[hailskins666]

to marvin lewis, but it was great to see the lavar all over the field. you can tell edwards was a LB coach at one point. All three LB's were all over the place and had good games.

[BossHog]

... amen! Like I've been saying all of traning camp.... SOME of the deficit at DT will be made up for by great LB play... and we certainly saw that last night.

L.A and Trotter were stout.

Could I possibly like watching a defensive guy play more than I like watching Arrington play? Don't think so. He was ALL OVER THE PLACE.

As for Edwards... like I said in my Game Wrap... 'Marvin who?'. we may not have Darryl Gardener any more... but we have a group of 'happy' guys that are pumped about making up for it and proving that this defense is top-drawer.

We've been knocking Bailey's name around for the last couple of weeks too... and wow, what a non-game he had. Did Vinny even look in Champ's direction all game? The only time I heard his name was when they errantly tagged him with a penalty in the first quarter. Champ may not be quite as good as the hype, but as long as other teams are believing that same hype... does it matter?

[hailskins666]

if we maintain our status as a top 5 defense, and with an improving offense, a shot at the playoffs is very very possible. got to give it to the coaches for putting together one hell of a game plan. like i stated in another post, turnovers, and penalties were the only disappointing aspects of the whole evening. the game had me on the edge of my seat(actually i was pacing from one tv to the other). it came down to the end. and most importantly there were no injuries except for the nyj saftey, and he's ok. (by the way, he led with his helmet on that hit, a head to head hit not to mention he may even get a fine by the league. in a lot of situations, the receiver gets the bad end of that deal)

[woohit56]

Great game wrap, Boss. You write well, I was thinking that could have easily been an article in the Post. Very nice.

Too early to talk playoffs but Lewis is gonna get flack all year for tying up Lavar in 02. He had a good game but we're going to see way better from him. I am glad that Trotter looked back to form. The LB core is gonna be monster under Edwards. Good things to come.

Atlanta is a perfect next test. Too bad Vick is on the sideline. We need to be a well oiled machine going into the Philly and TB games. I honestly expect to give Philly real problems.

We did ok at stopping Martin up the middle so the Gardener loss does not sting too bad right now. Especially with him beating his fellow players up in Denver. haha.

[REDSKINMARK]

I'm very excited by the outcome of the game. However, just a few things that I gleaned from the game that gave me cause for concern.

First, the non-pass rush. Yes, we did create some late in the game; however, it did appear as though Vinny had all day to check his receivers down field. We need a an effective pass rush early in the game to set the tone.

Second, what would have happened if Pennington had played. Vinny, clearly, was rusty. A healthy Chad may have completed many of those short-of-first-down passes.

Third, the O-line played well overall. However, it appeared as though Patrick was rushed many times...i.e., John Aberham was beeating both Samules and Jensen on often.

THANK GOD WE HAVE ARRINGTON!!...that's all I can say. Ray Lewis better not look too long over his shoulder cause Lavar is right there with him.

Hail to Arrington and Hail to the Skins!

Anyone have any thoughts?

[newshog]

Just one quick comment--to his credit, John Abraham is a complete beast. There's a reason he's been in the Pro Bowl his last two seasons (this is only his 4th season).

[BossHog]

[skinsfaninroanoke]

First, amen to the kudos Boss. Nice wrap up - well written as is everything I have seen on here The page is awesome and the articles are terrific.

Second - one warning folks. I love what we did with Betts and Trung in the game, but be aware. The wets probably didn't game plan for Betts. I doubt they looked much at his running last year, especially with the little running in the preseason, the word on his sprained elbow and the fact Trung smoked them so badly last time he played them.

The Jets had Trung's number for a bit, but then when Betts came out, they seemed powerless to stop him. Just a word of warning about being over confident in our running attack. That kind of thing might work once or twice - maybe seeing some packages with McCullough next week to throw the Falcons off, but expect that eventually teams will be seeing enough film on everyone to cause problems if we don't adjust at the same time.

[HitDoctor]

ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All of the LB's flying all over the place making plays was a thing of beauty. What impressed me the most is that the 'ol ball coach............GETS IT!!!!! I still think it will be hard to make the playoffs, but steady improvement is what I want to see and Thursday was a great start. Hail to the Redskins!!!

[skinsfanno9]

[woohit56]

I definitely didn't mean we are ready to conquer the eagles yet (it will still be a long road). What I'm looking forward to is finally being able to spread the defense.

By real problems I mean spreading the field and making Vincent and Taylor think and possibly make mistakes....instead of just manning up on our slower past wideouts and picking us apart while swarms of hidden blitz packages come.

This year we may not be ready to crush them but it will be different I believe.

[skinsfanno9]

Don't get me wrong, if we don't get past Phili at least once it will be hard to label this season a success in my mind. The thing I like about our VERY LUCKY first two games is we have a real chance to go up against two playoff calibur teams with their heads missing.

By this I mean neither the Jets nor the Falcons will self destruct (outside of QB play) with stupid penalties and the like - both have played well under the pressure of playoff victories. The Jets, contrary to Jets fans' opinions, did not hand the game to us anymore than the Falcons will - we will have to earn it. Talk about a great opportunity to grow as a team before hitting da "big boys."

This is great for us to get ready against our real competition - the Giants and the Eagles. If we can come out 50% over the four games (2 with the Jets, 2 with the Giants) it will be a raging success. Even 25% over 4 games is recoverable.