Skins News of the Day - Thurs 9/17

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

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[Caliskinsfan]

Looks like Jordan Reed was limited in practice today...

 

[Caliskinsfan]

Rookie RB Gurley playing would be a potential wild card difference maker. My take is he won't play much, if at all. Just my opinion.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

Sadly, I laughed

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

It would seem prudent. Preston has shown some moves.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

Interesting nugget on RK.

Also Cooley mentioned that something seemed a bit off with him in Sunday's game. Rust maybe but thought the knee didn't look quite right. God I hope not.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

I'm thinking that A few TOs and an effective quick passing game could be the key for a win against the Rams. Running against them could prove difficult. AlMo had his worst game ever against them last year.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]

Not a lot of admiration for KC in this article but some good points made


Excerpt

Kirk Cousins vs. Gregg Williams
For a quarter of football last week, Cousins looked set to justify his supplanting of Robert Griffin III as Washington's starting quarterback. The quarterback wasn't doing anything spectacular, but he was effectively executing the simple throws that the coaching staff was drawing up for him. Then, early in the second quarter, Cousins reminded everyone why he was a backup in the first place.

A lack of awareness and arm talent has plagued Cousins throughout his career. He makes too many bad decisions and compounds those decisions by throwing passes that defensive backs can easily break on. On this play against the Miami Dolphins last week, Cousins doesn't recognize that he has a clean pocket against a three-man rush. He runs out of that pocket instead of staying in to force the secondary to play the whole field in coverage. Once he breaks into the right flat early, his eyes are completely focused on his receiver running down the sideline. Cousins never even considers the coverage of the secondary before throwing a lifeless pass for cornerback Brent Grimes to intercept.

Grimes should have run back the interception for a touchdown, but couldn't keep his balance along the sideline. Cousins made those decisions on third-and-18, early in the second quarter when Washington led, 3-0. He showed no understanding of the game situation or what the defense was trying to do to him.

Cousins threw four interceptable passes in this game, but only two were caught. The second caught interception was a spectacular catch from cornerback Brice McCain, who rose above the receiver he was covering and was able to catch the ball while falling to the ground. Even though it was a spectacular play by the defensive back, it was an opportunity Cousins never should have given him. Once more, it was a poor decision from the quarterback, this time against a blitz, his arm talent preventing him from fitting the ball into the tight window his intended target offered him.

Because the corner route wasn't wide open, Cousins needed to control the trajectory and velocity of his pass to spiral it to the outside of his intended target. Instead, his pass fluttered too high and too late, making the defensive back more likely to pull the ball in than his teammate.

After facing a Dolphins defense that didn't perform to expectations in Week 1, Cousins' task gets a lot tougher in his next game. The St. Louis Rams may have the best defense in the NFL this year. In Week 1, they proved to be an overwhelming matchup for the Seattle Seahawks, who only scored 14 out of their 31 points against the Rams defense.

Gregg Williams, the Rams defensive coordinator, has an abundance of pass-rushing options on his defensive line, but uses disguised four-man rushes and blitzes to keep the opposing quarterback off balance.

Cousins' propensity for turning the ball over is going to be pushed to its limits.

With a defensive line rotation that features Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, Michael Brockers, Chris Long, Nick Fairley and William Hayes, the Rams could simply rush four on every play to get consistent pressure against the Washington offensive line. Williams would have been able to do that against the Seahawks last week also, but he didn't, so it's unlikely he alters his approach in Week 2. Russell Wilson's critical interception was a result of one of Williams' disguised blitzes. Seahawks right tackle Garry Gilliam was confused by the extra rusher coming from the second level to his side of the field, allowing two defenders to run free at Wilson in the pocket.

The Rams timed this blitz well and didn't offer Wilson any obvious outlet, but they did drop Aaron Donald onto Jimmy Graham on the other side of the formation. This meant that they didn't need to concede bodies behind the blitz where space can normally be found. As such, Wilson's pass was comfortably picked off by left cornerback Trumaine Johnson.

Beating this Rams defense requires the quarterback pushing the ball downfield. It's very difficult to do because of the pass-rushing talent and Williams' aggressive approach to blitzing, but the speed of the back seven coming forward will squeeze the space against underneath and intermediate routes. Throwing off of play action will be Cousins' best route to success. He was effective doing that against the Dolphins because the linebackers kept biting hard on the play fakes. The Rams' defense will likely show better discipline than the Dolphins' did because it has more experience in that area.

Cousins is also set to be without his best receiver in DeSean Jackson, so he won't have any margin for error pushing the ball downfield.

 

[Breed]

Looks like Jordan Reed was limited in practice today...

Jordan Reed hurt or banged up? I'm flabbergasted I tell ya!

 

[Caliskinsfan]

 

[Caliskinsfan]