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I REALLY don’t want to see the Redskins play in any nationally televised, primetime games for a while - we’re 3-17 in our last 20 primetime appearances!  We are the the primetime whipping boys and teams must salivate when they see they play us in primetime!  Let’s just try to right this ship in regular Sunday afternoon games and then when we’ve got this thing right, THEN we can step back up on the big time stage!

If you just looked at the final score of this game, you’d think wow, they played well, kept it close - but this was far from the case, the ONLY reason it was close is because Seattle kept us in it with their own screw ups - without them, this was a 2nd straight blowout!
We stayed reasonably close for a long while, but never looked like we had enough to even pull level, let alone take the lead.
You hope to catch your opponent on a bad day, take advantage of that - but we couldn’t and ultimately the inevitable happened when Seattle got it going again to deliver the knockout punch.

OFFENSE
Kirk Cousins broke his recent trend and this time started off badly (7/17 for 93 yards in first half), but got better as the game went on - 2nd half he was 14/19 for 190 yards and 2 TDs and most importantly NO INTERCEPTIONS!
A nice comeback game for him after the meltdown against the Giants.
He had some beautiful throws, especially the 2 long passes to D-Jax.

DeSean Jackson was easily this games MVP for the Redskins with 5 catches for 157 yards and a brilliant 60 yard TD in which he left Richard Sherman in his wake.

Alfred Morris and the rushing game was effectively shut down by Seattle, with Morris once again failing to reach 20 carries or 100 yards (13 carries for only 29 yards), and once again ball security was an issue as ANOTHER Morris fumble, thanfully recovered by DY.
I know I bang on about it week after week - but we NEED to run the ball down our opponents throats, sustain long drives, win time of possession, keep our defense off the field!

Our O-line continues to get beat up injury-wise, this game saw starting RT Tyler Polumbus go out with a hand injury and we got to see rookie Morgan Moses step in to the action!  
If Moses practices how he plays then I can fully see why Tyler is still the starter as I saw quite possibly the worst failure by an O-lineman to block the guy in front of him EVER - like c'mon, you had ONE JOB!

Our offense in general is struggling - I read a stat that said in 3rd and 7 or longer we are 2/28 for the season (7.3% - the league average is 28%  - which shows how far off we are).
I mentioned last week that Kirk was the worst QB in the league on 3rd down, his QB rating on 3rd downs is 49.8 (league average is 93.9) - for us to win, this HAS to improve!

One last thing on offense, we MAY have a Jordan Reed sighting this weekend, but until he actually plays and finishes the game I will fail to get excited.  This is a player who since he was drafted has missed more games due to injury than he has played!

DEFENSE
As the weeks go on it would seem the Jacksonville game was a mirage, a freak result.  The norm seems to be that teams can march up and down the field on us, much as Seattle did on MNF.
That first drive they just tore us apart, even Jon Gruden said “way too easy” when commentating!
We over-persued, which allowed Russell Wilson to run for 80 yards in the FIRST QUARTER!
“Tackling has been awful tonight by this Redskins defense” - another Gruden quote, I found myself shouting “does ANYONE want to tackle tonight?” at the TV multiple times!
The Seahawks cost themselves 3 TDs and countless yards because of penalties and STILL wracked up 27 points and over 400 yards of offense!

Brian Orakpo now has an ankle injury to add to his finger injury, boy that $11M+ is looking even better value now!  Look at the amount of snaps he has played and he has 0.5 sacks to show for it - Frank Kearse on the other hand has 2.0 sacks in much less playing time.
Rak considers himself “ELITE”, he is good, but not elite in my eyes - elite guys are like JJ Watt, no matter what you do, they still find a way to get to the QB and/or make plays.
Maybe his ankle injury was really affecting him (in which case, get off the field and let someone else make plays), but his effort seemed half assed to me - Frank Kearse made a big tackle on Marshawn Lynch because he kept playing to the whistle, that’s what I want to see from our highest paid defender - HUSTLE!
I doubt he will be back next season, purely because he wants PAID and I am sure the Redskins won’t give him the big $ he is looking for - no doubt someone will though.  

Injuries are decimating our defense, with Perry Riley and Ryan Clark potentially both out this week - we recently signed Jamarca Sanford, who could get called into action sooner than expected if Clark can’t go.
This raft of injuries is showing how thin we are on defense, especially in the defensive backfield - this SURELY has to be an area we pay extra special attention to next offseason via FA and the draft.

Someone’s going to have to step up big time for us and make some plays - we are in dire need of creating turnovers!

SPECIAL TEAMS
This game gave us a glimpse of what a great Special Teams unit does for a team - all game we had poor field position as Seattle had us backed up deep due to great kickoffs and excellent punting and punt coverage.  We didn’t have a single punt return and our sole kickoff return was for 5 yards!
On average we were starting drives from the 17 yards line, including a number of drives that started within 10 yards of our endzone (1, 8, 9 and 10).
The Seahawks, in contrast, started on average at their 35 yard line and started half their drives beyond their 40! (40, 43, 44, 47, 47 and even one on the 50!).
As you can see that’s a sizeable advantage even before beginning a drive!
Tress Way continues to impress with his booming leg, though at times it seems as if he out-kicks our coverage unit as a lot of times the other teams returner has 10-15+ yards of green in front of him before the first Redskin appears on the scene!
The addition of Greg Ducre this past week could help as he has blazing speed and is likely to see action on Special Teams, most likely as a gunner - something to look out for on punts this week!

We need our Special Teams to go beyond not just messing up (which in itself is an improvement), but we need momentum changing plays, splash plays, a return TD!
Our last kickoff return TD was back in 2010 (Brandon Banks).
Our last punt return TD was in 2008 (Santana Moss).
That saddens me greatly to see how long ago it’s been!

Thanks once again to those of you who read, share, comment, retweet and generally interact with me - it is greatly appreciated!
If you wish to contact me, feel free via twitter @readoptionblog or by email at readoption@hotmail.com any feedback/suggestions are most welcome and will help me improve the blog.

That’s all for now folks, till next time …
HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Probably my favorite image from Mondays game - DeSean Jackson leaving Richard Sherman behind on his way to the endzone!

Last Thursday nights game was thoroughly sickening, a debacle, a butt kicking - many words can describe what we saw, the very first word that came to my mind after watching the game …

PATHETIC

OFFENSE
We made the Giants defense look like the Seahawks circa 2013 - the freaking GIANTS!
Last week I had some feedback from readers saying they felt I was a little harsh on Kirk Cousins - I actually felt I was holding back a little!
I stand by what I said and it was interesting to see a number of articles come out shortly after my blog saying the same sort of thing (he starts off hot, cools dramatically in 2nd half of games).
Unfortunately the same scenario occurred on TNF - Kirk started 13/19 for 136 yards 1 TD and no picks.
2nd half?  6/14 121 yards 0 TDs and FOUR INTS (the 4 interceptions came within the space of 8 passes).
I certainly don’t take enjoyment out of seeing Kirk have a night he’d rather forget, I would much rather be blogging about an awesome performance and a 45-14 W than a beatdown in our own stadium!
I just don’t see what some people see in Kirk.

We are never going to win with 6 turnovers, and there’s never a good time to turn the ball over, but giving the Giants a short field 5 times was always going to put our defense in an extremely difficult situation (they started from our 24, 21, 35, 22 and 20) - the other turnover was Logan Paulsens fumble at the Giants 23 which killed off a promising Redskins drive just before halftime.
Paulsens fumble was at least the 2nd time I’ve seen him lose it like that (get stood up by one player while another rips the ball).

We went an abysmal 1/8 on 3rd downs and I read today that Kirk Cousins is currently the worst regular QB in the league on 3rd down!

Alfred Morris was again solid, 12 carries for 63 yards and a TD, adding 3 catches for 27 yards.  His carries were obviously limited as we had to pass when we fell behind, but it would be nice to see us feed him the rock early and often.  I don’t believe he has had 20 carries or 100 yards in any game so far this season.
Rob Carlin posted these stats - Redskins record based on how many carries Alfred Morris gets in a game …
14 or fewer carries …  0-9
15-19 carries … 3-8
20+ carries … 11-5
As you can see we NEED to get the running game going!

