Hard to get a read on how good Redskins really are
In the midst of their four game winning streak this season, many football enthusiasts (myself included) were ready to put the Redskins at the top of the NFC as one of the conference’s best teams.
But after losing to the Rams last week and almost choking away a win against the Browns on Sunday, it’s hard to tell how good Washington really is at this point. Clinton Portis (175 yards, 1 TD in the 14-11 win over Cleveland) is off to a great start and QB Jason Campbell has done a remarkable job in his first year in the WCO. (He’s still yet to throw an interception.)
Still, the Redskins weren’t overly impressive today, in fact, they looked ultra-conservative and had Derek Anderson been able to do anything in the first half, Washington might lose the game against Cleveland despite an outstanding day by Portis and the defense. For a team that is starting to receive accolades as one of the best in the NFC, you’d think they would put more points on the board than 14. (Granted, the score was a lot closer than maybe it should have been because the Browns scored off a Portis fumble late in the fourth.)
The bottom line is that good teams find ways to win, especially considering victories are so hard to come by in the NFL. But part of me wonders if the Redskins are setting up for a second half collapse just based on two blasé performances the past two weeks.
Side note on Clev/Wash game: Portis/Cleveland’s defense saved Romeo Crennel’s ass late in the fourth. The Browns were down 14-3 late in the fourth and Washington stopped them cold on the goal line on three straight plays. Instead of kicking the field goal and making it a one-possession game, Crennel foolishly went for it on fourth and goal and Anderson had a pass battled down. Had Portis not fumbled and Washington goes down and scores (or runs out the clock), Crennel’s decision would have looked even more boneheaded. Instead, Portis coughs it up and the Browns scored and added a 2-point conversion to slim the lead to 14-11 and thus, Crennel comes out looking okay. But he’s clueless.
Crennel should be fired. That was one of the absolute worst calls I’ve ever seen a head coach make. Like you said — he’s clueless. He makes at least one terrible decision a game, and his team is poorly coached. They just gave Crennel an extension but I don’t care — the guy is awful, and he needs to be fired now.
Also, until now I’ve been one of the few preaching patience with Derek Anderson, especially on the heels on the Giants game. No more — he needs to be benched. They kept waiting for DA to get going this week but instead he kept making one poor throw after another. The Browns could have won this game with a more accurate quarterback. I don’t necessarily think Brady Quinn is going to save the season, but DA was flat awful today.
Shake up the entire thing.
I think Crennel is terrible, but I was OK with him going for it. I think this one was a judgement call. That said, the calls were terrible. With Jamal Lewis you need to line it up 4 times and ram it in the endzone.
Maaaaaaaaaybe you go for it on a 4th and 1, but it was a 4th and goal from the 4. The chances of scoring there were low, much lower than kicking the field goal and hoping for a stop. It seemed like a decision made out of frustration.
If you kick the field goal, you still need to scores a TD and then also get the 2 point conversion. I doubt the scoring percentage is much worse from the 4 as opposed to the 2 (most teams pass in that situation). A TD gives you a great chance to win - a field goal makes it tough.
Either way makes sense, but this isn’t like earlier times in the season where Crennel was stupid for kicking a field goal late in the game.
“A TD gives you a great chance to win - a field goal makes it tough.”
But a failed attempt on fourth down pretty much ends the game. A field goal gives you a chance.
Either way, you need a TD, two point conversion and a FG. (Or two TDs, obviously.) You take the points when you can get them and make it a one-possession game. If Eric Wright hadn’t made the big play on Portis to force the fumble, the game was over after they failed to score on 4th-and-goal. If they kick the field goal there, they’ve got two timeouts, the two-minute warning and 2:50 (roughly) on the clock to get the ball back and go for the tying TD (and conversion). I’m all for being aggressive, but the math says you have to kick the field goal there and give yourself a shot in a one-possession game.
I agree that there have been times throughout his tenure when Crennel has kicked a field goal at a time when he had to go for the TD. This wasn’t one of those times. To me, this looked like a case of Crennel feeling the heat for all the times he elected to kick when it made no sense, so this time he said, “Screw it, I’m going for it.” But this time, it was the wrong call, and Eric Wright bailed him out.
I agree with Jamey - the FG is the smarter play, especially after the Redskins had just stoned you three straight times from the goal line.
Like G said, no decision was necessarily wrong and this was Crennel-light compared to his other clueless calls throughout his coaching career, but he again looked over matched for the situation.
It’s not often that a team scores from the 4 or the 5 yard-line (on a fourth down). A run really isn’t that big of a threat and the field is so compressed that it’s difficult to throw the ball. You’re much better off taking the field goal there and worrying about the TD later on. Chances are you’ll have a number of opportunities to get a score, and with pass interference penalties the way they are, there’s a pretty good chance of eventually getting the ball back at the one-yard line looking for the game-tying TD. The downside of going for it is that the game is pretty much over if you fail to score the TD.
To me, it’s a no-brainer, but Crennel apparently has his own theory about it.