How did we lose

[gkekoa]

1) Officiating. We had 8 penalties for 63 yards and they had 1 for 7 yards. These are the missed penalties off the top of my head: Holding/PI on the goal line (Jordan Reed), Josh Wilson was held on the blitz that allowed Ponder outside of the pocket to his right and got a first down (the shirt was pulled away from the body from behind), Kerrigan was noticeably held going after Ponder twice that caused Kerrigan to turn, RAK was held, and there was a personal foul for "unnecessary roughness" by them against one of our OL/DL (can't remember which).

2) Coaching. How did we not go run, run, run, run from the one yard line? How did we not let the guy who got three TDs last game from one yard touch the damn ball from one yard out?

3) The last play. Who the hell thought our best play was to throw a predetermined fade to our shortest WR? Why was that not the right play? Because we have a QB that can move and we limit his options to one player. WTH?

 

[Caliskinsfan]

It was primarily our D that let us down tonight. Losing D Hall didn't help. Followed by penalties, Execution and a few ST gaffes thrown in. You can't win games with errors like that. Period. Very disappointing.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

There were mistakes with personal fouls, special teams being garbage, and the offense not being able to punch it in From inside the 5 on two occasions, but the reason we lost IS the defense. We did not turn the ball over and did not allow a p/r or k/r for a touchdown and yet we gave up 34 points to the Christian Ponder (even Ponder-less at one point) led, makeshift back-up manned offensive line, 1-7 Vikings. Sorry, you should lose almost every game in which you give up 34 points. The offense put up 27, and it could have been 30 with a fg in the end, but that would not have been enough. 30 points not being enough is not acceptable. The D is to blame, and it starts with the D coordinator Haslett. 4 years of a bottom feeding defense is not exactly a stellar body of work. It's time to move on. Give him his walking papers, please!

 

[Sportster 72]

I often say games aren't lost by coaches but are lost by players lack of execution. Tonight I feel differently. Haslett decided to play zone defense without blitzing for most of the game I guess thinking Ponder isn't very good and he wanted the DBs to be facing the play to support the front 7 against Peterson. It didn't work, the Skins suck at zone. That zone helped Ponder to look like Joe Montana.

Right now I wouldn't pay Orakpo and Kerrigan $9 million together. Both sucked last night. They were going against lineman they should have been able to take advantage of. Haslett counted on them to get to the QB and they failed.

Three touchdown runs for D Young were not there today. The Vikings did not play the same defensive front that the Chargers played last week. I mentioned earlier in the week how Kyle had used Young in one game and Helu in another because they found something they could exploit.

Offensive play calling was not at fault in this game. It is true Alf only ran the ball half as much in the 2nd half but that is because the D couldn't get the Vikes off the field and the O couldn't stay on the field. Morris ran the ball I think 3 times on the final drive with no time outs. Someone mentioned the Skins botched the two minute drill, not true. They moved the length of the field and were in position to score with enough time to do so. Someone mentioned poor play calling on the last three plays. Not ture. 1st Reed would have been open but was held and no penalty was called, 2nd down was in Garcon's hands and he dropped it. I would have liked a different play on third down but it was open if Griffin had thrown it sooner. The pass was completed but he was out of bounds by the time it got there.

In my mind the number one culprit was the zone defense employed by the coaching staff. We have played best at man in the last few weeks. I can see Haslett starting in zone but changes should have been made when we saw Ponder and he looked like Johnny Unitas.

 

[FLSkinsfan]

This was not a Defensive issue. This was an offensive Play calling issue. How do you have 5 Drives in a row go for more then 50 Yards each and then 4 with -5 yds total. That is inexcusable. The run game was working and it helped in the play action plays and then for 4 drives we abandon it. That gave the momentum to Minn and we could not recover. In the NFL it is all about momentum. When our defense stopped Minn in the 2nd qtr and we drove to score a TD with seconds left, then came out and drove it down their back for a FG to go up 13. The game should have been over. Instead we change our game, they get some momentum and we give up 20 straight points and we lose. Kyle has some explaining to do!!!

 

[j_y19]

The bottom line is we are not a very good football team. We still have way too many holes. Our offensive line just plain sucks at pass protection. Licht, Monty and Chester are weak. They get blown back with regularity, allowing the pocket to collapse from the center in. RG3 is very inexperienced with hot reads and finding the second and third targets (when he has time). He also still doesn't know when and where to throw the ball away.

