So You’re Saying There’s A Chance…

The bad news is that the Eagles faced a must win situation in mid-October. The good news is that they responded the right way and won the game.

It was far from a perfect game. The Eagles built a 20-0 lead and looked great at times, but failed to put the game away until the final minutes. There was another Red Zone turnover, meaning we’ve got one in every game. That has got to stop. The 2nd half offense was highly erratic and couldn’t deliver any points. The defense gave up a late TD to John Beck.

All of that is okay for now. The Eagles needed a win, any kind of win. Sunday was about survival, not style points. The players and coaches now have something positive to build on.

The defense is the big talking point. Those guys played well for a whole game. They got a bit soft late, but most teams do that. WAS’s late scoring drive did eat up almost 4 minutes, so that was good. You’d rather not give up points, but at least make them eat up some clock. Anyway…let’s talk about the good stuff for now.

WAS came into the game as the 8th best rushing offense in the league. RB Ryan Torain was 19-135 in his last game. We held him to 10 carries for 22 yards. RBs totaled 12 for 28. The Skins long run was a 12-yd’er by Beck on a scramble in the 4th Q. So what happened?

Most of the talk on Monday was about adjusting the Wide-9. That did happen. However, it wasn’t the overriding factor in the good run D. There were 3 keys.

1. We won the LOS. Our DTs played very well. They were disruptive. They were active.

2. We tackled well. Missed tackles were at a minimum.

3. We swarmed to the ball so that when a tackle was missed, there were other defenders there to make the stop.

I also think WAS played a part in this. They had a banged up OL, which made it easier for us to control the LOS. I never got the feeling that WAS was dedicated to the run game. They had 6 carries in the 1st half. We got up 14-0, but so what. Putting the ball in Rex Grossman’s hands was hardly the adjustment that WAS needed. They did us a favor by giving up on the run game.

Our LBs did play better this week. Jamar Chaney had his best game of the year. Maybe he’s starting to figure things out and get back to the 2010 guy. Maybe. That would be huge for us. If he can just be an adequate MLB, that’ll make the defense so much better.

Think about the Safeties. Kurt Coleman and Nate Allen had a very good showing. They combined for 10 tackles, 4 INTs, and a pass breakup. That’s huge. Safety play is critical in today’s NFL. Allen is rounding back into shape and Coleman is finally playing with the edge he’s shown in the past. The team hoped to get Jarrett some snaps on defense this week, but Coleman played too well, plus WAS got away from their running game.

As for the offense…odd game. Great 1st half. Put up 20 points. Should have been 24, but Shady dropped a TD pass. We needed to build a lead in this game. We needed to have success early in order to get some confidence going and let the players be loose. All of that happened.

The 2nd half we got shutout. People think the Skins made some great adjustments or something like that. I think it is all on us. First drive we use a big play to get inside the Red Zone. Then we have a turnover. Next drive Vick gets “hurt” and leaves the game. Vince Young comes in and is awful. Next drive we get a long scramble from Vick to get us on the edge of scoring territory. We go for it on 4th down, but miss. The rest of the game I think we played nervous. Not scared, but nervous. We didn’t want to make mistakes. We also wanted to work the clock and move the chains. We did both things okay, but could have been much better.

I was desperate for us to get one more score so I could relax a bit. Never happened and I never relaxed. As I wrote on Twitter, “I can’t remember being so nervous about having a 4th Q lead”.

We did put the game away late. That was good to see. All too often our offense has lacked the ability to do that. We got a pair of 1st downs on the final drive and then ran out the clock.

Mega-kudos to the O-line for the job those guys did. WAS came into the game with 15 sacks in 4 games. They sacked him twice, but Vick wasn’t under a lot of pressure for most of the game. He had time to throw. We did use a lot of blockers, but the OL did a great job as a unit. Todd Herremans was terrific at LT. Brent Celek also gets huge credit. He was like a 3rd OT. Brian Orakpo doesn’t want to deal with Brent anytime soon. Orakpo and Kerrigan combined for 4 solo tackles, 2 QB hits, and 1 pass deflection. That set of stats, as much as anything, tells you that we won.

COACHING

The offensive coaches did a great job with the gameplan. They focused on protection in a variety of ways. We used lots of different blockers and schemes. They used 3-step drops and quick passes. They ran the ball a lot, especially in the 1st half. The Red Zone playcalling was good early on, but I wasn’t keen on everything. We converted on our first 2 trips. Should have been 3.

