The Washington Redskins (0-1) looked like they had their fifth preseason game for much of three quarters in their 33-27 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) Monday night.
The Redskins didn’t take their first offensive snap until the 9:15 mark in the first quarter. In my opinion, Philly winning the coin toss and electing to receive was huge for them and an instant competitive loss for Redskins’ head coach Mike Shanahan. Those are the type of games Shanahan typically likes to send his offense out first to set a tempo. Instead, Philly debuted their Oregon Duck esque offense that played super fast on-the-field but very slow according to the game clock.
No matter how much you prepare for these type of games, I always call it the “state of ignorance.” I’d like to know the record for offensive minded head coaches bringing in new wrinkles week one of the season. They seem to always win. Several years ago the Jim Zorn led Washington Redskins had a nice start to the season because of that “state of ignorance” for defensive players. Teams just don’t know what to expect.
In all, Washington’s defense wasn’t horrible. The offense didn’t allow them any sort of significant rest until the third quarter. Washington’s offense only had one drive in the first half that lasted over two minutes. The biggest equalizer when facing this high paced Eagles offense is establishing a tempo of your own. The Redskins offense simply could not do that Monday Night.
“We couldn’t get a lot going offensively,” said Shanahan. “Anytime you have three first downs in the half, you are putting your defense out there quite a bit. I thought defensively we put them in a heck of a jam. We did have a couple of missed assignments and missed tackles. But at the end of the day, it’s over and we have to get ready [for Green Bay] in a short week.”
The offense as a whole was out of sync in the first half. Alfred Morris fumbled twice, which is uncharacteristic, but he did have three last season. I also recall in preseason last year, it took four games for Morris and QB Robert Griffin III to get in sync when handing off the ball or tossing it. But Morris’ hands were not the only issue last night — he missed several cutback lanes and moved backwards more than I ever saw last season.
Without looking at the film, Philly did show numerous coverages that they didn’t put on film in preseason. This is a totally revamped team and coaching staff — no one quite knew what to expect. They also dialed up several exotic blitzes and really attacked the “A” gaps often in the second half.
But the big story of the night was of course Robert Griffin III. He won’t call it rust, but Griffin simply looked like he was mentally moving slower than the game was for most of three quarters last night. He was late throwing several balls and had reluctant movement in the pocket. Not to mention, he didn’t step into his throws. However, even when healthy last season, Griffin didn’t always step into his throws. Starting to believe that’s just his motion.
Robert Griffin III did not look injured. He looked like a guy who hasn’t played in a live game since January and wasn’t completely confident in his knee. You cannot acquire confidence in a restructured knee until you simply play football. You also can’t knock off rust until you have live pass rushers pursuing. Griffin’s timing was off and his confidence was low until early in the third quarter when he scrambled for eight yards. It was at that point Griffin started to regain some confidence. Griffin started the first half going 5/11 for 53 yards and an interception. He ended 25/38 for 276 yards two TDs and one INT.
2012′s Offensive Rookie of the Year didn’t make any excuses after the game: “I’m responsible for the way I play. I didn’t play very well in the first half so that’s just the way it is. You move on from it. I’m not going to sit here and say I was rusty. I have to be accountable, I’m going to be accountable for that – didn’t play well in the first half. We came back and played better in the second half. We just have to do it for 60 minutes.”
Even Adrian Peterson needed a few games to return to form and surpass expectations in his epic season in 2012. Peterson ran for 84 yards week one last season. He didn’t have his first game of 100 yards or more until week four. And after two touchdowns week one, it wasn’t until week 7 that Peterson added to that stat total.
Quarterback Robert Griffin III completed 30-of-49 passes for 329 yards with two passing touchdowns, two interceptions and a quarterback rating of 77.7 against the Eagles. As bad as it looked — he flashed brilliance in the second half. He threw a ball on-the-rope with major velocity to Leonard Hankerson. He flashed ability to extend plays on another sideline throw to Leonard Hankerson, but he dropped it. Griffin also threw a dime to Santana Moss for a nifty sideline snag in the second half as well. So it wasn’t all bad. And it certainly looked a lot better in the second half.
Leonard Hankerson had himself a nice game, catching five balls on seven targets for 80 yards and two touchdowns. Hankerson still makes every catch an adventure — seems to double catch or cradle catch every ball when he has huge hands. But the brightest spot for the offense, in my opinion, was rookie Jordan Reed. He helped Griffin gain some confidence by catching balls that were not necessarily on target. Reed is just a natural ball catcher who has as much upside as any player on the team. He’s going to ball for a long time.
Next up: Washington will travel to Green Bay to face the Packers. Both teams started off the season with a loss so it will be another grudge match.
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