Redskins-Giants review: Studs and Duds

Published December 22, 2009 5:00am ET



Studs

*Note: After a 33-point loss, does anyone qualify as a stud? Fred Davis had a good second half with all five of his catches for 65 yards and a touchdown. But it’s a 33-point loss. Guessing nobody disagrees.


Duds

LT Levi Jones. He’s just not equipped to be a starter any longer. The list of bad plays from this game for him is long. Real long. He got pushed back by Mathias Kiwanuka on one run when Kiwanuka just got under his pads and it resulted in a one-yard loss. That same drive, Jones got hit high and was knocked off-balance. On the previous series, Jones had back-to-back plays that were rough. On the first one, Osi Umenyiora beat him when Jones’ front leg was too far up as he backpedaled, allowing Umenyiora to get him off-balance. On the next play, Jones knocked into him and beat him inside. A rough night. In watching most of the game again this morning, it’s hard to state how many teams it seemed he had a problem.

RT Stephon Heyer. He was hurt, so we give him a little break. But not much of one because it really wasn’t all that different from when he wasn’t hurting so bad. He failed to recognize a stunt on one time and was beaten. His replacement, Will Robinson, did what he should in this situation: struggle. He’s not a starting tackle, so why would anything else be expected.

S Reed Doughty. Not his best game by any means. Was beaten for a touchdown pass in which he was not even near the ball. Perhaps Kareem Moore should have gotten over more, but the bottom line is Doughty was beaten. He also missed a lot of tackles, which is unusual for him.

S LaRon Landry. Whiffed on a tackle attempt in the first half along the sidelines that was really ugly. Also, the Giants did a good job of running away from him when he played near the line of scrimmage. He wasn’t a factor.

S Kareem Moore. One of the pregame keys was to not allow yards after the catch. So on 45-yard pass to Hakeem Nicks, Moore’s bad angle as he came to the ball allowed Nicks to get inside him for an extra 29 yards.

DE Andre Carter. Flashed only on occasion, but struggled in the run game. Got sealed or driven out too many times. Turns out he played with a torn biceps, so he had to gut it out. But that doesn’t obscure the fact that he did not have a good night overall. By the way, he and DT Albert Haynesworth did not work together well at all on stunts. One time they even bumped into each other. Haynesworth and Orakpo are more in sync with the stunts.

DE Phillip Daniels. He sets a good edge, but last night was not his best. He got sealed often; credit the Giants’ blocking schemes in part for that, but Daniels also got driven back a few times. The Giants’ pulling action resulted in kickouts vs. Daniels.

DB Justin Tryon. At a critical time, he was beaten for a touchdown. The MNF crew had a good replay on this one, showing how where he had his safety help (in the middle). Yet he still was beaten to the outside by Steve Smith. Tryon can’t let that happen. Smith was too quick for him off the line.

DT Kedric Golston. Love the kid, but did not have a good game either. Too often the Giants were content letting him be in a one-on-one battle while another linemen would head to the linebackers. That created too many running lanes.

LB/DE Brian Orakpo. Was too quiet and did not have his best game vs. the run as a linebacker. Yes, I can hear the cries of, ‘put him at end full-time!’ when I write that. But he’s not ready yet to handle full-time duty at end, either; at least not against the run. When he rushed, the Giants did a good job of getting their hands on him early, not allowing his shoulders to turn. Once his shoulders turn, the tackle is done.

RG Mike Williams. Had some moments where he was decent, but with a young RT next to him, he has to be better than decent. Problem is, he’s still new at this spot which makes being decent a difficult thing to accomplish. But he allowed a pressure once when he and Heyer messed up a stunt, with Williams basically slapping his guy to the inside. But he turned his shoulders outside, allowing the end to stunt through the middle.


*Note: Is there anyone that doesn’t deserve to be on this list? Again, 33-point loss. Poor execution abounded. Did not like that on one run, both WRs on that side, Santana Moss and Malcolm Kelly, missed their blocks preventing Quinton Ganther from going anywhere. Did not like that there was more sloppy tackling. Did not like the failed fake field goal at the end of the first half. Did not like the pass protection from the backs. Did not like anything about this game.

**The only reason this list is not longer is because we ran out of steam. In honor of the Redskins’ offense, I could have simply put in three guys and stopped. You know, a three-and-out. Yes, that’s bad.


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