On defense, our front 7 is not as strong as we all thought. We get no real pressure on the QB by just rushing 4 or even 5. Orakpo is our clean up hitter as our R OLB. We need HRs from him and he just hasn't produced consistently this year. It may be scheme, it may be him. But we are not getting the production from that position we need. This crap that he gets held or that he makes the others better is just that, crap. Its and excuse. Who is shining because Orakpo is playing this year??? Fletcher is an absolute liability at this point. He has finally lost a step (if not more). He can't cover and he is slow the fill the gaps. I actually am not as down on our secondary as others. I've seen real improvement since the first game. They are tackling and covering much better. The issue with our secondary can be greatly helped by pressure on the QB, especially a QB like the ones we played last night. Young and known to make mistakes under pressure.

Our STs are the worst in the league, hands down. Rocca, WTF???? Are you telling me that he is the best punter we can find? How many shanked punts do we allow before we bring someone else in? Also, its telling when our best return man is a TE. Seriously, that's the best we can do? At least Paul is decisive and runs north/south. But he will never make the big return.

Finally, our coaches.....what is there to say? 4 years in and we still make the same mistakes. Clock management is atrocious. Kyle tries to outsmart everybody when sometimes you just punch them in the mouth until they submit. Once again, we had a 10 point lead coming into the second half and Morris only had 9 touches. Our coaches do no adjustments at half time. The other teams come out with a modified strategy. Minn last night started bringing the heat on us every time RG3 dropped back. We never adjusted. WTF??? You screen them to death, you run draws, you do a lot of 3 steps passes if you do pass. We did none of these. We kept calling 7 step drops. Brilliant.

I don't know where we go from here. DO we give the Shanahan's one more year or do we recognize that they make the same simple mistakes (clock management, run abandonment, etc) over and over and decide that they will never change? Mike S has done some really good things with this franchise, I'm just not sure he and his staff can take us to the next level. He has had 4 years and we haven't really improved. Last year was an apparent anomaly. We are a 5-7 win team. We have way too much talent to not be doing better.

Something has to change.

 

[gkekoa]

Haslett is old-school defense. He still believe in run stop blah blah blah. You win in the NFL today by getting after the QB.

 

[j_y19]

Oh, I forgot one more thing. Penalties. Make no mistake, our stupid penalties lost that game for us last night. We had 3 personal fouls that kept scoring drives alive for them in the second half. This has been a consistent problem for 4 years. While penalties can be blamed on players, its also indicative of the coaching staff's inability to address a persistent issue. At what point does the coaching staff stop talking about playing smarter and take action by either putting smarter players on the field or installing serious disciplinary actions against those that commit these stupid penalties? For example, Perry Riley goes after a Viking well after the play is dead. If you want retribution, do it on the next play.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

1) Officiating. We had 8 penalties for 63 yards and they had 1 for 7 yards. These are the missed penalties off the top of my head: Holding/PI on the goal line (Jordan Reed), Josh Wilson was held on the blitz that allowed Ponder outside of the pocket to his right and got a first down (the shirt was pulled away from the body from behind), Kerrigan was noticeably held going after Ponder twice that caused Kerrigan to turn, RAK was held, and there was a personal foul for "unnecessary roughness" by them against one of our OL/DL (can't remember which).

2) Coaching. How did we not go run, run, run, run from the one yard line? How did we not let the guy who got three TDs last game from one yard touch the damn ball from one yard out?

3) The last play. Who the hell thought our best play was to throw a predetermined fade to our shortest WR? Why was that not the right play? Because we have a QB that can move and we limit his options to one player. WTH?

Ding, ding, ding!!!

From just a football fan prospective...Morris rushed for 26/139...that was the good and the bad in this game...he should've gotten 35/175...only 17yd in the 4th qtr..

When MIN took the lead, Shanahan went away from Morris for some reason when he was on a roll and the end result was a lot of known passing situations for RG3 and the WAS OL could not handle the pass rush.

 

[jeffro151]

1) Officiating. We had 8 penalties for 63 yards and they had 1 for 7 yards. These are the missed penalties off the top of my head: Holding/PI on the goal line (Jordan Reed), Josh Wilson was held on the blitz that allowed Ponder outside of the pocket to his right and got a first down (the shirt was pulled away from the body from behind), Kerrigan was noticeably held going after Ponder twice that caused Kerrigan to turn, RAK was held, and there was a personal foul for "unnecessary roughness" by them against one of our OL/DL (can't remember which).

NFL Penalties - 2013 League Penalty Stats - NFL Penalty Stats Tracker - List/Statistics/Data of NFL Penalties - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Here you will find that Minnesota is one of the least penalized teams in the league, while Washington is right in the middle of the league.

 

[Sportster 72]

I don't think some people remember what happens in these games.

