Post Mortem: Seattle v Washington Redskins Football Club

[auroraave]

Special Sunday Night Edition because, well, because the Lambs!

Let's get this out of the way; losing to the New York Giants is >>>>>>> than losing to the New York Jets. That’s just facts.

If anyone knows where Russell Wilson, please send him home. He seems to have disappeared. Strange times for #3

Anyway… saw the game in fits and spurts. Not a particularly spirited effort or a satisfying game - especially on offense. Defense showed up as did the special teams. Seemed to escape torn ligament field unscathed - I think. Someone will pull a hammy on the plane ride home.

A movie’s turn into the third act rests on the “all is lost” principal, where the hero, or protagonist, as they are moving towards their goal, has the bottom fall out. In other words; the shit hath hit the fan.

Football games often have a similar feeling to them. In Seattle’s battle with Redskin Nation, this turn into the third act, if you will, came midway through the third quarter. Seattle took a 20-3 lead and we were teetering on the brink of a blowout. In this scenario, the Redskins (as the protagonist), and their goal of winning the game, has fallen apart. Defeat is inevitable. All is lost.

Only, the antagonist is Seattle, and they don’t like to be the bad guys, so they detest putting opposing teams away, stomping on the throat, flipping the kill switch. Instead, Seattle did Seattle things and said nah, we’re gonna let ‘em hang around, give ourselves a chance to blow this one. It’s what we do. In a game that, frankly, should not have been this close, Seattle let another lesser team hang around. The third quarter was baffling to me, and really emphasized Seattle’s inability to put teams away. The offense just... stopped trying.

They open the third quarter with a beautiful drive, Carlos Hyde did his best Chris Carson impression and dazzled with a 50-yard gallop. 20-3. The route was coming right? The Redskins were beaten, broken, or close to it, right.

Seattle’s defense did something beautiful right after that – they snagged a turnover. Yay! Let’s get Wilson and Co. out there to put this one away. Oh, man, you could feel they were going to march down and ice this and avoid any unnecessary dread, drama or let them back in, right?

Nah.

They decided to do the three-and out thing, to try to run the game clock out midway through the third quarter. 20 points is enough. We’re good. No need to show off. Punt!

The defense holds, Seattle gets the ball back, promptly goes three and out. Hot potato, anyone?
Next possession, Seattle goes for a monster six play drive - and punts. Maybe the potato was cooler, but they still weren’t having any of it.
Then another three and out.
Then they took three knees to end the game.

Not counting those knees, Seattle ran 19 plays in the second half. 19. With every opportunity to put the Redskins out of the no-team-name misery, Seattle’s offense sputtered, bumbled and punted, putting all the pressure on the defense. An all-too familiar theme of madness.
Seattle cannot, will not, absolutely cannot put teams away.

Or maybe the 5-9 Redskins are just that good. I dunno. All week we heard how tough their d line was. The vaunted Redskin defense terrorized Seattle to the tune of zero sacks, and gave up 181 yards rushing. Doesn’t sound too terrifying to me.

Seattle had six TFL and four sacks and Bobby Wagner led the way with 13 tackles. Thirteen! Adams kicked in nine more along with his ninth-and-a-half sack. Meanwhile, the GOAT, the leader of the greatest offense in history, a man so good he’s already getting fitted for his Canton jacket, wowed the crowd with a whopping 121 yards passing. Canton, indeed.

It’s not that I’m complaining, mind you. I mean, a win is a win. It’s just that I’m, okay, fuck it, I am complaining. Seattle’s inability to flip the kill switch and put teams away bothers me. It always has. It goes back to the LOB days when close games could’ve been closed out with a simple first down, and sooooooo many times we couldn’t get it done. Maddening. How many times have we seen this movie? I hate that movie.

I love how the defense is getting chippy, getting some swagger, but in reality, I like seeing them on the sidelines. I hat, hate, hate having them on the field to finish the game. The offense needs to do a better job of managing first downs, controlling the game, instead of grabbing a lead then being content to fun out the clock with 24 minutes left. What. The. Fuck! Why is this so hard? Okay, so maybe the Redskins are just that fierce, what, with all that lack of pressure or run stopping capabilities. Mmmm, maybe not.