Josh LeRibeus got his first career start at LG for the injured Shaun Lauvao (who hasn’t exactly been setting the world on fire with his performances) and did a decent job all things considered.
Our O-line has been struggling this season, especially in pass protection and took a further hit when Trent Williams got hurt - seems to be not as serious as first thought, which is a HUGE relief!
Tom Compton replaced Williams in this game and faired reasonably well.
At this point of the season I would hope to hear news of our 2 rookie O-linemen improving, but it seems neither Morgan Moses or Spencer Long are close to ready which is disappointing.
JD Walton, a player we had on our roster at the end of last season is the starting C for the Giants and was overpowering our guys in this game!
Dallas has built a dominating O-line through the draft in recent years that puts ours to shame!

DEFENSE
As stated earlier, our defense was put in a lot of short field situations which definitely made things difficult.
However we didn’t help the issue by playing off their WRs, allowing them to get clean releases off the line and then we got torched by quick passes.  
With Eli connecting on so many quick passes it rendered our pass rush almost non-existent, with our lone sack coming from Ryan Kerrigan.
The amount of injuries we had leading into this game (on a short week) can not have helped at all, especially the loss of DeAngelo Hall for the year.
Jim Haslett seems to like to have his DBs play off the WRs, but this has proven to be ineffective over the years for us - I would hope to see us play bump and run a lot more to throw off the timing of our opponents passing game.
On 3rd downs we just could not get the Giants off the field, with them going 11/16.
Jason Hatcher was obviously not 100% and it showed - hoping that the time off since the Giants game will help as he is hugely important to our D-lines success!
Brian Orakpo is not having a $11.45M kind of year and his injury to his finger is limiting his effectiveness, could we be looking at his worst year to date?  With only 0.5 sacks so far, it’s not out of the realms of possibility.

The most worrysome thing about our defense for me is our lack of turnovers, it was a problem throughout preseason and has continued into the season.  For having such ballhawking DBs I would have expected a few more INTs for sure!

Our depth is REALLY getting tested on defense at the moment!

Earlier this week we released OLB Gabe Miller and NT Robert Thomas (Miller has since rejoined our practice squad) and we signed safety Jamarca Sanford and CB Richard Crawford (welcome back!) for depth at those positions (plus special teams help).

SPECIAL TEAMS
Speaking of special teams, this was probably our least ineffective unit against the Giants which is somewhat surprising given our special teams track record!
Whilst it’s an improvement to say that we didn’t give up any big plays on special teams, it’s also telling that we haven’t MADE any big plays on special teams - in fact it’s VERY hard to remember the last big play our special teams has made for us, be it a blocked kick/punt, a HUGE return for a TD.
Other teams around the league have their special teams making HUGE momentum shifting plays, ours is just kind of “meh”!
One bright spot is Tress Way, a gem of a find!  He currently is #1 in the league in punting with a 53.0 yard average, almost 3 yards further than the next best!  He also has the longest punt in the NFL so far this season.
So there you go folks, we have a great punter - it’s not all bad!  LOL
In all seriousness though, Tress Way is excellent and a far cry from “Shank” Rocca, who would routinely compound a bad situation by having a crappy punt when we least needed it!  Tress has a booming leg and routinely flips the field for us, let’s hope he continues that way! 

All told I think this TNF game and short week caught us at the worst of times with somewhere between a 1/3 and ½ our team in the treatment room in the days leading up to it.  I don’t believe for a second that we are as bad as we showed against the Giants, but on the flip side, we aren’t as good as we showed vs the Jags - this season is going to be a rollercoaster for sure!
Some fans have pretty much written off our season already, I think it is WAY TOO SOON for that, as 2012 showed us - you can look out of it and catch lightning in a bottle and everything changes!  
RG3’s return at some point will provide a spark I am sure, as will Barry Cofield’s return and injuries around the league will change things for every team.  

We’ve had an extended break to try and regroup, heal up, etc before this matchup on MNF against the Seahawks and I really hope we smack them in the face like Trent did to Richard Sherman after that playoff game in 2012 - we had them on the ropes back then before RG3 went down, I only wish he could have been healthy to play them this time around!

That’s all for now folks, till next time,
HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Thanks once again to all of you who read, share, retweet, comment, leave me feedback and generally interact!  I appreciate you all and thank you for making this a fun experience (would be even more fun if we were winning consistently, but with patience we’ll get there!).

This was a game we weren’t supposed to win, the Eagles were favorites - but we had a GOLDEN opportunity to walk out of the Linc with a W.

Down by 3, with 2.27 left in the game, we get the ball at the Eagles 41, all 3 timeouts left.  We’ve been able to move the ball all day (500+ yards), this is our best starting field position of the whole game - all we need is 10-15 yards to be in realistic FG range to be able to, at minimum, take it to OT (assuming Kai doesn’t miss).
What a time for us to suddenly not be able to move the ball! - as for 4th down?  Cousins flat out missed Garcon.

OFFENSE
The numbers we put up were stunning, 34 points, 511 total yards, 8/15 (53%) on 3rd down conversions, 2 WR’s with 100+ yard, 1 TD games, 4 big splash plays (37, 43, 55 and 81 yards) and probably most surprisingly ZERO sacks given up.  
But despite those gaudy numbers, we fell short in crunch time - when we needed it most.
Cousins once again started off hot, but he seems to have a tendency to cool off/become less accurate the longer a game goes on.
His interception was a killer, I called it as he released the ball as it just looked bad - like Gruden said, on some plays, he needs to hold onto the ball a bit longer and let the play develop.
I’m not going to completely hate on Kirk, he played a really good game, but it required a GREAT game to win this - we needed the clutch factor, and unfortunately in this game, it wasn’t there.
Kirk is more than capable of leading this team to wins over the next few months, some games are going to be easier than others, some will require superhuman displays (we’ll need to see KC1 and not just Kirk Cousins, lol) - I do think, had our defense and special teams done a better job, Kirk wouldn’t have been in the situation of having to drive to try to win, and instead been playing to preserve the win.

Scary moment when it seemed like Alfred Morris was hurt - with our players dropping like flies, he is one we definitely don’t need to be losing!  Not his greatest game, but far from his worst - he does however need to work on ball handling, with yet another fumble (thankfully Garcon saved us on that one!).

D-Jax got his first TD as a Redskin on a 81 yard bomb against the Eagles in the Linc - really couldn’t have scripted it better!  
Garcon was a MAN in this game, I love his ferociousness!
If we can keep our WR corps healthy (and maybe, just maybe toughen Jordan Reed up) then this offense will put up some great numbers week in, week out.

ZERO SACKS GIVEN UP - not a phrase I thought I would be blogging about any time soon, especially considering how dinged up our line got - LeRibeus and Tom Compton stepped in when needed, but makes me wonder how far off being ready are rookies Spencer Long and Morgan Moses?

DEFENSE
Kudos where it is due - that Eagles offense is scary as heck to go against, it felt almost inevitable that they would drive the length of the field every time they got the ball!
This was a “pick your poison” kind of game - we concentrated on stopping the deadly duo of Shady McCoy and Darren Sproles (and did a fantastic job in that regard), but unfortunately in doing so it meant Foles could pick us apart.  Perry Riley seemed to be caught looking a number of times, resulting in big plays for the Eagles.
The real disappointment for me was after registering 10 sacks against the Jags, that we couldn’t even get ONE against this depleted Eagles line!
By my reckoning, we gave the Eagles 5 1st downs because of penalties (some of which are highly questonable!).
In this game we lost one of my favorite players D.Hall to a season ending ruptured achilles and Duke Ihenacho to a season ending foot injury (blink and you would have missed him on the field!) - this leaves our DBs pretty darn thin, especially as FA signing Tracy Porter is more myth than anything since signing him - maybe he’ll play one day!
Chase Minnifield has been called up from the practice squad and we still, at time of writing have one more roster spot available, so we could potentially see maybe Phillip Thomas called up or and outside signing.
Orakpo suffered a hand injury and Hatcher a hamstring injury, hopefully both won’t cause any long term problems.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Special Teams is now becoming a not very funny running joke - it could be argued that without the errors made by this unit, we could be 3-0!
2 backbreaking plays from Specials in this game, the first was giving up a 102 yard kickoff return TD to Chris Polk.
This is bad enough in itself, made worse when you find out that this wasn’t just his first return attempt this season, or even his first return attempt in the NFL, but his first return attempt SINCE HIGH SCHOOL!  It’s not as if we were facing the deadly Devin Hester (congrats on the record)!  C'mon guys get your act together!
The other backbreaking play was Kai Forbath’s missed 33 yard FG - pretty much a gimme - during the first 2 weeks of preseason the extra points were from 33 yards!
His nagging injuries and lack of depth on kickoffs already are a worry, if you start adding in missing relatively easy FGs then you have to wonder how long it is before we start looking for a replacement.

