GREEN BAY, Wis. — Ever the orator, Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs termed his team’s 17-14 defeat to the Green Bay Packers “one of those days where a lot of different things happened.”
Don’t quit your day job (coaching) or your post-NFL job (auto racing), Joe.
A lot of different things happened — that’s football.
What Coach Joe said is a lot different than what he probably was thinking as the team flew home last night: Nothing that happened in the second half was any good from a Redskins perspective.
Instead of being 4-1 with a winnable game coming up (Arizona), the Redskins are 3-2 in the mediocre NFC and now face a must-have game against the Cardinals considering New England is coming up.
As the Monday Morning Quarterback ponders his first trip to Lambeau Field (great atmosphere), his halftime bratwurst (wretched — like a bad “Hurricane” drink in New Orleans, it just shouldn’t happen) and today’s 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for the trip home, it’s clear this team should be 4-1 and possibly 5-0 but instead has a tendency to blow leads.
Q: Forget about the loss. The bigger issue is Santana Moss. Should the Redskins be concerned?
A: A little bit. Moss has played four games this season and already has six drops, an astounding number for a player of his caliber. Throw in yesterday’s fumble that was returned for the game-winning touchdown, and it was easily Moss’ worst game with the Redskins. Jason Campbell still trusts his best downfield threat, but the receiver has to return the favor by bringing in the easy catch and not just making the highlight catches.
Q: If Moss was having a case of the drops, why trust him to run the reverse that resulted in Woodson’s touchdown?
A: The MMQB can’t knock the play call because it’s something the Redskins set up earlier in the game. Without having the chance to talk with Al Saunders after the game, here’s a guess — they wanted to give Moss another way to make an impact. Hand him the ball instead of throwing it and see what he can do. What he did was, of course, fumble.
Q: Well, at least Chris Cooley got involved. But where was he in the second half?
A: It’s a great sign for the Redskins’ offense to see Cooley untracked. It looked like he would have the clear edge against Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga, and for once the MMQB was right. Cooley caught nine passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. But seven of those catches and 97 of the yards came in the first half. In the second half, with two linemen hurt, Cooley was asked to block more. Most importantly, a lot of Cooley’s routes take time to develop, so Campbell needs good protection. That wasn’t happening in the second half.
Q: Campbell looked to have a decent day, but the running game again struggled. Who’s to blame?
A: Campbell was efficient (21-for-37 for 217 yards and one touchdown), but the running game averaged only 3.2 yards an attempt on 29 rushes. At issue is the offensive line. Even before right tackle Todd Wade went down with a groin injury, the Redskins rushed more to the left side than the right. As Cooley said after the game, teams weren’t biting on the play-action to the right side. Defenses obviously adjust and overload the left side. As good as Chris Samuels and Pete Kendall are, they can’t block four guys.
Q: Wade and center Casey Rabach went down with injuries. Stephon Heyer also left the game. Who’s left to play?
A: Wade had to come back for the final two snaps when Heyer injured his left knee. There wasn’t anybody left. The seriousness of the injuries won’t be known until later in the week. If Rabach can’t go, Mike Pucillo is the center. If Rabach plays but Wade can’t go, the MMQB would slide Jason Fabini to tackle and put Pucillo at guard. Whatever the scenario, it’s not ideal for the young quarterback.
Q: The Packers’ old quarterback, Brett Favre, threw some ducks and should have had more than two interceptions. How did the Packers get it done?
A: Really, Green Bay made two plays to win — a 60-yard pass to Donald Lee in the first quarter to set up the offensive touchdown and Woodson’s 57-yard fumble return to win the game. That’s it. It rushed for only 56 yards and passed for 188. The Redskins were the better team in a lot of areas, but they committed one too many mistakes.
Q: Any positives to be unearthed upon further review?
A: A couple. First, Campbell again showed he’s not afraid of playing against a good defense on the road. Second, the run defense didn’t allow much of anything and made up for the loss of Marcus Washington. And third, just when he needs to, safety Sean Taylor is on his way to a career season. What he has to do now is start returning some of those interceptions for touchdowns.
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