Game Girl

Close, but no cigar. Yesterday's game was marginally better, but still not good enough to win. The defense, aside from scoring a touchdown, got torched once again (I just KNEW Calvin Johnson was going to come in here and stomp all over our secondary, and that's exactly what he did). Our special teams still can't figure out when to field a punt or kick-off and when to just kneel down and give the offense the ball on the 20. And the offense? Well, it all depends on how you look at it.

From where I sit, you can look at the offensive production (let's use that term loosely here) two ways. You can believe, as I choose to, that what we saw yesterday was a more mobile RGIII behind a tightened-up offensive line with a better, more productive running game. Or, you can point to the missed opportunities, the sailed passes, the penalties and the fumbles, and say this team doesn't have a chance.

If you choose to go that route, I certainly wouldn't blame you. It's depressing to watch a team we thought was going to be great put a crappy product on the field. But hear me out on this one -- can you concede that RGIII looked at least a little more like himself yesterday?

The 2 offensive drives that really looked crisp and sharp both ended with fumbles or interceptions. OK, that's bad. But at least the offense was able to move the ball yesterday, and stay on the field for more than one offensive series in a row. In my humble, biased, homer-clouded opinion, that's progress.

Now, do I think we can fly out to Oakland and beat the Raiders? Well, I don't know about that. For one thing, our defense has now won the crown for the most yards given up over 3 games EVER, and Terrelle Pryor is a bit of a gamer, so I'm not going to be too quick to count Sunday's upcoming game as a win just yet. If our offense can put together a few drives like they did yesterday and actually come away with points, well, then we might just have a chance. We can't leave it up to our defense to win the game (or, not lose it), or we will be totally up a creek.

So, the glass is half-full, I think. At least for now.

Seriously, I think I might still be feeling woozy after watching that disaster of a game yesterday. Did I miss something? Did someone bring Jim Zorn back and dress him up like Mike Shanahan on the sideline? WHAT the hell is going on?

Not only did this Redskin football team play another totally uninspired game against the Packers, but they didn't seem all that upset about losing! I guess I expected Mike Shanahan to be angry, irritated, and cranky during his post-game press conference, but honestly, he seemed almost jovial about the whole thing. He even had the gumption to say he thought the team "did some good things" (what those were, he didn't exactly say, probably because he couldn't lie so easily on command). But come on, at least try to LOOK like you're upset about getting your butt whipped. That's your job as the coach. Can you at least pretend to be annoyed? I could, for the amount of money he's making...but that's another story.

And RGIII wasn't much better. I'm unpleasantly surprised by the way he's playing. It's pretty hard to ignore the obvious signs of injury that seem to be still lingering, and the fact that he looks like he's absolutely refusing to run the same read-option offense that got him to the playoffs last year. But I'm even MORE annoyed by his demeanor on the sidelines during the game. He's either huddling with Kyle Shanahan, looking bewildered, or he's sitting by himself on the bench. I want to see him firing up his teammates, getting them ready to play, encouraging them to get out there and bust a move. Instead, he's sitting there looking dumbfounded.

Not good.

I don't have a clue what is happening, but I'm beginning to buy in to the conspiracy theorists out there who say there has to be more to this story. I don't know what it is, or why, but for some reason, this team looks like they aren't all playing from the same script. Did Shanahan change the offense? Or, as some have suggested, is RGII just refusing to run it? Is he still hurt? Somethin' ain't right, as my friend Kathy likes to say.

It's like the whole damn team took a hit when Griffin's knee got whacked last January. And they haven't been the same since.

Someone needs to get to the bottom of this, quickly.

Uh, OK. That wasn't exactly the start we were all hoping for last night, now was it? I have to admit I was worried all pre-season about facing the unknown Philly offense in action under the bright Monday Night Lights, and my fears were definitely realized (although our defense actually held up pretty well, all things considered.) It turned out to be our OFFENSE that was a mess last night, and that was definitely an unpleasant surprise.

RGIII needed to shake off the rust, obviously. And the fact that he sort of improved (marginally) in the second half certainly helped to allay some of my initial agony. A little. But come on! What happened to our lightening speed offense? We looked pretty crisp during the pre-season, even with Rex at the helm, so why did we look so flat and uninspired in the first half last night? And Jon Gruden's ever-present gushing over Chip Kelly's coaching, his offensive wizardry, and his overall "magic" didn't really make me feel much better either. Overall, I felt pretty nauseous by halftime, quite honestly.

I'm anxious to see what the coaches do to get this team ready to play what promises to be a pretty angry Green Bay team this Sunday. Clay Matthews doesn't like mobile quarterbacks, and he probably doesn't like all the hype surrounding OUR particular mobile quarterback, so I think we'd better all buckle our seat belts for this game. It could get ugly pretty fast.

I watched RGIII's press conference last night where he refused to concede that he wasn't totally ready to face the game in real-time, and I have to wonder why? Why couldn't he just say, "yup, not playing in the pre-season probably put me behind a little bit, but I'm OK now"? He wouldn't admit anything other than "the whole team didn't play well". OK, so, what are we going to do about that?

Since we can't get a do-over, let's hope we're going to come out swinging this Sunday.