Hog Heaven http://redskinshogheaven.com/ Thoughtful analysis about the Washington Redskins and the NFL. en Copyright 2009 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:15:26 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification How Many Weaknesses do the Redskins Really Have?
Perhaps the biggest surprise, aside from one of the most impressive starts to a Redskin season in recent memory, was the general lack of surprises this season.  Two units critical to the success of the Jim Zorn offense declined from 2007: the offensive line, and the wide receivers.  The defense declined as well from their monster 2007 season, but the relatively good job they did keeping teams from scoring combined with the ability of the offense to grind out first downs on the ground (in the first 11 games, at least) kept Redskins games a low-scoring affair.

Redskins games guaranteed fans only one thing this year: a steady diet of appearances by the Punters.  The Redskins defense was one of only two defenses (Eagles) to force a punt on more than half of opponents drives this year, and the Redskins offense ranked 25th in punts per drive as well.  Fittingly, the Redskins struggled both in returning and covering punts this year, and chewed through three punters between training camp through the end of the year.

So, who played well this year for the Redskins?  Who played poorly?  Which players can expect to "pick it up" in the future?  Whom should the team cut ties with?  Let's look at the Redskins from a strengths and weaknesses perspective.

Redskins Strengths

The Offense -- These guys obviously have their issues with scoring, and it's hard for me to sit here and say that's not an issue (because it is) but I think Jim Zorn's first offense was simply better than Al Saunders' offense either year here.  Al Saunders' staple in the NFL was always quick scoring offenses that put up a lot of points featuring the passing game, developing the wide receivers, and striking down the field.  Jim Zorn's philosophy was a total overhaul from Saunders, but Zorn successfully cut the turnovers out of the offense, moved the ball, got first downs, created a situation beneficial to his quarterback to the point where Jason Campbell was leading the team with his running ability in the second half of the year, and placed the offense in the hands of Clinton Portis, all with great success.

Zorn is more interested in outscoring his opponents than he is in outscoring himself, and that is the way offense should be.  Thusly, Zorn's offense will never be properly measured by the number of touchdowns it does/doesn't score, because he doesn't like to go for the big play if the defense isn't giving him a shot, and his drives eat up a lot more game clock than the average offense.

Again, this is not trying to excuse an offense that finished in the bottom five teams in terms of TDs per drive (albeit, a 5% canyon between them and 29th place Oakland), but rather pointing out that if your only measure of offense is how frequently you score touchdowns, you'll often underrate what Zorn's offense does well through the years, and more specifically, what it does far better than Saunders' offense did.

Jason Campbell -- He really developed a lot over the course of the year, and is now at the point where he understands most of the tricks of the trade and makes very sound decisions from the pocket.  Well, most of the time at least.  Campbell is one of the things that is right with the Redskins.  I firmly believe that the Redskins could have a top five passing attack as soon as Week One of next season, but they're going to have to get this guy some help.  Campbell arguably overachieved when he threw only six INTs this year, and none in the final three games (and some of that was luck), despite countless opportunities to get frustrated with the lack of help around him and try to force passes.

Campbell will probably never have such a low INT rate again in his career, but the fact that he threw for better than a 2:1 TD/INT ratio and ran effectively in this offense, while completing 62% of his passes is astounding.  This point can not be made often enough: as well as Campbell played in the first half of the year, he really came of age in the second half because he had little to no help from anyone around him.  Without Jason Campbell, the Redskins finish the year 0-8, there is no doubt about that.

Strong Defensive Line Play -- Here's another one that really wouldn't make any other person's list of Redskins strengths, but you have to look at this in context.  To say the Redskins haven't put a premium on acquiring the college games best pass rushing talent would be an understatement: 2006 5th round selection DT Anthony Montgomery is the highest Defensive Line pick the Redskins have made since Dan Snyder has owned the team.  The job that the front office has done acquiring talent on the DL with limited resources (actually, no resources) is incredible.  Well, at least until they invested a 2nd round pick into a year or two of Jason Taylor's twilight years.  Still, they have two of the better young nose tackles in the game in Anthony Montgomery and Kedric Golston, have a great guy coming off the bench in Lorenzo Alexander, maybe the best DT against the run in the NFL in Corneilius Griffin, a DE in Andre Carter who is a handful for even the best Left Tackles, and the surprisingly effective DE Demetric Evans.

Now, it would be nice to see our coordinator allow this unit to rush the passer and get some sacks and forced fumbles, so we could truly be a top defensive unit, instead of trying to hide them by forcing quarterbacks to make quick throws into man coverage by blitzing multiple linebackers.  The Redskins were one of five teams who were inept in rushing the passer (defined by 25 or fewer total sacks and a sack on less than 5% of dropbacks), but out of the five, they were the only one of the group who was there by philosophical choice.

For what it's worth, Gregg Williams' pass rusher-starved Jacksonville unit sacked Quarterbacks at a league average rate.

Top Notch Defensive Leadership -- Normally, I try to stay far away from the abstract intangibles arguments, as those are best left for highly paid sportswriters with limited subject knowledge, but this one is simply too obvious to ignore.  One of the big issues with the 2006 pass defense was poor communication, caused by a general lack of direction.  Enter London Fletcher, who not only filled the biggest positional hole on the Redskins defense, but also filled the giant on-field leadership void.  Fletcher has been asked to go from deep coverage LB in the cover two in 2007, to strictly blitz/man coverage backer in 2008 under the coordinator change, and somehow managed to master and teach both systems to the younger players.

When I am someday hired to run an NFL Franchise, I want London Fletcher to be my head coach.

Carlos Rogers -- #22 gets his own section under strengths, because no disrespect to LaRon Landry and Fletcher, but Rogers is the Redskins best defensive player.  He's recently been the discussion of trade talks, but I believe that they are fabricated trade talks.  He's entering the last year of his contract, which has fueled speculation that the Redskins might be open to trading him.