Seattle's offense did everything they could to get a win for the Redskins, but that coming-on-strong defense slammed the door. The bad guys won!

How about that offensive line? The off-season depth and acquisitions have proven to be a major plus. Dunlop, Adams, and Reed continue to pay huge dividends. Kicking game is top- notch. Cut Flowers, keep DJ Reed. Dude has been a revelation, and I'm not even sure Dunbar is coming back.

As maddening as this completely uninspiring win was, and I’ll take the win, I’d like to see some bite from this offense. Some fire. Some fuck you attitude. The baffling desire to just literally stop trying half way through the third quarter – no words can justifiably explain that.
Still, it’s better than losing to the Jets. Not that we’d know what that’s like.

You know what’s frightening? Seattle is about to host a division rival that will be at their peak of motivation after this week. They will be bringing the fire – you can count on that. Motivation will not be a problem for them – but will it be for Seattle? I’m envisioning Jamal Adams doing to them what Clowney did to the 9ers last year. I can dream, right?

Division is winnable. A top seed is still doable. First things first – let’s take down the Lambs.

Go Hawks...

[57reasons]

Your recaps usually ring true Aurora, so this one puzzles me - have the Nellies of these boards finally worn you down?
Ran it down their throat, kept Russell upright with a backup right tackle that everyone here panned us for signing, with no sacks and something like 3 total pressures I think? sure it was close at the end, but a game they led wire to wire, comfortably so for most of the contest. on the road, east coast trip. and that team is not chopped liver - 4-game win streak, including the Steelers coming in. best pass rushing D-line in football.

We all know the 5-0 start was fools gold - weren't just going to cakewalk over everyone. but to read this forum that seems to be the bar a lot of people have set.

[DavidGee24]

Every team in this league has taken a bad loss at some point, even the Chefs managed to lose to the Roiders at home, and almost lost to them twice. Ours was against the Midgets.

There was no reason to let this opponent back in the game today. If we didn't get those two sacks at the end we'd be talking about the fourth loss of a game with a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter in the last 18 seasons (Ravens in 2003, Rams in 2004, Bengals in 2015), and it all starts with dumb, scared coaching.

PC is almost like Lorenzo Romar. Lovable, great at getting players to buy into the program, but when it's time to do the Xs and Os it's like "Huh?"

[auroraave]

Your recaps usually ring true Aurora, so this one puzzles me - have the Nellies of these boards finally worn you down?
Ran it down their throat, kept Russell upright with a backup right tackle that everyone here panned us for signing, with no sacks and something like 3 total pressures I think? sure it was close at the end, but a game they led wire to wire, comfortably so for most of the contest. on the road, east coast trip. and that team is not chopped liver - 4-game win streak, including the Steelers coming in. best pass rushing D-line in football.

We all know the 5-0 start was fools gold - weren't just going to cakewalk over everyone. but to read this forum that seems to be the bar a lot of people have set.

Hahaha, no the Nellies haven't gotten to me. I don't pay much attention to them. I'm pointing out a pattern we've seen too much of; the inability to put teams away. Half of the 2019 season was exactly that, and it resulted in exasperating finales. When Seattle went up 20-3, my first thought was, they'll get the ball back and put this thing away and we can all breathe easy, or they'll pucker up and piss away that opportunity. The opportunity to make the game basically unwinnable by reducing the number of possessions the Redskins will have. The opportunity to get starters off the field. The opportunity to get the bench guys some quality time. The opportunity to let the defense play with a lead, to pin their ears back and go nuts, to gain even more confidence. But no, Seattle puckered up like they were about to give a speech in third grade English class. They do this frequently. Just like they have a pattern of shitting the bed every year against at least one mundane opponent. At least that Giants loss doesn't sting as much as that Lambs loss, but now we'll be facing the wrath of an embarrassed group of men likely looking to redeem themselves, and that Giant loss could loom, well, giant.

