It's Just One Game. We'll Get Better

Football fans (and analysts alike) always say that preseason games aren't a precursor to regular season games. That is to say then, if a team does poorly in preseason games, that doesn't mean they'll play poorly during the regular season.

What if a team wins all of their preseason games? Does that mean they will lose more regular season games?

The Washington Redskins can only hope their regular season can mirror their preseason victories.

The team managed to get within one TD, before losing 33-27 at home to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Quarterback RG3 does his best to explain why the team couldn't 'get right' and says they'll get better.

 Can they do so before next Sunday's game against Green Bay?



Coach Shanahan critiques Game 1:

“When you start out the game and you have a fumble, you don’t want to turn the football over, especially the first play of the game. Then your second series you have an interception and your third you have a safety. You put a lot of pressure on your defense right away. They got a lot of momentum going. They did a good job controlling the tempo of the game, especially in that first quarter, but they didn’t score any touchdowns until that seventh and eighth drive and I think they had like 40 plays before they actually put the ball in the end zone for a sustained drive. We did some poor things there in that first half. I thought we rallied back in the second half, made a few adjustments defensively, but I think we adjusted to their unbalanced set a lot better in the second half than we did in the first half. We had some missed alignments and missed tackles, but I was pleased coming into the second half after that first turnover that we were able to put [together] some drives and get some touchdowns.”

With the touchdowns the team also had a few other successes of which they are proud. 

·        The Washington Redskins scored 20 unanswered points in the second half but ultimately fell short in their comeback bid, dropping their season debut to the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-27, in front of 82,743 people at FedExField on Monday.

·         The Redskins pushed their NFL-best home sellout streak to 378 games, including both regular season and postseason games.

·         Quarterback Robert Griffin III completed 30-of-49 passes for 329 yards with two passing touchdowns, two interceptions and a quarterback rating of 77.7.

·         Griffin III set career highs in completions (30), pass attempts (49) and passing yards (329).

·         Griffin III became the second Redskins quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw for 300 yards in consecutive season openers (Joe Theismann, 1982-83). Griffin III threw for 320 yards in the team’s season-opening win at New Orleans last season.

·         Linebacker London Fletcher earned his 200th consecutive regular season start, becoming only the second linebacker in NFL history to accomplish the feat (Derrick Brooks – 208).

·         The game was the 241st consecutive regular season game played by Fletcher, who is the league’s active Iron Man. Fletcher is two games shy of tying Bill Romanowski for the most consecutive games played by a defensive player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (243).

·         Cornerback David Amerson, the team’s first selection in the 2013 NFL Draft, started at cornerback, becoming the first Redskins rookie to start at cornerback in Week 1 since Fred Smoot did so exactly 12 years ago on Sept. 9, 2001 at San Diego.

·         Rookie safety Bacarri Rambo started at safety, becoming the third rookie to start at safety for the Redskins since 2005 (Sean Taylor in 2005, LaRon Landry in 2007).

·         Cornerback DeAngelo Hall returned a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first possession. The fumble return touchdown was the fourth of Hall’s career and his first since Sept. 12, 2010, when he returned a fumble 32 yards for a touchdown vs. Dallas.

·         Hall’s four fumble recovery touchdowns are the most among active NFL players. He is now tied with four players for the third-most career fumble return touchdowns in NFL history.

·         The Redskins defense has now scored a defensive touchdown in each of Shanahan’s four home openers as head coach of the Redskins. The touchdowns have been scored by Hall (2010 fumble return vs. Dallas, 2013 fumble return vs. Philadelphia), linebacker Ryan Kerrigan (2011 interception return vs. New York Giants) and linebacker Rob Jackson (2012 vs. Cincinnati).

A Few More Game Stats You May Be Interested In.  Click here.

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