Hey, if you can get a top-half first rounder, go for it.  But lets be real here, that's not happening.  For one thing, trading Rogers doesn't give the Redskins any help under the cap.  Secondly, Rogers is under team control through 2010 and then the team could reasonably expect to use the Franchise Tag on him in 2011 if it appeared he wasn't going to come to a long term deal.  So the fact that his contract expires is largely irrelevant: the Redskins still have two more years of cheap play from him, plus a franchise tag year, and there's not a damn thing Rogers can do about that.  Finally, and this is the real kicker here, he's really really good.

Jason LaCanfora has taken quotes from Rogers, who is as miffed that Greg Blache would put him on the bench as the rest of us are, and tried to fabricate that he's going to leave town, but it's in Rogers' best financial interest to sign a big money deal with the Skins sometime this offseason.  In the immediate, DeAngelo Hall is set to become a free agent, and the Redskins have to make a decision of what to do with Shawn Springs' huge cap number.  Those are critical issues this off-season.  The fact that Rogers is under contract through next year, and then a RFA after that, in no way means he's on his way out.  It means that his contract situation is not a pressing one, and can be dealt with on a future date.

Disadvantages

Inconsistent/Unspectacular OLB play -- Rocky McIntosh was downright brutal in the final three months of the year at WLB.  HB Blades was fantastic most of the year, but it's tough to draw up a gameplan for a defense that has two small LBs (Fletcher).  Fletcher wasn't quite the same player when Blades was out there trying to take on the blocks, and blockers reached Fletcher more often.  Marcus Washington is still a good linebacker when in there, and the Redskins are a much better team against the pass when he is in the lineup.  Typing that sentence was weird, since Washington himself hasn't been any great shakes in terms of rushing the passer or covering tight ends since 2006.  I explain it this way: when Washington is in the lineup, you eliminate the coverage mistakes.

I think the Redskins should try to do better though.  I think Washington has played his last game here, and that the Redskins will plan on investing money into a dominant WLB free agent.  Karlos Dansby is the first name that comes to mind.  Rocky Mac will probably move over to SLB, and split time there with HB Blades.

Running Between the Tackles -- This part of the Redskins game is just brutal.  Any success the Redskins have running between the tackles comes on a draw play that just happens to break inside the tackles.  Randy Thomas and Casey Rabach are the main culprits, but even Pete Kendall is best when blocking lineman or linebacker who are trying to move laterally.  The Redskins remain unbelievably bad at blocking the backside end (looking at you, Stephon Heyer), so on those lead plays up the middle, they usually take too long to develop, and the backside end gets to Portis about when he hits the LOS.

2008 Draft Class -- It's become common knowledge that the Redskins needed to hit on a few early picks in the 2008 Draft to ensure a top end roster pushing into the post salary cap NFL, and embarrassingly, they might have missed on all of them.  It's not exactly fair to lump Fred Davis in with the rest of the class, because he was effective in 2 TE sets down the stretch.  But the Redskins correctly identified their needs last off-season when they realized their receivers were inadequate, and then decided that the best possible solution was to get rid of all veteran receivers to make room for two rookies who were drafted too high, and then the team had to go well out of their way to get them onto the field.  The Redskins drafted guys with clear red flags on them.  That's one thing if you are looking to supplement an already talented unit, completely another if you are going to rely on them for the health and success of your franchise in the immediate future.

Even rookie safety sensation Chris Horton really struggled in pass coverage in the second half of the year.  I mean, really, really struggled.  He'll be better in 2009 in all likelyhood, but it's clear that if he can't cover, he's no better than Reed Doughty, who brings the blitzing element to the defense.

Later this week, we'll take a deeper look at the Redskins roster, and how (specifically) they can improve in the offseason.
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2009/01/how-many-building-blocks-do-the-redskins-really-have.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2009/01/how-many-building-blocks-do-the-redskins-really-have.html Al Saunders Jim Zorn NFL Washington Redskins Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:15:26 +0000 Redskins Devin Thomas should be playing ball, today, for MSU Spartans
The Michigan State Spartans, in a shock to pretty much everyone, take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 1:00 pm EST today in the Capital One Bowl.

Both teams finished 9-3. That's a pleasant surprise for the Spartans who weren't expected to play anywhere in January. But it's a comedown for the Bulldogs who were the preseason consensus pick to be playing in the BCS Bowl next week.

Instead, it's their SEC rival Florida Gators fighting it out with the Oklahoma Sooners for the Bogus Championship Series fictitious title. Florida in the preseason might have been expected to be the Spartans' opponent today in Tampa.

A MSU-Florida bowl game would be the first since the 2000 Citrus Bowl won by the Spartans 37-34 on the strength of wide receiver Plaxico Burress' performance (13 receptions, 185 yards, 3 TDs).

The Spartans aren't given much of a chance to beat the Bulldogs today. Why? Because Devin Thomas was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 2008! 

That one move hurt two programs, Michigan State's and Washington's.

Lost passing threat

Thomas provided the 2007 Spartans with the deep threat that Burress did nine seasons ago. Without him, Michigan State regressed to a one dimensional team on the strength of Javon Ringer's running. Although MSU did quite well without Thomas playing ordinary teams, they struggled against super teams 10th ranked Ohio State and sixth ranked Penn State.

The Spartans lost to the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions by the combined score of 94-25.

Speaking of Georgia, MSU quarterback Brian Hoyer says "I would put them up there with the Penn States, the Ohio States." That's an uh-oh moment.

Hoyer was the biggest loser in Thomas move to the pros.

But Thomas and the Redskins lost too.

