Washington did not get off to the start they needed in the season or in this game. After going three and out on their second possession of the game Sav Rocca lined up for the punt. The only problem is the punt couldn’t get off his foot before it was blocked by Rashad Jennings and recovered in the end zone by Jeremy Stewart to give Oakland the early seven point lead, and they didn’t stop there. Washington would get one first down on their next offensive series but it still only last four plays before Rocca had to line-up for another punt. This one he got off but Matt Flynn and Oakland were able to drive down the field on ten plays for a 14-0 lead.

Then the game turned. Washington looked dead. The defense once again couldn’t stop anyone and the offense couldn’t get anything going. The response to Oakland’s second touchdown was a drive that started off promising enough but then stalled in the red zone on an intentional grounding penalty by Robert Griffin III. They settled for a field goal, and then they got life from their defense. On the sixth play of Oakland’s next possession rookie David Amerson made the first interception of his career and returned it for a touchdown.

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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.

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04.03.11 – Nats v Braves-6
courtesy of MudflapDC

It started off well for the Nationals. Ross Ohlendorf was perfect through three innings and had faced the minimum heading into the sixth, and that is where thing unraveled. First the Nats would take a two run lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Jayson Werth bases loaded walk that ignited a few fireworks. Alex Wood upset that a borderline call didn’t go his way marched off the mound towards umpire, CB Bucknor. Fredi Gonzalez would come out to make sure his pitcher stayed in the game and Gonzalez was indeed ejected instead.

Alex Wood still wouldn’t make it out of the inning. After the Werth walk Bryce Harper laced a sac fly to center that scored Denard Span. That would be all the Nationals would get. They could turn seven hits and three walks into no more than two runs. It has become a common theme for the Nationals and although the offense has been much improved in the second half these types of games still creep in, and the reason the Nats struggled to score is easy to deduce. All of their hits were singles. Not a single extra base hit was had to move runners around the bases more quickly, and that has been one of the key differences between the Nats and Braves when they play this season.

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283/365
courtesy of BrianMKA

Being 26/40 with 320 yards and three touchdowns and one interception look like good numbers, but it was once again the tale of two halves for RGIII and Washington. All that has to be known about the first half is that Washington trailed 24-0. They couldn’t run, they couldn’t pass, and they couldn’t keep Green Bay from running or passing. In total Aaron Rodgers ended up with 480 yards passing and James Starks 132 yards rushing, and it is hard to win football games giving up that type of yardage, but the defense can almost be excused, almost. Green Bay ended up leading the time of position battle by 32:29 to 27:27 but it was much worse than that in the first half.

Washington cannot continue getting down big and trying to comeback. They have to put two good halves together in order to win. The biggest negative early in the season is that the running game can’t get going. That could be because they aren’t yet able to run the read option with a limited RGIII or it could be that teams have figured out Alfred Morris. It is probably the former. Last season defenses never knew who was going to have the ball and that helped Morris. This season they know when it is a run it is going to be Morris and Washington’s offensive line just isn’t good enough for a traditional running attack.

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The opener of Washington’s defense of their 2012 division title was a study in frustration. It started off with Philadelphia driving down the field and looking like they were going to score easily. It did not look like the Washington defense knew what to expect or how to defend Chip Kelly’s fast paced offense. After nine plays Philadelphia was on the Washington four yard line and then Vick attempted a backwards pass and DeAngelo Hall returned it all the way for the first touchdown of the game. It felt like not only the bullet had been dodged but it had been turned back on the one who followed it.

But it got no better. The Philadelphia offense continued to ram the ball down Washington’s throat eventually jumping out to a 33-7 lead. Washington had no offensive points until Alfred Morris ran up the middle for a five yard touchdown run with eleven seconds left in the third quarter.

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One more win!
courtesy of oddlittlebird.

That was exciting. That is all the analysis I have. The entire game I was planning this post around another disappointing Nats lose, a lose they couldn’t afford. I was ready to write about how this was yet another game the Nats let slip away although they were never really in it. Ohlendorf started off poorly and ended up allowing four runs on nine hits with no walks and no strikeouts. It was a tough game to watch and one that had many fans switching to Breaking Bad.

The Nats were able to pull within one in the fourth inning before Ohlendorf allowed his fourth run in the fifth and then their lead expanded to three runs when Krol allowed a run on a single to Eric Young, intentional walk to Satin, and single to Lucas Duda before being pulled for Mattheus in the top of the seventh. Down three runs the Nats were able to get one of them back immediately with a Desmond two out single followed by two wild pitches and a Ramos single to score him from third.

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DSC_5496
courtesy of MudflapDC

There are some things in baseball that make perfect sense. Cliff Lee for example owns a 2.87 ERA for his career against the Washington Nationals. That makes perfect sense. Cliff Lee is very good. He has a career 3.54 ERA and a 2.91 ERA as a Phillie. So, it makes perfect sense that the Nats struggle against him. Dillon Gee isn’t Cliff Lee. He has a career 3.94 ERA, and after 7 2/3 innings of two run ball against the Nats now has a 2.80 ERA against them. That is right Dillon Gee has pitched better against the Nats than Cliff Lee. I doubt anyone could find a single person on the planet that would take Dillon Gee over Cliff Lee on a real life or fantasy team.

This is baseball. It doesn’t always make sense. It doesn’t have to make sense. It is entropy. It verges towards chaos and yet enough of it makes sense that we expect all of it to make sense. The Nats averaging 4.92 runs a game in August and Jayson Werth hitting over .400 for the month came into this game red hot, and couldn’t get it done. Werth went 0-4 and the Nats scored two runs, both on solo homers from the seven and nine spots in the order.

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