Gästebuch » TAMPA

Wes Martin Jersey 2019 , Fla. (AP) — Washington yielded 501 yards and forced Tampa Bay to punt once all day.Sounds like a blueprint for a lopsided loss, yet there the Redskins were in the visiting locker room Sunday celebrating a 16-3 victory that kept them alone atop the NFC East.That’s what four takeaways, three of them foiling scoring opportunities, will do for a team that struggles to score points.“We gave up some yards. They had great time of possession and some great drives, but we were able to keep them out of the end zone,” coach Jay Gruden said. “You’ve got to keep playing until the drives are over, and good things will happen. We did that.”Alex Smith threw for 178 yards and one touchdown, while Dustin Hopkins kicked three field goals for the Redskins (6-3), who improved their turnover differential to plus-11 and rebounded from a 38-14 loss to Atlanta despite playing with a makeshift offensive line because of mounting injuries.“I promise you this: If we were even or minus-11, we wouldn’t be 6-3,” Gruden said. “It’s been the difference so far. It’s why we are where we are.”Smith, who was 19 of 27 with no interceptions, threw 6 yards to Josh Doctson for the game’s only touchdown early in the fourth quarter.Hopkins kicked field goals of 43, 43 and 26 yards, the last set up by Greg Stroman’s fourth-quarter interception and 24-yard return to the Bucs 14.“You can (give up) 1,000 yards, but if you get the ‘W,’ three points, it really doesn’t matter,” Washington cornerback Josh Norman said. “It goes down in the stat sheet, but the only stat that matters is the ‘W.’ “Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 406 yards for Tampa Bay (3-6), but was intercepted twice and lost a fumble on a sack inside the Washington 10.The Bucs, who have the NFL’s top passing attack and are second in total offense, fell to 1-3 in games they’ve gained 500-plus yards this season.Just as discouraging for coach Dirk Koetter and his players: Tampa Bay, which has lost three in a row and six of seven following a 2-0 start, failed to force a turnover on defense for the sixth straight game.“”Four-zero in turnover margin is going to kill you every time,” Koetter said. “We had a lot of chances. … We weren’t good enough today, and that’s plain to see.”Meanwhile, three of their four giveaways thwarted scoring opportunities, including Jacquizz Rodgers‘ fumble on a reception that rolled 18 yards into the Washington end zone, where it was recovered by safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for a touchback.The Redskins were outgained 279 yards to 136 in the first two quarters, yet led 6-3 at halftime after getting two field goals from Hopkins.The Bucs moved into Redskins’ territory on all five of their first-half possessions, but had little to show after Norman made a leaping interception on the goal line of a pass intended for Chris Godwin, and Chandler Catanzaro missed a 30-yard field goal.Catanzaro, who’s missed four field goals and four extra points through nine games, also had a 47-yarder sail wide right early in the second half.“I feel bad for my teammates. I’m just not performing well enough right now for this team,” said Catanzaro, whose 33-yarder in the second quarter accounted for all of Tampa Bay scoring. “Right now they’re not going through (the uprights). I’ve done my best to fix it up until now and it hasn’t been fixed.”BIG NUMBERSFitzpatrick completed 29 of 41 passes and topped 400 yards passing for the fourth time this season. He was sacked twice.Rodgers finished with eight receptions for 102 yards for Tampa Bay. Godwin had seven catches for 100 yards.INJURIESRedskins: With Trent Williams recovering from surgery on his right thumb, Ty Nsekhe started at left tackle along with guards Jonathan Cooper and Tony Bergstrom, replacements for Shawn Lauvao and Brandon Scherff, who were lost for the season against the Falcons. Cornerback Quinton Dunbar (shin) also missed the game, with Fabian Moreau filling in.Buccaneers: Played without defensive end Vinny Curry for the third time in four games. Safety Justin Evans (toe) left in the second quarter and linebacker Lavonte David (knee) departed in the third Cheap Wes Martin Jersey , though both returned.PATCHED-UP LINEWashington’s patchwork offensive line held up fairly well. Washington rushed for 116 yards, with Adrian Peterson helping run out the clock and finishing with 68 yards rushing on 19 carries.Smith was sacked three times, but thought the group performed well under the circumstances.“It wasn’t like there was a ton that was off-limits, and I think that’s a credit to those guys and how they were playing,” Smith said.