Monday, October 19, 2009

Rock Bottom? Offensive Line is Offensive? Woe, woe is us. Chiefs 14, Redskins 6




I can think of younger days when living for my life

Was everything a man could want to do

I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow

And how can you mend a broken heart?

How can you stop the rain from falling down?

How can you stop the sun from shining?

What makes the world go round? How can you mend a this broken man?

How can a loser ever win?

Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again--Bee Gees

I feel awful for the fans. The fans sacrifice a lot, too. I am not naive about that. I am upset, too . . . The fans . . . put their hearts and souls into supporting this football team . . . They have to just be beside themselves. They will look at me and they should--Coach Jim Zorn

You ever driven your bicycle or car right into a brick wall at a slow pace because there really weren't any other viable options as ludicrous as that might sound? This is what happened with regard to the Redskins offensive line yesterday. We totally see that brick wall/tragically inadequate offensive line, but we really have no other options due to years of neglect. Crash!

Doom and gloom, rage and teeth gnashing, misery and sadness. Well, a lot of fans feel this way apparently, according to all the columnists such as Wilbon. I mean, this is a really bad time because there feels like there is no hope of being a good football team. But by the time Dad and I had walked from the stadium to the Morgan Boulevard metro stop, I was pretty much over it because I just couldn't imagine that offensive line doing anything.

And they didn't. Montgomery knocked back on his ass. Heyer spun around like a scarecrow in a cartoon. Williams doing his impression of a napping pre-school student on a floormat. The result, a whole bunch of three and outs. Campbell completed a couple of passes, including one to Cooley who dodged a tackle for the first first down of the half. There were two chances for big plays--a long bomb that Devin Thomas caught out of bounds and a post-pattern thrown to far ahead of Moss. Those two plays could have made the difference, but . . . didn't.

The defensive line played very well. Carter, Orakpo, Haynesworth, Chris Wilson, Daniels all put a lot of pressure on Cassell and got 5-6 sacks.

Then to start the second half, Campbell got benched for Toddball Todd Collins. He completed a long pass to Moss down the middle of the field, and a spark of electricity and hope went through the crowd, but all we could get was a field goal.

Later on, Portis busted through the left side and went all the way down the sideline. We thought it he was going to take it to the house, and finally score a long touchdown. But his last blocker, Sellers, fell down and Portis got tackled. 3 incomplete passes from Collins later, another field goal.



That was it. It wasn't 5 fumbles or 5 interceptions or 5 dropped passes in the end zone. It was just not being good enough to barely squeak by an 0-5 team in a rebuilding year. Todd Collins getting sacked in the end zone for a safety was the perfect ending.

The game day experience was unique in that our seats were basically in a cave in obstructed view seating. We didn't realize this when we bought them, but it wasn't disastrous. Whenever we had to slide to the other side of a pillar, there were 2 open seats available for us.


The aftermath? Vinny Cerrato strongly suggested that Jim Zorn give up his playcalling duties to Sherm Lewis who most recently was play calling in a bingo hall for senior citizens. Instead of resign or protest, Zorn agreed. Peter King says this means that Snyder doesn't want to fire Zorn, yet, but that he has concluded that he hired the wrong man. Maybe, but if you're not going to fire the wrong man, you might as well get off his back while he's not fired.

Zorn was allowed, however, to decide to start Jason Campbell over Collins this week. I think this is the right move. Campbell gave an interview on a radio show this week in which he had an edge to his voice, and said that he's gonna stop worrying about what other people want and just let it all hang out. 1) That sounds great, and 2) I thought that's what you were doing all along.

Also, the Redskins signed a professional offensive tackle, Levi Jones. I'm thinking/hoping that this is a major upgrade.

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