Redskins at Giants: Melancholy And The Infinite Discord

Washington Redskins (2-2) at New York Giants (1-2)
1:00 p.m. Giants Stadium
I love how Redskin-haters have tried to lessen last week's victory over the Jaguars. They went against the best defense in the NFL and put up 36 points. And that's not good enough for some people. Oh, we here in the D.C. area have heard everything. The Jaguars defense isn't really that good. Jacksonville had injury problems going into the game. The Jaguars were suffering the so-called "hangover" from their game the previous week against the Colts. The Redskins defense surrendered 30 points and caught a break. On and on and on...

For starters, the Jaguars defense is the best in the league. I said it BEFORE the game and I continue to say it now. The Redskins just happened to have the perfect gameplan, execution and personnel to beat Jacksonville. The Jaguars came in relatively healthy. 10 of their 11 projected opening day starters played. 10 of 11 starters is pretty good for the NFL now-a-days. And as for this hangover thing...didn't the Jaguars lose to the Colts? When was the last time a team had a "hangover" after losing a game? Yes, they played well against Indianapolis. Probably better than they're capable of playing most Sundays. But they still lost. This Jacksonville team went 11-5 last season, so they're not in the mood for moral victories. I doubt their close loss to Indy had any effect on this game.

As for the complaint that the Redskins defense gave up 30 and were bailed out by their offense...well, you won't get any argument here. The defense, especially the pass defense, stunk. But when does a NFL team go 16 games with both their offense and defense playing well each week? It doesn't happen. Bad defensive performances happen. Even for good defenses like Washington. Even for great defenses like Jacksonville.

If you've read any of what I've written in other Redskins game previews, then you know I've been critical of the defense over the first quarter of the season. They rarely blitzed the first three weeks, and then probably did too much blitzing last Sunday. Without Shawn Springs, the secondary is a mess. Carlos Rogers will be a number one corner one day. He is not at this point. He is a number two corner. With Springs out, he has to keep lining up against the oppositions best wideout. And he's simply not good enough yet. And we all know that Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph cannot hang with any team's number two receiver. When (or if) Springs comes back, the secondary can shift back to more favorable matchups. Until then, the corners are going to get beat. It's that simple. And as I've said before, without Springs, Gregg Williams is clearly not comfortable rushing more than five guys at a time while leaving those less than stellar corners on an island. So the pass rush, as well as the pass coverage, suffers.

The 30 points and the hundreds of yards the Redskins gave up can be attributed to Springs' injury. The Redskins allowed only 33 yards on the ground. Yet they gave up well over 300 yards in the air. Since Springs has little to do with run stopping, the run defense from last season hasn't dropped off. But obviously the pass defense has. Springs' absence has led to not only Carlos Rogers going against Terrell Owens, Andre Johnson and Reggie Williams, it has led to Adam Archuleta trying to keep up with number two receivers one-on-one. It has led to Sean Taylor being less aggressive. It has led to Warrick Holdman failing to cover whatever tight end he lines up against. On the first Reggie Williams touchdown, Holdman was actually the first defense on Williams and missed him completely. Maurice Jones-Drew was Holdman's man when he scampered 51-yards for a score on a dump pass. And Holdman allowed numerous key completions late in the game. Where is Rocky McIntosh? Can someone please find him?

In other words, I'm done criticizing the defense. I can't keep making excuses for them. The secondary is obviously missing Springs. Even without him, there is no excuse for the missed tackles, the wide-open receivers and the surrendering of leads that took place last week.

On the flip side, how about that offense! Where are all those critics now? I told you the reason the Redskins were losing the first couple of weeks was the defense, not the offense like everyone else was saying. Why don't you listen? Why doesn't anyone listen?
The offense was missing Clinton Portis. Enough said. What Springs is to the defense, multiply by 10, then multiply by 50, and then maybe you get somewhere close to Portis' importance to the offense. Does Ladell Betts really scare anyone? No. So defenses were able to key in on Mark Brunell and Santana Moss the first two weeks. Since Portis came back, the offense's performance the last two weeks may lead to me launching a Brunell for MVP campaign. No? Too soon? Agreed.

If Brunell has a third straight great week then it will be hard to keep the campaign under wraps. At 2-2, and still in search for a statement win in their own conference, the Skins travel to the New Jersey pig farms and swamplands to take on the Detroit Lions. No, wait...not the Lions. The Vikings? No, not them either. Oh, it's that other dysfunctional team, the Giants.

Ok, so the Giants didn't take a hooker-laden cruise captained by Fred Smoot. Nor did one of their coaches run a naked bootleg around town in his car. But the Giants have seen their fair share of problems the last few seasons. Most of their problems center around "old-school coach Tom Coughlin". Sorry for the quotation marks there. I'm obligated by NFL rules to precede any reference of Tom Coughlin with old-school coach. Coughlin really doesn't put the "old-school" in "old-school coach". Nor does he put the "coach" in "old-school coach". Basically, all Coughlin is bringing is the "old". That's not good.