“Certainly you wanted to get them into the flow of the game and that took a little bit,” the quarterback added. “But I thought in the second half, we were able to get into that rhythm and we were able to execute.”UP NEXTRedskins: Home vs. Houston next Sunday.Buccaneers: at New York Giants next Sunday. A midweek look at unrelated thoughts about the Redskins" />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHogs Haven homepageHorizontal - WhiteHogs Havena Washington Redskins communityFollow Hogs Haven online:Follow Hogs Haven on TwitterFollow Hogs Haven on FacebookLog in or sign upLog InSign UpSite searchSearchSearchHogs Haven main menuFanpostsFanshotsSectionsRedskinsMastheadOddsShopCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 321 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Looks Like Someone Has A Sixpack Of The MondaysDaily SlopRedskins RecapsEDTThere’s no real strong theme to this article. It’s just a collection of short observations generated by some things I’ve seen, heard or read in the past few days.Slot positions set in drying cement on both sides of the ballGenerally, Jay Gruden, like most coaches, resists naming starters or commenting very specifically on position battles this early in the preseason.I’ve been mildly surprised to see him make some fairly concrete admissions about presumed roster spots in the past few weeks.Back on the third day of training camp, when the calendar still said ‘July’, Jay talked about Trey Quinn as a receiver:Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesWhile this is not an unconditional commitment to Trey Quinn, it was a pretty strong indication that 3Q is projected as the primary slot receiver - an impression that has been fortified by coaching comments and reporting from journalists throughout camp.It appears that the competition now is for the backup role, since Quinn is the presumed starter.Likewise, on Tuesday, Jay was asked about the slot defender role, and specifically about Fabian Moreau.Again, this doesn’t completely shut down the possibility of competition, it certainly is a pretty strong statement about Fabian Moreau, with the other defensive backs sounding as though they are vying for the backup role.Photo by Al Pereira/Getty ImagesI wouldn’t describe either of these roster positions as ‘written in stone’, but they strike me as if they’ve been inscribed into fast drying cement.Jay usually likes to have his roster 95% figured out by the third preseason game, which is just two weeks away.Let me put that in context by looking at one of Jay’s comments from earlier this week:I think this is very much who Jay is; he comes to camp with a good idea about who his 22 starters and 3 special teams guys are gonna be.Training camp is really about selecting and sorting the other 28 players on the roster.If I were Fabian Moreau or Trey Quinn, and I’dbeen listening to Jay’s press conferences (which they probably haven’t), I’d probably be feeling pretty good about my position on the team right now.The importance of the depth chart ahead of the Browns gameJay was asked about the depth chart this week, and he said this:I was watching Good Morning Football yesterday, and Kay Adams played the clip of Jay saying this, then tried to spin it as Jay blowing smoke about the quarterback position and trying to minimize the fact that Haskins was listed #3 and McCoy was listed #1.They actually had a 3 minute discussion on GMFB about whether or not Jay’s comments were revealing.They weren’t.Jay’s comments had nothing at all to do with the quarterback depth chart, and anyone who looked at Ryan Anderson ahead of Montez Sweat or Geron Christian ahead of Donald Penn would know that.This is nothing new for Jay, and it’s absolutely not some kind of a “show” he’s putting on to mask the quarterback situation with Dwayne Haskins, as suggested by GMFB.Consider what Jay Gruden had to say on August 7th 2018 when he was asked how much importance to place on the first “unofficial” depth chart, released ahead of the first pre-season game against the Patriots last year:So, last year, Jay indicated that he didn’t even look at the depth chart sent to the media — that it was put together by the guy in charge of Communications because it wasn’t worth Jay’s time.If Kay Adams or anyone from GMFB is reading Hogs Haven today (maybe NFL Network’s Mike Robinson who sometimes subs for Nate Burleson... he’s a local guy who takes an interest in DMV sports), please take note that Jay is just being Jay.His comments on the “unofficial” depth chart are