Blowed up
Takeaway drill: harassed and harangued on offense, everybody gets to drop one; defense keeps the Redskins in the game again and again and again; Todd Collins finally back to earth; ending where the story began, with number 21.
=====
Monday Sunday walkthrough: the Redskins get down early come from behind take the lead blow up lose 35-14 to the Seahawks, finish the season at 9-8. The luck ran out and the Redskins' season comes to an end.
The Redskins started the first quarter with the ball but three and outed, Todd Collins' first pass sailed well over Santana Moss' head. Seattle did not fare much better in it's first possession, they moved the ball but punted. The Redskins were pinned deep but on 3rd and three from the Washington 11 Todd rolled right, looked like he might try a sure to be ill fated run then slung it sidearm to a falling down Antwann Randle El for nine yards. Three plays later Clinton Portis was stuffed on 3rd and one and the Redskins had to punt. On the punt play gunner and reserve cornerback Leigh Torrence was blocked into the ball after coming in from out of bounds on coverage and was penalized illegal touching, 5 yards repeat play. On the rekick Nate Burleson got a good runback and based on the difference between the result of the downed punt on the penalty play and the result of the rekick the Leigh Torrence penalty cost the Redskins 31 yards.
On that drive it looked like the Redskins got their first break when Shaun Alexander fumbled after a 13 yard run, Fred Smoot scooped up the ball and ran 24 yards but Shaun was clearly down when the ball came out, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren challenged and the play was overturned, Seattle retained the ball. On the next play fullback Leonard Weaver ran it 17 yards evading London Fletcher, Shawn Springs and Reed Doughty for a touchdown. The pressure finally started getting back to Todd on the next drive, after a good pass to Antwaan over the middle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney (Wahoowa!)came through tight end Chris Cooley, just putting Chris on the ground and smacked Todd as he was throwing. After a bad recovery timeout and a backwards run by Clinton Todd found Santana Moss 18 yards downfield on 3rd and 13...and it bounced off his hands. The Redskins punted but Washington's offense started to stiffen and the Seahawks four and outed but Seahawks punter Ryan Plackemeier dropped his punt on the Washington two yard line and Seattle declined Matt Sinclair's running into the punter call. On the first play of this Redskins drive Chris Cooley took his turn and dropped a pass that was put right into his hands. The quarter ended with the Seahawks leading 7-0.
On the first play of the second quarter Patrick Kerney rode right over right tackle Stephon Heyer and hit Todd Collins as he threw. The fumble was called back as incomplete but the Redskins could only move the ball 19 more yards and with offensive frustration showing punted. It only took the Seahawks three plays including a 25 yard pass to Nate Burleson that totally exposed Shawn Springs to move to the Redskins 32 , they stalled and Josh Brown kicked a 50 yard field goal. After a 13 yard run by Clinton Portis on the next drive Todd was sacked by Julian Peterson and the Redskins punted. Big Mo looked like he was moving benches on the next drive, DJ Hackett was called for offensive pass interference, MattHasselbeck hit his throwing hand on Shaun Alexander's helmet and Redskins rookie defensive end Chris Wilson went the long way round right tackle Sean Locklear sacking Matt and forcing the ball out, it was recovered by center Chris Spencer and the Seahawks punted. The Redskins three and outed, including a drop by Clinton Portis and another sack of Todd Collins, then the Seahawks three and outed, the Redskins defense looked terrific on this drive. When the Redskins got the ball back they stalled after four plays and 23 yards and Mike Sellers was stuffed on 4th and one to turn it over. The Redskins forced a three and out and the Redskins ran the ball four times to end the half with the Seahawks leading 10-0 at the half.
The Redskins opened the third quarter on defense and played very well, the Seahawks punted after five plays. The Redskins' offensive woes continued with five plays before punting. On the next drive the Seahawks beat Shawn Springs one on one again for 35 yards before Josh Brown kicked a 33 yard field goal. The Redskins took all of the remaining 4:30 in the quarter in a hurry up shotgun to go 11 plays, aided by a Seattle pass interference call on 4th and one at the Seahawks' 27, the quarter ended with the Seahawks shutting the Redskins out 13-0.
