Vision Quest: Look Who's the King!!

When I was a little kid I had a few there were two games that were banned from my elementary school playground. The first was a game called “Last Piece of Meat in the world” or sometimes “One on All football” You would get a ball, preferably football and all the other kids would try and tackle you and beat you and every now and then bite you just to get you to give up the ball. And if you think about it, it is kind of ironic you would even want the ball in the first place. But eh more dangerous game was the one I liked to play. King of The Mountain.

You remember that game don’t you? You and a bunch of friends would final a hill and take turns throwing each other down it. At the end of recess the kid remaining at the top, bloody or not, won. There is an irony that this game may have more to do with NFL football then the previous game I described. And as I type this, the Washington Redskins are 2-0 and in sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

Don’t start ordering playoff tickets in Fed-Ex quite yet folks. The Recess Bell has not sounded.

I always remember there were three types of kids who played King of the Hill. The skinny scrawny fast ones that would get to the top of the hill first. However they would quickly be replaced by the bullies and big tough guys who would throw them down like last week’s garbage. And many times the bullies would fend off the rest of the kids for the entire period. But every now and then there would be the smart tough kids who would time their advance just right to take the hill 5 seconds before the recess bell sounded.

Which type of kid are the Redskins? Hard to say. However one thing is for certain, it is too early to judge. All we have done is barely win against an average Chicago team and come back in the last minute against a our hated rival the Cowboys. But we are in a good position. The Eagles Donovan McNabb is battling a sports hernia. The NY Giants have no defense whatsoever, and we are assured at least a split against an inferior Cowboys team.

This is why this week’s game against Seattle is so important. Seattle is the best team we have faced yet. They have a stingy defense, a powerful running game, and a decent passing game. The Redskins are coming off a roller coaster of emotion following their dramatic comeback victory and then an early bye week. You can already see the experts lining up. A win and they will be saying then Redskins are for real, a loss and they were pretenders to the throne all along.

Experts aside, this is a big time game early in the season. An NFC opponent is coming into Fed-Ex, they should not leave alive. We can all pretend that the Redskins will win the NFC East but barring McNabb’s injury worsening that is about a ling shot as me bagging Kate Moss without a zip lock full of cocaine. Wins against NFC opponents are important tiebreakers in wild card decisions.

Time to throw Seattle back down the hill.

Keys to the game

As always I provide what I think are the 5 offensive, 5 defensive, and 1 overall key to victory this Sunday.

OFFENSE

1.) Play the whole 60 minutes like they did the last 6 minutes at Dallas. This may be obvious but it is worth stating again. I am not stating that they should play bombs away the whole game. A balanced running and passing attack would be nice. However they should play with the same urgency they did when they got down 13-0 the whole game. Too many times this season the

2.) Let Clinton run. Seattle has a decent defensive line but they a susceptible to the rush. Clinton should get a lot of touches all day long. Betts could provide a good 1-2 punch as well. Because Seattle’s ends tend to pin back their ears and rush the passer a couple of draw plays could prove to be big gainers.

3.) Protect the QB. As I said before the defensive line for the Seahawks are a pass-rushing group. A few screens and draw plays can get them back on their heels, but the line needs to pass block better. We need time to throw the deep routes and so far Brunell is running around for his life.

4.) Get Cooley going. No doubt Ray Rhodes, Seattle’s coordinator, looked at the last 5 minutes of the Dallas game. You can bet that the safeties are going to start deep and that will open up things over the middle. That means Chris Cooley (and yes I am refraining from the obligatory cheerleader joke that comes with Chris Cooley going for the opening in the middle). Cooley has been slightly disappointing this sophomore season and he needs to get going to give our offense the extra wrinkle it needs.

5.) Field position battle must be won. Rookie kicker and a second year punter who just joined the team during the bye week. This spells trouble. We cannot afford any 3 and outs. We need long drives that allow us to win the field position battle as well as chew up clock. Nick Novak was weak on kickoffs so look for new punter Derrick Frost to take over those duties. However Novak will still be doing FGs and extra points so from the 25-yard line out FGs are no longer a sure thing. And the opposition knows it too. Long sustained drives are our only hope at putting our offense in a position to score.

DEFENSE

1.) Stop Alexander. Even before he scored 4 TDs last game, Alexander is a straight up stud. Make no mistake the offense runs through him. Thankfully the Washington defense is made to stop the run. So this will be a case of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object. The Redskins need to concentrate on shutting down the run big time in this game.

2.) Contain Hasselbeck. He may not be the most mobile of QBs but if he breaks containment he can be dangerous. Again the front four needs to generate some kind of pass rush. It has become obvious that GW is not blitzing as much this year as other teams have adjusted and used more max protection schemes against us. So giving Hasselbeck too much time will only spell disaster.

3.) Attack the Right side of the line. Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson at LT ad LG are pretty domineering players. So it will be up to the left side of our defensive line to attack the right side of their offensive line. You have to like the match up of DT Cornelius Griffin And LE Renaldo Wynn vs. Chris Gray and Sean Locklear. Add on top of that blitzes by Marcus Washington and that is where our pressure can come from. Look for GW to exploit this weakness and for Seattle to be running the other way as much as possible.

4.) Support the corners. Walt Harris is listed as doubtful for the game so Carlos Rogers will finally start for the Redskins. The problem is the skins have decided to keep only 4 corner backs. In effect Ade “how the hell does he keep making the team” Jimoh might see action at nickel. With as many 3-4 wide receiver sets the Seahawks use this could be a real problem. Omar Stoutmire will see some action too, but he is a safety and with injuries to fellow safeties Ryan Clark and Pierson Prioleau he may be called upon there. Our safeties and linebackers in coverage must help out.

5.) Blitz often and knock them out of rhythm. Enough of this sit back and contain defense we have been running. A brilliant move for sure, but by now the Seahawks have game planned for it. Lets send the house at them instead. Our weak secondary cannot afford to give the QB 6-7 seconds to decide where to pass. We have to pressure Hasselbeck or it may be a long long day.

And as always one Overall note. Don’t get complacent. Dallas was last week, time for the rest of the season. The NFC east and the entire NFC are going to be tight. The Redskins have a great opportunity to pull away a bit by going 3-0. This could be a big step towards the playoffs. It’s time we take it.

Hail to the Redskins!!!!