Riggo's Rag
FanSided

Redskins Ingredients for Improvement: Use loss to Saints as motivation

By Ian Cummings

NEW ORLEANS, LA - OCTOBER 08: Benjamin Watson #82 of the New Orleans Saints is tackled by Greg Stroman #37 of the Washington Redskins during the second half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on October 8, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - OCTOBER 08: Benjamin Watson #82 of the New Orleans Saints is tackled by Greg Stroman #37 of the Washington Redskins during the second half at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on October 8, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 10: Tackle Trent Williams #71 of the Washington Redskins covers his face with a towel against the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at FedExField on January 10, 2016 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 10: Tackle Trent Williams #71 of the Washington Redskins covers his face with a towel against the Green Bay Packers in the fourth quarter during the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at FedExField on January 10, 2016 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

No. 3 – Reinvigorate the offensive line

Alex Smith was by no means the player of the game on Monday, but when mentioning his poor play, one simply cannot ignore the performance of the offensive line, an outing marred in inconsistency.

In a way, this is the Redskins offensive line in a nutshell. At their peak, they consummate a dominant unit. But in the troughs, Washington’s offensive line is streaky at best. On Monday, they had perhaps their worst performance of 2018 yet.

Alex Smith was regularly facing pressure against the Saints’ defensive front. He had a number of passes batted down, and as a result of the pressure, plays seldom developed fully. The running game also suffered, as the Redskins failed to eclipse 40 yards rushing, despite running almost twenty times.

Bill Callahan needs to get some consistency out of this group. One would assume we’d already have it with Pro Bowlers like Trent Williams and Brandon Scherff, but Monday’s game showed that there is still a substantial amount of room for improvement.

Home/Commanders News