All Eyes Alone
courtesy of Mylar Bono
Washington was hyped up to be better than last season. They had a secondary this season and any secondary was thought to be better than what they had in 2012, but there is a learning curve to the NFL. The secondary hasn’t improved and a defensive front seven that was so good two seasons ago has aged quickly. Washington’s defense has been the biggest negative as the team has failed to win in its first three tries. Matthew Stafford joins Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick as quarterbacks who have torn about Washington this season as he threw for 385 yards with 25 completions on 42 attempts, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
The biggest area of concern for the defense isn’t the schemes or the coverage. Often times the defender is in the right position and most of those times they miss a tackle or the tackle is broken. Poor tackling by Washington has doomed their defense and it was no different this week. Detroit got touchdowns on there first two possessions as Calvin Johnson and Joique Bell shook off Washington defenders like flies. It was quick and it was merciless but it is what Washington fans have seen a lot of early in the season.
It is a disappointing start for a Washington that was thought to be better and a lot of the blame has fallen on Robert Griffin and some of it is deserved. He threw another interception this week and it was one that could have been avoided. With the ball at the Detroit 19 and Washington down by seven Griffin was flushed from the pocket and instead of throwing the ball out of bounds he forced a throw down the sidelines. The route was jumped by Chris Houston and Washington would get nothing out of a promising drive.
As frustrating as it has been early. Griffin once more ended the game with good numbers completing 32 of 50 passes for 326 yards, and there were more than a few passes that hit receivers in the hands and weren’t caught. The Aldrick Robinson dropped touchdown will be the one most discussed but Jordan Reed and Leonard Hankerson had a couple bounce off their fingertips as well. Washington isn’t simply lining Griffin up and asking him to do everything. There are other players on the offense and many of them have not stepped up.
Washington’s offense finally scored in the first half but it wasn’t enough as they were still down early and struggled to catch up. The defense couldn’t wrap anyone up and Robert Griffin got very little help from the rest of his offense. Not being able to score and not being able to stop another team from scoring is an easy way to continue to fall into early holes. Look at Detroit’s second possession. They started with the ball on their own eight yard line and ten plays later had driven the length of the field for a touchdown. That is how Washington’s season has started. The offense can’t get anything going and the defense doesn’t give them the opportunity to hang around until they can, but this is Washington and in sports disappointment is the common thing.
