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***OFFICIAL*** Washington Commanders Thread (5 Viewers)

I’m not alone in thinking that we severely upgraded our QB position from last year to this one, am I?
Smith today was 12/20/200/2/0. SKins had 166 yards rushing, and had a lead because Smith threw some contested deep throws which were completed or drew a PI.

With Cousins I don't think those contested throws get made, and we pass 80% of the time with some more turnovers.

I think it's at least even, or an upgrade. Piling up passing yardage doesn't win games.

 
Smith today was 12/20/200/2/0. SKins had 166 yards rushing, and had a lead because Smith threw some contested deep throws which were completed or drew a PI.

With Cousins I don't think those contested throws get made, and we pass 80% of the time with some more turnovers.

I think it's at least even, or an upgrade. Piling up passing yardage doesn't win games.
I would agree.  At least even and he was cheaper.  

However i am not confident in our wrs and that may be part of the reason we are so run heavy. 

 
I am looking forward to seeing how they progress by the end of the season though.  Either way, we will know where we stand with them. 
This is a key point.  Green Bay's defense is not stellar.  But what happens when we play a defense that is absolutely committed to taking away the run and the shorter tight end routes.  We do need to find a way to loosen the defense up.  That's why I do like Gruden's early play call to Richardson deep.  Richardson actually impressed me on that play. While the ball was not well thrown, Richardson made a good adjustment and catch...if that's his skill level, at least in theory that's something to build on.  Doctson I'm still sour on and don't think he should be starting.  

What I think may give the Redskins a punchers chance going forward is a defense that seems to be improved.  Dunbar stepping in after we lost Breeland and Fuller was the big question mark in the secondary but he seems to be a legit starter.  Meanwhile, with Allen healthy, that defensive front is definitely improved.  We are seeing now what a truly big deal the Allen injury was last year.  But, if we can at least keep in close enough so that we can throw deep sometimes and not all the times, then at least we may be competitive in some of these games.

Looking forward, we have Saints, Panthers, Cowboys, Giants, Falcons to close out the first half of the season.  That's a tough schedule.  Conference games are always tough but that non conference stretch is brutal.  If they can make it to the half way point at 4-4 I'll be impressed, though I'm not predicting it...

 
Who is this Peterson fellow? He might make it in this league.

Thank god for a big first half lead. They had no offense the second half.

Lose to the Colts, beat the Packers. This team is nuts and the NFL is nuts.
Based on the game the Colts gave the Eagles, I think the Colts may be a team on the rise. That loss may not so look so bad based on where the Colts end up this season.

 
Yeah, we seldom see a WR get open any more.
There were a couple plays where Smith had tons of time (including some scrambling) and he still couldn’t find someone open. The old saying is that DBs can’t cover receivers that long, but apparently that may not be true in our case. 

 
Dunbar stepping in after we lost Breeland and Fuller was the big question mark in the secondary but he seems to be a legit starter.  Meanwhile, with Allen healthy, that defensive front is definitely improved.  We are seeing now what a truly big deal the Allen injury was last year. 
Dunbar has been quite good, and I'm impressed with Moreau as well. Allen changes plays, and Payne is making an impact on some as well. Yesterday was the best game of the year for each of them, I thought.

 
There were a couple plays where Smith had tons of time (including some scrambling) and he still couldn’t find someone open. The old saying is that DBs can’t cover receivers that long, but apparently that may not be true in our case. 
Sad and kind of funny in how you word it...but true perhaps.00

I will give him this...Smith did show the ability to send it in there to contested receivers to let them make plays, and it did pay off...not only to Richardson but think about all those pass interference calls as well.  One of the knocks on Cousins was that he wouldn't throw it up there to let the guys make a play.  It's perhaps a subtle difference but could be meaningful at key times.  The other difference to be seen is how many mistakes the QB makes under pressure.  Smith had one bad throw yesterday when he thought Reed was cutting to the sideline and the defender did instead, resulting in an easy pick.  Other than that, he's protected the ball pretty well.  Contrast that to Cousins, who was forced to throw 55 times this weekend, resulting in multiple turnovers, apparently his MO when he's under pressure or when "the game really counts."  Too early to tell, but we'll see if these differences amount to much over the course of the season.  Smith, Cousins, and our receiving corp still have 13 games to go, minimum...

