Quick Hitters: Yes, they are this bad

I have received some criticism in recent weeks for being too tough on the Redskins, being too negative and focusing too much on problems and not enough on all the great things the Redskins are doing or are capable of doing. If you are one of the people who still believes that, you might not want to read further. I’m not going to rip the Redskins for the sake of doing it, but the team has not looked good this year and many of their problems have been in the making for some time. In other words, these are problems that could have been solved and, on a team with better management and coaching, would have been solved by now. If you’re willing to consider that the Redskins might be as bad as they look, read on…

The Redskins got badly out-coached today and were physically dominated in the first half. Jim Zorn’s play-calling is predictable and panicky. It looks pretty clear to me that Zorn is out of his depth as head coach of the Redskins. That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, since he had never called plays before [apart from one game] and had never been more than a position coach. No other team was offering Zorn a head coaching job and, as far as I know, he wasn’t even in big demand as an offensive coordinator. But this isn’t Zorn’s fault. He’s doing the best he can. As I’ve written before, the coaching problems on the Redskins go back to the decision made by ownership to avoid any head coach who will demand that personnel power be removed from Daniel Snyder.

It’s just a hunch, but I think Zorn’s decision to go for the touchdown on 4th and 1 was influenced by the pressure he’s feeling to get touchdowns in the end zone. He ran basically the same play that didn’t work at the end of the game against the Rams last week and it failed again. It was a decision that gave a bad team [Detroit] the life it needed.

This is a bad offense. This offense just does not score points. The Redskins could not convert third downs and it rarely makes big plays, though it did get one today. The Redskins offense has still scored only 3 TD in this season, and two of those came against prevent defenses, where the defense is willing to let the offense score as long as it eats up time on the game clock. This is Zorn’s offense and the offense is bad. Make of that what you will.

Pass protection for Jason Campbell was decent, though not as good as Zorn said it was in his post-game press conference. Campbell found Santana Moss early and often, but, once again, no other wideout stepped up to make a play. Meanwhile, Campbell began pressing and threw some passes he should not have thrown. It didn’t help Campbell that both Moss and TE Chris Cooley didn’t run far enough downfield to get a first down, leading to punts instead of longer scoring drives. 

Lions TB Kevin Smith was averaging less than 3 yards a carry coming into this game. He gashed the Redskins for 101 yards on only 16 carries in 3 quarters before leaving with an injury. Washington’s defensive line was pushed back from the line of scrimmage the entire first half of the game. The Lions actually had 116 rushing yards in the first half alone. I’m not sure what happened today, as the defensive line had done a good job against the run in the first two weeks of the season. The lack of a pass rush from the front four was, of course, part of a long-running problem for the Redskins and not a surprise.

The Redskins defensive line also rarely mounted much of a pass rush against a rookie quarterback. Matthew Stafford had a lot of time to throw and of the two sacks the Redskins got, one was a clear coverage sack. Stafford came into the game with a passer rating of 40, the lowest in the NFL. He 21 of 36 passes for 241 yards, 1 TD and no turnovers. And the truth is, it could have been a lot better. Stafford was wild on at least half a dozen passes that could have been completed for big gains. There were receivers running free in the defensive backfield of the Washington Redskins for much of the game. A better quarterback would have beaten the Redskins by at least 14 points. This game should not have been as close as it was.

Opposing defenses are overloading to stop the Redskins from running over the left side [Samuels, Dockery] of their offensive line. Washington needs to counter by going to the right side, but that isn’t working. Stephon Heyer is demonstrating why he wasn’t drafted — he’s just not a starting-caliber tackle in the NFL.

I wrote that the Redskins would win this game if a receiver not named Santana Moss showed up to play, but I didn’t think Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly or Fred Thomas would do that. They didn’t. Last year’s three second round picks combined for 3 catches for 38 yards today against what had been one of the worst pass defenses in NFL history. The fact is, Kelly and Thomas almost never get open. They don’t look like NFL wideouts to me. I would put Marko Mitchell above both of them on the depth chart. Sure, Mitchell did a lot of his preseason damage against backups, but at least he did some damage. I don’t recall Kelly or Thomas lighting up anyone, starters or reserves. How can Mitchell produce less than guys who don’t produce at all? Give the big rookie a chance! [Mitchell was on the inactive list today.]

Through 3 games, the Redskins 2009 defense looks a lot like the 2008 defense, except not as good. The defense is not good at getting off the field on third down [Lions converted 10 of 18 third downs today] and the tacking has taken a major step backwards. The secondary is tackling poor, giving 10 yards cushions on wideouts and missing assignments. Meanwhile, the major problem from 2008, the lack of big plays, has not changed at all. The Redskins got only two sacks against a Detroit team with a weak offensive line and a rookie quarterback and couldn’t produce a single turnover.

DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers are two very overrated cornerbacks who are not tackling well and are struggling to cover, as well. As for Fred Smoot, his place in the hearts of many Redskins fans is a mystery to me. He’s a poor tackler, gives a gigantic cushion to every wideout he faces and can’t be counted on to cover anyone. He makes the occasional good play, but he’s not fit to be even a nickel cornerback in the NFL.

It may be time to admit that Laron Landry is never going to be a big playmaker in the NFL. Being a high draft pick doesn’t mean anything in this league [see virtually every first round pick the Redskins made from 1992-1998]. It’s not that Landry is a bad player, he isn’t. He just isn’t special and special is what you need to get from the 6th overall pick in the draft.

Last week, Ladell Betts ran out of bounds at the end of the game when he should have stayed in bounds to kill the clock. This week, Betts stayed in bounds when he could and should have run out of bounds to stop the clock. I don’t know what Betts’ problem is, but it is not excusable and I suspect it explains why Rock Cartwright was in the game at the end of the game instead of Betts. 

Isn’t it ironic that Cartwright, the running back the head coach is trying to run out of the offense entirely, was in the game at the end and scored the touchdown that Betts and Clinton Portis could not?

One good thought for DC sports fans: We’ve still got the Caps and hockey season starts soon!