Thursday Night Fiasco

I attended last night’s Thursday Night Football matchup at FedEx Field.  I took three good friends, got there way too early, and hoped.  How can you not?  We’ve scored over 30 points the last two weeks, a feat that I honestly can’t remember ever seeing in my time as a Redskins fan.

Then…thwomp.  That sinking feeling by now more familiar to me than I’d care to admit.  Wondering if this city is ever going to field a championship caliber team that can actually win.  A brief moment of relief knowing the Nationals are in the postseason.  Another Cousins pick, and finally leaving the parking lot.

The stream of consciousness above is my way of not focusing on the result of the game, which speaks for itself.  What I think is important to note, however, is that for all the discussions around quarterbacks, this team remains not nearly as good from top to bottom as many thought even two weeks ago

Cousins is an obvious scapegoat.  I will admit I got onto his bus before this game, and that now I have to wonder how, if at all, he will get better.  Some throws he made were honestly excellent, and you could see him work through his progressions before finally uncorking one.  And yet, every interception he threw last night was a bad one, a pattern of poor judgment that should trouble any hardcore fan.  It’s not that Cousins has shown he’s a bad player.  At his best, he can efficiently lead the offense.  But, after last night, Cousins has thrown 15 interceptions in his career, compared with only 14 touchdowns.  If he wants to get better (and if he wants to start consistently despite RGIII), he can’t throw those balls.

That said, I’m not going to unnecessarily blame Cousins for this loss.  When looking at inflection points, I have to throw Logan Paulsen under the bus.  His fumble on the Giant-23 was putrid, as it was basically taken out of his hands.  Of course, injuries forced Paulsen into that role, but let’s not allow injury to excuse serving the ball up to the defense.  At that point, we were down 21-7 and driving.  The Giants turned it around for a field goal the other way.  I view that as a ten point swing, given our missed chance at a TD.

We need to discuss the defense as well.  After exploding a few weeks ago, the team managed just one sack.  In addition, the cornerbacks in particular looked lost last night.  Most notably, E.J. Biggers losing Reuben Randle on a 27-yard gain with six minutes left in the second quarter.  Or whoever let Victor Cruz get open for another 29 yards, allowing him to step out of bounds for a Giants field goal to finish the first half.

Coverage didn’t get better towards the middle either.  Brandon Meriweather and Perry Riley in particular are names you’ll hear as being bad.  And they were, each giving up a touchdown to Larry Donnell (who I’m convinced might have caught some of those balls regardless given his size).  Breshaud Breeland, in his first true start, had some problems.  I never thought I’d miss DeAngelo Hall, but I have a feeling he would have played better than who we put on the field last night.

Exacerbating this is the spate of injuries on the defensive line.  Cofield, Bowen, Jenkins, and Hatcher are all experiencing some kind of pain, and it showed last night just how thin we are getting on that line.  But, while injuries are a problem, I do look at Jim Haslett last night and wonder what he was thinking.  I noticed very few blitzes, and whatever he dialed up did nothing to stop New York on third down.  The Giants were 11-for-16 on 3^rd down.  On the nine third down conversions before the game was 45-14, the Giants averaged a 3^rd and 6…and gained an average of 22 yards on those plays.  Jim Haslett again called a pedestrian game.

I will add that I’m concerned also about the offensive playcalling.  I realize the NFL is a QB league now, and that running the ball just doesn’t have the same cache anymore, but Alfred Morris needs more than four carries in the first quarter.  I think the team got a little freaked after the Cousins strip-sack, and started digging into the passing playbook.  Late in the first quarter, still down 7-0, from your own 27, and Morris didn’t get looked at once.  I think that’s a mistake, since Morris averaged seven yards a carry last night.  He needs the ball, and I think with a green QB like Cousins, a strong running game is a must-have.  I firmly expect that, given the passing performance of last night, we can expect a healthy Morris does next week to start the game, even with Seattle’s stifling defense.

Oh yeah, that’s right.  We have Seattle and Arizona the next two weeks.  It looks a little easier after that (Tennessee, Dallas, Minnesota, and Tampa), but the NFC West storm will need to be navigated.  I’m a little worried our ship is made of paper.

Settle in for a long season.  The problems on this team extend beyond quarterback.