 
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/redskins-josh-doctson-held-without-target/

"Doctson was held without a catch on three targets in Sunday's 31-17 win over the Packers

Alex Smith threw for 220 yards on just 20 attempts in the comfortable win, directing seven passes to Jordan Reed and four to Jamison Crowder. Despite playing 88 percent of the snaps on offense through three games, Doctson has accounted for just 14 percent of the team target total while catching five of 13 passes for 48 yards. He's now looking at a Week 4 bye, followed by a dream matchup Week 5 in New Orleans."

Start Harris...

 
Defense has obviously been good. 

Offense has been inconsistent. They struggled all game against Indy. They dominated the first half at Arizona and the first half yesterday. I like how they ended yesterday with strong running after the fumble recovery, but they really struggled offensively in the second half. So, basically, they’ve played two good halves of offensive football. 

 
I like the snap counts for Allen and Payne yesterday. There was much more of a rotation the first two weeks, but they both played a ton yesterday and it seemed to work. 

 
nice win.  Skins look like a better team then Dallas this year, and no one in the NFC East is looking like a beast.  This is how Adrian Peterson started last year too, right?  (with AZ anyway).  Strong start then fizzled out?  I'd be a little nervous about keeping up the workload this early.

 
Trent Williams getting cleanup procedure on knee. Morgan Moses in concussion protocol. Josh Norman with a hamstring issue.

The last 2 are worrisome.

 
Just glancing at some stats so far through 3 weeks...

Redskins have outgained their opponents every game, with +46 yards being the closest so far against GB.

Redskins have made 11 redzone trips with 6 TDs. Not great and something that has been a struggle for a while now. That % ranks 17th in the NFL, so it's not horrible either. The good thing, though, is that opponents have only reached the redzone 7 times (scoring 5 TDs). So, the Redskins have converted redzone TDs one less time than their opponents have even had redzone opportunities. Both Washington and their opponents have scored once from outside the redzone (both Sunday vs GB).

Redskins have points on 36.4% of their drives compared to just 20.6% for their opponents (leads the league).

Average drive is 6.3 plays, 3:03 time of possession, covers 35.1 yards, and results in 1.94 points. Defensively, they are only on the field for an average of 5.2 plays, 2:20 of time, 24.5 yards, and yielding only 1.32 points per drive.

201 plays at 5.7 yards per play for Washington. 177 and 4.7 for opponents.

Very balanced attack on offense so far: 102 pass plays (96 attempts and 6 sacks) and 99 rush attempts (#1 in the NFL). Defensively, they've faced nearly twice as many passes as rushes (117 passes and 60 rushes). Both of those arelikely a factor of two big leads by halftime.

Top 5 in a ton of pass D yards stats (y/g, y/a, ay/a, y/c, ny/a, any/a).

Opponents are 0-3 on 4th down conversions.

Tied with Jax as the #2 scoring defense. Also ranked #2 by total yards, only 15 yards behind the Ravens who are #1.

 
The receivers have been pretty bad.

They've only been targeted on 39 of Alex Smith's 96 passes. And only 23 of Smith's 66 completions. That's a 59% completion % to WRs, which doesn't sound good. Not going to take the time to compare to other teams, but these strike me as low numbers (both how little they use their WRs and how affective the WRs are).

Take out Richardson's TD Sunday and the WRs are 22-212-1 on 38 targets in three games.

 
The receivers have been pretty bad.

They've only been targeted on 39 of Alex Smith's 96 passes. And only 23 of Smith's 66 completions.
That's pretty much been the story on Alex Smith though, hasn't it? It's one of the reasons the game feels so much more comfortable to watch when your team has the lead and Alex Smith as QB, and you feel so much more nervous when your team is behind and Alex Smith is your QB.

So far so good, as WAS has held a lead in 2 out of 3 games but heaven help them WHEN they get behind(especially WHEN Reed/Thompson get dinged up). For now it's just fun to enjoy a two minute drive at the end of the half with confidence Smith is going to make the right decisions in terms of risk/clock management just before the half. I'm not a Cousins-Hater but man, that guy was awful in the two minute offense. What a huge difference it made having Smith march down the field at the end of the first half and make it a 28-10 game at half. How many times have Redskins fans watched Cousins either have a 3-and-out allowing the other team to have a FG before half, or even worse have a bone headed turnover and let the other team score a TD before half. The difference between going into the locker room ahead 28-10 vs either 21-13 or even worse a possible 21-17 is just huge. That difference is really the reason the Patriots have been so dominant for so many years. Having that 18 point lead coming into the second half completely shapes the way you can defend the Packers in the second half.

