For roughly the last decade, or as long as I can recall, Santana Moss has been the go to guy at WR for your Washington Redskins.  Santana has done a wonderful job considering we have never been able to establish a legitimate #2 or #3 to compliment him.  Well, this year I was hoping things would change.  We traded back in the draft to add draft picks and brought in a very promising young crop of WRs.  I told myself, one of these guys will step up and establish themselves as the #2 WR.  Terrance Austin had a great camp, Hankerson has huge hands, and Niles Paul was supposedly a steal.  Well none of those guys were able to beat out the veteran Jabar Gaffney.  Gaffney has done an admirable job as the #2 guy, but would likely be a roll player off the bench for the majority of NFL football teams. 

So, here we are, just about at the halfway point of the season and Santana Moss is out for the foreseeable future.  If I'm Niles Paul, Hankerson, or Austin, I see this as one of my few opportunities to really show that I belong as a starting WR in this league.  Austin saw the second most plays from scrimmage last week at WR.  He failed to contibute.  Hankerson in his limited action has failed miserably with dropped balls and poor route running.  And Niles Paul has been relatively non-existent. I ask myself, do any of these guys really have the desire, will, or just plain skill it takes to exceed at this level?

If, this is in fact a rebuilding season, we will have to see one or more of these 3 WRs step up BIG as a contributer before the season ends.  The Redskins have a long history of wasting draft picks on WRs who never pan out at the NFL level.  For this season to be a success we MUST put an end to this trend.

Hankerson seemingly has the physical attributes to establish himself as a #1 or #2 WR for this squad.  However, I really need to see him put in the effort to reduce the number of drops, and to become a crisp route runner.  That's where coaching and personal motivation have to kick in.  Hankerson needs to be out there putting in extra time with the coaches and QBs.  He can be the man if he puts the effort in.

Austin.  He seems to be a crisp route runner with good hands, but given his size limitations, he's going to have to really become a route running MASTER (aka Santana Moss).   He's small and quick, and he can make a living in this league for a long time to come if he can learn to separate consistently and find the soft spots in zone coverage.  I'm high on Austin's chances. 

Niles Paul.  A good special teamer, but he needs to put in an enormous amount of work to learn to get separation at the NFL level.  His coach said the Redskins got a "steal" with Niles Paul.  Well it's time for Niles Paul to go to work and prove his college coach right.

Gaffney and Moss are not going to be around this franchise too much longer.  The young WRs need to really battle it out in camp on a daily basis.  It's time for these guys to really ramp it up, put on those blue collar shirts and work like they've never worked before.  Let the cream rise to the top.  This franchise CAN NOT AFFORD to have another group of drafted WRs bust...so who in this group is going to take the opportunity and run with it?

Wow.  I didn't think I'd say this at all this season, but the majority of the blame for this loss goes to the defense.  Yes, the defense played miserably today aside from a few rare highlights.  The defense was horrendous in third down situations, and just couldn't seem to get off the field without giving up a score.  They did not do a very good job of containing or tackling Cam Newton.  They did not look good against the run, and we continue to show week-in and week-out that we are entirely incapable of covering a legit #1 WR in this league.  CB should be a HIGH priority for us this off-season.

Now the way to beat Carolina is to beat them in a shoot-out.  Their defense is horrendous, and just about everybody has been able to edge out Carolina in a high scoring affair.  Unfortunately for us, there were too many dropped balls, poor blocking, and key turnovers for us to overcome on the offensive side.

Continue reading this post »

Okay, I have to admit when I saw Dallas MNF game on the schedule for week 3 I did not expect the Redskins would have much of a chance to win this one at Dallas.  But, here we are in Week 2 atop the NFC East standings at 2-0, and Dallas is sitting at 1-1, which could easily be 0-2. At this point I see every reason why the Redskins will walk out of Dallas on Monday night with a victory and a statement to the world in a nationally televised road game.  