By jumping to the NFL after a single season as a starter in a big time college program, no one knew how well Thomas would cope when he was the focus of defensive game plans intended to stop him.

Thomas was a standout junior college player at Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College, but was lightly used as a sophomore at MSU. As a junior, Thomas broke the Spartan single season reception record. He was a surprise to defenses intent on stopping Michigan State's ground game.

They surely would have focused on Thomas in what should have been his senior season. He might have learned the value of stepping up his training regimen for a tough campaign. And he might have learned what happens when you don't.

He learned that lesson the hard way on Daniel Snyder's nickel. On a pure football standpoint, Devin Thomas would have been better off as a senior on the Spartan roster for today's Capital One Bowl game.

UPDATE CAPITAL ONE BOWL FINAL: Georgia 24, MSU 12

All about the money

Back here in the real world, college players assess their chances in the draft when weighing whether to leave the NCAA early. It's a foolish decision, moneywise, to stay for your senior year if you project as a first or second round draft pick.

Thomas was projected as a late first round pick in what was thought to be a weak class of first round talent. Who can blame him for leaving early?

Nor do I blame the Redskins for taking him when given the opportunity to use a second round pick to get him. More on that later.

What's to blame here is the football industry, along with the many, many experts that project one-year-wonders like Thomas as high draft prospects. That flashes a false signal to everybody, including the player.

It's something to keep in mind, Redskins, Rivals.com, experts, bloggers, me too, when peeking at 2009 draft prospects.

Cerrato the risk taker

A mentor once told me if you are going to make a mistake, make it a big one. He didn't mean that in the Gov. Blagojevich sense.

Let your reach exceed your grasp. Make bold plans. Maybe you get a big miss, but you might get a big hit.

I've thought about that a lot while assessing Vinny Cerrato's moves to build the 2008 Redskins roster.

It turns out that Washington's executive vp made three big reaches to address the two glaring weaknesses on the team: receiving and pass rushing.

The Redskins brought in a parade of free agent wide receivers over the past four seasons. They even scrapped the bottom of the barrel to work out Todd Pinkston last year. Most just didn't work out, although I thought they could have made better use of Reche Caldwell and Keenan McCardell.

Trades didn't work. Brandon Lloyd is a painful memory and Santana Moss doesn't count. Moss was swapped for a disgruntled Laveranues Coles so that makes the deal a wash, not an upgrade.

In a change of tactics, Cerrato drafted big receivers. It turns out that he knowingly took risks on both Thomas and Malcolm Kelly.

Cerrato has been in football long enough to know the risk he was taking with Thomas. I suspect he saw Thomas as a 2009 payoff anyway.

It now comes out that Washington's medical staff had serious reservations about Kelly's knee, to the point that they suspected a two or three year playing career for him.

Knee problems were the question mark about DE Erasmus James, who missed the 2007 season because of his injuries.

In need of a pass rush, the Redskins took a chance on James, offering the Vikings a conditional seventh round pick in the 2009 draft. The Vikings were about to waive him, for good reason as it turns out. 

James never contributed to the Redskins.

Seen as a low odds project at the time, it now feels like even the seventh round pick was too high a price to pay for Mr. James. He was quietly waived in December.

Thomas unready. Kelly and James unhealthy. All three a reach; none a contributor this season.

I'm conflicted on how to evaluate Cerrato in the deal. He made a big reach in two areas of need. Any one of them might have paid off big. They look like big mistakes in hindsight. Maybe big mistakes are the only kind to make.
 
Maybe Cerrato should go for a big reach again in 2009. Only not so many of them this time.
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2009/01/redskins-devin-thomas-should-be-playing-ball-today-for-msu-spartans.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2009/01/redskins-devin-thomas-should-be-playing-ball-today-for-msu-spartans.html Devin Thomas Vinny Cerrato Devin Thomas Georgia Bulldogs Michigan State NCAA NFL Plaxico Burress Washington Redskins Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:33:25 +0000 How about Shanahan to the Redskins fired Mike Shanahan yesterday.

Washington's mercurial owner has a known weakness for basking in the reflected glow of famous football names. Few are more famous than Shanahan's whose sterling success includes a 138-86 record in 14 years with Denver, 8-5 playoff record, 2 Super Bowl wins.

More appealing is that Shanahan is a West Coast Offense guy whose teams managed to make stars of running backs, like Clinton Portis, and featured productive passing games.

Portis burst on the league in his first two NFL seasons under Shanahan ('02-'03) when he gained over 1500 yards per season averaging over five yards per attempt. He's never been as productive here where Joe Gibbs converted him to a power back.

The passing game and scoring are two glaring shortfalls in the Redskins' move to the West Coast Offense. Shanahan can fix that. So can Jim Zorn, but we are talking Mike Shanahan, people.

This is written tongue-in-cheek, of course, but the fact that Shanahan is even a topic shows how quickly and suddenly coaching changes can occur. Blow a three game lead and lose the division to an 8-8 team coached by Norv Turner and BOOM, you're gone.

What's a Redskin coach who goes 2-6 in his last eight games to think?

Shanahan is out there. So is Bill Cowher. Snyder and every other disgruntled owner has man-love for Coach Chin who finds life after coaching every bit as appealing as Joe Gibbs does after his first and second retirement.

Mike Martz is out there, too. Mike Singletary fired him as San Francisco's offensive coordinator yesterday.

But Shanahan is the bright light who will draw interest from teams with head coach vacancies (Jets, Lions, Browns) and one or two without, like, oh say, the Dallas Cowboys.

Shanahan knows that head coaching is more than X's and O's. Executive leadership, team and individual motivation, staff management, game day efficiency, owner relationships are as important. Maybe more so.

Intangible qualities are concrete advantages for head coaches.