The Redskins were on the Seattle seven yard line to start the fourth quarter, Todd Collins got the Redskins on the board immediately with a touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle El. On the second play of the next Seahawks drive LaRon Landry jumped a route to Bobby Engram and intercepted it, he stumbled and ran it back for what would have been a touchdown but was called back down on contact. Three plays later Todd Collins hit Santana Moss on a 30 yard post route for a touchdown and the comeback was on.
It got weirder on the next play. Shaun Suisham kicked off and the wind caused the ball to die, it bounced between returners Nate Burleson and Josh Wilson, was not touched and special teamer receiver Anthony Mix ran past, picked it up in stride and ran into the end zone. The recovering team cannot advance what amounted to a long onsides kick but the Redskins had the ball on the Seattle 14 yard line. A dropped pass to Chris Cooley, a miscommunication between Todd Collins and Mike Sellers that forced a timeout and a hurry batted pass by Patrick Kerney and the Redskins were facing a 30 yard field goal to push their lead to four. Shaun Suisham missed it and the Redskins turned it over.
The football fates were not done with the Redskins yet. After three straight first down plays it was 2nd and eight on the Washington 36, Matt Hasselbeck aired it out deep for receiver Ben Obomanu, LaRon Landry stepped in front and caught the ball as he was falling out of bounds, LaRon's second interception for the fourth quarter. The Redskins could not take the gift, committing a false start on the first play of the next drive then three and outing, punting from their own nine yard line. Seattle took the ball and moved easily down the field for a score, a wide open touchdown pass to DJ Hackett. The Seahawks went for and scored the two point conversion to move Seattle out in front by seven points.
The spiral continued on the Redskins next possession. After a Mike Sellers penalty that took ten yards off a 55 yard Rock Cartwright kick return on the first offensive play Todd Collins went deep right for Santana Moss. Seattle cornerback Marcus Trufant did not bite on Santana's move and Santana gave up on the play not realizing Todd had thrown it to him. Marcus had ten yards to catch the ball fair catch style and he returned it 78 yards for a touchdown. With 5:32 left in the game and down by 14 points the Redskins got the ball back and moved no huddle hurry up 40 yards before turning it over on downs. The Seahawks three and outed while the Redskins used up their last two timeouts and the two minute warning, punted and the Redskins got the ball back with 1:52 left in the game trailing by 14 points.
Four plays, including a fumbled shotgun snap advanced by Todd Collins and it was time for the final indignity. On 3rd and three from the Washington 43, 44 seconds left Todd's pass was short of Antwaan Randle El, Seattle safety Jordan Babineaux intercepted the pass and ran it back 57 yards for a touchdown. The Redskins had one play before time expired on their season, they had lost to the Seahawks 35-14, they had lost by 21.
=====
Soapbox: what an incredible season, incredible in the sense that this is football, we are supposed to watch a game unfold and the greatness and weakness of the story is largely told on the field. The Redskins, these 2007 Redskins? This story goes so far off the field that it boggles the mind. The team started hot, got middling, floundered, a guy died, an unknown came in and played the most important field position...well and the team stormed down the stretch shoving two teams out of the way for a playoff berth.
In early and middle November there were calls for Joe Gibbs to retire, again, calls that were proxy for dissatisfaction for the entire Redskins organization from top to bottom.
Now nobody wants to see Joe Gibbs go and he will not. We are certain to get at least one more season, his 17th with the Redskins.
This game? Yeah, too bad. The offense could not get anything going, like every other playoff team this week against their opponent the Seahawks put eight or nine in the box and forced the Redskins to win in the air. The team never got on balance, was dropping passes from the very beginning and the defense could only keep Washington in the game but for so long.
