Skins vs. Steelers: Ugly

Skins struggle with the basics, and I mean pee wee league football basics:

• Catching - 12 drops and counting (Fox Sports says 10, I saw 12)
• Kicking - 12 yard punt and a blocked point-after-touchdown
• Tackling - missed tackles and more missed tackles (including some bad misses by London Fletcher)
• Juvenile Behavior - DeAngelo Hall acts like a frustrated12 year-old and gets ejected

Bright spots?

• RGIII kept his cool and played well 
• Alfred Morris stays his even-keeled self and shows some decisive, tough running
• Kai Forbath makes two more FGs, this time in tough field conditions

So the Skins bright spots come from three rookies ... at least there's hope for the future.

Skins vs. Giants: The Great, The Good, and the Not-So-Good

Tough loss in a back-and-forth game, but the Skins' future looks bright.

The Great

• Logan Paulsen.  Has to step up after Fred Davis goes down with an injury, and leads the team in receiving yards (76) including a huge catch on 4th down late in the game.
• Kai Forbath.  3 for 3 on field goals, and equally as important looked much better on kickoffs this week.
  

Hard 1st Half for London Fletcher

London Fletcher has had some poor games this year.  Today, in the 1st half alone, he had three bad plays.  He was run over by Ahmad Bradshaw, missed a routine tackle, and then on a 3rd and long he was juked in the open field by Bradshaw who then picked up the first down.  London has had other sub-par games this year.  At the age of 37, after 200+ consecutive games, he might finally be slowing down.

Edit 10/7/12: Apparently London has been suffering from balance issues which have been impacting his performance.  Scary.  Hopefully the issue resolves quickly.

Skins vs. Vikings: The Great, The Good, and The Not-So-Good

The Great

• Who else but RGIII.  RGIII accounts for 320 yards of offense and 3 TDs.  He's also leading the league in completion percentage.
• Lorenzo Alexander.  The special teams ace is now a linebacker ace?  Helping to fill in for Orakpo, Alexander had 1.5 sacks, several QB pressures, and a huge fumble recovery.    

replacing Billy Cundiff

In light of the kicker situation in Washington today, I repost this response to the Skins decision to cut Gano in favor of Cundiff: http://skinsanalysis.blogspot.ca/2012/08/missing-graham-gano.html

I would like to see Gano back in a Skins uniform.

Skins vs. Falcons: The Great, The Good, and the Not-So-Good

The Great

• Alfred Morris. He keeps improving, this time averaging 6+ yards per carry and once again breaking 100 yards.  Announcers often compare Morris to Terrell Davis because both were 6th round picks by Mike Shanahan, but I also think his running style is reminiscent of former Redskins Stephen Davis -- who like Morris relied not on speed but vision, angles, anticipation, and running through arm tackles.
• Ryan Kerrigan.  Plays key roles both in pressuring the QB and dropping back into pass coverage, and once again displays game-changing ability with a pass block/INT/TD on one play.