The defensive staff did a good job. My biggest adjustment isn’t the Wide-9, but rather playing more press on 3rd downs. Last week Asante Samuel was giving away passes on 3rd/short. That wasn’t the case this week.

Now, here’s what did happen with the Wide-9. The Eagles did make some adjustments with that. One DE stayed out wide basically all the time. The other DE was on the TE on some run situations. If pass, the DE went back out wide. Mostly it was Babin at LDE playing more on the TE. There were a few times when it was done with the RDE. Honestly, I didn’t think this made much of a difference. WAS wasn’t attacking that area so the DE being moved in didn’t have significant impact from what I could tell. We’ll see if Greg Cosell or NFC Playbook has some coaches tape that shows differently (in terms of impact). Had WAS run off tackle toward Babin more, the move might have meant something more than what I saw.

I did worry a bit about Mike Shanahan vs Juan Castillo. Shanny is very good with the first 20 plays of a game. He probes the defense, finds a weakness, and then attacks it. Didn’t happen this week. Special thank you to Rex Grossman for ensuring that didn’t happen.

Big Red didn’t have a controversial day. He made one tough decision. In the 3rd Q we were at the WAS 32. He decided not to kick FG, but instead to go for it on 4th/2. We led 20-6 at the time. A FG gives us a 3 possession lead. Reid said he wanted a TD. That would have made it 27-6 and all but put the game away. I can’t say what he did is dumb, but I sure would have liked to gotten that FG. Reid said he had confidence in Alex Henery. He just wanted the TD. That is classic Reid thinking, for better or worse. Reid did challenge a spot late in the game. Bad spot by the refs. Replay didn’t have good angle so we lost the challenge.

OFFENSE

* We opened the game with a deep ball. It was way incomplete. Some confusion between Vick and the receiver. Sad thing, there was WR on deep cross wide open for gain of 15 to 20. Mixed feelings on the early deep balls. It may seem like a waste of an early play, but it also puts the fear of god in the defense from the first play on. That has a value that we don’t see in an obvious way.

* We opened the game with deep incompletion. Then had false start on Todd. Next was run by Shady that lost half a yard. 3rd/long was short pass to Celek that he dropped. We looked terrible. That scared the heck out of me. Not a good tone or good results. No way to open a “must win” game.

* Good news/bad news play happened on 2nd drive. Tried direct snap to Shady. Ball was high and went through his hands. Vick got it back near the endzone and threw it away. Flag. I thought it was intentional grounding. Turned out it was roughing the passer. LB hit Vick helmet-to-helmet. Legit call. Went from disaster to 1st down and 15 free yards.

* 3rd/GL. 2 WRs to the right. TE, WR left. Vick under C. Brent blocks Orakpo, then releases. Vick gets him the ball. Todd blocks ILB. Middle of the field is wide open. Brent hustles into the endzone for a TD. Great playcall, execution. We needed that TD.

* Opened the 3rd drive with 2 quick throws to Mac. Made life easy for OL, Vick. CBs were playing off. 17 easy yds. Later used quick pass to Avant on 1st down to get ahead of the chains.

* 2nd/4. Lined up in the Ace formation, w/ Harbor left and Celek to the right. The line flowed right. Celek came back behind the line and across the formation. He hit Orakpo with a kickout block that sealed him. The rest of the D flowed with the line. Shady had an interstate to run in. He was handed the ball at the 35. First defender made contact at the 10. That was a huge, huge hole. Great design, execution. Gain of 21.

* 3rd/GL. Power set. 2 TEs, FB, RB, and extra OL (DeVan). Run to the left side. Mathis makes key block of DL. Gives up penetration, but doesn’t let the guy get free. Schmitt seals defender who does come upfield, letting Shady cut inside of his block. Brent drives Landry to the back of the endzone. Todd blocks Fletcher. Easy run for Shady. No moves needed. Just run to pay dirt.

* Edge rushers were coming free in the RZ. The protection would slide one way and then Vick had a free rusher to deal with. Odd play design, if that was intentional. Poor adjustment by Vick, Kelce, or whoever was calling protections if not.

* 1st/10. 2:44 left. 10 Skins within 5 yds of LOS. Both TEs right. FB over left. At snap, line flows right. Schmitt fires upfield and takes on edge defender. Harbor pulls from right to left as lead blocker. He gets ILB. Mathis takes out other ILB. Shady has plenty of room. Runs for 10 and gets us new set of downs. Huge.

