Wiz and Skins Thoughts

Here are some thoughts about the Wizards and Redskins.

WIZARDS

Washington is 1-1 heading into tonight's game against Southeast Division opponent Orlando Magic. And so far, just two games in, the Wizards have shown us nothing demonstrably new. In fact, they look like the same team that's claimed the fifth seed the past two years, which is something coach Eddie Jordan has talked about recently. And frankly, that's not good enough. Simply making the playoffs may have sufficed the past two years, but now people expect something from this team, and they'll have to deliver. All that said, the team is only 1-1, and I'm still holding fast to my prediction that this team will approach 50 wins. They'll probably get something more like 48, though. So far, we've seen the Wizards play excellent defense for about 35 of the season's 96 minutes. That's not even half. The team is also rebounding poorly. These two glaring deficiencies are evident because of Antawn Jamison. Look, I like the guy, and I think trading him right now would be a mistake. You live with his defensive problems because he can drop 20 points a game. But he does create bad match ups, which the Wizards aren't adequately able to rectify because Washington is such an average-to-bad defensive team. Jamison also can't or won't box out his man on the defensive end, which is the least he can do. Thus, the Wizards have given up a lot of offensive rebounds.

But, I need to level a lot of blame at Jordan. Since he's been coaching the Wizards, my Dad and I have lamented at his rotations. He seems to have an utter lack of understanding when it comes to rotating guys in and out. Examples: Etan Thomas plays well for 10 first-quarter minutes against the Cleveland Cavaliers and doesn't see the floor again until late in the second quarter. Instead, Jordan uses Michael Ruffin for an extended period of time, a man with no discernable offensive skill set whatsoever. At the end of the loss to the Cavs, Jordan goes small, with Jamison manning the five on a couple of occassions. When Jordan uses a big, he subs in Brendan Haywood instead of Thomas, who already had two blocks. Jordan went to the same small lineup against the Magic, and the Wizards were outrebounded again. Jordan seems to adapt to the other team, rather than force the opponent to adapt to him. (The fact that this team has no killer instinct also reflects poorly on a coach who rarely demonstrates any kind of passion.) Jordan needs to kick this thing into gear and grasp the finer aspects of coaching. He hasn't shown much in his tenure in Washington, other than an excellent offensive game plan.

These are all things that can be fixed in due time, starting this evening against the Magic, and in the three games after that, all of which are at the Verizon Center. A 5-1 start would help boost the confidence of this team.

REDSKINS

Was yesterday's win against the Dallas Cowboys a gift? In part, yes. In part, no. A number of things worked for and against the Redskins yesterday to lift them to a wild, unusual victory, a win made only sweeter because it came against the Cowboys. I won't recap the proceedings here, but I will hit on a few points that stuck out to me.

1) The Redskins go for it on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line after attempting to reach the end zone from inside the 5-yard line on the previous six plays. I don't mind the call. This was (still is) a desperate team. Rolling the dice on fourth-and-goal instead of going for the field goal is a gutsy call, and certainly one Joe Gibbs won't normally make. I liked the decision then. I like it now. Here's what I didn't like: the play calling. That was some of the worst offensive coaching I've seen. They run the straight-ahead power runs with Clinton Portis, and their stretch runs with Ladell Betts. That's backward. Plus, they have the hulking TJ Duckett sitting on the sideline. I think he could've punched in a 1-yard plunge. Good God that was awful.

2) If you think had Bill Parcells kicked the extra point early, rather than attempt the 2-point conversion, the Cowboys would've been kneeling after the Redskins missed field goal with 30 seconds remaining, you're nuts. If I follow that logic, I can say the Redskins should've scored on their opening drive, and it should've been 7-0 early, and that would've meant the Skins would have won easily. Had the Cowboys kicked the EP, the Skins wouldn't have settled for that 49-yard field goal late in the game that Nick Novak missed, which brings me to my next point ...

3) What the hell was with that 49-yard field goal? More bad coaching here, as well. The Redskins have the ball, the game tied at 19-19 late in the fourth quarter. Washington gets inside Dallas terrority, to about the 35-yard line and run three straight times, deciding to let the clock run down as much as possible before sending Novak, a rookie kicker for all intents and purposes, into the game to attempt a field goal that, while not out of his range, isn't one he's going to make a majority of the time. The Redskins should've attempted a pass on second or third down to move into Novak's range. Gibbs got conservative and almost blew this game. Speaking of blowing the game, Gregg Williams hasn't been mentioned yet. Here he comes ...

4) Williams decides to start Troy Vincent instead of Adam Archuleta. Good move. Couldn't agree more. But, with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Williams reinserts Archuleta, who gets beaten once, but gets lucky because Cowboys QB Tony Romo overthrows TE Jason Witten. You figure Williams sees that and makes an adjustment, something like removing Archuleta entirely. Instead, he stays in the game, the Cowboys run the same play, and Witten hauls in a completion at the Redskins 18-yard line, setting up a potential game-winning field goal. Again, terrible coaching. Fortunately for the Skins, Vincent blocked the FG, and the Skins win.

All in all, the Redskins overcame their coaches and won in spite of them. There were mumblings that this team had zero chemistry, which was a major source of their problems this year. Perhaps a win like this helps. The Skins still didn't look good, and that secondary may be in for a long day against Donovon McNabb the Philadelphia Eagles next week. But hey, a win against the Cowboys is sweet. Breathing new life into a listless team, though, would be sweeter.