This was a tale of two halves, both for the team itself, and for the quarterback (Grossman). The first half was all Good Rex. We scored two TDs, no giveaways, and one takeaway on defense. The second half was very very very very VERY VERY Bad Rex. Bad throws, intentional groundings, near picks, two real picks, and one really bad pick to James Laurenitis (he didn't even see the guy), and only 3 points. If that's all you knew about this game, you would probably say that we lost this game, and if we were playing anybody other than the Rams, you probably would be right. Fortunately for the Redskins and Bad Rex, it was the Rams on the schedule.
The Rams were just flat out awful, horrendous, stinky, terrible, and if it were not for the Vikings going belly up against KC, the Rams just might be the worst team in the league right now. The scary thing was though that in the 2nd half, they flat outplayed the Redskins. However, several dropped passes in the first half and critical penalites (especially as they got close to the goal line) doomed any chance they had of coming back. Even after Laurenitis' pick in the 2nd half, back to back sacks on Sam Bradford took them out of field goal range and forced a punt. The Rams had plenty of opportunites to really crush the Skins, and they have nobody to blame but themselves for losing this game, especially in the 2nd half.
On the other hand, the Redskins had several opportunites to really stomp the Rams out, and didn't do it. They scored two TDs in the first half, but still, we saw glimpses of Bad Rex: high passes, short passes, near picks...but since the offense was moving the football (and running it extremely well), it was easier to overlook these deficiencies. Welcome back, Ryan Torain! JP won't be happy since he started Hightower on his fantasy team, but Ryan Torain has the first 100 yard game from a Washington back this season, and he only carried the ball 19 times! We are a running football team, and we can't get away from it. When a few running plays go for only 3 yards and a cloud of dust, we can't get discouraged. Most football watchers will tell you that running the ball controls the clock and protects possession as the ball is always held securely. It won't get you chunks of yards on every carry, but if you don't stick with it, start to panic and throw the ball more often than you should, you get in trouble. That's what you saw in the second half. Rex is much more likely to be Good Rex if he doesn't feel like he has to throw the ball all the time. Take the ball out of his hands (except to hand off) and we are much better off...and I don't believe that John Beck will be any better.
We hit the bye this week, our first early bye in a couple years, and unlike some teams in the league, there is no risk of a coaching change in Washington. At 3-1, we are already 1 win away from my preseason predicted total of 4, and already have at least one 1 more win than some people were predicting. We are not nearly as bad as what people were predicting, but we're still not that good. We're 3-1 with point totals through 4 games of 28, 22, 16, and 17. Our offense will not sniff 30 again as long as Grossman is the quaterback (or Beck), so our defense will have to carry the team. So far, so good with point totals allowed of 14, 21, 18, and 10. The offense has been doing just enough to squeak by in each of the games (although coming up 2 points short in Dallas). Coming out of the bye, we have Philadelphia at home in a game that will really serve as a benchmark of how good we really are, or can be. Philadelphia has underperformed to say the least, thudding to a 1-3 record after losing today to San Fran (a game I called incorrectly...but am quite pleased at the result, and at the Dallas result too...BAHAHAHAHAHAH!). The division is once again in our control as we are in first place yet again (and could be in sole possession pending the outcome of the Giants-Cards game). Beating Philly in 2 weeks could very well squash them out for the rest of the season. Huge game...and we got 2 weeks to get ready for it.
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