OFFICIATING
This needs brought up - the officiating this season has been HORRIBLE, like replacement refs horrible!  The games are not fun to watch when they become a flag-fest - some of the calls in this game have me questioning the integrity of the NFL (which already is in question).
Some flags came in VERY late, the one where they eventually called a horse-collar on a very obvious facemask was at least 15-20 secs after the play was dead and only after the crowd influenced the refs.

The pass interference call on Keenan Robinson was bullshit - the first time he touched Ertz was after the TE had touched the ball!

The non-call of Fletcher Cox driving Cousins to the ground 3 seconds after the play blown dead was horrible.

They couldn’t even get it right when the scuffle broke out, initially saying Trent Williams was ejected from the game!

FINAL THOUGHTS
The Redskins REALLY need to chill with the penalties - we’re averaging close to 10 a game and giving up an average of 100 yards a game in penalties alone!
Some of them can be avoided, such as D.Halls hit against the Jags - I may even be in the minority here, but I think Chris Bakers penalty was unnecessary.  Foles was not gonna make a play on Breeland, so there was no need for the shot - in years gone by it was legal to hit a QB following a turnover, however nowadays it is not (Foles did make a mistake in moving towards the direction of the play and if the NFL want QBs to be unblockable/untacklable then they need to make sure QBs remove themselves from the area of the play otherwise situations like this will occur).  

It was a chippy game, as expected with D-Jax’s return, but Malcolm Jenkins TARGETED DeSean’s injured shoulder when he was already down early in the game - that’s bush league right there!

D-Jax’s TD celebration - fantastic!

Despite feeling down about this game, we have a lot of positives, our offense is clicking, despite not having a full complement of weapons, our defense is much improved and we have much greater depth than we have had for years (though if injuries keep happening at this rate we’ll have no depth left!).

A must win game on Thursday night against the Giants, it’s a chance to pick ourselves up after this one.

That’s all for now, as always many, many thanks to those of you out there who read, RT, share, comment, generally spread the word of this blog.  It’s you guys who help make this as fun as it is, even through the trying times that we as Redskins fans have to go through.
You can contact me via twitter @readoptionblog or email readoption@hotmail.com

Till next time, HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

I said this on Sunday and will say it again - I’ve NEVER been so bummed about a 41-10 victory in my life!  
We DOMINATED that game, but I couldn’t fully enjoy it as I knew I had just seen our starting QB go down to a significant injury for the 2nd time in his short career!
Thankfully luck seems to have been on Robert Griffin III’s side as his dislocated ankle does not involve a fracture (which is very often the case) - he will still miss a significant amount of time, but he still has a chance to return this season.

Kirk Cousins is now the starter and how he and the Redskins play in the coming weeks/months will go a long way in determining how the franchise deals with RG3’s return when healthy.
I’ve gone on record and said I am an RG3 guy, I think Cousins is decent, capable of being some teams #1, but not in Washington.
Kirk now has a golden opportunity to show not only the Redskins, but the league what he can do - light it up and the Redskins will have a tough decision to make in the not too distant future, stink it up and the decision becomes a lot easier.  These next 5/6+ games will go a looooooong way in affecting the career paths of both our QBs.
Whilst I am an RG3 guy, I will not root against Kirk - he is our QB now and I will cheer for whomever wears the burgundy and gold.

Which brings me to a point I wanted to make about the happenings of this weekend … there were a lot of Redskins “fans” HAPPY to see RG3 go down hurt.  I am sorry, but NO TRUE FAN wishes for a player to get hurt - I may think Tyler Polumbus is horrible at RT, but in no way would I wish him to get hurt.  If you’re a Redskins “fan” who enjoyed seeing your franchise player injured, please hand in your fan card and there’s the door!

We waited 315 days for this win, breaking a streak of 9 regular season losses (2nd longest in franchise history) and WOW what a way to do it!
Coach Gruden gets his first win as Redskins Head Coach in his home opener at FedEx!

OFFENSE
Offensively, we were rollin’ - RG3 looked sharp at the start - showing us flashes of 2012 with 2 rushes of 10+ yards and going 2/3 for 38 yards (really should have been 3/3 for 95 yards - how the ref’s AFTER REVIEW said that pass to D-Jax was incomplete I will never know - I thought the central review system was meant to help, but they blew a bunch of reviews this past weekend).
After the injury, Cousins came in and we kept on truckin’ , even after losing D-Jax shortly after!

Kirk started his day with 12 straight completions, eventually finishing with 22/33 for 250 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs and a 109.4 QB rating.

Alfred Morris had 22 carries for 85 yards and 2 TDs - becoming the fastest ever Redskins RB to 3000 yards (his 34th game, Riggins took 38).

Niles Paul had a career day with 8 catches for 99 yards and TD.

Other notable performances included …
*  A 5 catch, 57 yard day for rookie WR Ryan Grant
*  4 catches for 57 and a rush for 19 yards by do-it-all WR Andre Roberts (who was our emergency QB should Cousins have went down injured)
*  A TD for the 2nd straight week by fullback DY
*  and even undrafted rookie RB Silas Redd getting the 1st TD of his career during the later stages of the 4th quarter.

Perhaps the most surprising offensive stat was that Pierre Garcons streak of games with at least 5 catches came to an end, he logged only 1 catch for 12 yards!

DEFENSE
Despite putting up 41 points - this game was all about our defense!
They stole the show with a franchise record tying 10, yes TEN sacks!
Ryan Kerrigan also tied a franchise record by collecting 4 of those sacks, becoming the 5th member of the Redskins 4 sack club (Dexter Manley, Ken Harvey, Phillip Daniels and Brian Orakpo being the other 4 members).
Brian Orakpo passed 40 career sacks in this game, becoming the 5th member of the Redskins to do so, joining Dexter Manley, Charles Mann, Monte Coleman and Ken Harvey).

The sacks stand out, but so does the fact we held the Jags to 148 TOTAL yards, with only 25 rushing yards!
When you consider that on one play Bacarri Rambo gave up a 63 yard TD and on another we gave up a 54 yard reception - it shows just how DOMINANT our D was the rest of the game!

Speaking of Rambo - after being burnt for the 2nd time in as many weeks (the only 2 TDs we have given up defensively), today he was waived.  This move coincided with Brandon Meriweather’s return from suspension.  At the present time it is believed that Rambo will NOT be brought back on the practice squad.

At the time of writing the REDSKINS ARE THE #1 RANKED DEFENSE IN THE NFL - we will face the #1 offense next week in Philly!
Whilst our numbers are certainly flattered by the outing against the Jags, it’s also easy to see how much better this defense is from a year ago.

Jim Haslett is “unshackled” from Shanahans regime, but we also improved the talent level over the offseason.
Jason Hatcher has been a BEAST, no other way to describe it, a wrecking force on our D-line that we haven’t had for a long time.
Ryan Clark brings veteran savvy and the mindset of a winner to our defensive backfield - he knows what it takes to be a consistantly successful team and will not stand for any complacency from our guys.
Keenan Robinson has made that Mike LB position his own - we love you London Fletcher, but Keenan is a clear upgrade from last season.
All around depth is much better, guess that’s what happens when you finally get the full salary cap to play with!