Shanahan is time proven to have those qualities in abundance. His teams were notably free of drama queens. Yes, Shanahan flirted with Maurice Clarett in the 2005 draft. Poor Clarett never got over the notion that he was not as good as his groupies said he was. It didn't take long for Shanahan to drop him.

Brandon Marshall is another whose antics show a lack of discipline that is uncommon on a Shanahan team. How he grows with the Broncos without Shanahan will be a topic of interest.

Like the Redskins, Shanahan's Broncos coped with the tragic death of a player, Darrent Williams, in 2007.

Not going to happen

But, Snyder has shown signs of growth too. He finally accepts that the Redskins will go further by having a good plan and sticking to it.

It doesn't have to be the best plan run by the best people. A good enough plan run by above average people can win titles. Making the most of the people you have is essence of teamwork. It doesn't take a Mike Shanahan to win here.

This whole speculative dash only comes up because the Redskins are owned by Daniel Snyder whose own lack of discipline in running the team makes the discussion plausible.

We think those days are behind us.

We could be wrong. ]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/how-about-shanahan-to-the-redskins.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/how-about-shanahan-to-the-redskins.html Redskins Washington Redskins Washington Redskins Coaching Staff Denver Broncos Mike Shanahan NFL Washington Redskins Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:43:20 +0000 Redskins to pick 13th in 2009 draft 2009 Draft, April 25-26.

Washington has the 13th pick in the first round.

UPDATE: The consensus Redskin pick in early mock drafts followed by DC Pro Sports Report has Washington selecting an offensive tackle or defensive end with their first round pick. Eugene Monroe (Virginia) and Jason Smith (Baylor) are popular picks for the O-line. DE Michael Johnson (Georgia Tech) is seen for the defense.

The Redskins traded their 2009 second round and 2010 10th round picks to Miami for DE Jason Taylor. The move was widely applauded at the time.

The Redskins traded its fourth round pick to the New York Jets prior to the 2007 season for G Pete Kendall when Derrick Dockery proved too expensive to re-sign from free agency.

The Skins couldn't make up their minds on Dockery in time to extend his contract in 2006. Chris Samuels offered to adjust his contract to help the team keep Dockery in 2007. However, Doc followed the big bucks to the Buffalo Bills when Marv Levy offered him a seven year, $49 million deal that Washington declined to match.

Though Kendall has been a stalwart, the loss of the draft picks is regrettable, especially since Kendall, now 35, is a free agent in 2009.

Washington traded it's seventh round pick to Minnesota for DE Erasmus James.

The Redskins hold picks in the first, third, fifth and sixth rounds.

Executive VP Vinny Cerrato hinted that he could trade the first round pick for more draft selections. We are in the season when NFL front offices hold strategy close to the vest, so Cerrato could be lying engaging in disinformation.

Washington hasn't had a decent No. 2 wide receiver since Rod Gardner. It remains a glaring need. The Skins offered a first round draft pick to Cincinnati for Chad Ocho Cinco last season. The Bengals might not turn down an offer a second time.

And just to ask a purely hypothetical question, because the Redskins have reiterated their commitment to Jason Campbell, what would Washington offer New England for quarterback Matt Cassel?

If the Patriots were very sure of Tom Brady's return, they may not feel pressure to franchise free agent Cassel. In that case, New England might accept a trade offer for whatever they could get.

Unless they see Daniel Snyder coming. Then, they would want no less than Washington's first round pick, because Snyder's cavalier treatment of draft picks would lead anybody to think he would give it up for a big name player.

As I said, this is pure, hypothetical speculation because the Redskins have confirmed their support of Campbell. And we can believe everything the Redskins say.

This information developed from NFL.com and Wikipedia. 
____________________

Matt Terl over at the official Redskins Blog posted the 2009 schedule.

Home:
Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs

Away:
Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers

I have to congratulate Matt for being the first of the Redskins blogging community to bring up the name Colt Brennan, which we all find to be money for bringing traffic to our sites.

Hey, I admit to the practice, too.

I wonder if Barack Obama, now vacationing in Hawaii, would come to Redskin games if Brennan were the quarterback?

   ]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-to-pick-13th-in-2009-draft.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-to-pick-13th-in-2009-draft.html Colt Brennan Draft Washington Redskins Colt Brennan NFL NFL Draft Washington Redskins Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:36:22 +0000 Redskins' Jerry Gray on list of Lions candidates MLive.com report that the Motor City Kitties have asked permission to interview Washington Redskins defensive coach Jerry Gray for the team's head coach vacancy.

Gray joined the Redskins in the disastrous 2006 season that saw Daniel Snyder go all out to add free agents in what was expected to be Joe Gibbs' Super Bowl year. The team finished 5-11.

Washington signed Adam Archuleta to a $35 million contract to boost the defensive secondary while releasing journeyman safety Ryan Clark and cornerback Walt Harris. Archuleta actually lost the starting position to Pierson Prioleau during preseason, though that wasn't known at the time.

Prioleau suffered a freak knee injury on the opening kick-off of the opening game of the regular season and was lost for the season.

With that, the Skins turned back to Archuleta to play safety and signed under-skilled cornerbacks Mike Rumph and Kenny Wright. But Gregg Williams turned to the cover-2 defense that required Archuleta to do more in pass coverage than asked of Washington safeties in 2005.

Archuleta excelled in St. Louis as a strong safety supporting the run and rushing the quarterback. He had a known weakness in coverage skills that seems to have escaped Joe Gibbs' and Daniel Snyder's notice until after he was signed. Indeed, when introduced to the press, Washington implied Archuleta would be used more as a linebacker-lite than a coverage safety.

The secondary led Washington's decline to 31st ranked defense in the league.