No Redskins offensive player can point the finger and any other. They all had a hand in this one. As for the Washington defense, well it kicks ass.
The season is over, I am proud to be a fan.
=====
Chattering class: George Solomon, sports editor emeritus at the Washington Post is a Todd Collins fan, he can't think of another time and neither can I of a guy so long on the shelf and so good through a stretch of games. Todd did not fail in this game, the Redskins just ran out of asphalt. Tom Boswell at the same paper laughs at the idea that losing this game means the team has failed. When you are at a place where you can say no one died you have perspective.
Mike Wilbon draws an amusing parallel between Joe Gibbs sleeping on couches and Tony Romo sleeping with Jessica Simpson in Cancun. Mike I agree that would have been a great second round game. Tom Boswell: what goes up must come down.
Les Carpenter gets the front page A1 piece, this time the Redskins are at the top of the page with full side to side coverage. This town really does live by the Redskins. Nick Miroff has a companion piece back in the A section, on the indignities suffered by Redskins fans at the hands of Seahawks fans. As one that attends at least one game in Philadelphia every year the tendency of fans to move past good natured ribbing and into throwing trash and food at fans of the other team has always bothered me and stopping it has to start with team ownership. I guess this mentality that games are for enjoyment by all and not exclusively for the hometown fans makes me a weaktit in the eyes of a lot of football fans.
=====
Omnibus: the weather was not as much a factor as feared and like typical Seattle weather whipsawed between wind, rain and sun.
Patrick Kerney (Wahoowa!) was just owning the right side of the Redskins offensive line all day. Right tackle Stephon Heyer got help all day and it still was not enough. As it was in the Giants home game with Michael Strahan Chris Cooley should not be blocking Patrick one one.
There was a total of 4 drops by Redskins receivers today: Santana Moss 18 yards downfield on 3rd and 13 in the first, Chris Cooley four yards downfield on 1st and five in the first, Clinton Portis four yards over the middle on 1st and 10 in the second, Chris Cooley at the goal line on first and 10 in the fourth after the Anthony Mix kickoff recovery. Chris Cooley atoned for his by making two great catches during the comeback, a beautiful one handed catch for 20 yards in the third quarter.
Of the receiving corps it was Antwaan Randle El that gets the game ball. He had big plays in the first, second, third and fourth and finished with 10 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Clinton Portis was never able to get anything going finishing with 20 rushes for 52 yards, a 2.6 yard average.
Straight drops aside it was obvious early the Redskins offense was not working right. The delay of game penalty on 3rd and 12 of the Redskins' first possession of the second quarter was a result of Todd Collins asking for the shotgun snap three from Casey Rabach and not getting it. It was a silent leg lift snap call and time ran out before Casey
When the Seahawks scored in the first quarter it was the first time the Redskins had trailed with Todd Collins at quarterback.
The first play of the second quarter was an interesting progression of refereeing and red flags. Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney mashed over right tackle Stephon Heyer and hit Todd Collins as he passed. The ball popped out and defensive end Darryl Tapp recovered it, the play was ruled a fumble. Joe Gibbs challenged the call and the referee then changed the call on the field to incomplete pass without accepting the coach's challenge. Mike Holmgren was not happy and wanted to know why the play was changed without costing the Redskins a challenge.
The Nate Burleson 25 yard catch on 1st and 10 in the second quarter, Shawn Springs made the exact same inside jump the route move he used to pick off Tony Romo's first pass to Terry Glenn in the Cowboys game last week. Shawn fell for it and Nate went back sideline wide open for a big gain. LaRon Landry wrapped Nate up immediately and slammed him to the ground out of bounds, I was like great that's nother late hit on LaRon but it was not.
Leroy Hill's sack of Todd Collins in the second quarter, he came right in the hole between Chris Samuels and Pete Kendall, Ladell Betts picked up the blitz but Leroy went right through Ladell, basically using Ladell as a stick to hit Todd with.
