Care: An Inch Is A Mile

Our short yardage woes, especially in the red zone, are becoming a habit and not a coincidence or a pattern. On a team this talented not being able to run the ball up the middle for a literal half-yard is officially a conern.

Not to start the post off with a negative, it's the most glaring thing from the game. There is no reason we can't get that yardage against a team like Washington.

If Donaldson can't get low and get that yardage being our short yardage guy...give someone else a chance. This will hurt us eventually.

Don't Care: The Best Setting in Football

So much for that Washington venue intimidation factor. I kid, of course, because their crowd brought it...it just didn't matter much. Our team handled the noise extremely well and Sayin looked, if not comfortable, at least in control. The play-calling held our passing game back more than anything Sayin was doing.

Washington's stadium is for real and that home field advantage is legit when playing against teams that don't have such a significantly higher talent and coaching advantage. But I am proud of our team for handling it well, even through a first half of attrition and it being closer than it should have been.

Care: The Defense is Legit

This was supposed to be "the test"...a "Kyler Murray" at QB and a bonafide RB1 and WR1 to go up against. Our defense dismantled them and when they got yards, shut the momentum down with red zone defense and big plays.

We all know Sonny and Caleb, and we haven't stopped talking about Arvelle Reese. But the Caden Curry train is somehow picking up even more steam and KMac is playing himself into the first round.

This team has all-stars at every level and they play with a level of discipline I'm not sure we've seen since the vaunted 2002 defense...just with even better athletes.

I had worries about this game and points we'd give up. I didn't believe we'd lose, but I figured we'd give up 17-ish points. We proved that wrong with a statement. This defense is great enough to rely on in tough games, and one that can carry us if needed. Unbelievable showing today.

Don't Care: The CeRBerus Rotation

We have three RBs who can play. We don't have three who should play. This rotation can be minimized. Donaldson looks good outside of obvious "need that one yard" plays...so play him as a normal RB and that's it. James Peoples is our passing down back but give Bo and CJ those reps because they are more effective.

Bo is our #1 and it's not close anymore. I know he was banged up but I'm glad he got 17 carries today vs the combined 12 for the other two. When he runs, good things happen.

This should be a two-headed attack, with Peoples spelling purely for rest. We have our two guys. Peoples plays hard but when he's on the field we don't see anything that gives us a huge advantage over the other two.

Care: The Punt Returns

Inniss isn't the guy. He is so good at so many other things and had an otherwise awesome game today. But get him off the field on punt returns. He had the botched return today which would be fine if there weren't a myriad of examples in the first four games of him letting punts hit the ground that shouldn't, catching balls that he should let hit the ground, and not being explosive with the ball in his hands.

I know we play it safe when it comes to catching punts. I'm a fan of that strategy for the most part because getting possession is the most important thing. But there has to be an option that is either just as good at decision making when fielding punts but can also get extra yards, or someone who is more dependable when fielding punts with a lower yardage gained floor.

Inniss isn't getting the job done.