Continue reading this post »

I've been doing some research in preparation for my upcoming dynasty rookie draft and came across some excellent analysis suggesting that Mario Fannin of Auburn could end up being one of the best RBs out of the 2011 rookie class even though he wasn't drafted.  Note that last years top RB was undrafted FA Arian Foster.  And it happens at a greater clip than you might imagine.  I believe 6 of the top 20 RBs statistically last year were undrafted free agents, aka Peyton Hillis (7th rounder but close enough) and Ryan Torain.  Yes, major value can be added by identifying highly talented undrafted RBs that may have been overlooked.  I didn't know much about Fannin until I looked up his combine numbers and checked out his combine stats.  Check these numbers out:

Continue reading this post »

First, I have to give props to the defense for getting the turnovers and stops we needed to at least give our offense a chance to get something going this game.  Another A+ effort for Haynesworth when he was in the game.  He's really playing well right now.  Also, a shout out to Brandon Banks!  We now have a homerun threat that opposing teams are truly scared to kick to.  Right now he's the best offense we have. 

Second, it's really time to stop blaming every QB, including D. McNabb who has had to play behind this offensive line.  It all starts up front and if you can't protect the QB, the offense will be non-existent.  We could have Joe Montana in his prime and it wouldn't matter until we figure out how to pass block.  So enough already about McNabb.  He's not the problem. 

Three, it's time to focus on the real problem, and that's the O-line.  I watched the game and rewatched the game to evaluate the performance of the entire O-line, and here are my grades:

Trent Williams - C- :  He started off horribly, settled in for a while, then got torched toward the end of the game.  Some good and some awful from Trent Williams, and his run blocking has been horrible.  I can't help but think he's still recovering from his injury, not to mention he's a rookie and has drawn some really tough assignments this year.  The bye week couldn't come at a better time for Trent, and I have to believe he's going to be much better in the second half of the season.

Continue reading this post »

There has been speculation as to how and why this Redskin Team, with a mediocre offense and a defense that is 32nd in the league in yards given up, could possibly be 3-2.  Well, I would have to say the key to winning in the NFL today is turnover differential.  An offense that doesn't turn the ball over often forces an opponent to drive pretty much the length of the field to score.  An offense that turns the ball over often gives the opponents short fields, and allows them to drive less than half the field to score.  With McNabb at the helm, we have been limiting our turnovers (i.e., he doesn't fumble the football everytime he's sacked ala Jason Campbell).  On the flip side we have a defense that creates turnovers and forces offenses to make mistakes.  This creates short fields for our offense and helps us get those extra possessions every game that have proven to be the difference.  If you rank NFL teams by turnover differential you'll find that the cream rises to the top.  We find ourselves in elite company in turnover differential right now at +4.   The New York Jets lead the pack with +11 turnover differential.

Continue reading this post »

Will Larry Johnson make the most of his chance this Saturday?

Continue reading this post »

I must say the last several weeks the Redskins have actually made the games interesting.  While it is a little late, the team seems to finally be playing with a passion and desire I haven’t seen in a long time.  While the guys on the field aren’t very talented these days (Lost three starting Gs, our starting LT, TE, and 2 starting RBs), I think we can all agree they are playing better than our first string guys did in the first 6 weeks of the season.  Is it a coincidence when the primma donna’s go down with injuries that our team plays better?  I don’t think so. 

I think we finally have guys on the field who really want it and it shows.  Let’s cut the primma donna’s and build around a core group of players who have a passion for the game.   In the end we lost, however, I think if Betts had stayed healthy and/or Suisham hits his chip shot FG we may have stole one in Dallas. 

I’d also prefer that our defense attack with blitzs on Romo’s final TD drive.  We have got to go down swinging with blitzs, rather than dropping back and sitting on our heels for the winning TD drive.  Those defensive players wanted to attack Romo, but Blache handcuffed them by forcing them to drop 7 guys into coverage.  I’m not very pleased with Blache’s calls down the stretch but it’s hard to fault him when the defense only gave up 7.  I do believe we could have had a shutout!  Anyway, it will make for an interesting game when Dallas comes to our house. 

