Coach Mangini: All I can say after this one is thank God it's preseason. If not my hair would be fully gray and I'd have about 10 more ulcers than I started the day with. Crazy game...tied 25-25 with 2 minutes left, we kick the field goal to take a 28-25 lead, only to let the Skins march down the field and score a TD with 30 seconds left and take the lead right back, 32-28. But we didn't quit...a few Patrick Ramsey bombs later we found ourselves at the 2 yard line, but unfortunately the final seconds ticked off the clock before we could punch it into the endzone.
As crazy as that game was, we're not too caught up in the actual results. Team and individual performance is what matters in preseason, so that's what we'll focus on here. We'll start with the good...our passing game tore up their secondary, and that was without our starting QB out there. Ramsey and Clemens were a combined 22/34 with 350 yards, a TD, and no INTs. At least part of their success can be attributed to new addition Isaac Bruce, who led the team with 6 catches and 91 yards. Bruce gives a whole new dimension to our offense and completes a lethal 3 WR set of him, Coles, and Cotchery. Defenses will be hard pressed to have the DB talent to contain those three.
Another plus was our offensive line play. No sacks allowed, and to this point we've only allowed 2 sacks in 2 games, a total we're very happy with. No doubt the superb pass blocking was a large part of the success of our QBs today.
The rest...not so good. The running game struggled a bit...2.8 YPC is not exactly the production we're looking for. Leon Washington was a bright spot though, gaining over 50 yards on just 10 carries. He'll be a solid insurance policy and change of pace for Chris Brown this year.
The defense was spotty...we didn't allow any huge rushes but they were able to get solid gains seemingly at will out there. And the passing defense, forget about it...we were destroyed by long pass plays, including TD bombs of 76, 63, and 45 yards. We need to do a much better job of containment in the passing game.
Overall it was a mixed bag...I'm happy with the increase in offensive production and our ability to hold onto the ball and not turn it over. However, I was disappointed with the defense, especially after a very strong showing last week.
Your team had a very hard time finishing drives, which considering you won the yardage, turnover, third down success and time of possession battles seems to be a big reason you lost this game. What do you plan to do in order to get more touchdowns rather than have to settle for field goals?
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Champion of 2007 Pigskin Pick'em
Runner-Up of 2000 pt. Fantasy Football League
Your team had a very hard time finishing drives, which considering you won the yardage, turnover, third down success and time of possession battles seems to be a big reason you lost this game. What do you plan to do in order to get more touchdowns rather than have to settle for field goals?
There's two ways to look at field goals...sort of a glass half empty, glass half full kind of thing. One one hand, kicking a field goal, you're gaining 3 points. On the other hand, you're forfeiting your chance at a touchdown, leaving 4 points on the field. The way the game turned out, we only needed ONE set of those forfeited four points - one touchdown instead of a field goal - and the game would have at least gone to overtime.
Look, I realize that not every drive can end with a touchdown...sometimes it's neccessary to take the 3. But doing that 5 times is a bit ridiculous, and that type of thing will not fly during the regular season. We have to figure out how to finish drives...I'm hoping having Chad out there will solve our problems once the regular season starts. For now, we'll just look at it as extensively warming up Nugent for the regular season.
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