Gray was given poor material to work with and fingers were pointed more to Gibbs, who accepted full responsibility, and to Gregg Williams for the lousy year. However, a disgruntled unidentified player, suspected as being Archuleta, was the source for a revealing Sports Illustrated story about conflict between the defensive coaching staff, especially Gray and safeties coach Steve Jackson.

Those issues were resolved by the start of the 2007 season when the Redskins' defense was ranked 8th in the league, despite the tragic loss of safety Sean Taylor. The team finished 9-7 and made the playoffs.

Washington ended 2008 as the 4th ranked defense in total yards.

Gray was the defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills from 2001-05 where his unit ranked as high as second in the 2003 and 2004 season.

The Lions also asked permission to interview Giants' defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo who would top the list of high profile assistants under consideration.

For some reason that escapes me, the Lions also asked to interview Cowboys offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.

It's possible Gray will be interviewed to satisfy the NFL's Rooney Rule, but Lions' owner William Clay Ford named former Redskin Martin Mayhew as general manager. Mayhew filled in as interim GM when Matt Millen was fired during the season.

Ford had been expected to clean house in the front office. Mayhew apparently said and did all the right things to keep the role in spite of Millen's taint.

Presumably, Mayhew, who is black, would have little need or interest in a token affirmative action interview of Jerry Gray.        




 


]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-jerry-gray-on-list-of-lions-candidates.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-jerry-gray-on-list-of-lions-candidates.html Washington Redskins Washington Redskins Coaching Staff Detroit Lions NFL Washington Redskins Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:32:49 +0000 Redskins vs 49ers Offensive GT Review: Really Just More of the Same
Campbell is one of the best quarterbacks in the league in terms of carrying the football, only Matt Cassel was a more effective runner this year according to Football Outsiders.

Unfortunately, Campbell's running is the only part of the offense that got better from the first half of the year to the second half.  Campbell, the passer, held up his end of the bargain a well, only turning the ball over 6 times all year via interception, lowest rate in the NFL, and saving the team plenty of sacks while protecting the football well.  Campbell still has room to grow in terms of avoiding sacks by throwing the ball away, but his pocket presence is as good as any in the league.

Jason Campbell will continue to improve in the Jim Zorn offense next year, but the Redskins will only reap any benefits from this if they put a real offense around him.  The Redskins passing offense declined slightly in it's value to winning football games from last season, despite Campbell's personal improvements.  The offensive line declined from last year, albeit not quite as much as it seemed at times.  Surely, Campbell's development is probably a big reason they only declined a little bit as opposed to a lot, but most of the problems that phased the Redskins this year (Casey Rabach) were simply under-publicized problems last year.  Randy Thomas missed most of last year with an injury, and the team extended his contract in the off-season, only to find that he didn't really improve the team over his replacement from last year, Jason Fabini.  Jon Jansen vs. Stephon Heyer is a nice debate at all, but both are slightly below average pass protecting tackles with conflicting favored styles in run blocking.  Really, the difference between last years line and this year's line was just healthy Chris Samuels vs. injured Chris Samuels.

Without Samuels, the Redskins watched Clinton Portis decend to last year's levels of production.  Portis was averaging 4.8 yards per carry through 11 games.  In the final five games, Portis was good for 2.9 yards per carry.  Same runner, less effective line, brutal results.  Look no further as to why the Redskins could not dominate any game offensively following the Seattle game, the last time the Redskins were really able to control the ball for four quarters.

In the final eight games, Jason Campbell watched as the production of his receivers declined.  Campbell was doing nothing different between the first eight games and final eight games, but his complementary receiver Antwaan Randle El (who was having a great year through 11 games [9.7 YPT before, 4.0 YPT after]) fell off the face of the earth, his explosive number one receiver, Santana Moss, stopped producing any sort of big play, despite more than enough chances.  Anytime Campbell or Zorn wanted to stretch the field, shoddy blocking on the line or poor routes by the receivers killed the Redskins.  One-third of Campbell's INTs this year were the direct result of an offense not built for vertical play trying to go vertical.

The fact that neither Malcolm Kelly or Devin Thomas picked up for Randle El's decline is disturbing.  Devin Thomas was given countless chances to produce, but could not do anything to help the Redskins win.  He made a few key first down catches.  Malcolm Kelly has a more optimistic projection for 2009, but his 2008 season was a total waste of a year, so expect a lot of rookie mistakes from a guy that Washington will lean heavily on next year.

So what about the San Francisco game?  Uh, well, Justin Smith is really good.  And our problems are the same problems we have had all year.  Unable to overcome injuries on the OL, and despite every WR being able to play in every game this year, no one was able to provide any assistance in the role of a Keenan McCardell or Reche Caldwell.  Let's face it, if the front office was prepared to deal with inept rookie receivers, James Thrash wouldn't have seen 20 targets this season.  We couldn't run the ball very well at all, per usual.

Fred Davis appears to be a keeper.  The guy has really done a good job blocking in the month of December, and since he has passed Todd Yoder on the depth chart, the 2 TE formation has become our most effective formation.  It's amazing what a team can accomplish when all five skill players are competent.  The Redskins have enjoyed plenty of success off of play action in the month of December, and credit Davis' emergence for that improvement, even if he hasn't made a significant dent in the stat sheet yet.

Pass Offense

Vital Statistics
Total adj yards = 194
Yards per play = 5.24
Success rate = 48.6% (18/37)

Receivers
(Targets, Receptions, SR, YPA)

Santana Moss - 10, 6, 50%, 6.9
Chris Cooley - 7, 6, 57%, 7.1
Antwaan Randle El - 6, 3, 33%, 2.7
Ladell Betts - 3, 2, 0%, 2.3
James Thrash - 1, 1, 100%, 7.0

Moss, in particular, is the frustrating one.  I still think he can be the number one receiver in a power oriented offense, because long developing routes off of play action favor what Moss is good at, getting separation and making plays after the catch.  But if Santana Moss is going to get targeted 10 times in any game next year, and he only catches 5 balls with no catches over 20 yards, I don't see us getting significantly better on offense.  6.9 YPA is average for a wideout, which describes Moss as an every down WR: adequate.