* Very next snap, we run variation of previous play. This time Schmitt goes after ILB and Harbor pulls and blocks edge defender. Everything else the same. Shady goes for 8 yds.

* 2nd/2. Shady went left. Got 2. He was running toward the sideline, but made sure to hit the ground. Clock kept running. We got a bad spot. Reid challenged, but wasn’t overturned due to lack of good replay.

VICK — Pretty good game. 18-31-237 as passer. 1 TD, 1 INT. 7-54 as runner. I’ve got a couple of beefs with Vick from Sunday. First, his Red Zone passing is making me increasingly nervous. His INT was deflected off DT’s helmet. Vick is short, but the real problem is his sidearm type of motion. Ball comes out low. That’s okay, but he’s got to make sure he’s got clear passing lanes. We can’t have RZ picks. They’re killing us. There were a few RZ throws to the outside that were deflected or almost deflected. We’ve got to really look at this. Too dangerous. Every time a ball goes in the air, my heart stops. Reid got on Vick after one RZ series. He was visibly upset about something. I’m not sure what. Best guess is that Vick threw blindly for Maclin and Reid didn’t want him taking that chance. Again, just a guess.

My other beef is this…SLIDE!!! I’ve covered this before, but casually. No more. The coaches are being enablers on this issue and it is going to get Vick hurt. I understand there are plays where Vick must fight for yards. However, most of his runs he has a chance to get out of bounds or to slide. He must start doing this. Must. I would pull him out of the game the next time he took a needless hit. Vick’s attitude is “I can’t learn to slide”. BS. Fall down. Take a knee. Do whatever, but quit taking hits. The play where Landry forced him to leave the game is a great example. Vick was out in space. Just go down. Forget the extra yard. Don’t take the hit. Those things add up and are going to hurt you (and us). Go down.

Overall, Vick was solid. Didn’t make any spectacular throws, but it was good that he didn’t have to do that. Put good touch on the TE screen to Celek for TD. Threw the ball well on the 3-step drops.

MISC

Forced the ball to Celek on pass up the middle in the RZ. Lots of defenders around him. Bad risk.

Opened the 3rd Q with bomb to Mac. Clean pocket. Ball was a tad underthrown. If it is out in front, might have been TD.

Almost has out to DJax picked off in mid-3rd.

Great scramble in mid-3rd Q. Got out of bounds. Offense really needed that boost.

Threw too soft to Celek in the mid-4th on PA pass. Brent wasn’t able to make the catch. Play had potential to go for 10 or 15. Would have been big for eating more clock. Vick had a blitzer in his face so it wasn’t a lazy throw.

YOUNG — 2 snaps in 3rd Q. The first was a pass play where Vince decided to scramble. Got 2 yds. Next play was also a pass. Had Mac open on right side, but didn’t get the ball out. Rolled that way and then threw pass as defender was on him. Horrible, horrible. Picked off. I thought that was going to be our undoing for the game, but Rex Grossman had other ideas. God bless him.

SCHMITT — Okay game. We did run some out of I-formation. Schmitt had one standout block, the seal he put on defender on Shady’s TD run.

MCCOY — Very good game. Would be great if not for 2 big mistakes. Very productive. 28-126 with a TD. First good run was draw play for 8 yds on 2nd drive. Had good blocking and just hit it up in there. Ran for 11 yards on draw play to set up 1st/GL. Great blocking, good burst. Ran draw on 3rd drive. Used spin move in traffic to turn gain of 3 into gain of 6. Mixed in a toss play. Only got 2 yds, but it was good for keeping the defense honest. Good block of LB on 3rd/9 gave Vick clean pocket to throw from. Opening run of the 3rd Qtr, made a defender miss in backfield and then got 5 yds. Good block of blitzing LB on play where VY threw his pick. Caught screen pass on 3rd/2 in mid-4th. Had to make a lot of moves, but turned that into gain of 10. Came up big on final drive when he ran hard and got us 2 1st downs.

