass to Danny Coale in the first quarter. Ryan Williams truly is a monster, and should be the '09 version of Bo Jackson in Tecmo. Coale and Boykin look legit, and Ed Wang even brocked werr on Saturday. He graded at 89 percent...wow. Guess those sumo lessons are paying off.

Bud Foster decided to go ahead and sacrifice that calf. His name was Dave Shinske. Master of Ceremonies for that ordeal was Nekos Brown, who was all over the place. Rashad Carmichael, like I've been saying all year is legit, and Kam Chancellor managed to not mess anything up either. Overall the defense looked great. If Tech plays with that sense of urgency for the rest of the season, the sky is the limit.

Overall, a so-so weekend for FFODC teams. The Caps can buy a break right now, but the Skins can't. The Hokies look really good, but must be consistent from week to week. I'll be back tonight with a Hokie surprise that I hope you guys will like. Until then, try not to burn all your Redskins' stuff.

Dook Fought Back: Hokies WIN 34-26

I remain unimpressed with what I saw of the performance on Saturday, but in this day and age, I'll take a win any way the Hokies can manage it. While our pass defense seemed atrocious, and big pass plays a week before playing Boston College terrify me just a little bit, we're finding different ways to win games, and that's what matters. Bryan Stinespring is slowly crawling his way out of the doghouse...very slowly. If Tyrod Taylor can beat teams with his arms and his legs, we might just have...dare I say it...an explosive offense. Overall, I'm happy with Josh Oglesby's efficiency, and Taylor's confidence, as well as the receivers' newfound ability to step up when needed. Something about Dyrell Roberts drop late in the Nebraska game seems to have sparked the whole corps play over the last two weeks. I would feel a lot worse about this week if we didn't have Bud Foster at the helm of the defense, but I fully expect he'll have the troops ready to roll come Saturday...and I can't wait for Enter Sandman. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Go Hokies

Redskins Fall to DSRL: Quick Thoughts

Image Courtesy of the Washington Post

Again, sorry for the delay on this, but the week has been hectic so I’m a little behind. Here are my quick hits from the Redskins 23-17 loss to the New York Giants.

• I still don’t think Eli is worth $100 million. His receivers are young but better than they’re given credit for. That being said, our defensive backfield was HORRENDOUS all day, and LaRon Landry really made the only play that set up D-Hall’s INT. We have to step it up.


• Tackling was awful. Smoot just reminds me of Deion Sanders so much in that regard. We have to wrap up and quit going for strips. The defense is pressing for big plays.
  Albert Haynesworth in particular did his job on two 3rd and ones and one 4th and one in the first half. His size, penetration and strength single-handedly killed two New York drives. That’s why you make the money.


• However, pass rush left a lot to be desired. Eli still had plenty of time to find open receivers, and didn’t have to check down often. Brian Orakpo was nowhere to be found. The Skins need him to have a big week against a sub-par St. Louis offense. He needs to build some confidence.


• Malcolm Kelly’s blocking was good, his route running wasn’t. He couldn’t gain separation, and he and Santana seriously disappointed. If they continue to put up numbers like that, the Skins will be lucky to win four games this season.


• Jason Campbell single handedly lost the game. He didn’t do anything terrible or great, except for his fumble. He had about six yards in front of him on the strip-turned-touchdown by Umenyiora, and he didn’t step up into the pocket. His Madden-type awareness on that play was about a 7.


• The offensive play calling was weak and predictable. Run-Run-Pass-Punt, Repeat. Not good. I liked the fake field goal, but that was the brightest spot of the day.

Feels kind of like last year's opener. We don’t have a bad team, but probably not a good one either. Campbell protects the ball and we win by a score of (wait for my genius from the preview) 17-16. The defense did not lose the game. If the receivers get going next week, we should coast, but we all know how Washington franchises play against serious underdogs…

Hokies trample The Herd 52-10: Afterthoughts

Sorry for the delay on this, but a wedding and some friend commitments this weekend delayed my recaps. Skins will come tomorrow after work. Promise. I only got to watch the first half in real time (due to previously mentioned wedding), but I watched the replay online of the second half. Here are my quick thoughts on the domination.

• Tyrod is still a work in progress. He HAS to have the run game set him up, and Stiney finally realized that. Once T-Mobile got comfortable, his passes stopped floating behind his receivers and he got into a zone. He can be effective, but his arm is probably our third best option right now.
• Ryan Williams is a “north-south” runner. I swear the two old codgers on 360 didn’t say anything else for the first 25 minutes of the game. While I didn’t think this was necessarily true before Saturday, Ru proved me wrong. He broke tackles, showed a great head of steam, and wonderful vision. Even if he doesn’t prefer it, he looks REALLY good when he hits a hole and knows where he wants to go.
• David Wilson might be the fastest back I’ve seen at Tech. Now that’s only since ’95, but the kid’s got some wheels, and a little bit of lumber. He’s also hard to bring down, and damn can he fly. Two backs over 160 yards makes me feel really good…especially considering we’re still missing D.E.’s thunder this season. Look out 2010.
• Our linebackers are still learning but they will be good. I think we were all spoiled by the maturity of Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi when they came to Tech, but Jake Johnson and Barquell Rivers know how to get to the ball, and the pass coverage stuff will all come with time. They’re really good, raw talent.
• Our pass defense is going to struggle next week unless we get Stephan Virgil back next week. We had a few scares that could have been big plays Saturday. Luckily we made up for bad positioning with athleticism and speed.
• Our defensive tackles are no slouches. I love watching John Graves and Taco Thompson play, but Antoine Hopkins could be a VERY special player for the Hokies in the coming years.
• Blake DeChristopher is still a sieve in pass protection.

Stiney’s off the hook for calling a good game, and his athletes made him look like a genius. Nebraska is a better test (~50 overall defense in the nation) than Marshall, and won’t be run over easily. The athleticism of Ru and Wilson will come in handy on the corners against the Black Shirts, and Tyrod should have some luck in the passing game (especially finding his tight ends). Look for Sam Wheeler as a possible secret weapon next week. I’ll have a preview on Friday.

Recap: Redskins Fall to Jags 24-17

I’ll keep this quick, since I’m a day late and it’s college gameday.

• I think Orakpo was held on every play for the first two drives. He’s a freak.
• Justin Tryon should give Jeremy Jarmon a hug for the free interception he got out of Jarmon’s good pass rush.
• I’d be surprised if they actually kept anyone after Rock in the backfield.
• Marko Mitchell didn’t have his best game, but he’s still the #5.
• Speaking of #5, Colt has to be the number three while Chase will be on the practice squad, at least in my opinion.
• Our special teams are still awful, but good job on that 48 yarder Shazzam.

VT/Alabama Preview later this morning…WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thoughts from the Mini-Feed: Redskins Fall 23-0

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.