Randle El's disappearance is more troubling.  He got targeted six times, only caught three balls, with no catches over six yards.  His touchdown was obviously his best play.  Look, early season Randle El is an ideal No. 2 receiver, 9.0 YPA type guy, catches 75% of whats thrown his way.  December Randle El is useless, a No. 4 type at best.  Understand the difference, and hope that he plays more like his old self in 2009 than his most recent self.  He can be more valuable than Moss, but he can't play like this and stay on the field.

Cooley is Cooley.  Truer words have not been spoken in this column.

Rush Offense

Vital Statistics
Total adj yds = 84
Yards per play = 2.8
Success rate = 33.3% (10/30)

The Redskins lost their individual battles at the LOS too often.  Pete Kendall really had a lot of trouble with Justin Smith all day, and if he can't match up with Smith, no one on our OL can.  Heyer was actually pretty good today, again, when he wasn't lined up against Smith.  Jansen allowed a heck of a lot of penetration.  Same with Rabach.  Randy Thomas was better than normal.  Sellers was a mixed bag, and same with Cooley.  Fred Davis was consistently good, but the receiver blocking was the worst I can remember it in a long time.

Rushing
(Runs, Successful Runs, YPC ave.)

Clinton Portis - 29, 10, 2.8
Ladell Betts - 1, 0, 6.0

I guess the nicest thing you can say about the job Betts and Portis did is that they both sold play action well, and Betts had a really beautiful blitz pickup where he upended the guy.

Overall Offense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yds = 276
Yards per play = 4.12
Success rate = 41.8% (28/67)

The thing is that our passing game has been remarkably consistent all year except for one little thing: we lost our vertical component when our offensive line got banged up and declined.  Once again, the passing game held up its end of the bargain in this one.  We didn't score three TDs on long scoring drives because we were any better on offense than in prior weeks, we scored three TDs because all of our unsuccessful series were lumped together as three and outs.  Our successful drives pretty much all (except one) ended in the end zone.  This is why I study per play metrics.  So I can tell you that you look at our one TD performance against Cincinatti, and our three TD performance against San Francisco, and that the only difference is the timing of our successful plays/drives and Sellers not fumbling on the one.  That's it.  That's the difference between 13 points and 24 points.

I said that the points were not indicative of how we played then, and its the same deal here.  Just on the other side of the coin.  The 49ers were just better than us.

I hope you all have enjoyed my reviews this year, and any suggestions on what parts I should keep in here should I opt to do truncated versions next year would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you, and hail!
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-vs-49ers-offensive-gt-review-really-just-more-of-the-same.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-vs-49ers-offensive-gt-review-really-just-more-of-the-same.html Jason Campbell Jim Zorn Redskins Game Tape Review The Numbers Washington Redskins Offense Game Tape Review Jim Zorn Offense San Francisco 49ers Washington Redskins Mon, 29 Dec 2008 23:29:12 +0000 'Niner game = season for the Redskins Washington Post summary of the Washington Redskins' loss to the San Francisco 49ers yesterday.

The game itself perfectly captured the Redskins' frustrated season.

The Redskins overcame San Francisco's early score to take a 10 point lead at the half, just as the team shook off an opening loss to the Giants in game one to win six of their next seven games. Washington held a three minute time of possession advantage. Things were looking good.

In the second half of the game and of the season, the Skins crashed and burned. They could do no better against the 13th-ranked 49er defense than they did against better defenses of Pittsburgh, Baltimore and the New York Giants. Four possessions in a woeful third quarter yielded three punts and a fumble -- 20 plays, 64 yards, 0 points.

There was a time, in the 'eighties and early 'nineties, when when the NFL was owned by the San Francisco 49ers and who ever won the NFC Beast. The lone exception was the 1985 Bears team that featured Mike Singletary at middle linebacker. That's the same Mike Singletary whose team came out of the half time break smarter, tougher and more effective than the Redskins.

Singletary and his coaches made the half time adjustments the Redskins failed to make. Singletary is no more experienced than Jim Zorn. On this day he was better, so his team was better, by 20 points in the second half, than the Redskins.

Then Skins tied it up with a minute to go in the fourth quarter to put some hope for a happy conclusion. They beat the Eagles at home a week ago. But with a minute remaining, they couldn't finish the job in old Candlestick Park (that's the only name for that grand old dame of a stadium). Because they couldn't finish that game, they didn't finish the season.

Lets have no more illusions about the Redskins. They are what they have been these past four seasons -- an average to above-average team with a shot to make the playoffs if everything perfectly goes their way.

That's not a bad thing. It's something to build on. It's just not enough to think of them as perennial contenders entitled to a post-season berth.
_________________________

John Riggins was asked during the pregame show on Redskins Radio about the importance of the the 49er game to the Redskins. Riggins' answer was a flip "who cares." The season ended in a meaningful way when the Redskins lost that stupid game to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Riggins called for the coaches to evaluate their young talent, especially their receivers and linemen. Maybe The Diesel didn't think the Skins would in anyhow.

But Riggins was wrong. The game and the record was important to those fans holding season tickets as well as commercial interests holding corporate boxes.

Daniel Snyder will send 2009 season ticket invoices out in March or so. Season tickets are a reach for many people given current economic conditions. A winning record helps make the case to reinvest.

A .500 record leaves you questioning priorities and evaluating alternatives.