 
Since we all know we're sort of keeping track, the Vikings are 1-2-1. Their comeback against the Rams was stopped by a QB fumble. Lots of passing yards for the Vikings.

 
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Since we all know we're sort of keeping track, the Vikings are 1-2-1. Their comeback against the Rams was stopped by a QB fumble. Lots of passing yards for the Vikings.
And pick up that garbage flag on Clay Matthews and Kirk loses that game with a late pick. 

 
And pick up that garbage flag on Clay Matthews and Kirk loses that game with a late pick. 
BIngo.  Vikings should be 1-3

Several additional notes:

1. In Cousins defense, he actually played a pretty decent game up until the end.  He moved the offense and put up enough points to win lots of games.  BUT -- pure to form, when the game was on the line, he makes a critical mistake.  I was texting a friend during the game and on that last drive, I said, "What's it going to be, a INT or a fumble."  And boom, it was a fumble.  Ditto with Cousins clock management at the end of the first half...he absolutely torpedoed the teams' chance to go for a TD vs. a FG.  Bottom line:  Cousins is talented QB who can move his team and score.  But over and over when under pressure he makes untimely mistakes.  It's definitely a trend.

2.  Minnesota's pass defense is horrid. I thought Kirk left Washington because we are a "dumpster fire" over here and he was going to a Super Bowl favorite.  Ironic that Washington's defense looks to be as good if not better than Minnesota's at this point.  You would have called me crazy to say that before the season started, and I don't totally mean it now...but it's less of a crazy assertion than it was a few weeks ago.  So, I guess all the pundits will now say, "Kirk is a fanchise QB...if the Vikings defense was any good..."

 
Doug Williams letting everyone know that bringing Peterson in was an idea of his and Eric Schaffer:

Williams explained that the decision to invite Peterson in for a free agent visit in late August came about during a conversation with senior vice president of football operations Eric Schaffer.

“He looked and me and said, ‘Well, what do you think, what do we got to lose?’” Williams said. “I’m a little hesitant to pull the plug, and then before I went out to practice I looked at Eric and said, ‘Hey Eric, what the heck? Let’s do it.’

“The thing about that, I came to practice, I was so hyped about it that I forgot to tell Bruce that we was bringing him in. I’m sitting there that evening and Bruce came in my office and he just stood there looking at me. I’m thinking, what’d I do? Well, Dan had called him and let him know he didn’t know. And Bruce let me know that he didn’t know because Dan didn’t know. I said, ‘Well look, that’s on me.’ I took it. Sometimes you have to have big shoulders, you take it and you move on.”
The story was told in Doug's usual affable way, but I think he put it out there so we knew whose idea it was, and whose it wasn't.

 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/10/01/trent-williams-sits-out-redskins-return-practice-adrian-peterson-josh-norman-limited/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ea2f9a4ed67a

Trent Williams (recoup from knee surgery) sat out of practice Monday.  AP (ankle) and Norman (hamstring) were limited.

Trent is tough as nails; I image he will play.  They timed this surgery for the bye so he wouldn't miss time.

I'm sure AP will give it a go; he's a warrior.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am ok with Perrine and Bibbs filling in...I have a feeling we may have to throw a lot in this game anyway, just to keep up with the N.O. offense.  We may be seeing a heavy dose of CT and Bibbs regardless.

Norman I'm most nervous about.  Hamstrings can linger and I don't like the prospect of facing Brees without our top corner.  

Still early in the week, particularly for a MNF game but these all storylines to watch...

 
I'm sure AP will give it a go; he's a warrior.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am ok with Perrine and Bibbs filling in
I don't ever want to see Perine on the field during a regular season game, unless there's some strategic  advantage in giving the other team the ball. And I hope we aren't seeing the beginning of Peterson being hurt and ineffective, but we might be.