Was VERY happy to see Trenton Robinson finally get us our first INT of 2014 - all through preseason and week 1 we had yet to record one!

SPECIAL TEAMS
After last week, I could be forgiven for not having high hopes for this unit - but Coach Ben Kotwica has done wonders for this unit since taking over.  
Andre Roberts is not only a willing returner, but an able one - I have a feeling it won’t be long before he takes one to the house!
The kick and punt coverage units have been excellent so far this year, the tackling vastly improved over the S show we saw last season.
Punter Tress Way continues to impress, even taking over the kickoff duties during this game!  This is something I would like us to continue!
Kai Forbath was solid as usual, hitting on his 15th and 16th consecutive FGs.

It’s early days, but the Gruden era is looking like it’s all heading in the right direction - the team is so much more “together”, relaxed and having fun - you can see it in their demeanour.  
The players video bombing John Keim on Monday is certainly a far cry from the Shanahan years - I love it, long may in continue.

That’s all for this week, a HUGE test this weekend with the game against the Eagles, till next time …

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

As always, many thanks go out to those of you who read the blog and even more thanks to those who take the time to tweet, email, share, retweet, comment, etc - it truly means a lot to be able to share my thoughts on this team with the passionate fans from all over the world!
If you would like to contact me, feel free to - I can be found on twitter @readoptionblog or via email readoption@hotmail.com

As we head towards the final preseason game and the final roster cuts, here are my thoughts and observations on the happenings around our Washington Redskins.

Let me start with apologies for the length of time since the last blog - I’ve spent a lot of time giving my thoughts on twitter, but not enough time devoted to the blog - I will rectify this going forward!

Brandon Meriweather suspended!   
Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather has been suspended by the NFL for the first 2 games of the 2014 season for his hit on Ravens WR Torrey Smith during the Redskins 3rd preseason game.
I saw this hit live, and have re-watched it many times and I have to say that I find the fact that Meriweather is being suspended absolutely shocking.
The NFL is going soft! - it was a vicious hit, no doubt - but a legal one.
He led with his shoulder, and for the NFL to say the receiver was defenseless is a joke, ducking your head IS DEFENDING YOURSELF!
The suspension is more on reputation than anything.  
Redskins players have been vocal in defense of Brandon and even Torrey Smith has said he felt it didn’t warrant a suspension!!!
Brandon plans to appeal the suspension and we can only hope the NFL comes to their senses (unlikely, I know!).
If the suspension stands, it further thins the Redskins at safety, with Phillip Thomas struggling with injuries. 
Chances are Bacarri Rambo will have to start those 2 games - I’ve always been a fan of Rambo, even after people were down on him last year - and he seems to have stepped up his game this year.
Initially I believed we would carry 4 safeties (Clark, Rambo, Meriweather and Thomas), though this suspension could open the door for someone like Akeem Davis or Trenton Robinson.

The QB Non-controversy 
The other MAJOR talking point of late regarding the Redskins has been about our QB situation.  
RG3 and our 1st team offence have not been lighting it up during preseason - zero TDs in 10 drives.  
Kirk Cousins and his 2nd unit have done slightly better causing a knee-jerk reaction of “Kirk is better”, “Kirk Cousins should start”, “Cousins is more polished”.  WOAH THERE!  
Let’s start with this … it's PRESEASON - Jay Gruden would be a fool to tip his hand as to show our offense off in preseason, what we are running right now is EXTREMELY vanilla!  The offense will look vastly different once the regular season rolls around, more movement, rollouts, bootlegs, screens.  Right now people are not viewing RG3 as a run threat - exactly what they want you to think, and then BOOM off to the races in wk 1.
Kirk Cousins looks solid - so he should, he is playing against backups, 3rd stringers and players who may not even be on rosters this time next week.
RG3 is our starter - period!  Kirk Cousins is great backup QB, can get the job done if called on in an emergency, but I’m not sold on him being a quality full-time starter.  I hope he does get his chance to be a #1 somewhere sometime, just not in Washington.
Moving Cousins may not end the controversy in the future as I am convinced there are sections of our fans who are just anti-RG3 and would back whomever would be the new #2.

DEFENSE!
Finally free of the tyrant Shanahan, Jim Haslett and the defense has been set free!  The hounds have been unleashed!
To be fair, the defense DOES look much improved, we are getting a lot more pressure, resulting in sacks - but through 3 preseason games we are still waiting on our first interception!
Ryan Kerrigan looks on great form, looking fully healthy after carrying a left knee injury for most of last season.
New additions Bashaud Breeland, Trent Murphy, Ryan Clark and Jason Hatcher all look good, with Breeland looking like an absolute steal in the draft (just gotta keep him out of trouble)!.
Keenan Robinson - wow!   Very impressed with his play, fast, decisive - dare I say an upgrade over London Fletcher (2013 version)!

A few final thoughts …
Injuries - so far in 2014 we’ve been lucky enough to avoid major injuries to starters, so we’ll be heading into that Texans game with almost as strong a squad as we can put out there.
Stephen Bowen may start the season on PUP, as could Leonard Hankerson, hopefully Phillip Thomas’ foot is nothing serious.

Draft Gems - the Redskins deserve a ton of credit for recent drafts, with what seems like a lot more “later round hits” than we are used to in recent times.  Players such as Morris, Breeland, Grant, Robinson to name just a few drafted in the 4th round or after who will be on this years team and likely to play a major role in it’s success!
You can feel the core of this team building up with great young talent.

Madden 15 - got to play this before release and all I can say is, if you’re a gamer GO GET IT!  Absolutely fantastic, such an upgrade over recent years!  This game is truly next-gen!

That’ll wrap it up for this blog, thanks to all of you who read/follow/share - you are very much appreciated and make doing this so much fun!

If you have any ideas/suggestion/comments feel free to contact me via twitter @readoptionblog or email readoption@hotmail.com

Till next time, Hail To The Redskins!

How’s it going Redskins Nation?  Hope you are all doing well.
It’s been around 2 weeks since the 2014 NFL Draft - what did you guys think about the Redskins draft?

If certain sections of the media are to be believed the Redskins had a horrible draft, others were a little less critical - but a huge proportion are ranking it in the bottom half of the league, and bottom in terms of the NFC East.  
I am in the Mike Mayock school of “you can’t truly judge a draft until a few years down the line”.
I was one of those fans who was like “what are we doing!!!” during the 2011 draft when we traded back, allowing the Jags to draft Blaine Gabbert and we selected Ryan Kerrigan.
3 years down the line, the move looks GENIUS - we waited to get our franchise QB the following season, Kerrigan is a Pro Bowler and Gabbert?  … well this offseason he was traded to the 49ers for a 6th round draft pick!

That being said, this blog wouldn’t be very long if I refused to give my thoughts on our draft picks, so putting my “armchair GM” hat on now and here’s my initial thoughts on the players selected by the Redskins in this years draft …

Trent Murphy (OLB) Stanford - 2nd round (47)
Led the nation in sacks last season, smart, hard worker, stays disciplined.  Strong, instinctive, has a wide variety of pass rush moves.
Liked what I saw on film of him, I particularly like how he keeps his eyes up and is quick to react to passes, cause deflections.  Good character guy, team captain at Stanford, loves the game of football.  There is a lot to like about the Murphy pick, have to admit I was initially hesitant on the pick, but the more I read, see and hear about him I think he will be a nice fit in our D.  
Chris Cooley gave an excellent breakdown on him on ESPN980 - you should check it out if it is archived/on a podcast.
He will be a nice addition of the Redskins pass rush rotation and I could see him having quite an impact as a rookie.

