Redskins have opportunity to prove toughness in next two games
By: Turner Sports Desk
Jim Turner
Turnersportsdesk.com
August 18, 2010
A couple of things happened during last Friday’s game
against Buffalo that shocked and amazed many of the Redskin faithful. The first
is the Redskins looked like a team with something to prove. The second is they
played like a team with something to prove and the result matched the effort. The
Redskins excelled in every phase of the game and took the Buffalo Bills to the
wood shed last Friday but ladies and gentlemen that was the Buffalo Bills. If
you are looking for some sort of measurable to take away from Friday’s test the
answer would be that team passed the mental test of completely buying in to
Head Coach Shanahan’s philosophy. Now the tests get a lot more difficult.
Any real measurement of improvement will come against teams
that are legitimate Super bowl contenders. The next two preseason contests
should be kept in proper perspective (no game planning) but they will show
everyone if the Redskins can match up physically against two of the toughest
teams in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets have championship
caliber defenses so they present a very stiff challenge to the Shanahan’s
offensive brain trust. Additionally, both teams rely on punishing run attacks
so we will see if Jim Haslett’s defense features improved tackling. The
beautiful thing about football is you don’t need a game plan to measure things
like toughness and physical play.
In many ways these next two contest are
important in that they have the potential to shape the personality of this ball
club. If the Redskins can hold their own or even show a physical advantage the
confidence of the entire team will sky rocket and carry over into the regular
season. The bad news is if they get manhandled it can have an equally negative
effect that carries over into the regular season. If the Redskins want to make a statement and
set themselves up for a shot at a pretty good season they have to show they can
hang with the big boys. We will get to
see how Donovan McNabb and the Redskins offensive line react to pressure. We
will get to see if the Redskins wide receivers can do anything against quality
corners. We will get to see if the Redskins can create pressure with the new
3-4 and tackle. In many ways the play on the field and the physicality means
more than the final score.