With 2:19 to go in the first half on 2nd and one Clinton Portis was hit at the line, the refs signaled for a measurement. Although the whistle blew at 2:12 to go and the ref immediately called for the sticks the clock continued to run and ran down to the two minute warning. During the TV break Joe Gibbs was arguing that if the refs called for a measurement they should have stopped the clock, the Redskins lost at least one play with that extra 12 seconds run off the clock. Little home cooking there.
Matt Hasselbeck had no fear picking on Shawn Springs all game. Shawn gave up big plays in every quarter. Shawn was drafted by Seattle in 1997.
Patrick Kerney, Julian Peterson and Darryl Tapp are awsum.
Scobey dobey doh.
Even though Stephon Heyer was getting killed at right tackle, and needing tight end help most of the game Todd Wade aka Big Head Todd aka 8 Ball who was active never came in on a substitution. That the team would leave Stephon in there getting killed in a playoff game and not put Todd in to see how he would do tells me a lot about how the team regards both Stephon and Todd Wade.
As promised Seahawks Stadium was LOUD.
Farverian, a term as coined by Cris Collinsworth that means something funky you do to get the ball where you need it, in this case a short arm sidearm incomplete pass from Matt Hasselbeck against a blitz to Nate Burleson.
I knew Matt Hasselbeck went to Boston College but I did not know that he played high school in the Boston area. Matt's father Don was a tight end with the New England Patriots from 1977 to 1983 and apparently the family stayed in the area after Don moved to other teams and then retired. While shopping schools to play the Hasselbecks considered Walpole and Walpole High where Todd Collins was at that moment the star. The Hasselbecks eventually decided on moving to Norfolk Massachusetts and Matt played at Xaverian Brothers Academy, the local Catholic school in Westwood Massachusetts, less than ten miles north of Walpole. However even if Matt and Todd had not been three years apart they would never had played one another, in Massachusetts public and private schools are in different leagues according to the neighbor we call Tony Almeida who went to a Massachusetts Catholic school in the same district as Xaverian.
This was the first time (op. cit.) Joe Gibbs had lost a playoff game when leading at any point in the fourth quarter making Joe 1-17 in this situation.
Next door to Seahawks Stadium at Mariners Stadium the groundskeepers wrote a welcome message into the infield dirt, NBC TOM CHRIS, welcoming the NBC broadcast and the game's play by play crew. There was however a problem though, Tom Hammonds' color partner was former receiver Cris Collinsworth. There is no H in Cris' name. Great work guys, Cris Collinsworth has only been doing football on TV for 17 years, and anyway how did you find out who was doing the call without reading the name?
Let the offseason posturing begin. Clinton Portis whose salary cap number rises to around 8 million dollars next season is open to renegotiating in order to stay with the team. Meanwhile in postgame coverage Todd Collins was not eager to discuss his future with the team (op. cit.). As I have iterated and reiterated I think it is best for Todd and for the Redskins if he comes back to Al Saunders' offense. The Dolphins are interested in talking to Gregg Williams, I could see Gregg and Bill Parcells together.
=====
Area 51: LaRon Landry was a monster in this game, playing a terrific game even before the spirit of Sean Taylor inhabited his body in the second half for two interceptions. LaRon made a big hit on Nate Burleson in the second quarter after he burned Shawn Springs and right before the half he lined up at strong safety and knifed through the play to stop Mo Morris from getting a first down.
Freddie Your Cruise Director: Matt Hasselbeck picked on Shawn Springs all day and Fred Smoot did not see a lot of one on one action, Loveboat Freddie's big play before the third quarter was picking up Shaun Alexander's not fumble. In the third quarter Matt was flushed out of the pocket and ran left, he did not slide and was just cleaned out by Loveboat Freddie. Matt got up a little gingerly but finished the game.
Washington Post recap, box score, play by play, photo gallery. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos.
Next up, the offseason, time to take a break and then get right back to it, free agency and the draft will be here before you know it.
