Redskins-Rams, Best and Worst
Best and worst from the Redskins' 30-16 loss to the Rams.
Best Question, Part I: Did Clinton Portis just lose his job to a guy who was on the practice squad a week ago?
Worst Deja Vu: Week 3, on the road, against a bad 0-2 team with a rookie quarterback, and the Redskins lose. This probably wasn't as horrific as the Lions game, since Detroit had lost 19 straight at the time and was a national laughingstock in the way St. Louis wasn't. But this wasn't good.
Best Question, Part II: Why did Portis come in for that 3rd-and-goal play in the third quarter, when Ryan Torain had been moving the ball so effectively?
After that play, on which Portis lost a yard from the 3, he was mostly confined to the bench. And that will obviously be a major focus the rest of this week. If you're going to have all that drama, might as well give the new guy the ball inside the 5.
(And his best nickname, via @broodingblog, has to be Gravy Torain.)
Worst Drive: The Redskins got the ball at their 37 late in the third quarter. They went incomplete (bounce pass to Roydell Williams), incomplete (off-target to Cooley), incomplete (pass behind Keiland Williams). The drive lasted 23 seconds.
Best Drive: On their ensuing possession, St. Louis kept the ball for more than five minutes. Without Steven Jackson, their best player, they ran 10 plays, got three first downs, barely stopped the clock, and ended the drive with a field goal to go up by eight. It was a clutch drive by a rookie quarterback and a bunch of nobody skill players.
Worst Penalty: Holding on Stephon Heyer on the next drive in the fourth quarter, nullifying a 14-yard Santana Moss catch. The Redskins would have started a crucial drive with a heartening first down. Instead, they wound up with a 3rd-and-15, and were forced to punt.
Best Savior: Safety Kareem Moore came back into the lineup and got the Redskins' first crucial turnover, an interception after a blocked punt when the Rams could have gone up by three scores. Reed Doughty was chased out of the starting lineup but starred on special teams, causing the Rams' second turnover on a kickoff return.
Worst Savior: After that start, there seemed to be a lot of plays where Moore fell down, including on Kenneth Darby's 12-yard TD run in the third quarter. If Moore was supposed to be the solution for the Redskins' defensive troubles in the first two games, they might want to look elsewhere.
Best One-liner, Part I: Sam Huff, before the game, when Doc Walker attempted to reassure the crew that Stephon Heyer would hold his own.
"He not only holds his own, he holds the opponent," Huff said.
Worst Talk: DeAngelo Hall said earlier in the week that this was his defense, and that he wanted to cover the playmakers on the other team. His defining moment from this game came when he slipped on a short pass to Mark Clayton, allowing Clayton to run free down the sidelines.
Best Quote: Brian Mitchell, in the Comcast SportsNet post-game: "This is a terrible team at this point....The game I saw today reminded me so much of last year, it's ridiculous."
Worst Pre-Game Injury: Josh Bidwell, the punter, got injured while warming up? How does that happen, exactly? Do punters get injured in practice when they're just kicking on their own? Do the Redskins suffer an extraordinary number of special teams injuries? Are punter injuries a big deal?
"All he has to do is get the ball back from the center and kick it. I mean, that's no big deal," Huff said.
Of course, Bidwell was replaced by the place kicker, Graham Gano, whose first punt was blocked.
Best Special Teams Unit: N/A.
Worst Stretch of Kicking: At one point, Gano had three consecutive kicks that went like this: missed field goal in overtime against Houston, kickoff out of bounds against St. Louis, blocked punt against St. Louis.
Best One-Liner, Part II: "Did the Redskins practice this week?" Huff asked. "I mean, I wasn't out there."
Worst Hands on Plays That Didn't Count Because of Pass Interference Calls: Rogers, Carlos. Yes, he has the same issues on plays that do not count.
Best Development From the Fox Booth: Loved it when Jim Mora's mic didn't work. That's almost as good as the yellow first-down line. Here's hoping for a future system in which all three of those guys lose the ability to transmit audio. Or for the Redskins to be good enough that they're never again cursed with that booth.
Worst Development From Fox: The camera seemed to lose the quarterback about eight times, affecting both teams.
Best Redskins Stretch: After going down 14 points, the Redskins went field goal, fumble recovery, touchdown pass. That was 10 points in 13 seconds. That marked the quickest successive Redskins scores in at least a decade, according to Matt Terl.
Worst Running Back Slide: For the second straight week, Portis went down without any contact from the opponent. Last week, there was the run inside the red zone where he appeared to trip. Against the Rams, it came on his 27-yard first quarter jaunt, in which he showed a massive burst and then inexplicably slid to the ground in traffic. I'm used to seeing quarterbacks slide. Sometimes wide receivers, too. But running backs?
Best Redskins Stat: Brandon Lloyd: 6 catches, 169 yards, 1 TD. Oh, wait....
Worst Redskins Stat: Washington has 115 rushing yards in the first half, and 1 rushing yard in the second half.
Worst Celebration: After the Rams converted a 3rd-and-6 late in the second quarter, LaRon Landry leveled Danny Amendola, and then appeared to celebrate. It was a vicious hit, but I still don't get how you can celebrate a play in which the other team gets a first down.
Worst Defense: In three games, the new Redskins defense has allowed 380 yards, 526 yards, and 365 yards.
Worst News: The Redskins defense just got shredded by a rookie quarterback in his third NFL game. Next week, they face Michael Vick, who just accounted for four touchdowns and better than 300 yards on his own.
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