More on that later this week.
_________________________

Hog Heaven congratulates Mike Singletary and the San Francisco 49ers for naming Singletary as head coach. Singletary earned the shot and the Niners avoided becoming yet another team to chase Coach Chin for the job.

I like the recent trend of teams tapping seasoned NFL assistants for the job. Pittsburgh started the recent trend when they surprised everyone by naming Mike Tomlin to replace Coach Chin. The Cardinals haven't done badly with Ken Whisenhunt at the helm after recycling Dennis Green.

And then there are those fabulous rookie coaches in Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore and, yes, Washington. 

But, be wary Niners nation about extending Singletary's performance (five wins in last seven games) into next season. After watching Jim Zorn's fabulous 6-2 start tank to a 2-6 finish, I know how fast trends can turn on you.

Trust me on this.

      ]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/niner-game-season-for-the-redskins.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/niner-game-season-for-the-redskins.html Game Review Jason Campbell Redskins Washington Redskins NFL San Francisco 49ers Washington Redskins Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:57:44 +0000 Redskins vs 49ers Defensive GT Review: A cold, hard reality
Of course, the 2007 Redskins defense also faced 16 more drives by opponents than the 2008 team did.  That's basically two more games worth of drives in which the only difference was 16 points.  Looking at it that way, it's clear that the Redskins defense has regressed from last year.

Thing was, for those following the team this year, it was already pretty clear that this wasn't the same unit last year.  For one thing, this unit didn't have 8 games of the best free safety in football roaming the deep middle of the field preventing all sort of big plays.  This unit didn't have a full season from Shawn Springs like last years did.  While Carlos Rogers was active for all 16 games this year, he was inexcusably used far less in the month of December than counterparts DeAngelo Hall and Shawn Springs.  Fred Smoot regressed from talented man coverage corner in 2007 to get-him-off-my-team corner in 2008.

And most noticeably, while Gregg Williams' unit last year was an excellent bend but don't break type of defense, Greg Blache's unit was notorious for poor efficiency in the red zone.

You know, now that the season was over, it seems unreasonable to have expected the defense to not have sustained any sort of drop-off after losing one of the most talented players in the league.  But, I think, the way that this season started defensively made it pretty disappointing.  At the beginning of the year, I predicted all the things that this season brought us: A career year from Portis.  Continued development from Jason Campbell.  Little impact from Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly.  An 8-8 finish.

I didn't really expect to sit here and explain that we were outschemed by the Rams and the Bengals as we finished the year 2-6 in the final eight games.  I definately did not expect to compile 16 games of data, only to find out that Shaun Hill and Ryan Fitzpatrick have the best numbers against our passing defense, especially when you consider that the Redskins were healthier on defense in December that at any point this year.

Nothing about this game really made sense.  Look at the total defensive numbers for this game:

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yards = 351 (54 plays)
Yards per play = 6.5 (prev. season high = 5.9 vs. Dallas both times)
Success Rate = 55.6% (prev. season high = 50.9% vs. Dallas wk 11)

I mean, that doesn't make any sense whatsoever.  Is Mike Martz really a crazy genius, like his reputation suggests?  Greg Blache didn't make that many schematic errors in this game, compared to the aforementioned Dallas game.  This was just the 49ers offense, pathetic for most of the season (much improved since benching JT O'Sullivan), dominating the Redskins defense for four quarters.  Run, pass, it didn't matter.  The coverage chart and the tackle chart are equally as pathetic.  The point is this: this was not only the worst production of the year from the defense only seven days after arguably the best, but it shattered the previous rock-bottom marks, and against an under-talented offense with everyone on the defense active and available

None of this is to excuse the offense, specifically the rush offense, from it's role in the Redskins' collapse in the second half of the year.  Clinton Portis went into the midseason a hair shy of 1,000 yards, and finished with only 1,487.  But there's a whole post still to come dedicated to what when wrong on offense in this one.  The defenses issues appear to be way deeper and more confusing than the offenses.

Pass Defense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yds = 247
Yards per play = 8.0
Success Rate = 54.8% (17/31)

The Redskins have produced worse raw pass defense numbers this year, but that's always been against talented offenses, like the Giants, and with a game plan that was clearly about stopping the run first.  They have no such excuse this week, as the run defense numbers are just as bad.

The Redskins gave up seven plays of 15 or more yards via the pass in this one.  Seven.  Last year, two would have represented a bad game.

Most of these numbers came from the second half.  Greg Blache only blitzed once in the first half, and that was an intelligent backside safety fire on third and short that put Jason Taylor in perfect position to deflect the throw from Shaun Hill.  Naturally, you may have guessed that when the 49ers were really tearing off chunks of yards in the air play after play, Blache was giving them man coverage mismatches against their running backs with our linebackers, because he was sending our safeties on blitzes.

So while, on the most successful drive of the day for the 49ers, Martz owned Blache, it wouldn't be fair to Blache to say he didn't make the necessary adjustments, schematically at least.  Ultimately, the Redskins just didn't cover the 49ers receivers down the field.  Part of the problem was that, despite providing blanket coverage, and the only real defensive play of the game (a first half INT), Carlos Rogers watched two of the final three drives from the bench (both of which scoring drives), while Fred Smoot got toasted multiple times by someone named Jason Hill.  Now, I may not be an expert on defense, but if Greg Blache thinks he has a better chance to win with Fred Smoot in the game than Carlos Rogers, then he obviously isn't either.

There has to be more than meets the eye here.  I'm wondering if Blache offered up any post-game quotes in the media that might explain his decision.  Obviously Blache doesn't think that Smoot gives the Redskins a better chance to win than Rogers.  Perhaps Rogers is in the doghouse because of his performance in practice during the week (because he's been stellar all season in the games).  Maybe it's as simple as that Blache wants to give Smoot more time on the field in order to evaluate whether or not he will be back next year.  I'm just pointing out: if the primary goal was to play the players that give the Redskins the best chance to win, this was a failure of epic proportions.  I think there's probably a much bigger story than this one is letting on through the game film.