While the 181 yards rushing was nice - 88 of it came on two plays. That means we were actually pretty average - and to only run 19 plays in the second half is simply atrocious. Give the fucking defense a break and get some first downs. Another pattern we've seen too much over the years - offensive stagnancy stressing the defense. I'll take 10-4, love the roster they've assembled, but this team should be playing better than this - if they want to make a legit run. I think they have the talent to do it, it's these patterns that tend to hold them back. And not a single up tempo drive that I saw - not one. Isn't that a great counter to a good defense?

[auroraave]

Every team in this league has taken a bad loss at some point, even the Chefs managed to lose to the Roiders at home, and almost lost to them twice. Ours was against the Midgets.

There was no reason to let this opponent back in the game today. If we didn't get those two sacks at the end we'd be talking about the fourth loss of a game with a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter in the last 18 seasons (Ravens in 2003, Rams in 2004, Bengals in 2015), and it all starts with dumb, scared coaching.

PC is almost like Lorenzo Romar. Lovable, great at getting players to buy into the program, but when it's time to do the Xs and Os it's like "Huh?"

Exactly my point. Up 20-3 they should've put it out of reach, broken their spirits, even if it was just a field goal, taking time off the clock, reducing possessions and opportunities for the Redskins. But instead, they tried to run the clock out midway through the third quarter. When you look at both scores - it's interesting. The defense only gave up 15 points? Oh, that's a solid outing! I'll take it! Seattle only scored 20? And they didn't even give up a sack? Hmmm. That feels like underperforming, doesn't it?

[Sibelius Hindemith]

What was the deal on the late drive that ended in the tipped-ball interception where RW hit DK on three quick passes in the middle of the field for 15, 11, and 7 yards? Where the fuck has that been all season? It took 6 games with teams constantly getting pressure on Russ before Schittenheader came up with that?

[Michael K.]

The odd thing is, they controlled the game on the ground, yet in the 4th quarter with an 11 point lead they went pass happy. The INT came on first and ten from inside midfield! Normally the complaint for the three and outs is they went ultra conservative. That wasn’t the case...they put the game in Russ’ hands, and he was terrible.

[SeattleAddict]

Exactly my point. Up 20-3 they should've put it out of reach, broken their spirits, even if it was just a field goal, taking time off the clock, reducing possessions and opportunities for the Redskins. But instead, they tried to run the clock out midway through the third quarter. When you look at both scores - it's interesting. The defense only gave up 15 points? Oh, that's a solid outing! I'll take it! Seattle only scored 20? And they didn't even give up a sack? Hmmm. That feels like underperforming, doesn't it?

no. not underperforming. The game plan was smart and effective - play extremely conservative, avoid sacks with small ball (runs and short passes), make Haskins beat us, don't turn the ball over. This will run the clock, shorten the game, keep the game low scoring.

The plan worked PERFECTLY except for the tipped ball that was intercepted. Haskins also surprised everybody by playing so well in the second half. He was awful as expected in the first.

Multiple people on here saying RW has regressed, which tells me that people here either don't watch the games, or simply don't know jack shit about football. If that one ball doesn't get tipped, he didn't miss a single pass. He executed the game plan perfectly, made zero bad decisions, and got the win. He was not 'confused' or 'lost' at any point whatsoever. The only thing that wasn't up to standard was his stat line. Oddly enough, I predicted this exact thing would happen, because THAT IS THE GAME PLAN TO BEAT THE REDSKINS.

[D-train]

This guy makes a good point but I replied anyway.

Win against the Rams next week and Seattle has earned their bye week against the Cardinals (#1 seed beyond reach and #2 no longer matters since it comes without a bye).
11:51 AM · Dec 21, 2020·Twitter Web App
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D-Train
@DarrenTrain
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Great point but a #2 seed guarantees 2 home games albeit with no fans but no travel.

[Michael K.]

Why do you keep excusing the INT? It was a poor decision...it was first down. Jesus...it isn’t like the hit the receiver in the hands and he tipped it into the air. It was a bad throw and a bad decision. If he pump fakes and takes the short run we are in second and 8 or so, not rushing the defense back out there.

In a game we dominated on the ground, the first down pass was a strange call that was turned awful by a poor decision by Russ. Besides the Hyde run, the second half was bad offense. If that was the game plan, it wasn’t a very good one!