Finally Football

Finally, at last, live football. Who cares that it doesn't count in the records. It's important.

Last year, the Redskins were cavalier about preseason games. They hardly game-planned the competition, or prepped for the contest. So sure were they of their new schemes, that they kept them hidden and off opposing teams games tapes.

It took the Minnesota Vikings exactly one half of the first regular season game to figure out the new playbook. The season was down hill from there. We found that every flaw we saw in the regular season was in plain view in the preseason.

The team acknowledged that ego and arrogance was at the heart of that. Joe Gibbs, who said regularly through the season that "it all falls on me," promised changes this season, including a new approach to preseason games.

Preseason games don't count, it's true, but execution of the plays is critical. Look at the stats, not the score. What was the average rushing yards per attempt? What was the average passing yards per attempt? Was the percentage of pass completions over or under 60? Was the ratio of touchdown passes-to-interceptions 2:1? What was the percentage of third-down conversions for the Redskins and the other team? Were the Redskins in the lead when the first team left the field?

These thing tell you how well a team executes. In preseason, it matters not if you win or lose. It's how you play the game.
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Happy first anniversary to The Curly R blog. Ever since Ben Folsom started it, he raised the standards and the prestige of the Redskins blogging community. His writing is unmatched for insight and depth.

How I hate him. ;-) Thank you folks. I'll be here all week.

I'm not a journalist, or a professional writer -- not yet anyway. So, a site like The Curly R is helpful in picking up tips on sources, structure and interviewing. It was the first blog where I noticed photo attribution and learned to the same. So, thank you, Ben, for all that you do!

You will find The Curly R and the other fine Redskins blogs on the blogroll to your right.
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The Redskins - Titans preseason game will be broadcast locally on channel 7. The Redskins site has a preview of the game here. See the Tennessee Titans preview of the game here.

Hog Heaven has two fine pieces up on the Washington Redskins defense. Greg Trippiedi's article examines the Redskins run defense. Anthony Brown asks five questions about defense. We will start to get some answers tonight.


Photo: www.haruth.com from here.