genuine, similar to what he said a year ago, and there’s not much to be learned from studying the document for clues about the quarterback situation in Washington.Who has the Mike?I wrote an article earlier this week in which I talked about the ten most important Redskins players.I took some mild criticism in the comments section for listing Jon Bostic #4.I identified Bostic as a critical member of the team when I wrote the article (and defended the decision in the comments section) primarily because I knew that Bostic had been charged with calling the defense; it was my understanding that he would be the guy with the green dot on his helmet this season.I now find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to walk back a bit on the position that I staked out and defended in that article (beep, beep, beep).This morning, I ran across this comment from Jay Gruden, given at a training camp press conference not too long ago, when he was asked about Jon Bostic calling the defense:I had been feeling like Bostic was ‘da man’ this season Darrell Green Jersey , and that he would be charged with the critical job of communicating the defense throughout the season.Jay doesn’t say that he won’t do that, but he makes it very clear that it’s not written in stone (or even fast drying cement).He not only says that SDH is capable of calling the defense, the first words out of his mouth are “that will change”.Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY SportsSo, to all of you who felt I was stupid or crazy for insisting that Jon Bostic was one of the ten most important Redskins, in the immortal words of Billy Joel, “you may be right”.In Jay’s defenseKen Meringolo wrote this week about Jay Gruden’s offensive-minded background, and the somewhat unexpected ad gradual shift of the Redskins roster to a defensive-led team.I share Ken’s bemusement.Unlike many Redskins fans, I was not dismayed by the decision to trade for Alex Smith last year.In fact, I wrote a rather long article following the 2017 season in which I advocated for the creation of the team we fielded in 2018, and which we may still field in 2019.Remember, the following thoughts were written by me at the end of the ‘17 season, before we knew the final outcome with Kirk Cousins:I was pleased when the Redskins acquired Alex Smith (though not pleased that Kendall Fuller was part of the acquisition cost).I spent much of the first half of the 2018 season writing repeated articles and comments extolling the virtues of the strategy employed by Jay Gruden.On 27 October last year, I wrote a 3,000 word article to praise the winning style of football being played by the Redskins, concluding with this summary:Unlike many others, I don’t think the winning record the team enjoyed in the first half of the ‘18 season was a fluke; I don’t think it happened in spite of Alex Smith; I also don’t think it was always destined to end.Geoff Burke-USA TODAY SportsI simply believe that, after the end of Week 10, marked by the injury to Brandon Scherff, the team could no longer field a fully capable NFL roster, and that the Week 11 injury to Alex Smith put the final nail in the coffin.Prior to that - for nine games - the Redskins were playing a brand of football that reflected Jay’s ability to do what most people continually insist he can’t do; that is, he adjusted his coaching to the roster he was given.In 2015 and ‘16, Jay had a quarterback that understood his system, a tough possession receiver in Pierre Garcon, a speed demon in Desean Jackson, a stout offensive line and one of the best pass-catching tight ends in the league.What he didn’t have was a top-tier running back or a stout defense.He ran a team that relied on Cousins distributing the ball to Reed, Garcon, Jackson and Chris Thompson in an attempt to outscore opponents, whom the Redskins defense couldn’t be relied on to stop.2018.Play smart, minimize giveaways, maximize takeaways, control the clock, punt when you have to, play the percentages.I have no doubt that, if the receivers show that they are capable and a quarterback emerges with full understanding and control of the offense, Jay will be willing to open things up a la 2015-16.But, while he’s patiently working on that and waiting for sufficient development to occur, I think we’re gonna see a lot of reliance on the running game and short passing game, and a huge focus on winning the twin battles of turnovers and field position.Geoff Burke-USA TODAY SportsIf the offense isn’t ready yet, then Jay seems perfectly happy to rely on his defense, punter and kicker to lead the team to victory.