Todd Collins being sacked: Preston Keres / Washington Post from here. Offseason relaxation: Uncredited image from here.
Takeaway drill: harassed and harangued on offense, everybody gets to drop one; defense keeps the Redskins in the game again and again and again; Todd Collins finally back to earth; ending where the story began, with number 21.
=====
The Redskins started the first quarter with the ball but three and outed, Todd Collins' first pass sailed well over Santana Moss' head. Seattle did not fare much better in it's first possession, they moved the ball but punted. The Redskins were pinned deep but on 3rd and three from the Washington 11 Todd rolled right, looked like he might try a sure to be ill fated run then slung it sidearm to a falling down Antwann Randle El for nine yards. Three plays later Clinton Portis was stuffed on 3rd and one and the Redskins had to punt. On the punt play gunner and reserve cornerback Leigh Torrence was blocked into the ball after coming in from out of bounds on coverage and was penalized illegal touching, 5 yards repeat play. On the rekick Nate Burleson got a good runback and based on the difference between the result of the downed punt on the penalty play and the result of the rekick the Leigh Torrence penalty cost the Redskins 31 yards.
On that drive it looked like the Redskins got their first break when Shaun Alexander fumbled after a 13 yard run, Fred Smoot scooped up the ball and ran 24 yards but Shaun was clearly down when the ball came out, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren challenged and the play was overturned, Seattle retained the ball. On the next play fullback Leonard Weaver ran it 17 yards evading London Fletcher, Shawn Springs and Reed Doughty for a touchdown. The pressure finally started getting back to Todd on the next drive, after a good pass to Antwaan over the middle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney (Wahoowa!)came through tight end Chris Cooley, just putting Chris on the ground and smacked Todd as he was throwing. After a bad recovery timeout and a backwards run by Clinton Todd found Santana Moss 18 yards downfield on 3rd and 13...and it bounced off his hands. The Redskins punted but Washington's offense started to stiffen and the Seahawks four and outed but Seahawks punter Ryan Plackemeier dropped his punt on the Washington two yard line and Seattle declined Matt Sinclair's running into the punter call. On the first play of this Redskins drive Chris Cooley took his turn and dropped a pass that was put right into his hands. The quarter ended with the Seahawks leading 7-0.
On the first play of the second quarter Patrick Kerney rode right over right tackle Stephon Heyer and hit Todd Collins as he threw. The fumble was called back as incomplete but the Redskins could only move the ball 19 more yards and with offensive frustration showing punted. It only took the Seahawks three plays including a 25 yard pass to Nate Burleson that totally exposed Shawn Springs to move to the Redskins 32 , they stalled and Josh Brown kicked a 50 yard field goal. After a 13 yard run by Clinton Portis on the next drive Todd was sacked by Julian Peterson and the Redskins punted. Big Mo looked like he was moving benches on the next drive, DJ Hackett was called for offensive pass interference, MattHasselbeck hit his throwing hand on Shaun Alexander's helmet and Redskins rookie defensive end Chris Wilson went the long way round right tackle Sean Locklear sacking Matt and forcing the ball out, it was recovered by center Chris Spencer and the Seahawks punted. The Redskins three and outed, including a drop by Clinton Portis and another sack of Todd Collins, then the Seahawks three and outed, the Redskins defense looked terrific on this drive. When the Redskins got the ball back they stalled after four plays and 23 yards and Mike Sellers was stuffed on 4th and one to turn it over. The Redskins forced a three and out and the Redskins ran the ball four times to end the half with the Seahawks leading 10-0 at the half.
The Redskins opened the third quarter on defense and played very well, the Seahawks punted after five plays. The Redskins' offensive woes continued with five plays before punting. On the next drive the Seahawks beat Shawn Springs one on one again for 35 yards before Josh Brown kicked a 33 yard field goal. The Redskins took all of the remaining 4:30 in the quarter in a hurry up shotgun to go 11 plays, aided by a Seattle pass interference call on 4th and one at the Seahawks' 27, the quarter ended with the Seahawks shutting the Redskins out 13-0.
