October 7, 2007

Painful Admission

The Redskins are better than the Ravens at this point in the season. Joe Gibbs got his head out of his ass today, and remembered that he has a 280 pound fullback who can catch. I suspect 3rd or 4th and 1 will not be a problem for the rest of the season. In addition, the Skins were getting pressure with a four man rush. If you get pressure with a four man rush, you will almost always win (see Ravens, 2000). Granted, the Lions have allowed more sacks than any team since the 2002 Texans, but the Skins' D appears to have bounced back from a very disappointing 2006. I can't say enough about what a great signing Keenan McCardell was this past week. Talk about a guy who should never be sitting on his couch. McCardell has been incredible EVERYWHERE he's been the past decade, including Jacksonville (AFC Championship Game), Tampa Bay (Super Bowl) and San Diego (AFC Championship Game). He's like Ricky Proehl and Joe Jurevicius. Every time he surfaces somewhere you just go "How the hell was he a free agent again?" And yeah, Jason Campbell is much better than I thought he'd be. He didn't make a single bad decision today that I saw.
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The Ravens, on the other hand, cannot score. McNair and Boller are virtually equal at this point, and that is not a good thing. McGahee allows them to move the ball very well down the field, but he can't punch it in inside the 20, because opposing defenses know he's the only threat. The defense is still very good, but susceptible at the corners. That's not good when you're mainly kicking field goals. Throw in a couple turnovers, and they're buried. Injuries, too, are crushing the Ravens. At one point, the Ravens offense featured FIVE rookies: OT Jared Gaither, LG Ben Grubbs, RT Marshall Yanda, WR Yamon Figurs and FB LeRon McClain. Add in new addition Willis McGahee and backups C Chris Chester and TE Quinn Sypniewski, and you might not be surprised to see them struggle. Ed Reed may lead the team in touchdowns at the end of the year if they can't find a way to gel, and soon.

11 Responses:

"ben" said...

Is this more of your build-them-up-to-knock-them-down? I still don't have a bandwagon bumper sticker. I mean, it was the Lions.

I agree completey with your comments regarding Jason Campbell, though. Let me add that he is doing very well as pass-first quarterback.

Sorry, McNabb, but I don't really have anything bad to say about Campbell. I know that disappoints you.

Anonymous said...

Wait...don't talk smack about the lions...we love them. Sure they have their moments, usually bad ones granted, but a true fan loves their team the whole time their throwing shit at their t.v. The lions where doing o.k. until the end of the second quater then all went to hell. I can give you a arm's length of all the mistakes they made, but, the fact is...i'll be back in the chair once again, shirt in place, and cheering them on next sunday...when was the last time the lions beat the redskins?

"ben" said...

The Lions stink. I'm not asking you to not watch them or throw things at your TV. I'm not even asking you to agree that they stink, though you seem to agree. I'm just saying, the Lions stink and I'm not about to say Redskins to the Super Bowl just because they crushed the Lions.

J-Red said...

The Lions will probably win 10 games this year just because they'll light up anybody who can't generate pressure with just the DL or minimum blitzing. The Redskins just happen to have an above-average DL, and they ran the ball very well yesterday.

So they don't stink, but they're nowhere near Super Bowl quality.

"ben" said...

J-Red (or shall I call you Jon Kitna), look at their schedule and tell me how they get 7 more wins. I readily admit you know more about football than I do, especially the NFL. So I really want to know. I count to 4 more wins, 5 if they get lucky.

J-Red said...

They should beat @Ari (could be a shotoout though), Denver, @Chi, @Minny, and KC.

Tampa, NYG, and GB x 2 are toss-ups, but they do have TB and NYG at home.

@SD and Dal are likely losses.

That would put them at 9 or 10 wins, depending on how many of the toss-ups they can pull down.

Anonymous said...

I asked the question of when was the last time the lions won against the redskins....I asked around work today and nobody could give me an answer, not even the old timers and die hards....did anyone come up with an answer?

"ben" said...

I thought it was rhetorical question. That's why I didn't answer. They kept saying over and over again this week how Detroit is 0-20 (now 0-21) versus the Washington Redskins. The last time Detroit beat the Redskins, the Skins were in Boston and it was 1934 or something like that.

I'm sure if you use the internet, you can find these answers.

J-Red said...

The Lions are 0-21 in Washington, dating back to 1939.

The Redskins are 7-10 against Detroit in Detroit.

Detroit beat the Redskins at least as recently as 2000, by the score of 15-10. No more recent Lions victories have been located.

"ben" said...

Oh, whoops. Thanks for setting the record straight, J-Red.

You would think I would have remembered 2000.

Anonymous said...

I know I could of used the internet, but you boys always seem to be up for a challenge. thanks.

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