So last night I watched the Dallas/Washington game and came to the conclusion that both of these teams are beatable.
Heres some interesting things to note about the Redskins:
1. McNabb looks out of sync with his new team. He was throwing passes off the dirt all night. His stat line was pretty dismal considering the hype that Shannahan's offense brought.
2. The new LT, 1st round pick Williams on the Redskins is the real deal. He's still a rookie, and Ware beat him a few times, but he's going to be a good player and will definitely be more challenging than whoever the Colts had.
3. The Redskins are good at defending the short, quick throws. Hall in particular was fantastic at jumping on the little quick outs from Romo to Bryant. We could exploit this with a nice fake.
4. Their run defense is better than the Colts. But it was still prone to giving up plays when the play calls were intelligent.
5. Haslett blitzes. A LOT. I was shocked at how often they brought the heat. Dallas never took advantage of this. Hopefully we'll throw over the top a few times to slow them down.
6. The Redskins defenders put 100% emphasis on stripping the ball. From an article on ESPN:
If we can avoid turnovers and exploit the downfield passing attack, we should be in for a great game.
Heres some interesting things to note about the Redskins:
1. McNabb looks out of sync with his new team. He was throwing passes off the dirt all night. His stat line was pretty dismal considering the hype that Shannahan's offense brought.
2. The new LT, 1st round pick Williams on the Redskins is the real deal. He's still a rookie, and Ware beat him a few times, but he's going to be a good player and will definitely be more challenging than whoever the Colts had.
3. The Redskins are good at defending the short, quick throws. Hall in particular was fantastic at jumping on the little quick outs from Romo to Bryant. We could exploit this with a nice fake.
4. Their run defense is better than the Colts. But it was still prone to giving up plays when the play calls were intelligent.
5. Haslett blitzes. A LOT. I was shocked at how often they brought the heat. Dallas never took advantage of this. Hopefully we'll throw over the top a few times to slow them down.
6. The Redskins defenders put 100% emphasis on stripping the ball. From an article on ESPN:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/18196/redskins-strip-cowboys-of-dignityIn the back corner of the Washington Redskins' locker room late Sunday night, a dry-erase board told part of the story. Someone had left three words for the defensive backs to remember as they took the field against the Dallas Cowboys: "Tackle and Strip."
And with the help of one of the most bone-headed play calls since Barry Switzer called "Load Left" against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Redskins' defense made its first signature play of the Mike Shanahan era in a heart-stopping 13-7 win over the Cowboys. New defensive coordinator Jim Haslett spent all of organized team activities and training camp placing emphasis on stripping the ball. He taped footballs to blocking dummies so that players could practice swiping at the ball as they made tackles.
If we can avoid turnovers and exploit the downfield passing attack, we should be in for a great game.