Morgan Moses (OT) Virginia - 3rd round (66)
He was talked about as a potential 1st round pick, but fell down the draft - eventually being picked by us in the 3rd round.  Could turn out to be the steal of the draft!  First impressions - the guy is HUGE!  
Coach Gruden has said something along the lines of “it’s going to take him some time” in relation to adjusting to playing RT in the NFL, he’s also mentioned that they aren’t necessarily looking for the rookies to come in and play 70 snaps right away.  Morgan Moses is our RT of the future and is likely to replace incumbent Tyler Polumbus sooner rather than later - how soon will depend on how quickly he can adjust and how he fares through training camp and preseason.  One stat that stood out, he only gave up 2 sacks in 506 pass attempts - if he can repeat that on the NFL level, RG3 will be extremely happy!

Spencer Long (G) Nebraska - 3rd round, (78)
Another HUGE offensive lineman for Coach Grudens revamped O-line - he seems to prefer much bigger, stronger linemen than previous Head Coach Mike Shanahan.  He has made an immediate impression with the coaches who are raving about him, saying he can be competitive right away!  Will push current starting RG Chris Chester this summer for a starting spot, especially after Chester’s less than impressive 2013 campaign.  There’s potentially the chance that, at some point this season we could have rookies starting at both RG and RT!

Bashaud Breeland (CB) Clemson - 4th round, (102)
Whilst he will provide depth at CB, I definitely think this pick was made with Special Teams in mind.  Was a standout gunner at Clemson, often being the first player down the field and in position to make the tackle. We lost Lorenzo Alexander to Arizona in FA last year who was our special teams ace, we saw the results of not having good/willing special teams players last season - I think Breeland is part of a major plan to revamp our special teams unit for this upcoming season.
A very physical corner who likes to get his hands on the WR, very much in the mould of Seattle’s corners, but I can see him also getting called for a lot of fouls early on in his career as he adjusts to the faster/more physical NFL.  Doesn’t have blazing speed, but is fast enough, athletic enough and big enough to still be able to make plays when a WR looks to have beaten him.  

Ryan Grant (WR) Tulane - 5th round (142)
This pick surprised me, especially given the signings of DeSean Jackson and Andre Roberts this off-season. At 6'0, he isn’t the tall red zone threat receiver we crave, but from what I have seen and heard he will be a very solid, dependable receiver - catches well with his hands away from his body (NFL.com had him as “one of the best pair of hands in the draft”).  Coach Gruden was highly complimentary of Grant after last weeks rookie mini camp, stating that he ran routes like a 10 year vet!
Could well compete for 4th/5th/6th WR this year, possibly forcing a more well known current Redskin out.  Has played Special Teams in college and like many players selected by us this year - that could initially be his way to get onto the field at first.

Lache Seastrunk (RB) Baylor (186)
Like many other fans, Lache Seastrunk is the player that I am most excited to see on the field!  He is the speedy/shifty back that I have been campaigning for! (this pick makes up for missing out on Darren Sproles in FA, or Reggie Bush the year before!).  An explosive RB who is a threat to take it all the way any time he touches the ball.
The knocks against him are pass catching and pass protection - Baylor rarely threw the ball to their RBs, but just because he didn’t do it much in college, doesn’t mean he can’t.  Has already been working out in spare time with RG3 on his receiving out of the backfield.  In terms of pass pro, he has stated he will be a very enthusiastic blocker and he won’t let anybody hit RG3!  Maybe former Redskin (and one of my favorite Redskins of all-time) Clinton Portis could come in and give him some pointers, he was one of the most willing blockers I’ve seen in my time as a fan!

Ted Bolser (TE) Indiana (217)
With Fred Davis gone and the Niles Paul experiment not exactly lighting it up, it seemed fairly obvious we would look to draft another TE this year - all that remained to find out was at what point in the draft do we pick one up and who would it be.  The answer would be in the 7th round and Ted Bolser.  Seems to be more of a receiving TE than a blocking TE.  Has good size (nice tall target), but struggles with blocking.  Was probably the biggest disappointment in last weeks rookie mini camp of all our draft picks - but it’s early days, the world is probably spinning at 100 mph for these rookies and the nerves will soon settle.
Like many of our selections, he was a team captain and, wait for it … plays well on Special Teams (named IU’s Special Teams player of the week 3 times in 2013).  Will most likely compete for the 3rd TE spot and play on our reloaded Special Teams.

Zach Hocker (K) Arkansas (228)
Going into last season I threw out the idea that we should at least think about the idea of using a roster spot for a designated kickoff specialist - it was well known that while Kai Forbath was MONEY on FG’s, that his kickoffs were less than desirable.
The Redskins opted to stick with Forbath alone and, well, the results spoke for themselves.  Could Hocker supplant Forbath as the Redskins sole kicker for 2014?, not sure - he sure has the leg for kickoffs, but I don’t think he would be as accurate a FG kicker as Kai.
With this seasons mission to solve our special teams woes it wouldn’t surprise me if we went with the 2 kickers, and may even be my preferred option at this point - but that roster spot takes a spot away from somewhere else, so it’s all about getting the right balance.
Hocker has punted in emergency situations too which will only help his cause.

All told, we had a solid, not flashy draft that helps build for the future - repair the O-line, stock up on Special Teams talent, add a pass rusher, speedy complimentary RB … we’ve added competition to a lot of positions on the roster, which can only make us a better team.
Hopefully 3 years down the line we can look at this draft as a success - how do you feel about our draft?

Let me know via twitter @readoptionblog or email readoption@hotmail.com

Thanks to those of you who read/follow/share the blog - your support is much appreciated!

Till next time - Hail To The Redskins!

What a difference a year makes!  This time last year we pretty much had to sit and watch as FA unfolded around us and our “big” signing was E.J. Biggers!  That, of course was due to part of the BS cap penalty - from which we are now free!

In years gone by the Redskins would “win” the offseason by making the flashiest signings at the highest prices, pretty much getting who we wanted - we all know how that turned out!

In this years FA class there is ONE player in my mind we NEED to break the bank for - Jarius Byrd!
To me the guy is the top free agent available and a total difference maker on defense - he plays a position of dire need and add that to the fact that players of his caliber don’t become available in free agency very often and you can see why we need to jump on this opportunity!
We are apparently completing with the Eagles and Rams for his services, c'mon Redskins - this is the big one!

The Redskins are apparently interested in CB Aqib Talib, which is all well and good if we didn’t have such a big need at safety.  Whilst Talib, D.Hall and Amerson would be a great trio of corners - it won’t mean jack if the safeties behind them are poor!  If we are going to spend big $ on players in the defensive backfield then it has to be Byrd or TJ Ward in my opinion.

Given how horrible Josh Wilson was last year we do still need more corners, but maybe a little lower down the pecking order than Talib.
Maybe a Vontae Davis, Captain Munnerlyn or Corey Graham?
Or possibly an older vet like Tillman or Samuel if a reasonable price?

Whilst I think Jarius Byrd is the one stone cold name we NEED, I have a couple of names I WANT on the team - Darren Sproles and Devin Hester!
Sproles would be perfect for our offense, filling the role that Giovanni Bernard did in Grudens Bengals offense - a sure handed receiving RB that could be a risk to take a screen pass the distance.  We missed out on Reggie Bush last year due to the cap penalty, would love us to get Sproles this year.

Devin Hester, kick and punt return extraordinaire - we saw what poor returns did for us last year, and we also saw what good returns did AGAINST us last year.  No matter what we need a good returner, if we can’t get Hester, we should try to get Trindon Holliday or Dexter McCluster.

Of course I’ve just talked about the “sexy” positions, but as we know a large portion of the game is won in the “trenches”, the offensive and defensive line - both of which could do with a bit of work.
Whilst I don’t think the Redskins will go “big name” on these positions I do feel they will manage to do some good mid-range shopping and maybe come away with some decent starters on pretty Redskins friendly deals.
Zach Strief, Jon Asamoah, Michael Oher, Eric Winston, Davin Joseph on O-line are a few people I would consider.
D-line is tougher and will depend on how the new regime feels on players such as Stephen Bowen (huge cap number), Jarvis Jenkins and Barry Cofield - I have no particular players I would like to see us target, but would like to see us be able to get a lot more pressure from the D-line.