"He proved his toughness," quarterback Jason Campbell said. "We always knew that about Rock, but everyone got a chance to see it today. ... He just continues to fight. He's a little guy with a lot of heart, and I'd like to be in a huddle with a guy like that anytime." – Campbell

I've never seen more of a debacle at O-line than we currently have here with the Washington Redskins.  We've waited far too long to seriously address the O-line in the draft and it clearly shows.  Free agent O-linemen are often used up old guys or injury prone, so I don't think that free agency is a good way to address this need.  We need a group of young prospects who can grow and develop together.  The only way to successfully accomplish this is to use every draft pick we have this year on Offensive Linemen. 

I'm assuming that we'll have two picks in the top 37 this year (1st and 2nd round).  We can definitely pick up two potential pro-bowl linemen with those two picks if we do our homework.  Our next picks are then in the 4th, 5th and 7th rounds.  It has been shown in the past that you can pick up some quality depth for the O-line and even some diamonds in the rough.  That would be 5 young offensive linemen.  You can then have a completely open competition in camp for the starting jobs.  Competition for playing time brings out the best in NFL players.  IF, we stick to this plan, then we should have a much improved offensive line next year and one that would only get better with time (like a fine wine).  Then, once we have a youthful talented O-line we can aggressively fill in the skill positions through free agency or through future drafts.  We can then draft a QB in the first round of the 2011 draft who would most likely thrive with a young O-line with a year of experience under their belts.  Hell we could even draft a top notch young running back in 2011 if we so choose.  It's time to start getting younger and clearly the biggest need for that is on the O-line.   

The O-line is probably the least important unit on a football team in the eyes of a casual football fan (yes Dan Snyder falls into this category).  The casual football fan wants to see the fancy 6'4" WR with 4.2 forty speed, or the 230 LB running back who can change direction without losing any speed, or the QB who can throw the ball 75 yards from his knees.  The fact of the matter is that none of those guys even have a chance to exhibit those skills if their offensive line does not perform.  A casual fan would say why on earth don't we throw the deep ball more often?  However, the educated fan knows that you can't throw a deep ball if the offensive line can't provide the QB with the time needed to throw the deep ball.  The casual fan would say why don't we run the ball more often so we can set up the pass?  While the educated fan would say you can't run more often because the o-line sucks and we are lucky to get 2 yards per run.  And if you can't run successfully, well it doesn't really set up the pass.  Here is where the Redskins find themselves, with one of the two worst O-lines in the NFL, and a fanbase and owner clammering for more creative playcalling, a new head coach, and even a new QB, and most recently a new RB.  Come on now guys, does any TRUE NFL fan believe this team could win with a better QB, a better RB, or better WRs, or even better playcalling?  The answer is a resounding NO!!  You can't win consistently in the NFL without a strong offensive line.  Examples of consistent winners with great lines are the Redskins of the 80s-90s, the Cowboys of the 90s, the current Eagles, the current Giants, current Patriots etc.  Andy Reid and the Eagles probably draft more Offensive Linemen than any other team in the league.  And, well I think his record over the past 5-10 years speaks for itself.  Until we begin to draft 2-3 offensive linemen every year, we'll continue to suffer offensively, and we'll continue to win and lose ugly, but we'll never win consistently until we establish a top tier line. 

Clinton Portis Quote:

"It's only a matter of time before I have a 200-yard game," Portis said. "It's only a matter of time before I have a 150-yard game. It's only a matter of time before I get two or three touchdowns.” – Are you kidding me?

I’m guessing this is what DeAngelo Hall is referring to when he said this:

We've got a lot of people in here that think they're better than they are. You can look at it and tell. They're not practicing. This isn't the preseason; this is the real deal.”

And then this weeks practice report seems to back up exactly what Hall is talking about:

“Nursing a calf contusion, Portis was present but wasn't wearing pads and wasn't participating. Fullback Mike Sellers sat out with bruised quadriceps.” -- Isn’t a calf contusion a fancy way of saying he has a bruise.  And since when has a quad bruise held Mike Sellers out of anything. 

This is ridiculous!  Okay, tell me how painful a calf and quad bruise can be and how it’s not necessary for your starting FB and HB to practice during the week, particularly when you are 1-2 and have just lost to the 0-19 Lions.  Where is the motivation?  Where is the sense of urgency?