Redskins at Falcons: Apology Not Accepted

Washington Redskins (2-5) vs. Atlanta Falcons (4-3)
1:00 p.m. Georgia Dome
The bye week came and went, but there are no solutions to the problems that have plagued the Redskins through the first seven games. The easy schedule didn’t help. Playing the Eagles and forcing the Redskins to play up to their competition didn’t help. There are no quick fixes on the offensive line (as I said back in September, the only way the Redskins were not going to be at least .500 is if the offensive line suffered a couple injuries…I hate being right). The power struggle behind the scenes continues. Jim Zorn is just basically showing up and collecting his paycheck at this point. On top of everything else, we’ve had some weird John Riggins-Greg Blache feud to deal with. The feud was sparked by Dan Snyder apologizing to the fans. Apparently, people were unhappy that he would apologize for the team’s lousy start. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t Danny.

Worse yet, it appears as if the Mike Holmgren, Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden hires are losing momentum before the season is halfway over. Never count out what $10-20 million could do, but it doesn’t look like any of those three will be coming to Ashburn to bail out the Redskins this offseason. It appears to be Mike Shanahan or bust at this point. Again, if that means he’ll be the coach/GM, and Vinny Cerrato is fired because of it, then I’m all for it. Otherwise, I’m not too thrilled about the idea of Shanahan in D.C. Another name floating out there is Russ Grimm. We’ll cross that bridge more when we come to it, but there are some major pros and major cons if that hiring were to actually happen.

There’s no need to ramble on about the Redskins anymore. The bye week helped nothing. The players have still packed it in, the coaching staff has basically already packed up their belongings, and the schedule is just brutal. I assume the rest of these Redskins previews will be pretty short.

The Skins travel to Atlanta for their first road game in almost a month. Getting on the road may actually benefit the team, especially Jason Campbell and the offense. It also doesn’t hurt that the Redskins have had two weeks to get ready for this game while the Falcons not only had one, but it was a shortened week after their Monday night loss to New Orleans. The fact that Atlanta is coming off that game to New Orleans, which was a huge game for them, will also help Washington. The Falcons are almost guaranteed to have a letdown game.

Other than that, there aren’t a lot of positive notes going into this one. Atlanta had done a fantastic rebuilding job since the Michael Vick fiasco. It took them rough a year-and-a-half. The Falcons offense has been up-and-down at times, but when they click, they are one of the best units in the league. Behind a young and talented offensive line, Matt Ryan can pretty much do whatever he wants. He hasn’t been touched a whole lot this season. With Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez to throw to, it’s hard for the opposing team to double team anyone. And with Michael Turner, a player who has established himself as one of the top five running backs in the league, no team can drop too many linebackers back into coverage or bring too many nickel and dime corners and have them play away from the line. The offense is very well balanced, and it’s surprising that they’ve even had occasional problems moving the ball.

Defensively, the Falcons give up a lot of yards. They surrender 378 yards per game. There are several reasons for that. First, they’ve played several good offenses. Second, they are a very aggressive defense, and even though they get lots of sacks and turnovers, they are prone to giving up big plays. Finally, the offense usually scores so quickly, the defense is on field an awful lot. The secondary is still kind of sketchy, but the front seven usually get to the quarterback enough to mask that deficiency.

For those who don’t understand what I’m talking about when I’ve discussed Greg Blache’s refusal to attack the quarterback must watch this game. The Falcons will do exactly what the Redskins should have been doing all season. They will hide their defensive issues by attacking Campbell, especially since they know the line is weak. I see a repeat of the Eagles six-sack performance coming up on Sunday. The defense should contain the Falcons for the most part. Expect Atlanta to struggle early as they’ve had the short week against the Redskins two weeks to prepare. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Skins actually jumped out on top. I would be surprised if the Skins were on top at the end of the game.