Redskins 2nd half:
5 runs of 11 plays - Morris 3 of the runs, Griffin 2 -- field goal
1 run of 3 plays
3 runs of 6 plays
1 run of 3 plays
7 runs of 14 plays - Morris 3, Helu 2, Young 1, Griffin 2 -- end of game

Saying the Skins abandoned the run is just wrong. Saying they executed the 2 minute drill is wrong. They ran 14 plays in 3:36 with no time outs and were in position to score. Scoring 3 points on two 10+ play drives hurt though.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

I don't think some people remember what happens in these games.

Redskins 2nd half:
5 runs of 11 plays - Morris 3 of the runs, Griffin 2 -- field goal
1 run of 3 plays
3 runs of 6 plays
1 run of 3 plays
7 runs of 14 plays - Morris 3, Helu 2, Young 1, Griffin 2 -- end of game

Saying the Skins abandoned the run is just wrong. Saying they executed the 2 minute drill is wrong. They ran 14 plays in 3:36 with no time outs and were in position to score. Scoring 3 points on two 10+ play drives hurt though.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this

I'm not saying the offense didn't ultimately come up short in this game, it did. But abandoning the run was not the reason. Execution and winning one on one matchups was.

Regardless, the primary reason for the loss must still be placed on our D, penalties (lack of discipline) and STs. Minny scored EVERY time they had the ball except for the Merriweather interception and when their own receiver dropped a ball. Our D never stopped them, except for that TO. Not to mention the excellent field position we gave them every time they took the field, gift from our STs. You can't win football games with that type of play.

 

[deanpet21]

True the defense had a bad game. but you cant expect to win games by only scoring 3 points in the whole 2nd half. The blame goes to both sides of the ball.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

My point is simply that you cannot win a game when your D gives up 34 points on 50 plays and provides zero pressure on the opposing QB.

Our O produced 27 points. Blame belongs everywhere, but in THIS game, it primarily falls on D and STs.

 

[Sportster 72]

True the defense had a bad game. but you cant expect to win games by only scoring 3 points in the whole 2nd half. The blame goes to both sides of the ball.

IMO the team is close but how far away is the question. Skins led Denver and Minn. in the 2nd half but couldn't hold either lead. Ran up and down the field against Dallas, dropped TD pass from a win against the Lions. Close don't count though. Griffin has talent but he has a ways to go also. Whether it is coaching or execution the D is not getting the job done. The O line plays great for 3 quarters then gets freight trained late in the game. I believe STs problems are due to the cap penalty. How much can be cured next year with a full cap. That's the question. Hell if they go 5-11 is Shanahan back? If not then who knows what that means. If they finish 7-9 then he'll probably be back.

 

[deanpet21]

Yes but what you fail to realize is that the offense has not scored enough in the Denver, Minn, Dallas, and Detroit games which makes the defense look worst than what it is. Mike's job is safe. Even at 5-11. I think the real problem is Kyle. Hence my thread on his play calling at the end of the game. Haslett could be on the hot seat if they don't get pressure with Rak and Kerrigan. Its still to early to make these assumptions.

 

[jeffro151]

We did not turn the ball over and did not allow a p/r or k/r for a touchdown and yet we gave up 34 points to the Christian Ponder (even Ponder-less at one point) led, makeshift back-up manned offensive line, 1-7 Vikings. Sorry, you should lose almost every game in which you give up 34 points. The offense put up 27, and it could have been 30 with a fg in the end, but that would not have been enough. 30 points not being enough is not acceptable. The D is to blame, and it starts with the D coordinator Haslett. 4 years of a bottom feeding defense is not exactly a stellar body of work. It's time to move on. Give him his walking papers, please!

Although it may seem hard to believe considering how anemic Ponder can be at times, when Ponder is the QB, scoring points is not a problem with the Vikes. In Ponder's 6 starts, the Vikes are averaging 28 points/game. In the games that Ponder didn't start, the Vikes averaged 17 points.

 

[Mustard Tiger]

If we keep Haslett, the best we can hope for is like a 22nd ranking. Look at his past as a D coordinator, wherever he has been, it has never been better, and most always worst. Zero turnovers from our offense yesterday and the Vikings put up 34 points. That's all you need to know.

 

[gkekoa]

Why didn't we go after Wade Phillips? I was stating how we should have when he got screwed by Dallas.

 

[gkekoa]

NFL Penalties - 2013 League Penalty Stats - NFL Penalty Stats Tracker - List/Statistics/Data of NFL Penalties - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

Here you will find that Minnesota is one of the least penalized teams in the league, while Washington is right in the middle of the league.

What does that matter? I showed exact plays where Minnesota got away with blatant violations.