Quick Notes From the Redskins Win

Guest Blog By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Basheer Zada

– The defense as a whole played much better than it has in previous weeks. They forced 2 turnovers, a fumble recovery and an interception on the last play of the game, which could have been avoided had Carlos ”no-hands” Rogers picked off Kolb earlier in the drive. The defense held speedsters Maclin and Jackson to 4 catches for 35 yards combined, and allowed 353 total yards (much better than the 423 yards they had been averaging)

– As I predicted would happen, Lorenzo Alexander started at outside linebacker in place of Andre Carter, who registered a sack of his own. Alexander, who had that monster hit on special teams, faired pretty well. He generated some pressure, made a couple of plays in the open field, and finished the day with 3 tackles. It should be noted that Jim Haslett took a way more conservative approach this game and played a lot of cover 2 while relying on a 4 man rush to get pressure on the quarterback.

– Albert Haynesworth had his best game of the season and possibly as a Redskin. He had 3 big 3rd down stops and appeared more comfortable in the system. Lets hope this continues, and maybe Albert can find himself in the starting lineup in the coming weeks.

– The offense set the tone early with a punishing run game. The Portis-Torain duo combined for 125 yards on 29 rushes. I bet McNabb can count the number of times his team had 35 rushes on his right hand only. I would still like to see more balance in terms of passing and running the football, but this was an NFC east game and when the running game clicks, you cant stray away form it.

– McNabb had a great first half going 6-8 for 115 yds and a touchdown, only to go 2-11 for a meager 10 yards and an interception in the second half. Again I would like to see more consistency throughout the entire game from the team as a whole.

– McNabb got picked off by rookie safety Nate Allen, who was ironically drafted with the pick the Redskins gave up to the Eagles in the McNabb trade (2nd round, 36th overall).

– Stephon Heyer continues to show that he can be consistent at left tackle…….. consistent at getting flagged for false starts and holding penalties at the worst times possible. Please sign Trent Williams’ get well soon card (https://fanspeak.com/steveospeak/2010/10/04/trent-williams-get-well-soon-card/)

– The Eagles offense had the ball for 6 more minutes and 13 more plays than the Redskins. That is a huge improvement from previous weeks, but keep in mind that the Redskins drives after halftime resulted in: Interception, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt. Even with a lead, they need to have drives that last longer than 3:03 minutes (the longest drive of the second half).

– All in all, the Redskins are 2-2 and 2-0 in the NFC East, which puts them in first place (last time Redskins started 2-0 in the NFC East was in 1995). McNabb got a win over the team that deemed him old and washed up. Lets hope they build off of this momentum and take care of the Packers at home next week.

Hail!