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Redskins Lose a Game They Should Have Won, But Take Heart. The NFC East is in Chaos.

Jimmie | October 14, 2008 | Comments (0)

Okay, so maybe we don’t get out the Bandwagon quite yet. But even though My Beloved Redskins dropped a game to the St. Louis Rams they should have won, I still think the team is in really good shape and has been improving in very important ways. The stats tell the tale. They had more first downs (21-8), more total yards (368-200), more total plays (61-54), and a long time of possession (31:00-29:00). They dominated the Rams in every area but two – turnovers and field position – and that’s what left enough room for the woeful opposition to drive the field in the final minute and kick the game-winning field goal.

The ‘Skins had not committed a single turnover in the first five games of the season but gave up three fumbles to the Rams’ one. They were out-punted the entire game to the tune of seven more yards, which meant that the Rams weren’t very often backed up against their own end zone. In the NFL, seven yards is a considerable advantage.

So, fine. They couldn’t punt their way out of a wet paper sack and they put the ball on the ground more than a referee in an Aussie Rules Football game. Santana Moss was nearly invisible for the second-straight game and the Rams’ wicked pass rush kept him off-balance enough that he couldn’t throw effectively to Chris Cooley either. Those all seem temporary problems to me. Moss will not stay invisible the rest of the season and Joe Bugel will whip the offensive line into a pass-protection frenzy. Jim Zorn has proven in the first five games that he’s flexible and inventive enough to come up with adequate protection for Campbell. And let’s remember that Jason isn’t exactly a seasoned veteran quarterback. He’s still getting his legs underneath him. Games where he gets rattled will happen again. I much prefer to think that the near-flawless performances against the Cowboys and Eagles are the new rule instead of back to back exceptions. Let’s also remember that even though he didn’t play well against the Giants or the Rams, he’s faced some pretty good defenses and has yet to throw an interception. He’s the only QB who hasn’t.

The defense again turned in a fierce effort, giving up only 12 points. Any idea Steven Jackson might have had of a breakout performance was squashed pretty early on. I’m not happy with the late-game lapses in the so-called prevent defense, but Greg Blache is no dummy. I wouldn’t plan on seeing that happen very much more this year.

What I want to know is what the hell has gotten into the running game this year. Clinton Portis went for over 120 yards for the third straight game (and two TDs). The rushing offense is racking up over 150 YPG, good for third in the league and Portis leads the league (by almost 50 yards) in rushing yardage. The offensive line is simply crushing every D-line they face and Mike Sellers is probably the best lead blocker in the game right now. Portis has managed to do in the past three games what most Redskins fans were looking for all of last year – the long run late in the game to set the team up for a score. Jim Zorn, for his part, is willing to run Portis just as much as he can handle. Ledell Betts has proven himself a very able change-of-pace back, though he’ll be out for the next three weeks (and the Redskins will try out notable malcontent Shaun Alexander to replace him?!)

So, my fellow Redskins fans, let’s not fret. The team is still solid and getting better in key places every week. Besides, look around the NFC East. The Giants got shellacked by the hapless Browns tonight and the ‘Skins face those same Browns at FedEx on Sunday (what a great opportunity to make a definitive statement by crushing them!). The Cowboys not only lost to the Cardinals in OT, but have lost Tony Romo for four weeks, Felix Jones for two, and their punter pretty much for the whole season. If Romo misses the whole four weeks, he’ll come back form the bye week just in time to face the Redskins at raucous FedEx on November 16th. Welcome back to the league, Tony. Here’s your beatdown.

Right now, I see a 12-4 season as a very realistic goal for the team come season’s end. If they catch a small break here and there, 13-3 is entirely likely and *gulp* maybe even 12-2. Their toughest road game is against Seattle which means the remainder of their truly challenging games are at home: Pittsburgh, Dallas, Philly, and the Giants. The rest of the games are against teams that, God love them, aren’t any good at all: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Splitting the tough games and winning all the easy ones gives them the realistic outcome. But stealing an extra game or two in the conference puts them in the dominant position. And let’s be optimistic here; none of the other teams in the conference have cake schedules either.

Of course, that means the Redskins can’t do what they did this past Sunday. I have the feeling, though, that the coaching staff and some of the veterans put the fear of God into the team. I don’t expect another clunker like we saw this past weekend.

So, folks, someone find that big wagon and get it ready to roll.