The Redskins were on the Seattle seven yard line to start the fourth quarter, Todd Collins got the Redskins on the board immediately with a touchdown pass to Antwaan Randle El. On the second play of the next Seahawks drive LaRon Landry jumped a route to Bobby Engram and intercepted it, he stumbled and ran it back for what would have been a touchdown but was called back down on contact. Three plays later Todd Collins hit Santana Moss on a 30 yard post route for a touchdown and the comeback was on.
It got weirder on the next play. Shaun Suisham kicked off and the wind caused the ball to die, it bounced between returners Nate Burleson and Josh Wilson, was not touched and special teamer receiver Anthony Mix ran past, picked it up in stride and ran into the end zone. The recovering team cannot advance what amounted to a long onsides kick but the Redskins had the ball on the Seattle 14 yard line. A dropped pass to Chris Cooley, a miscommunication between Todd Collins and Mike Sellers that forced a timeout and a hurry batted pass by Patrick Kerney and the Redskins were facing a 30 yard field goal to push their lead to four. Shaun Suisham missed it and the Redskins turned it over.
The football fates were not done with the Redskins yet. After three straight first down plays it was 2nd and eight on the Washington 36, Matt Hasselbeck aired it out deep for receiver Ben Obomanu, LaRon Landry stepped in front and caught the ball as he was falling out of bounds, LaRon's second interception for the fourth quarter. The Redskins could not take the gift, committing a false start on the first play of the next drive then three and outing, punting from their own nine yard line. Seattle took the ball and moved easily down the field for a score, a wide open touchdown pass to DJ Hackett. The Seahawks went for and scored the two point conversion to move Seattle out in front by seven points.
The spiral continued on the Redskins next possession. After a Mike Sellers penalty that took ten yards off a 55 yard Rock Cartwright kick return on the first offensive play Todd Collins went deep right for Santana Moss. Seattle cornerback Marcus Trufant did not bite on Santana's move and Santana gave up on the play not realizing Todd had thrown it to him. Marcus had ten yards to catch the ball fair catch style and he returned it 78 yards for a touchdown. With 5:32 left in the game and down by 14 points the Redskins got the ball back and moved no huddle hurry up 40 yards before turning it over on downs. The Seahawks three and outed while the Redskins used up their last two timeouts and the two minute warning, punted and the Redskins got the ball back with 1:52 left in the game trailing by 14 points.
Four plays, including a fumbled shotgun snap advanced by Todd Collins and it was time for the final indignity. On 3rd and three from the Washington 43, 44 seconds left Todd's pass was short of Antwaan Randle El, Seattle safety Jordan Babineaux intercepted the pass and ran it back 57 yards for a touchdown. The Redskins had one play before time expired on their season, they had lost to the Seahawks 35-14, they had lost by 21.
=====
Soapbox: what an incredible season, incredible in the sense that this is football, we are supposed to watch a game unfold and the greatness and weakness of the story is largely told on the field. The Redskins, these 2007 Redskins? This story goes so far off the field that it boggles the mind. The team started hot, got middling, floundered, a guy died, an unknown came in and played the most important field position...well and the team stormed down the stretch shoving two teams out of the way for a playoff berth.
In early and middle November there were calls for Joe Gibbs to retire, again, calls that were proxy for dissatisfaction for the entire Redskins organization from top to bottom.
Now nobody wants to see Joe Gibbs go and he will not. We are certain to get at least one more season, his 17th with the Redskins.
This game? Yeah, too bad. The offense could not get anything going, like every other playoff team this week against their opponent the Seahawks put eight or nine in the box and forced the Redskins to win in the air. The team never got on balance, was dropping passes from the very beginning and the defense could only keep Washington in the game but for so long.
No Redskins offensive player can point the finger and any other. They all had a hand in this one. As for the Washington defense, well it kicks ass.
The season is over, I am proud to be a fan.
