Every week, I’ll ask you to give me your thoughts on the moments and aspects of the game that you don’t think got enough coverage in the media. I’ll pick a few of them every week and try to give them the spotlight you think they deserve. I got a lot of excellent suggestions for the Saints game, here are just a few of them.
I was very surprised to see
that the wide receiver who had the most offensive snaps was Aldrick Robinson,
who was in on 66 of the Redskins’ 76 plays. One might have expected to see
Hankerson get an increased role after Pierre Garçon left with a foot injury
after just eight snaps. But Hankerson played just nine snaps and was not
targeted for a single pass.
This does not necessarily mean that Hankerson is “in trouble” as @Patman1225 suggests. He just doesn’t appear to be ready for a steady, week-in, week-out role just yet. This year, he is likely to have a few big games and he will have some games where, like yesterday, he is invisible.
As for Robinson, we will see what his role is when Garçon returns to the lineup. He showed some special ability on each of his four catches and it seems likely that the coaches will find ways to get him into the lineup.
The Redskins started off the
Shanahan era in 2010 by not turning the ball over in their first two games. In
each of the next 30 games they turned it over at least once.
That streak, the longest active such streak in the NFL, ended on Sunday with, as @McNubian notes, a rookie quarterback who handled 76 snaps, threw 29 passes and carried the ball 10 times, and a rookie running back out of Florida-Atlantic who had 28 carries. Griffin did put the ball on the ground once in a botched handoff but he immediately recovered.
Some rookie mistakes may well follow but for now Morris and Griffin deserve kudos for breaking that ridiculous streak.
Three of the first four and five of the first eight Saints drives were three and outs. During the game, one tweeter suggested that it looked like the time that Drew Brees missed while he negotiated a new contract with the Saints was hurting him. He missed all of OTA’s and minicamp after refusing to sign his franchise tender and the timing with his receivers did appear to be off at times.
But you have to give credit to the Redskins’ defense, especially the pass rush. They only sacked Brees twice but they batted down a few passes and generally harassed and harried Brees.
Again, it’s only one game but
for now the decision to release both Graham Gano and Neil Rackers and go with
Cundiff was a wise one. As Gano still looks for work, Cundiff was four for four
on field goals of 37, 41, 37, and 45 yards. Each one looked more solid and
straight down the middle than the previous one.
Cundiff also kicked off nine times and only once did the Saints start a drive outside of their own 20 after those kicks.