So what were the mistakes? First. Cost us a TD when he dropped shovel pass on 3rd trip into the Red Zone. Play had worked perfectly. Huge area for him to run in. Shady just dropped the ball. Later, he made big mistake on 3rd/1 in late 3rd. Ran left. There was a clear gap between Kelce, Mathis. Shady needed to hit that and focus on getting the yard we needed. He saw daylight out wide and went for the big play. Got tackled for loss of 1. Gotta be smart. Ugh. Wasn’t sure he’d get the yard, but maybe he gets half and makes 4th down easier. Focus on getting the yard.

BROWN — Quiet game. Still on double secret probation for his goal line play vs SF. Acted as lead blocker on early draw. Blocked ILB on the play.

D. LEWIS — Ran for 8 yds on 1st/GL. Short of a TD by a foot. Ruled TD at first, but replay overturned. Simple run play, but Dion showed good burst to get upfield. Then showed good determination to fight his way (almost) in. Got short run play in mid-4th. Shows you the coaches trust the kid.

DJAX — Caught pass for gain of 23 on 2nd drive. That sparked the offense and got us going. Ran an out route and caught pass for gain of 12 on 3rd/2. That kept TD drive alive. Ran the route in a bizarre way, but he was wide open and made the grab. Got 11 yds on pass over the middle. Finished 3-46.

MACLIN — Good game. 5-101. Caught mostly short stuff, but had a couple of downfield grabs. Good block of CB on Shady’s 21-yd run in late 1st Q. Stayed with the guy for a while, then pulled off rather than blocking him in the back and getting penalty. Ran a good route in early 2nd Q and Vick hit him for gain of 26 yds. Drew penalty on CB on 3rd/9 pass play. Gift 1st down. Legit call, just dumb by DB. Opened the 2nd half for us by catching bomb for 59 yards. Almost a TD, but he had to slow down for ball. Caught short passes on the right side a few times.

COOPER — Played some in the RZ, but didn’t have any passes come his way.

AVANT — Came up with big catch on early 4th down. Was in the left slot and beat press coverage. Ran up the seam and Vick hit him for a gain of 18. Caught short pass in the right slot on the 2nd TD drive. Good block of S on Shady run up the middle.

SMITH — Caught short pass on left side in 4th Q.

CELEK — Very good game. Blocked very well. Good job on Orakpo. Also caught 4 passes for 42 yds and a TD. Got mugged by Fletcher on 3rd/2 pass on 2nd drive, but no call. Clearly PI. Good block of Landry on Dion’s run by the GL that almost went for TD. Caught TD on TE screen. Easy play. Caught pass down the middle for gain of 21. Bobbled the ball twice before securing it as he went to the ground. Tough, impressive catch. Good concentration. Only complaint is that he should have caught it initially and made it look simple. The way he batted the ball to himself made me think it would be picked off for sure. Had a couple of defenders around him. Beat Kerrigan for a gain of 9 up the middle. Lined him up in the backfield on some RZ plays. Put him at FB in split backs. * Failed to catch a pass late in the game on play-action fake. Whole D bought fake. Brent was open and had easy 1st down. Vick put the ball around his feet. Brent reached for it, but failed to make the grab. Not a drop, but a catch you would like your TE to make. Might have gained 15 or 20 yards on the play 8 or 9 defenders were on the other side of the field.

HARBOR — Blocker. False start to open 2nd drive. Mixed in something new blocking wise. Lined up both TEs to one side, with Clay widest. Had him shove LB wide at the snap, then release up the field on a route. The LB was then picked up by Celek and didn’t have a good rush angle because of the initial shot from Clay. Never noticed that before. Let Orakpo beat him to the inside and flush Vick. Luckily that led to long gain on scramble. Blocked well on final drive.

MATHIS — Very good game. Ran by McIntosh on screen pass to open 2nd drive. Rocky tackled Shady. If Evan makes that block, Shady gets at least another 5 yards. Maybe more. Good block on Shady’s 21 yd run in the late 1st Q. Got upfield and walled off Landry, LB. Pulled on toss play to the left side and had an effective block to spring Shady for 10 yds. Great block of DL on run play in mid-2nd. Washed his guy right down the LOS and gave Shady a seam. Great block of McIntosh on 1st/GL. Play only got 2 yds, but Evan put LB on skates and drove him away from the play. Impressive block.

KELCE — Had errant snap on early play. Direct snap to Shady was too high and almost ended in disaster. A couple of snaps later we ran the same play and Jason delivered a perfect snap. Got upfield and took out McIntosh on early run play where Shady set up 1st/goal. Took out McIntosh on run play where looked like Rocky thought he was going to make the tackle. Came over and unloaded on Skins DB on the RZ play where Mac caught batted ball. The DB was watching the ball, not Kelce. Just threw London Fletcher to the ground in the mid-3rd on pass play. That doesn’t happen very often.

WATKINS — Had some terrific blocks early on. Wasn’t play side stuff so didn’t get much attention. Just sealed his guy. Thing is, when Danny locks on, he locks on. Really strong, tenacious kid. There was a run play in the mid-2nd where flow was to go right. Designed cutback. Flow goes right. Shady goes left. You notice one Skins player away from everything. Danny Boy had driven his guy away from everybody. Washed his DT to the left on designed cutback run to the right. That was the gap Shady hit for a gain of 10. Danny’s DL was the one who got in the passing lane on Vick’s RZ INT. Over time he’ll learn to better control those guys and not let them slide to the inside. Wasn’t a mistake on his part per se, but veteran OL know not just to block guys, but when/where to block them on specific plays. Did make costly mistake in the late 3rd. 4th/2 play. We spread ’em out. Danny blocks down, lets LB come free and pressure Vick. That forces errant throw. If he makes the right block, we might have converted and kept drive alive. Good block of DL gave Shady cutback lane in early 4th, led to gain of 14.

HERREMANS — Very good game. Got his first start at LT in a long time. Great block on draw play. Shoved LB past him, turned back, and went upfield. Put Atogwe on the ground with a big hit. Gave Shady an open side with those 2 blocks. Great block of Orakpo on Dion’s run by GL. Drove Brian off the ball several yards and gave Lewis room to run. Took out McIntosh on designed cutback run and Shady got 5 easy yds. Called for holding on 3rd Q pass play. Orakpo beat him inside and Todd just grabbed him. Too casual on draw play block in mid-3rd. Didn’t move LB off his spot. The guy got Shady for TFL. Great block on QB sneak. Fired into DL with Mathis and moved the guy off the ball.

JUSTICE — RT. First action of the year. Might have got away with holding on pass play on 2nd drive. Didn’t make clean block of Kerrigan. Kept a hand on him the whole way back toward Vick. No call. Sloppy blocks throughout the game. Did a lot of reaching. Limited pressure. We didn’t run his way very much so he didn’t need to get a ton of push in the run game. Didn’t face Kerrigan 1-on-1 much. You could see Winston isn’t 100 percent. Good effort, but he still needs time to get right physically.

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DEFENSE

* We went to zone coverage on the Skins final drive and they burned us for a couple of long passes. This set up the TD.

* TD was a QB draw. Well executed. Rolle slow to read the play.

PARKER — Quiet game. Credited with 1 tackle, 1 QB hit. Got off block and pushed RB out of bounds to open 2nd drive.

PATTERSON — Very good game. Credited with 3 tackles, sack. C tried to reach block him on early run play. Patt drove the guy backward, shed him, and then chased down RB. Beat the RG and got a hit on Grossman on Nate Allen’s INT. Came up with a sack late in the half. Beat the LG with a good move to the inside and put Rex on the ground. Skins tried to have RT reach block him on 3rd Q run. Patt got upfield and tackled the RB right at the LOS. Drove the RG into Beck, so he couldn’t follow through his motion and that affected a pass that fell incomplete.

JENKINS — Good game. Drew holding call on LT on early run play. Read an early screen pass perfectly. Started to chase RB, but tripped over guy on the ground. Looked like Cujo did throw off the timing and allowed LBs to get in on the play and break it up. Got some push on 3rd/2 and that helped Rex to get rid of the ball quickly. This is the play where Nnamdi blew up Cooley. Looped wide and hit Rex as he threw the ball that DRC almost had pick-6 on. Right after the VY pick, Cujo came up big. Blew up the RG on run play. Drove the guy into the RB, 3 yds behind the line. Fokou stormed in to finish the play off. Dropped back on zone blitz and made a good tackle of Stallworth after short catch over the middle. You could see what a good athlete this guy is.

BABIN — Played better on tape than I thought he did live. Credited with 2 tackles, 3 QB hits. Looped inside on opening drive and hit Rex just as he released pass that Coleman picked off. Good effort, pressure on the play. Got by the RT on 2nd drive and was able to tackle RB for minimal gain. Great effort on that play. Fought through block to get piece of RB on run that came toward his side. Very good effort. Used good spin move to get inside the RT and pressure Rex on INT in the early 3rd. Got a hit on Beck on pass play in the early 4th Q. Used a spin move to the inside on next play and Beck was able to run out wide for a 1st down. Did chase him down and make a physical tackle on the play.

D TAPP — Solid game. Had a sack and TFL. Started at RDE. Used good inside move to beat LT and pressure Rex into throwing early. Could have had a sack in the late 3rd. Had good upfield rush. Tried spin move to get off block and Rex then scrambled to his side. If he just stayed put, Rex would have been right there. Got pressure on pass play to open the 4th Qtr. Blew up outside run, but forcing the back to go wider, deeper than he wanted. Pursuit got the TFL. Got a coverage sack on the Skins final drive. Chased down Beck from behind after he’d worked over to the other side.

HUNT — Backup DE. Used inside move to force RB back to middle and he was stopped for short gain. Was unblocked on run play in the late 3rd. Came down the line and hit the RB in the backfield, but didn’t make the tackle. Others had to finish it for him. Skins used a cut block on him in late 3rd. Hunt went down, got up, and then hit Rex right after the pass was away. Good effort. RT called for hands to face while blocking him in early 4th. Chased down RB after short catch. Good awareness, hustle. Getting better.

LANDRI — Good game. Fought through double team in early 2nd Q and hit Torain at the LOS. Gave up short gain. Threw off the timing of 3rd Q screen. Got upfield quicker than Rex expected. Got in on tackle of RB right at the LOS in the late 3rd. Showed great hustle in chasing down Moss on WR screen on final drive. Came free on pass rush (due to blitzer) and got a shot on Beck. Put him on the ground with a hard shove. Got in on 4 tackles.

LAWS — Drove the C backward on run play in late 3rd. Tackled RB for no gain. Good play. Credited with 2 QB hits.

CHANEY — Best game of the year. Not great, but showing progress. Made clean tackle of RB on draw play up the middle. Held him to just a couple of yards. Broke up screen pass on 2nd/16 on the opening drive. Fought past one blocker and hit the RB as the ball got there. Looked like 2010 Jamar on that play. Tackled RB on inside draw play late in the half. Was unblocked, but made a solid tackle. Took on a pulling G and helped stuff a trap play. Looked good. He and Rolle shared TFL of Torain in the early 4th on outside run. Called for holding on final drive.

FOKOU — Got to play a lot of snaps since WAS isn’t much of a spread team. Disappointed me. Lost TE on first play and that turned into gain of 12. Took terrible pursuit angle on early run play, but thankfully it didn’t affect anything. Tried to jam Davis on pass play. Did poor job and Fred got by him with ease. That turned into a gain of 31. Skins had been pinned deep, but that didn’t last long. Got a TFL in the mid-3rd. Jenkins blew up run play and Moise had an easy path to get the RB.

ROLLE — Solid game. Made tackle of Torain on opening drive. Flowed with the ball, saw the cutback, and then made the stop. Not a form tackle, but got the guy down. Blitzed up the middle on 2nd Q pass and got a good shot on Rex. Missed tackle of Davis late in the half and that cost us about 10 yds. Made good tackle vs run in early 3rd. Fought off block of LT and got RB as he came up the middle. Was in good position on 3rd Q screen. The pass was off target, but had the RB caught it, Rolle was ready to hit him behind the line. Flew out wide on run and got in on TFL of Torain in the early 4th Q. Got a good hit on Helu on Skins final drive. He had already missed the catch when Rolle put a shoulder in him and drove him to the ground. Clean, physical. Slow to read QB draw that Skins ran for TD late in the game.

COLEMAN — Great game. 3 INTs, led team in tackles. Flew up on early run play and threw his body into Torain in order to make sure the big guy was down. Was right there to clean up Torain on the very next play. Chaney had made good tackle already. First pick of the game came on the opening drive. Rex forced pass to Davis down the seam on 3rd/long. Chaney had inside coverage on Davis. Kurt was able to go up and play the ball. Great effort, good catch. Made big mistake on drive to open 2nd Q. WAS had 3rd/8. Rex floated ball toward RB down the seam. Pass was off target, but Kurt hit the receiver in the head and gave them a free 1st down. Got fooled by flea-flicker and was late getting back in coverage. Came up with his 2nd pick in the early 3rd. It was only a couple of plays after VY’s pick. Rex made a terrible throw into coverage. Kurt saw the ball, broke on it, and made the pick. Broke up a downfield pass to Davis on the next drive. Final INT came in the late 3rd. Rex scrambled and tried to hit a receiver along the sideline. There was confusion…and Kurt. He made a nice pick and got both feet down.

ALLEN — Terrible game. Only had 1 INT. Kurt had 3 of them. Joking, of course. Another solid game. Made tackle of Davis on opening play. Wasn’t a smooth tackle. Got him by the foot, but did get him down. Blitzed on the play where the snap got away from Grossman. Nate stayed under control and forced a hurried throw, but didn’t hit Rex. Picked off underthrown deep ball in the mid-2nd. Went up high and plucked the ball. Impressive play. Was swinging the ball around on the return. Scared me. Shady does that and seems to get away with it. Didn’t want Nate to give it right back to the Skins. Went up high late in the half to try for a 2nd pick, but couldn’t hold onto the ball. Good read, good break on the ball. Bad hands. Tackled Moss after catch where he’d gotten out of tackles by Allen, Hanson. Somehow lost Stallworth in coverage late in the game. Beck got the ball to him, but Donte couldn’t make the catch. Nate dove and missed the ball, might have affected Donte’s vision on the play.

ASOMUGHA — Good game. Physical game. Helped to set the tone early with the best hit of the 2011 season. Rex got the ball to Cooley in the left flat. Nnamdi came up and leveled Cooley with a huge hit (clean also). Broke his finger and Cooley had to leave the game. 3rd/2 became 4th/3. Awesome. There was a play late in the half when Nnamdi was in the slot. Got such a good jam on S. Moss that he fell down while trying to run his route. Love to see that. Got in on tackle of Helu in the mid 3rd and knocked the guy’s helmet off. Got holding penalty for tugging at WR’s jersey in late 3rd. Didn’t have a major effect on anything.

SAMUEL — Played more press coverage this week. There was a 3rd/2 play in the 1st Q. Asante lined up tight on his guy. Rex glanced that way pre-snap, saw that, and then went to the other side. That happened to be when Nnamdi blew up Cooley. Asante helped break up a pass late in the half. Nate missed an INT and Asante made sure the receiver didn’t catch the tipped ball. Played really off on the flea-flicker. Broke well on the ball, but missed it by a less than a foot. Looked like he had been too far away. Did make the tackle. Got hurt in the early 3rd Q when he bent down awkwardly and tried to tackle Fred Davis, who was running full speed. Returned later. Had good downfield coverage on Gaffney on pass in the late 3rd that was thrown off target.

RODGERS-CROMARTIE — Played RCB on early 3rd down. Had errant pass come to him at our 30. Easy pick-6, probably. DRC dropped the pass. Ugh. Gotta make ’em pay. Had a chance to tackle Beck after he scrambled on a play, but made a terrible attempt. Beck ran right through his “tackle”. DRC had tight coverage on downfield pass play in early 4th. He wasn’t able to get a hand on the ball (missed it by inches), but I think he greatly affected the play and Gaffney wasn’t able to make the catch. Credited with 2 PBUs.

HANSON — Played in Nickel and Dime sets. Had a very good tackle of RB Helu in the 3rd Q. Rex threw a pass to him on 3rd/7. Hanson flew up and popped Helu, limiting him to just a couple of yds. Lost track of WR on 3rd/15. Beck hit him for a gain of 23.

SPECIAL TEAMS

CHAS HENRY — 3 punts. Average of 43.7. Long of 50. None downed inside the 20. 1 touchback.

ALEX HENERY — 2 of 2 on FGs, but both were short. Good depth on KOs.

PR — Rocca did a good job with directional kicks. We had no returns.

KOR — Dion was pinned deep. No returns.

MISC —

* Clay Harbor got facemask penalty while covering first punt. Just reached.

* Riley Cooper drew holding call on KO coverage to open the 2nd Q. Colt Anderson missed getting Banks down inside the 10 by inches. Couldn’t get hold of his foot. Cooper made a tackle on KO late in the 1st half.

* Curtis Marsh made good tackle in kickoff coverage in early 2nd Q.

* Alex Henery forced Banks out of bounds after long KOR to open the 2nd half.

* Brandon Banks scared me with every KO. Averaged 29.8. Long return was 47.

GAMEBOOK