Let's run down the encounters with Ol' Coughlin since he set foot in the Armpit of America. First, there was that whole Coughlin Time fiasco. That's when he fined players for showing up ON TIME to meetings because they weren't on time enough. Last season, despite the Giants going 11-5 and winning the division, there were several player complaints directed in the media towards Coughlin. First it was Gap-Tooth Strahan. Then it was a couple of offensive linemen. Nothing major really. Just typical complaints that practices were too hard or that Coughlin had too many rules. If only one player complained, then it wouldn't have been an issue. But all these gripes add up over the course of a season and indicate a larger problem.

Of course, the real problem started after the Giants got embarrassed at home in the first round of the playoffs against Carolina. Tiki Barber said the team was out coached in every way. Yikes. Barber is supposed to be a nice guy. He's in all those United Way commercials and whatnot. He pays his taxes on time. Keeps to himself usually. So for Barber to say that after a playoff loss, in front of plenty of media members, is a damning insult.

Then there’s this season. With the exception of their miraculous fourth quarter and overtime against the Eagles, the Giants have looked terrible. They commit too many penalties. Barber is regressing, which I called on this very website at the beginning of the season. Osi Umenyiora has all the makings of a one-year wonder, which I called on this very website at the beginning of the season (Umenyiora and Gap Tooth have combined for a total of one sack. Impressive.). And despite all the defensive additions, the Giants defensive back seven look utterly lost, which, oh yes, I predicted at the beginning of the season. Lavar Arrington is playing the same role for the Giants as he was last season for the Redskins. The problem is New York is paying a boatload of money for him to sit on the bench most of the game. At this point, Antonio Pierce is the only player doing anything for the Giants defense.

On top of all these problems, the discord against Coughlin is once again making news. Now it’s Jeremy Shockey’s turn to call out his coach. And like last season, you don’t see many players rallying in support of Coughlin. In fact, they seem to be rallying around Shockey. Not that I can blame them. When Seattle has a 42-3 lead in a game that Shaun Alexander did nearly nothing in, then there is a serious coaching problem.

So, as with almost every problem facing NFL teams, there are two ways this whole episode can end. One, the Giants use the embarrassment from the Seattle game that carried over to their bye week and turn their season around. They’ve been stewing over that loss for two weeks. And you know the Giants have been hearing about it in the New York media. They should be pissed. The other ending results in the Giants realizing that they’re not capable of another 11-5 season, the league isn’t going to bail them out with 14 home games, and collapsing even more than I predicted they would.

Which one will it be? Well, usually when a team first encounters adversity, it is able to use that adversity to energize a comeback or a turn around. They use the negative to fuel the positive. An example would be the Detroit Tigers. They had their problems in April, Jim Leyland called all his players out, and they used that to launch their comeback season.

However, like in the case with the Giants, when a team faces adversity on numerous occasions under the same coaching staff, using anger to turn the season around becomes less and less effective. It can only work so many times. Eventually teams will turn a deaf ear to their coaching staff. And I think the Giants have about exhausted the adversity rallying cry.

Don’t get me wrong. The Giants could easily win this game. The talent they have on offense is much better right now than the talent the Redskins possess on defense. The Giants D could finally wake up and start pressuring the quarterback again. The G-men could use that home field advantage and ride it to a win. The Redskins may be the better team, but they’re not that much better. But you have to feel that if anything goes wrong for New York early in the game, then this team is just going to fold up into the fetal position and roll over.

Which is why it is so important for the Redskins to get on the board first. The Giants are teetering on the edge, and all the Skins need to do is give them a little shove and let gravity do the rest. Let’s see more of the outside running game against Gap-Tooth, who no longer has the spry legs to run down Clinton Portis. Let’s see more screens and quick passes. There is no one in the Giants secondary that can hang with Moss. And whichever linebacker decides to cover Chris Cooley should be victimized time and time again. Basically, the offensive gameplan from last week should work against the Giants. If the Skins offense gets on track, look for Antwaan Randle El to have a big game.

What should the Redskins not do? Exactly what they did last season in the Swamplands. Use predictable running plays on first down that forces Brunell into long second and third down situations. And for goodness sakes, if you have a chance to tackle Tiki Barber, please do it. The Giants are going to put up enough yards and points, we don’t need to help them out with more missed tackles this season.

Moss should have another big week, and with a smart gameplan, so should Portis (Who by the way, is back in costume. This week it’s Napoleon Dynamite rip-off Dynamite Jenkins. Not one of his more creative appearances.). The Skins need to blitz Eli Manning the exact same way they blitzed Byron Leftwich last week. All the Redskins need to do is limit big plays for the Giants, commit no first half turnovers, get some momentum early and let the Giants implode on their own. With either Philly or Dallas losing this weekend, this is an opportunity the Skins have to seize to get back on track in the NFC East.