=====
Chattering class: George Solomon, sports editor emeritus at the Washington Post is a Todd Collins fan, he can't think of another time and neither can I of a guy so long on the shelf and so good through a stretch of games. Todd did not fail in this game, the Redskins just ran out of asphalt. Tom Boswell at the same paper laughs at the idea that losing this game means the team has failed. When you are at a place where you can say no one died you have perspective.
Mike Wilbon draws an amusing parallel between Joe Gibbs sleeping on couches and Tony Romo sleeping with Jessica Simpson in Cancun. Mike I agree that would have been a great second round game. Tom Boswell: what goes up must come down.
Les Carpenter gets the front page A1 piece, this time the Redskins are at the top of the page with full side to side coverage. This town really does live by the Redskins. Nick Miroff has a companion piece back in the A section, on the indignities suffered by Redskins fans at the hands of Seahawks fans. As one that attends at least one game in Philadelphia every year the tendency of fans to move past good natured ribbing and into throwing trash and food at fans of the other team has always bothered me and stopping it has to start with team ownership. I guess this mentality that games are for enjoyment by all and not exclusively for the hometown fans makes me a weaktit in the eyes of a lot of football fans.
=====
Omnibus: the weather was not as much a factor as feared and like typical Seattle weather whipsawed between wind, rain and sun.
Patrick Kerney (Wahoowa!) was just owning the right side of the Redskins offensive line all day. Right tackle Stephon Heyer got help all day and it still was not enough. As it was in the Giants home game with Michael Strahan Chris Cooley should not be blocking Patrick one one.
There was a total of 4 drops by Redskins receivers today: Santana Moss 18 yards downfield on 3rd and 13 in the first, Chris Cooley four yards downfield on 1st and five in the first, Clinton Portis four yards over the middle on 1st and 10 in the second, Chris Cooley at the goal line on first and 10 in the fourth after the Anthony Mix kickoff recovery. Chris Cooley atoned for his by making two great catches during the comeback, a beautiful one handed catch for 20 yards in the third quarter.
Of the receiving corps it was Antwaan Randle El that gets the game ball. He had big plays in the first, second, third and fourth and finished with 10 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Clinton Portis was never able to get anything going finishing with 20 rushes for 52 yards, a 2.6 yard average.
Straight drops aside it was obvious early the Redskins offense was not working right. The delay of game penalty on 3rd and 12 of the Redskins' first possession of the second quarter was a result of Todd Collins asking for the shotgun snap three from Casey Rabach and not getting it. It was a silent leg lift snap call and time ran out before Casey
When the Seahawks scored in the first quarter it was the first time the Redskins had trailed with Todd Collins at quarterback.
The first play of the second quarter was an interesting progression of refereeing and red flags. Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney mashed over right tackle Stephon Heyer and hit Todd Collins as he passed. The ball popped out and defensive end Darryl Tapp recovered it, the play was ruled a fumble. Joe Gibbs challenged the call and the referee then changed the call on the field to incomplete pass without accepting the coach's challenge. Mike Holmgren was not happy and wanted to know why the play was changed without costing the Redskins a challenge.
The Nate Burleson 25 yard catch on 1st and 10 in the second quarter, Shawn Springs made the exact same inside jump the route move he used to pick off Tony Romo's first pass to Terry Glenn in the Cowboys game last week. Shawn fell for it and Nate went back sideline wide open for a big gain. LaRon Landry wrapped Nate up immediately and slammed him to the ground out of bounds, I was like great that's nother late hit on LaRon but it was not.
Leroy Hill's sack of Todd Collins in the second quarter, he came right in the hole between Chris Samuels and Pete Kendall, Ladell Betts picked up the blitz but Leroy went right through Ladell, basically using Ladell as a stick to hit Todd with.