Mack Brown is back, signed to the practice squad.

 
fatness said:
I don't ever want to see Perine on the field during a regular season game, unless there's some strategic  advantage in giving the other team the ball.
?

This made me laugh I admit, and point well taken...

 
How many points do they need to score to beat the Saints?

Alternate question: How many points do they need to hold the Saints to in order to win?

 
How many points do they need to score to beat the Saints?

Alternate question: How many points do they need to hold the Saints to in order to win?
In four games, New Orleans has scored over 30 points three times and 40 or more points two times.  So that tells you a lot right there.  In answer to your  questions, I have two competing thoughts:

1. In answer to your first question, conventional wisdom would suggest that Washington would most likely need to score over 30 points to have a chance to win the game...call it 35 points if you need a number, but again, keep in mind N. O. has scored over 35 multiple times this season already.  

2.  But thinking more deeply about this:  I think if the scores get into the 30s, then that's not a game script or style of game the Redskins want to get into.  New Orleans is built for shoot outs; Washington is not.  Therefore, if it gets in the 30s, I don't like our chances. 

I think the better way to look at it is through your "alternative question" -- can we play good enough defense to limit New Orleans scores and then on offense try to run the ball, throw short passes and consume clock to keep Breese off the field.  For instance, could we actually dare to keep them to 20 points or less?  I think that's the more realistic path to a Redskins win that beating them in a shootout...

 
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I think the better way to look at it is through your "alternative question" -- can we play good enough defense to limit New Orleans scores and then on offense try to run the ball, throw short passes and consume clock to keep Breese off the field.  For instance, could we actually dare to keep them to 20 points or less?  I think that's the more realistic path to a Redskins win that beating them in a shootout...
That's how I'm thinking about it, too. Keep the ball at least 35 minutes of the game, come away with scores every possession (even if they're FG's), pressure Brees, trust the secondary (don't laugh), and they have a shot. The one player they can't account for is Kamara. I'd put Zach Brown on him all game. Nobody else can catch him.

 
That's how I'm thinking about it, too. Keep the ball at least 35 minutes of the game, come away with scores every possession (even if they're FG's), pressure Brees, trust the secondary (don't laugh), and they have a shot. The one player they can't account for is Kamara. I'd put Zach Brown on him all game. Nobody else can catch him.
Ingram's first game back. That offense is going to throw everything at us. We're going to be in a fight. Hopefully this team responds and can give as good as it gets. Hoping this is a Maurice Harris coming out party. 

Besides our obvious edge in Skintangibles, it is worth noting that this is an Adrian Peterson revenge game! Most people forget that AP is undefeated in revenge games as a Washington Redskin. 

 
Ingram's first game back. That offense is going to throw everything at us. We're going to be in a fight. Hopefully this team responds and can give as good as it gets. Hoping this is a Maurice Harris coming out party. 

Besides our obvious edge in Skintangibles, it is worth noting that this is an Adrian Peterson revenge game! Most people forget that AP is undefeated in revenge games as a Washington Redskin. 
Strongly agree with the bolded.  Recent reports suggest that Mr. Glass aka Josh Doctson may not be ready to roll on Monday night (shocker).  Here's hoping Harris not only plays well but seizes the starting job!

And yeah, I did forget how unstoppable AP has been on his Redskins Revenge Game Tour.  Might have to lay some money down on this one... :P

 
That's how I'm thinking about it, too. Keep the ball at least 35 minutes of the game, come away with scores every possession (even if they're FG's), pressure Brees, trust the secondary (don't laugh), and they have a shot. The one player they can't account for is Kamara. I'd put Zach Brown on him all game. Nobody else can catch him.
:X

 
That's how I'm thinking about it, too. Keep the ball at least 35 minutes of the game, come away with scores every possession (even if they're FG's), pressure Brees, trust the secondary (don't laugh), and they have a shot. The one player they can't account for is Kamara. I'd put Zach Brown on him all game. Nobody else can catch him.
Well, that’s all out the window now...

 
In fairness, they’ve done a tremendous job of shutting down Kamara
Oh yeah that’s true.  I mean what’s out the window is trying to win a lower scoring game.  New Orleans has 26 at the half.  They’d have to win a shootout now.  Not impossible but not out style or strength.  Winning our way is what is out the window...

 

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