Latest rumors suggest Perry Riley has re-signed with the Redskins, though only a rumor and no details as yet.  This, to me would suggest that he received a little less attention during the 3 day “legal tampering” period than he would have thought he would get.  Hopefully he is back on a reasonable deal for the Redskins.  If he is back, we still have a need at ILB - I would love to see us get someone like Jon Beason or Brandon Spikes, but I think that may be a dream!

We could pick up a WR or 2, a TE, maybe even some OLBs - all I know is it’s going to be fun and we will have many new faces to talk about in the coming, days, weeks and months.

In the last 24 hours a LOT of players have been getting cut from various teams which will bolster the free agent pool and could mean there are some great bargains to be had.
Regardless of how FA goes, we will never fill all the holes we need to fill - we still have the draft, and even then we will most likely have weak areas on our team - one offseason won’t turn this around, but it will lay a good foundation!

Bear in mind, these are only MY thoughts on what I think the Redskins might do.  What’s your thoughts?  Who do you think the Redskins should sign?
Let me know on twitter @readoptionblog or email readoption@hotmail.com
Thanks for reading, sharing, retweeting and spreading the word of the blog - it is much appreciated.

Till next time, Hail To The Redskins!

How’s it going Redskins Nation?  
It’s been a while since I last blogged - after how last season went, I felt it would be good to take a break.
I’m back, feeling refreshed and excited about the Redskins chances heading into the 2014 season and beyond!

Coach Gruden!
VERY happy with the signing of Jay Gruden to be our Head Coach, he comes in like a breath of fresh air to a franchise that was quite frankly being suffocated by Mike Shanahan.

He seems very likeable, honest, willing to mould his system to the talents around him - all traits missing from our previous Head Coach!
He comes from a good football background, his father a long time coach and scout, his more famous brother, Jon Gruden is a SuperBowl winner and now analyst on MNF.

Jay himself has a vast amount of football experience, from playing at Louisville in college, to the World League, the AFL (where he is a Hall Of Famer - winning 4 championships as a player and 2 more as a Head Coach), the UFL and in the NFL as an offensive assistant with the Buccs and most recently as offensive coordinator of the Bengals.

Being a former QB is also a positive and I feel he will help bring the best out of RG3!

Grudens Staff
Jay Gruden has made some bold moves in building his Redskins staff, promoting Sean McVay to offensive coordinator was one.
I mentioned in my last blog that McVay was highly regarded and I would be surprised if he was let go after Shanahan was fired.
McVay becomes the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL, but don’t let age fool you - he is one of the brightest football minds in the NFL today.

On the defensive side came, quite possibly the biggest coaching surprise - much maligned defensive coordinator Jim Haslett returns!
Gruden and Haslett have worked together before and keeping Haslett I guess keeps some form of continuity on D.
There’s been stories of how Haslett was essentially “handcuffed” by Shanahan, who meddled in the defensive playcalling and limited what he could call.  Could this be part of the reason why Haslett was in the booth last season?  Could also explain why we saw exotic blitz packages such as the 6 LBs on the field at once in preseason and nothing quite as creative during the season!  Was it Shannys great idea to put CB E.J Biggers at safety?  To bench Rambo?
Free from Shanny, Haslett should have full reign over his defense and will hopefully have “new toys” to play with as we try to restock the defense in free agency and the draft.

Keith Burns was an unmitigated disaster as Special Teams Coach last season, we could all see it from early in the season - but he remained and we had one of the worst special teams in history!
Thankfully he was shown the door along with Shanahan and we have hired Ben Kotwica, formerly of the Jets.  
A former Apache pilot in the Army, he will definitely bring discipline and determination to a unit that lacked both last year.
Hopefully we retool our special teams with players willing to put in the work and also get a returner capable of busting off a big return!

Those are the “big 3” in terms of coordinators, the rest of the staff includes returnees from 2013 Raheem Morris (DBs), Jacob Burney (D-line), Chris Foerster (O-line), returnees from previous stints with the Redskins Ike Hilliard (WRs) and Kirk Olivadotti (ILBs) and several new faces Randy Jordan (RBs), Brian Baker (OLBs) and Wes Phillips (TEs).

D.Hall
DeAngelo Hall is back on a new 4 year deal, something I am VERY happy about!  The guy is a playmaker, should have been a Pro Bowler in my opinion after one of the best seasons of his career last year.
He is capable of being matched up against our opponents #1 WR and locking him down, he plays with a passion and he is becoming a veteran leader for the Redskins.  One of my favorite players on D without a doubt.

Brian Orakpo got tagged
Last week the Redskins put the franchise tag on OLB Brian Orakpo, meaning he will earn $11.455M in 2014 unless the Redskins can negotiate a long term deal with him before July 15th.
Redskins Nation is split on Orakpo - my opinion is I wanted him back, but I hope we can work a longer term deal out to drop his cap hit for this season to a more manageable $7M or $8M (probably dreaming).
Yes, we have LOTs of holes on D to fill this season, but letting Orakpo walk would have just created another gaping hole and we would still have to pay someone pretty big money (if we were looking to get a player of decent quality).  We can’t let our own talent go, we always complain when someone leaves the Redskins then does better elsewhere - this was our chance to keep talent and I for one am glad we did.
I feel a happy Orakpo will be a successful Orakpo and continuing pairing him with Ryan Kerrigan (who played most of last season with a torn meniscus in his knee) will reap benefits in 2014.

Chris Baker
Another of “our own” returning, Baker has started to develop and should be our starting RE this season, but also has the versatility to play NT.
Locking him up before he could hit the open market was a very shrewd move by the Redskins.  His emergence could signal the end of Stephen Bowen’s time as a Redskin.

Aldrick Robinson
One of the more frustrating players on the Redskins in recent seasons - some nickname him the new “50/50” due to his penchant for either big plays or drops.  The guy has some serious speed, but it means nothing if you can’t hold onto the ball!  He returns on a 1 year, 570k veteran minimum deal so the risk is minimal.  If he could just become more consistent it would make our offense even more deadly!

Player Cuts
The 2 biggest names cut so far by the Redskins are Adam Carricker and Sav Rocca, neither are huge surprises.
Carricker has been trying to recover from a quad injury, with a few setbacks along the way.  Given his injury status and high cap #, this was one move always likely to happen.  One of the most friendly players on twitter, I wish Adam Carricker a full recovery and truly hope the Redskins give him a shot once he is healthy.

Sav Rocca REALLY struggled last year and always seemed to shank a punt at just the wrong time (as if there is ever a “good” time to shank a punt! - but his shanks seemed to compound already bad situations).
The Redskins currently have Robert Malone on their roster, but could they go out in FA and grab a punter like Pat McAfee or Donnie Jones? Or maybe sign an UDFA after the draft?  The options are there and will be interesting to see what direction they go.

I’m a bit disappointed to see RB Jawan Jamison get cut, I felt he never really got a shot last year and thought he might have a chance under Gruden.  I hope he gets another shot somewhere.

Fred Davis
Not so long ago he was a gifted athlete with a bright future, but once again Fred Davis manages to baffle!
He is now suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the leagues substance abuse policy and to top things off the following day he gets arrested at 3.45 IN THE AFTERNOON on a DUI.
I’ve said it before, tremendous talent - but just never “got it” - has in essence thrown away potential MILLIONS with his actions!

A few final thoughts …
*  Jose Gumbs re-signed for 1 year, good for depth but don’t see him being a major factor.
*  NFL thinking about making extra points 42 yarders!  Not completely against the idea, but not 100% with it either.

With FA starting tomorrow I may write up a quick blog about whom I would like to see the Redskins go for and will blog throughout FA once we have done a few signings - should be an exciting FA for us this year!

Throughout the offseason I will be looking into ways to try and improve the blog, so if you have any ideas/suggestions, let me know!

As always, thanks for reading - I appreciate you all and many thanks to those of you who retweet, share, etc to help spread the word of the blog.
Feel free me to contact me with any comments, suggestions or even to just discuss Redskins!
You can contact me via twitter @readoptionblog or via email readoption@hotmail.com

Till next time, Hail To The Redskins!

This is one player I would LOVE the Redskins to land!

