Week 2 Washington Redskins vs Indianapolis Colts: What did we really watch on Sunday?
The Washington Redskins lost to the Indianapolis Colts 21 – 9 in their home season opener. After a good 48 hours to digest the game, I can’t help but to ask: what did we all watch on Sunday? Here’s my answer: I watched a team that was unprepared. I think ultimately, that’s what I saw. After a strong Week 1 start, I don’t think anyone was anticipating what happened at FedEx Field on Sunday.
Now let me say this. Across the NFL several teams with very strong Week 1 starts, didn’t look so hot Week 2. This is the NFL. This happens and is not unheard of. You just never know what you’re going to get some weeks. However, given we’re talking about the Redskins, the only thing I could think of was the word unprepared. It was apparent in the first quarter the Colts were well prepared to face the Redskins. Clearly, they had watched the Arizona game film. Plays that seemed to have worked seamlessly for the Redskins in Week 1, were just not working against the Colts. Unfortunately, the Redskins just couldn’t get going offensively and missed opportunities to maximize Colts turnovers. It’s not like Andrew Luck had a spectacular game and lit FedEx Field up. It seemed more that the Redskins didn’t make adjustments on the offense that resulted in touchdowns and defensively it was difficult to maintain the pass rush.
In an effort to not go all gloom and doom here, there were some bright spots throughout the game.
Still no turnovers for Alex Smith since Week 16 of the 2017 regular season.
DJ Swearinger Sr had two interceptions. Special shout-out to Mason Foster on the tip which resulted in one of those picks. Speaking of Mason Foster….
Mason Foster and Zach Brown combined for 21 tackles. Foster with 11 (eight solo) and Brown 10 (four solo).
Matt Ioannidis had a big sack in the second quarter recording his second sack of the season.
The not so bright spots.
The Colts defensive line continuously beat the Redskins offensive line. The run game just could not get going because of this. The O Line definitely got outperformed there. It was obvious the Colts defense was not at all going to let the Redskins run game prosper on Sunday. They must’ve watched the Arizona film tape very closely to know, they weren’t going to get run over. No pun intended.
The wide receiver unit is still very quiet. In watching the game again, the Colts defense was preventing the receivers from getting deep. We saw some moments of hope but the Colts secondary were doing their job in covering the WRs. Alex Smith is simply not going to throw the ball if his guys aren’t open.
There seemed to be moments of miscommunication on the Redskins defensive side of the ball. The Colts offense was moving so quickly at times you can see them snapping the ball when the defense was still trying to re-group. There were bright spots as I mentioned above on defense but where there were opportunities for the Colts offense to beat the Redskins defense, they did.
Still not much to say on special teams. This is always an opportunity for the team to make big plays and there’s just not much to say there after Week 2. Well let me not say that. Dustin Hopkins is doing his job in kicking field goals. Same with Tress Way with kicking punts. That missed field goal before the end of the first half hurt. The crowd booed. Which brings me to my next point.
Not so bright spot. Flat out bad spot. There were many empty seats at the home opener on Sunday. I’ve attended these games faithfully for years and will continue to do so. Unfortunately, I saw this coming. Typically the empty seats are filled with opposing team fans. My thing is maybe there aren’t many Colts fans in the DMV, hence the empty seats Sunday. However, this has always been an issue. Even when the seats are filled, they are almost always not filled with Redskins fans anyway. I think the solution is the organization needs to put a winning team on the field. That’s it. Winning resolves most (if any) revenue generation aches and pains. The fans will come AND cheer (not boo the home team) when they have something to cheer about.
With all of this being said, I don’t know who the Redskins are on the field and I’m not sure if they even know. I sincerely hope they figure it out before Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers come to town.
Until Next Time!