Redskins vs. Giants 9/11/11 thoughts

First of all, I would be remiss not to send thoughts and prayers out to the families of the victims of 9/11 as it has been a central theme not only in sports but throughout the United States this weekend. Also, a huge thank you to the policemen, firemen, and other public servants & private citizens who helped find survivors and victims immediately after the attacks and in the ensuing weeks and months. You truly are American heros.

That along with a tragedy that happened to one of my former roommates in the last week has hammered home the point that sports are a great diversion, but are far from being really important in life. I hope that anyone reading this will take that message to heart. They're not worth nearly killing some guy outside Dodger Stadium on opening night. They're not worth shooting someone in the parking lot after a game. They're not worth "hating" another human being because they pull for your team's rival. If you think that it is, then you live a sad and meaningless life and I feel sorry for you.

Anyway, the Redskins came out and picked up a big win over the New York Giants to open the 2011 season. I'm going to give a few thoughts about the game and what I think it means for the season.

Offense- Overall, I thought the offense was pretty good. Rex Grossman threw for over 300 yards. Fred Davis caught over 100 of those and Santana Moss grabbed 6 passes for over 70 yards. The running game was not all that great, but I guess it didn't have to be.

Grossman got off to a slow start which had me calling for John Beck after the 2nd possession. I know I've been critical of Rex and don't like that the Shanahans chose him over Beck. However, I have to give credit to Rex for his overall level of play yesterday. He played well. As I stated, he went for over 300 yards. Tossed a couple of TD passes with no interceptions. He really only had one bad play which was when he fumbled after not securing the ball on a sack. Fortunately for Rex, the defense and special teams covered his back and ended the ensuing Giants possession with a blocked field goal.

Tim Hightower didn't run poorly even though he only gained 72 yards on 25 carries. Often, Tim was under duress from the defense as soon as he touched the ball. The zone running game requires the o-line to block and create lanes and they got beat quite a few times by the Giants defenders which didn't allow Hightower many opportunities to pick a running lane. When they did block well, Hightower had some nice runs. The O-line is going to have to improve over the course of the season so that the Skins can run the ball, reduce the dependency on our quarterbacks to make plays, and to keep our QB's off their backsides (the Skins lost 47 yards to sacks).

Fred Davis was a weapon in this game. The big man came into camp in probably the best shape of his career and it paid dividends for the Skins on Sunday. 5 catches (out of 6 targets) for 105 yards is a heck of a day for a tight end. It will be interesting to see what happens when defenses have to account for his presence on the field and how much that will open the field for other players.

Santana Moss was solid, catching 6 out of the 8 balls thrown in his direction. Santana didn't find the end zone on any of his catches, but he gets a lot of opportunities in this offense and has a shot at a 100 catch season.

Anthony Armstrong is our best deep threat, but he's going to have to learn to hang onto the ball. He caught only 2 passes (albeit one was a TD) out of 6 thrown in his direction and had at least 2 drops. We need more consistency young man.

Jabar Gaffney caught the other TD pass in a reunion with his collegiate QB.

Defensively, the Skins by and large shined. After giving up 14 points in the first half, the Skins clamped down on the Giants, frustrating Eli Manning and slowing the rushing attack greatly compared to what Ahmad Bradshaw/Brandon Jacobs were able to do in the first half.

Reed Doughty had 11 tackles, but he also had the blown coverage that allowed Hakeem Nicks to set up the Giants first score. I think Doughty is a fine backup safety, but I can't wait for LaRon Landry to get the clearance to play.

Bryan Orakpo got a lot of attention from the Giants, but that freed things up for Ryan Kerrigan on the opposite side. I have seen a few fans complain about Kerrigan's speed or other perceived physical shortcomings ever since we drafted him. Kerrigan helped erase some doubts hopefully with his very athletic pick 6 where he shed a cut block, batted the ball up in the air, came down with it and took it in from 9 yards out.

Chris Neild had a surprisingly good opening performance as well. Playing as the reserve NT, the 7th round draft pick managed to get 2 sacks. Not bad for a guy who many (including myself) thought was going to be a scout team player at best.

Adam Carriker and Stephen Bowen also recorded sacks giving the Skins 4 on the day. Do the Skins now have a pass rush that goes beyond one or two players?

Inside backers London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh were solid with 8 and 7 tackles apiece.

After getting burned for a few plays in the first half, the defensive backfield really got better in the second. Solid play from DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson combined with a reinvigorated pass rush gave the Giants fits in the 2nd half.

Special teams weren't bad for the Skins. I though Sav Rocca was solid with his punts. Graham Gano missed another FG which bears watching. He had a good preseason, but he missed a number of kicks last year in close games. Brandon Banks was aggressive with his kick returns, but didn't put the Skins into bad spots by being too aggressive.

It was a good opener for the Skins. However, I do caution Skins fans not to get overly excited. Last year, the Skins opened with a win over Philadelphia and ended up being not so good. This team doesn't feel like a carbon copy of the last few seasons, but I want to see them put together multiple good games before I get excited. We will learn a lot about this team next week when they play outside the division against the Cardinals. The Cardinals defense didn't look all that great in giving up over 400 yards passing to Cam Newton. So, theoretically the Skins should be able to pass the ball on Arizona. What I want to see is better blocking by the offensive line which will allow Hightower to run for over 100 yards against his former team. I have a feeling that any games we can get him into triple digit rushing yards are games we either win or have a good shot at winning in the 4th quarter. I'm not sold on Rex Grossman as our QB, but if he can continue to minimize mistakes and make solid throws to open receivers, then he'll be good enough.