Mercifully the 2013 season has ended for us Redskins fans, our worst season since 1994 and probably the worst season I have experienced as a fan.
I don’t recall 1994 being anywhere near as bad as this and all the BS that surrounded this season only added to the misery of losing.
We were the ONLY team in the entire NFL to not win a game within its own division, we were the WORST in the NFC in points differential (-144) and our 8 game losing streak to finish the season is our longest losing streak since Dan Snyder bought the team back in ‘99.
We won more games in preseason (4-0), than we did in the regular season (3-13)!!!

8th STRAIGHT LOSS!
This was a horrible game to watch, kudos to those, like myself, who struggled through to the bitter end!
This game involved 2 teams that had essentially nothing to play for and it showed … the teams combined to go 8/34 on 3rd downs, 0/5 in the redzone, 17 combined punts and 7 turnovers.
It was an ugly end to an ugly season.
In London Fletchers last game as a Redskins player the defense came out and played pretty well, but our offense STUNK IT UP and we could only manage 6 measly points!

Kirk Cousins had a putrid day going 19/49  (38.8%) for 169 yards, 3 turnovers (2 INTs and a lost fumble), he was sacked 3 times and had a QB rating of 31.8.
Alfred Morris had 16 carries for 62 yards, but he too had a lost fumble - considering how underused Morris was this year (he had fewer than 20 carries in 12 of the 16 games), he ended the season with a very respectable 1275 yards on a 4.6 yard per carry avg and totaled 7 TDs.
Morris led all RBs this season in “explosive plays” (20+ yards) with 10!
Pierre Garcon capped his season off with a 6 catch, 56 yard performance - finishing tops in the league in receptions with 113, he also had 1346 yards and 5 TDs, easily leading the team in both those categories. 
Beyond Garcon our WR corps was iffy and is an area I am sure will see many new faces in the offseason.
On our O-line all 5 starters played together all 16 games, but considering some of their performances I’m not sure if that just means that their backups aren’t worth a damn.  LT Trent Williams was the only standout player on that line and has been voted to the Pro Bowl for the 2nd straight year.  Wholesale changes are needed on the O-line if we are to bounce back from this woeful season.

As mentioned earlier the D actually had a decent game (by our 2013 standards), admittedly though - they were facing the NFL leader for turnovers Eli Manning (until he went down with an ankle injury and was replaced by Curtis Painter).
There were quite a few standout performances in this game, Brandon Meriweather and Chris Baker stood out to me, as did Reed Doughty, heck even Josh Wilson made some plays in what has been a horrible season for him!
Unfortunately the defense this season has had a horrible knack for missing tackles, being out of position and generally giving up big plays at bad times and that was true once again in this game - with dreadful tackling in particular on the Jernigan 49 yard TD run.
I’ve heard talk that we could see as many as 7 or 8 new starters on D next season, so with any luck our rebuilt D will fare MUCH better in 2014.

Our 2013 season has been plagued by Special Teams being anything but special all year, so in a year of special teams screw-ups it was only fitting to have a few more to see the season out …
*  we had Jose Gumbs getting called for an illegal kicking the ball penalty on what was already a crappy 32 yard punt from Sav Rocca.
*  We had a foul on Perry Riley for illegal downfield after Sav dropped the ball and barely got the punt off Aussie style (34 yard punt this time).
*  The now common lack of decent returns on punt and kickoffs, including a muffed catch by Nick Williams.
The special teams were an unmitigated DISASTER this season and one of, if not THE worst special teams of all time, I don’t recall us having a good return all season, I guess whatever happens it HAS to be better next season!
The lone bright spot on special teams this year has been Kai Forbath, he had a shaky start to the season (4/8 on FGs to start the season including 2 blocks in one game), but recovered well to end the season with 14 straight FG conversions.  The distance on his kickoffs is still a concern though.

SHANAHAN FIRED!
Of course there was more buzz around what was going to happen on “Black Monday” than the game the day previous and as expected Mike Shanahan and most of his staff were fired!  WOOHOO!
The season went off the rails early and I’d been calling for Shanahan to be fired since the Vikings game - the situation was just too toxic to allow it to continue any further and it sure seemed like Shanahan was determined to do everything in his power to mess with the Redskins (from leaks, to benching a healthy RG3 - I still don’t believe it was to “keep Robert healthy going into the offseason”).
Good riddance is all I can say, I grew weary of his attitude towards players and how easy they could find themselves in his “doghouse”, his blatant lying to fans and the media, the HORRIBLE time management among so many other things!
Even after being fired it would seem Shanahans camp is still feeding stories to the likes of Sally Jenkins - get over it!
Kyle is gone too, his erratic playcalling won’t be missed.
Keith Burns, of “Special Teams” fame is gone (a few months too late).
As I write this blog it’s been 8, almost 9 days since the 3 people mentioned above were fired - I have not heard a single piece of news regarding anyone interested in hiring them - enough said!
Surprisingly Jim Haslett is still on the coaching staff (for now), I would assume whomever becomes our new coach is likely to fire him and have his own guy come in as DC, something to keep an eye on in the next few weeks!  
Raheem Morris, Sean McVay, Chris Foerster and other position coaches also remain, again their fates will be decided by the new Head Coach.  McVay is highly regarded so I would be surprised if he was let go, Foerster is popular with the players, but his O-line under-performed badly this season.

COACHING SEARCH
The Redskins are “casting a wide net” in their search for the next Head Coach, the following are people whom the Redskins have either already interviewed or have requested permission to interview …

Jay Gruden - Bengals offensive coordinator
Greg Roman - 49ers offensive coordinator
Ken Whisenhunt - Chargers offensive coordinator
Darrell Bevell - Seahawks offensive coordinator
Jim Caldwell - Ravens offensive coordinator
Mike Zimmer - Bengals defensive coordinator
Vic Fangio - 49ers defensive coordinator
Perry Fewell - Giants defensive coordinator
Sean McDermott - Panthers defensive coordinator
Rich Bisaccia - Cowboys special teams coordinator
James Franklin - Vanderbilt Head Coach

2 notable names not on that list as Jon Gruden (my personal preference as HC) and Baylor Head Coach Art Briles.
Gruden has said he is not interested in any openings to coach this year (which I keep hoping is just a smoke screen and something is being worked on behind the scenes, but likely not to be the case).
Briles it would seem is off the radar, the PR mess hiring him would cause due to him having previously coached RG3 would be huge - despite the fact that he could be a legitimate candidate purely on his coaching ability.

Of the names all being considered I don’t have a clear cut favorite, what I would like is a coach who has personality, can motivate his players, has “fire in his belly”, isn’t a douche, can maximize RG3s ability and build a team that will be a force for years to come.
RG3 and this coach will hopefully be our version of Brady/Belichick for the next 10+ years!

RG3/KIRK COUSINS
I said in the last blog I would do a comparison of RG3 and Kirk Cousins and how they played this season, so as promised …

RG3 finished the season(13 games, 3-10) 274/456 (60.1%) for 3203 yards passing, with 16 TDs, 12 INTs and 4 lost fumbles.  He had a QB rating of 82.2.

Kirk Cousins in his 3 starts (0-3) (as unfair to him to include the 2 times he had to come in off the bench) went 69/130 (53.1%) for 747 yards passing, with 4 TDs, 5 INTs and 2 lost fumbles.  He had a QB rating of 64.5.  If you DO include his off the bench stats his stats are 81/155 (52.3%), 854 yards, 4 TDs, 7 INTs and a QB rating of 58.4.

RG3 averaged 7.0 yards per pass attempt and had 1.23 turnovers per game - Cousins #s were 5.5 yards per pass attempt and 2.33 turnovers a game!

Now, straight up RG3s stats are better (even more so considering Cousins was given 3 of the easier defenses to face), not even adding in the added factor Griffin brings with his running PLUS the fact RG3 played the season with a brace on his knee, thereby limiting him!
Shanahan said “his value can only go up” of Cousins, but those 3 games brought his value WAY down in my opinion - once talked about as the leagues BEST BACKUP QB and worth maybe a 1st round pick in a trade, I struggle to see us getting a 3rd for him now!
He may well still be the best backup QB in the league, but he sure as heck isn’t a franchise QB and not on RG3s level (when RG3 is fully healthy it’s not even close!).