With 2:19 to go in the first half on 2nd and one Clinton Portis was hit at the line, the refs signaled for a measurement. Although the whistle blew at 2:12 to go and the ref immediately called for the sticks the clock continued to run and ran down to the two minute warning. During the TV break Joe Gibbs was arguing that if the refs called for a measurement they should have stopped the clock, the Redskins lost at least one play with that extra 12 seconds run off the clock. Little home cooking there.
Matt Hasselbeck had no fear picking on Shawn Springs all game. Shawn gave up big plays in every quarter. Shawn was drafted by Seattle in 1997.
Patrick Kerney, Julian Peterson and Darryl Tapp are awsum.
Scobey dobey doh.
Even though Stephon Heyer was getting killed at right tackle, and needing tight end help most of the game Todd Wade aka Big Head Todd aka 8 Ball who was active never came in on a substitution. That the team would leave Stephon in there getting killed in a playoff game and not put Todd in to see how he would do tells me a lot about how the team regards both Stephon and Todd Wade.
As promised Seahawks Stadium was LOUD.
Farverian, a term as coined by Cris Collinsworth that means something funky you do to get the ball where you need it, in this case a short arm sidearm incomplete pass from Matt Hasselbeck against a blitz to Nate Burleson.
I knew Matt Hasselbeck went to Boston College but I did not know that he played high school in the Boston area. Matt's father Don was a tight end with the New England Patriots from 1977 to 1983 and apparently the family stayed in the area after Don moved to other teams and then retired. While shopping schools to play the Hasselbecks considered Walpole and Walpole High where Todd Collins was at that moment the star. The Hasselbecks eventually decided on moving to Norfolk Massachusetts and Matt played at Xaverian Brothers Academy, the local Catholic school in Westwood Massachusetts, less than ten miles north of Walpole. However even if Matt and Todd had not been three years apart they would never had played one another, in Massachusetts public and private schools are in different leagues according to the neighbor we call Tony Almeida who went to a Massachusetts Catholic school in the same district as Xaverian.
This was the first time (op. cit.) Joe Gibbs had lost a playoff game when leading at any point in the fourth quarter making Joe 1-17 in this situation.
Next door to Seahawks Stadium at Mariners Stadium the groundskeepers wrote a welcome message into the infield dirt, NBC TOM CHRIS, welcoming the NBC broadcast and the game's play by play crew. There was however a problem though, Tom Hammonds' color partner was former receiver Cris Collinsworth. There is no H in Cris' name. Great work guys, Cris Collinsworth has only been doing football on TV for 17 years, and anyway how did you find out who was doing the call without reading the name?
Let the offseason posturing begin. Clinton Portis whose salary cap number rises to around 8 million dollars next season is open to renegotiating in order to stay with the team. Meanwhile in postgame coverage Todd Collins was not eager to discuss his future with the team (op. cit.). As I have iterated and reiterated I think it is best for Todd and for the Redskins if he comes back to Al Saunders' offense. The Dolphins are interested in talking to Gregg Williams, I could see Gregg and Bill Parcells together.
=====
Area 51: LaRon Landry was a monster in this game, playing a terrific game even before the spirit of Sean Taylor inhabited his body in the second half for two interceptions. LaRon made a big hit on Nate Burleson in the second quarter after he burned Shawn Springs and right before the half he lined up at strong safety and knifed through the play to stop Mo Morris from getting a first down.
Freddie Your Cruise Director: Matt Hasselbeck picked on Shawn Springs all day and Fred Smoot did not see a lot of one on one action, Loveboat Freddie's big play before the third quarter was picking up Shaun Alexander's not fumble. In the third quarter Matt was flushed out of the pocket and ran left, he did not slide and was just cleaned out by Loveboat Freddie. Matt got up a little gingerly but finished the game.
Washington Post recap, box score, play by play, photo gallery. NFL recap, box score, full play by play, Gamebook (PDF), photos.
Next up, the offseason, time to take a break and then get right back to it, free agency and the draft will be here before you know it.
Todd Collins being sacked: Preston Keres / Washington Post from here. Offseason relaxation: Uncredited image from here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment