The Great
- Skins win
- Helu looks great, and frankly like he has more burst than Hightower
- Ryan Kerrigan and Brian Orakpo are difference makers
- Redskins are very disciplined with very few penalties
- Fred Davis has 6 receptions and a TD
- Santana Moss has 5 receptions including a key TD catch on a 4th down
- Kyle Shanahan's offense and play-calling: the man is a football genius
The Good
- Rex Grossman: as usual he produces yards and turnovers
- Graham Gano: makes three kicks including the game-winner, but has one blocked, and another one of his made FGs was a bit low and could have been blocked
- Jabar Gaffney has 5 receptions
- Hightower has a good game running, but looks tentative or slow hitting holes that are there to be hit; I think that's why Helu got more touches in the 2nd half
The Not-So-Good
- Anthony Armstrong again has trouble catching the ball
- Barry Cofield again has no consistent push up the middle (he did have a clutch pass deflection though)
- Redskins secondary does force the fumble at the end, but in general they get beat if the QB has even modest pass-protection
4th Quarter Thoughts (blogged live)
- Helu looks a little faster than Hightower getting through holes
- Gano makes the FG, but the kick is a bit low .. a concern since the last FG attempt was blocked
- Gano is in on the tackle on the kickoff return, love him or hate him, he's an athlete
- rickyroge at the WashPost live chat called it ... "Larry Fitzgerald time"
- Grossman looks like he's always throwing off his back foot
- Sweet mis-direction as the 3rd-and-1 handoff goes to the fullback not Helu
- Great hands by Fred Davis as the Skins convert a second consecutive 3rd-and-1
- No other way to say it, Hightower looks slow hitting the holes ... probably why Helu has gotten more carries in the 2nd half
- Wow :) Beautiful Grossman-to-Moss connection on 4th down; and no celebration by Grossman, like a thoughtful veteran he signals for the 2pt conversion and organizes the team
- Ryan Kerrigan with the clutch 3rd-down pass deflection .. A playmaker, plain and simple.
- Clutch kick by Gano; Gano follows it with a booming kickoff for a touchback
- Skins recover the fumble and run out the clock; not pretty, but a win.
3rd Quarter Thoughts
- Josh Wilson injured, Kevin Barnes the nickel corner will have to step up
- Wow. It's not just that Kerrigan has 2 sacks, but he went through the left tackle on both
- Orakpo's tearing it up; he put the initial pressure on Kolb that led to Fletcher's interception
- Kevin Barnes is down, who was in for starter Josh Wilson, so next man up ... Byron Westbrook .. thin secondary is getting thinner (update: Barnes is back in)
- When the Skins defense isn't getting big plays from Kerrigan or Orakpo, they don't look good
- Redskins are disciplined: almost every penalty is against the Cardinals
2nd Quarter Thoughts
- Rushing game is opening up for both Hightower and Helu
- Skins defense still shaky against the pass, until ...
- Orakpo single-handedly stops a Cardinals drive with a sack and a tipped pass on back-to-back plays
- After a few timid runs, Roy Helu looks like he's getting comfortable and shows some nifty cuts and explosive burst
- Blocked Gano FG; the Cardinals almost blocked the Skins extra point attempt earlier, so this may be something the Skins need to work on
1st Quarter Thoughts
- Just a terrible interception in the Red Zone from Grossman :(
- Second interception was not Grossman's fault
- Grossman still piling up the pass yardage
- Skins defense looking vulnerable in pass coverage
- Hightower starting to get chunks of yardage on the ground (finally)
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