REDSKINS NAME CONTROVERSY
All the controversy over the name sure as anything died down when we started losing!

I hope you all had a Happy New Year!, I’d like to thank you all for reading and following the blog on twitter through this first season of the Read Option Blog - it’s been a tough year for fans, but we have much brighter days ahead of us!  
As always, feel free to read, tell fellow Redskins fans about the blog, retweet, comment and chat about the Redskins - you can contact me on twitter @readoptionblog or via email readoption@hotmail.com

I’ll be looking at ways of improving the blog over the course of the offseason so if you have any suggestions, tips, etc feel free to get in touch, all feedback is most welcome.

Till next time, Hail To The Redskins!

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last blog and in that time we have got to see Kirk Cousins start in place of franchise QB Robert Griffin III.
I’ll talk a little about the 2 games and then my thoughts on how the Cousins era has been going …

FALCONS GAME
Kirk started the Falcons game on fire, with 248 yards, 2 TDs and no INTs in the first half - leading the Redskins somehow (despite 4 TO’s) to a 20-17 halftime lead.
But, as we all know - these Redskins don’t play a full 60 mins - so Kirk had a Rex Grossman-esque spell with 2 poor interceptions and we needed a last gasp TD drive to tie the game and head to OT … oh wait, whats that?  Shanny is going for 2?!?!
Now, I’ve heard what people have to say about the decision to go for 2 - how no-one wants to see 2 x (3-10) teams play overtime, how going to overtime puts players at more of an injury risk in what’s essentially a meaningless game, how no-one cares about the result if we don’t make it … well here’s my take - I CARE about the result, as bad a season as it’s been, I’d rather leave that game (4-10) than (3-11), I’ll take the W anytime and I’ll take the option that gives us the best chance to win (which in this case was going to OT in my opinion).  
Certainly going for 2 there felt like the “Shanny” thing to do, especially considering the circus he’s created in recent weeks - you are more likely to fail on a 2 point conversion than convert, so Mike going for the option with less % chance of success I guess shouldn’t have been a shock to me.

The Falcons entered the game against us with only 12 takeaways all season - we gave them the ball 7 times, SEVEN!!!  We only had 14 turnovers all last season and we had 7 in one game!
Despite those 7 turnovers we still were in the game right to the very end thanks to some of our best defense of the year - a few less turnovers and we could have won that one easily, but it wasn’t to be.

Brian Orakpo continued his fine form with 1.5 sacks in this game and his upturn in form could be a problem for the Redskins this offseason as it’s increasing his price in FA!  I’m not in favor of breaking the bank for this guy, he’s good, but he’s not ELITE (but he thinks he is and will expect elite money).  He is certainly Rak-ing up the numbers (pun intended, sorry guys), but to be considered elite he needs to do it, week in, week out against all opponents.  In the following weeks game against Dallas, Tyron Smith didn’t seem to be having too much trouble with Rak, Orakpo has failed to take advantage of games where he has been facing backups and he hasn’t been the game changing force we’ve needed in close games.  Definitely not on the JJ Watt, DeMarcus Ware level of “disruptive force” - will be interesting to see if they bring him back or let him walk and what kind of contract he gets.

Falcons game quick thoughts …
*  Not only a Fred Davis sighting, but a Fred Davis TD, WOW - first time in 2 years!  With a change of head coach could he be convinced to return?  Would he want to?  Would we want him?
*  Weekly special teams screw up - this week goes to Santana Moss’ fumble lost on a punt return.
*  Josh Wilson got ran over by Stephen Jackson - symbolic of Wilsons season really!
*  Mixed bag for Alfred Morris, 98 yards (5.4 avg) is the good, 2 fumbles is the bad - DY going down injured affected Morris’ production later in the game, Young is an integral part of this teams running game but is often not noticed, one of the best FBs in the league!
*  Santana had his best game of the season (8 catches, 64 yards and TD), but also his worst (2 lost fumbles) - he is clearly not the same Santana Moss we all remember, he is one of many Redskins that I expect will play their last game for us against the Giants this week.

COWBOYS GAME
I really thought we had this one - all we had to do was stop them on ONE PLAY, stop them from gaining 10 yards - if they get 9, we win.
But, it true 2013 Redskins fashion, we gave up the 10 yard play and get swept by the Cowboys!
Facing a hobbled QB we decided NOT to blitz on the last play and yet still left DeMarco Murray enough space to get into the endzone!
The soft zone coverages we play are KILLING me, if Haslett is gone (which I think he will be) then I hope his replacement not only is less predictable, but is more creative and has an aggressive mindset.  You think Seattles D is so good because they play soft zone?
If we just rush 4, it’s almost like we are rushing 0 as we get ZERO pressure!  Defensive overhaul is needed this offseason regardless of what happens in the coaching ranks!

Pierre Garcon went BEASTMODE this week 11 catches for 144 yards and a TD and in the process broke the LEGENDARY Art Monks single season reception record - Monk was one of my favorite Redskins growing up, Garcon is quickly becoming one of my favorite of this “generation”.  Pierre will look to add to his league leading 107 catches in the final game against the Giants.
Despite leading the league in catches, he was only voted as a Pro Bowl alternate which I think is a disgrace!

Speaking of the Pro Bowl, Trent Williams is our only player voted this season!  Garcon, Alfred Morris, Brian Orakpo and D.Hall are all alternates who will make the Pro Bowl should the players ahead of them miss the game due to injury or playing in the Super Bowl.

We had opportunities in this game, short fields, but came away with 3’s instead of 7s - got to capitalize on shorter fields, our opponents do!

Quick thoughts from the Cowboys game …
*  Penalties (as all season) were killer, including back to back ones when 2 yards from the endzone - the lack of discipline has been unreal.
*  WRs lining up wrong, it’s week 16, c'mon, SERIOUSLY!
*  The Cowboys were missing Sean Lee and we still couldn’t put up 300 yards of offense on this pitiful Cowboys D!
*  Special Teams once again giving up a big play, this time a 62 yard punt return - every.single.week!!!
*  Clock management - I don’t get how Mike Shanahan manages to screw up clock management all the time, costing us plays, points on a weekly basis!
*Anyone know what it takes to get a holding call this year?  Redskins pass rushers are being held round their necks and nothing is called!!!

Apologies if there are any other major points from the games that I may have missed, but that’s what I can think of from those games for now.

Back to Kirk Cousins - overall in the 2 starts I would have to say he has done OK, a great start vs the Falcons, but since then he has been pretty average.  
On the plus side he has only been sacked once (compared to the beating RG3 was taking) - he definitely seems to be getting the ball out quicker and in more of a rhythm than Griffin.
On the negative side I would say he is turning the ball over at a faster rate than RG3, at 2 turnovers per start and that I expected him to do a LOT better vs that Dallas D (who were missing Sean Lee).
Considering the 3 defenses he has to face in these 3 games, he was being set up with every chance to look great and in my opinion hasn’t lit it up as much as I would have thought he would.  I know people are throwing around the idea of getting a #1 pick for him, right now I don’t see us getting any better than a #2, but maybe with a strong showing against the Giants who knows?
The numbers (completion %, QB rating) aren’t vastly different between RG3 and Kirk - next blog, once we have Kirks final numbers I will do a comparison.  RG3 was having a “bad” season, Kirk (according to some) is playing well, yet the figures are similar (and I would have guessed Kirks numbers should look better due to the cupcake defenses he was lined up to face).

That’s all for this blog folks, as always feel free to retweet, share, spread the word around about the blog - feedback is more than welcome too!
You can contact me via twitter (@readoptionblog) or via email readoption@hotmail.com

Looking ahead, hopefully we have a good showing against the Giants and send London Fletcher off in style with a W.
This weekend could also bring more clarity to the coaching situation as “Black Monday” is coming up and maybe, just maybe Mike Shanahan will be fired!
I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a really good New Year, till next time … Hail To The Redskins!