Turnovers Cost Skins a Potential Victory over St Louis

Washington has been making steady progress in developing continuity and consistent play out of their offensive and defensive lines every week since their opening season loss to the Giants. This trend continued in Week 6 as they came out and dominated at the line of scrimmage versus the St Louis Rams as reflected in the result of their Football ERA score. However, many of their long drives down the field ended in costly fumbles that ultimately cost them the game. Morever, dominating the line of scrimmage by running the ball has the effect of lowering points scored versus ball control. The Redskins kicked field goals instead of scoring touchdowns and slowed the clock down by holding the ball and getting 1st downs. This left them vulnerable on the scoreboard to blowing the game on turnovers, and a final drive by the Rams cost Washington the victory. The Football ERA does not calculate for turnovers, broken plays, special teams, and open field plays that ultimately decide the outcome of many football games. It does allow us, however; by design, to look away from the scoreboard and the win/loss record to get a unique perspective as to how teams played week to week in between the lines of the end zones on any given Sunday.



++++++++++Washington Redskins++++++++++

Despite getting another new head coach from owner Dan Snyder and yet another new offense to learn in 2008, the Redskins have benefited from stability and continuity in their lineup from 2007. As the offense has practiced and executed the offense from week to week since their season opening loss to the Giants, their offensive production has improved and increased from week to week. Experienced veteran OT Jon Janson stepped in for the injured OT Stephon Heyer in Week 4, and the line hasn't missed a beat.
On defense, OLB Marcus Washington has been in and out of the lineup with injuries with LB H.B. Blades filling in for him in various weeks. LB Washington returned to the lineup against St. Louis. Also DE Demetric Evans has filled in for DE Jason Taylor as part of the Defensive Line rotation while Taylor was nursing a calf injury.



Defensive Front:


Marcus Washington London Fletcher Rocky McIntosh
H.B. Blades<---Weeks 2, 5


Demetric Evans Cornelius Griffin Kedric Golston Andre Carter
Jason Taylor<---Weeks 1-3




Offensive Line


Chris Samuels Pete Kendall Casey Rabach Randy Thomas Jon Janson
RT first 3 weeks-------->Stephon Heyer




++++++++++St Louis Rams++++++++++

The St Louis Rams suffered from a tremendous amount of adversity in 2007 (see September Post "Seattle Bounces Back against the Rams". Adversity can, however, help to build depth by giving valuable experience to backups. Some of those backups became regular starters and have been struggling to gain a foothold on the 2008 season. But with hard work and practice, week by week improvement eventually can become apparent. The same Rams that lost in Week 1 are not the same Rams that won in Week 6 over the Redskins. The Rams have been attempting to run the ball better in recent weeks (like against Buffalo), and those efforts eventually returned dividends in a much needed win.

Whereas offensive left guard Jacob Bell returned to the lineup in Week 4, the defense, on the other hand, has had numerous shuffles in their starting lineup. For various reasons including health, the defensive line has rotated Leonard Little, James Hall, Victor Adeyanju at defensive end, and La'Roi Glover and Clifton Ryan at defensive tackle while LB Chris Draft has been substituted in the lineup for LB Quinton Culberson.

Defensive Front:


Chris Draft Will Witherspoon Pisa Tinoisamoa
Quinton Culberson<--Weeks 1-3


Victor Adeyanju Clifton Ryan Adam Carriker Chris Long(R)
Leonard Little<--Week 1 NT La'Roi Glover <---Weeks 1-3
James Hall <---Weeks 2,3




Offensive Line:


Orlando Pace Jacob Bell Nick Leckey Richie Incognito Alex Barron

Weeks 2,3->Adam Goldberg