Skins fall to Rams

Skins fall to the Rams 31-28.  Tough loss.  Here are my grades for the team:

Offense:  A-  RG3 played well.  He ran for two TDs and threw for one.  He showed toughness hanging in the pocket and in his running ability on the designed runs.  It was another very good performance for him. The running game was solid led by Alfred Morris; however, I would have liked us to have run more often and control the clock better.  Hankerson had the bomb so it was good to see him get in the action.  Felt good about their play.  The obvious one major blemish was Morgan's ridiculous penalty he took for unsportsmanlike conduct (will talk about this more below).

Defense: D+  If not for the three turnovers including the fumble returned for a TD this grade would be an F.  For goodness sake, could someone stop Amendola?  Their WRs were frequently WIDE open in the soft part of the zone.  That was WAY too easy.  I was also disappointed with the coaching (Raheem Morris and Haslett) for not adjusting to this as it happened time and time again.  Inexcusable. 

Special Teams: D What the heck is going on with Danny Smith's punt unit?  For the second week in a row, we had a punt blocked.  The replay shows Perry Riley hardly getting a chip on his guy and basically doing an "Ole" and allowing the guy to come in unabated to block the Rocca punt.  Those kind of plays are devastating.  Banks never got many opportunities to return punts/kicks.  Cundiff was relegated to extra points outside the ridiculous 62 yard FG attempt. I disagreed with the call as I don't think he has the leg for it.

Coaching: C- The offensive coaching was solid but the defensive coaching was horrible so it evens out the grade.  Like that we can throw the deep ball.  Aldrick Robinson should have gotten the other deep ball in the second half but it bounced off his shoulder pad and looked like the DB grabbed/pulled his jersey just as he was going to jump but he still has to make that catch.  Looked like RG3 missed Robinson on another deep ball where Robinson looked to have his man beat.  However, it is hard to know what RG3 was seeing at that time. 

Defensively the coaching was poor.  Pass defense was poor as there was WAY too many opportunities for Ram WRs to get open in the soft zone.  What's worse is that we did not seem to adjust to this and it continued certainly for the entire first half. 

A couple of other thoughts:

1. Officiating was horrendous.  I don't understand this.  Aren't the replacement guys somewhat knowledgeable of the game?  All too often these guys look confused and can't seem to explain themselves.  Seems to me they should spend the week studying the rulebook.  I get that they are replacements and a mistake or two can happen but mistakes happen too often and they are mistakes about the general rules of football.  This can't happen and hopefully the real refs will return soon because these guys are having an impact on the outcomes of games. 

2. Josh Morgan:  WTF?!!!  I get that it was a chippy game from the get go but there is NO excuse for what he did.  Fletcher strips a ball allowing us the chance to tie or possibly win the game at the end.  First mistake for Morgan was when he caught the ball, he was behind the first down marker.  He has to know he has to get past the first down marker on a third down play.  Second, when he caught the pass, he ran two yards backwards.  If he just turned and went upfield he probably would have gotten the first down.  Even if he just took two steps backwards after making the catch, we would have gotten the first down.  Still, the worst part of his play was getting up and throwing the ball at the Ram DB.  There did not look to be anything that would warrant the throw and even if there was, he has to know the situation and control himself.  It was a stupid play that may very well have cost us the game.  That all said, what's done is done and we can't look back.  We have a young team and they have to learn from that mistake and the game as a whole. 

As bad as that mistake was, what is of equal disappointment for me is the play of our defense.  We need to be better.  As an outsider, it seemed like defensive coaching was more at fault than the defensive players.  I don't look at the game film and I don't know what all the assignments are so I am not sure if guys are just missing their assignments but it appeared that coaching was more at fault.  Whatever the reason, it was just difficult to see guys so wide open in the zone. 

In the end, it was a tough loss but I still like the direction of the team and I feel good that RG3 and the offense looks to be growing.  Have to put this one behind us and get ready for our home opener against a tough Cincy this week.

HTTR!!!