Coverage
(Targets, Completions against, SR against, YPA)

Shawn Springs - 6, 5, 67%, 10.0
DeAngelo Hall - 5, 5, 60%, 7.0
Carlos Rogers - 4, 1, 25%, 2.3
Fred Smoot - 3, 2, 67%, 11.7
Marcus Washington - 3, 3, 67%, 6.0
Rocky McIntosh - 2, 2, 50%, 14.5
London Fletcher - 2, 2, 100%, 15.5
Kareem Moore - 1, 1, 100%, 24.0
Chris Horton - 1, 1, 100%, 28.0

Not enough has been made about the role of Chris Horton in the decline of the pass defense over the course of the season.  He's still just an unbelievable tackler with legendary closing speed, but he's probably not as great in coverage as we all thought when he lead the team in INTs earlier this year.  He's really a poor pass rusher as well, so there's not a whole lot of things you can do to hide him against the pass.

The Redskins' safeties as a whole have actually been terrible in coverage this year.  LaRon Landry is the only Redskin Safety with fewer than 7 YPA allowed, but Landry also allowed a bunch of deep passes earlier in the season where he bit on a shorter route opening up man coverage on the outside between a much better receiver and an inferior corner.  Think Fitzgerald's TD against Reed Doughty, or Donnie Avery's game winning reception against Leigh Torrence, or Nate Washington's long 50 yard catch against Fred Smoot.  In all of those plays, Landry would have broken up the pass with a correct diagnosis, but he was out of position all those times.  None of those counted against his YPA, but you know, Sean Taylor wouldn't have let that happen.

Run Defense

Vital Statistics
Total Adj Yards = 104
Yards per play = 4.5
Success Rate = 56.5% (13/23)

I'll start by saying that the San Francisco offensive line was better than the Washington defensive line in this one.  Anthony Montgomery played a really good game.  Corneilius Griffin played a really good game, but it could have been even better if he had made a few plays in the backfield that he had shots at.  Demetric Evans and Kedric Golston were pushed around all day long.  Montgomery and Griffin kept the 49ers DL away from Fletcher, Golston was on the ground too much, and allowed lineman to get on Fletcher, and make him less than effective.

TE Vernon Davis was the key cog in the running game for the 49ers as he has been all season.  The man doesn't miss blocks.  Considering the knock on him coming out of college was that he was too small to be an effective blocker at the next level, it's laughable how wrong the analysts were on that one.  Davis isn't an elite TE, but he is an elite blocker, and could absolutely play LT in a pinch.  When he got on a LB, he won the battle 100% of the time, unless the LB was HB Blades.  Problem was, Blades only played on Nickel and Goal Line packages for the Redskins, and those 4 WR packages took Davis off the field for the 49ers.

HB Blades is going to be a superstar in this league.  He's got coverage issues, but he's unbelievably instinctive against the run.  Not that Rocky McIntosh doesn't have good instincts, but his knees are clearly an issue, and Blades is just better at this point in his career.  Marcus Washington is still getting it done at SLB.  He's no longer a pass rushing force, but I think his presence on the field still makes a big difference.

Bottom line: like every other team in the league, if you get a big body on Fletcher, you can run on the Redskins.  If you can't, you won't run on the Redskins.  Having Vernon Davis just makes life a heck of a lot easier.

The 49ers did not have a run over 20 yards.  They just consistently got bodies to the second level and their backs run really, really hard.  Except DeShaun Foster, who runs hard when he feels like it.

Tackle Chart
(Tackles, Successful runs against, YPA)

London Fletcher - 7, 4, 5.3
Chris Horton - 4, 4, 9.8
Rocky McIntosh - 3, 2, 6.3
Demetric Evans - 2, 1, 2.5
DeAngelo Hall - 2, 1, 4.0
HB Blades - 1, 0, 1.0
Carlos Rogers - 1, 0, -1.0
Corneilius Griffin - 1, 0, 3.0
Shawn Springs - 1, 1, 4.0
Marcus Washington - 1, 1, 9.0
LaRon Landry - 1, 1, 9.0

Pass Rush

Alright.  Martz offense, so pass protection schemes were usually just 5 or 6 guys.  Shaun Hill is a guy that has a quick release and knows coverages well, so that gave the Redskins little chance to get significant pressure on him.  When they started to bring blitzes in the third quarter, they were initially successful, because the pass protection schemes of the Niners did not account for the blitzes.  Hill was errant on one ball, and sacked on another when he simply held the ball too long.

Martz countered by using his backs in the passing game, and it was game, set, match.  No chance to get any significant pressure on the QB when he's throwing to his guys out of the backfield, who are superior receivers to the Redskins linebackers in coverage.

Three guys account for everything in the passing chart.  These guys had good games rushing the passer, everyone else did not.

Sacks (1)
Andre Carter

QB Hits (1)
Andre Carter

Pressures (5)
Anthony Montgomery x2
Andre Carter x2
Jason Taylor x1

Deflections (1)
Jason Taylor x1

QB Flushes (3)
Jason Taylor x2
Andre Carter

Overall Defense

We have seen a spike in production since we got away from predictable blitzes in the game-changing plays category.  But we've struggled against offenses who are willing to put 5 guys in patterns against us.  We're fine against teams like Baltimore, who want to max protect everything and try to throw into tight windows against our lockdown coverage.  Inevitably though, if you can spread the Redskins defense out, you'll find some gaping holes in our pass coverage.

For the season, the Redskins have done an outstanding job against opponents' number one receivers, but number twos and running backs have really hurt them.  Tight Ends have been more of a factor recently.

Next year, I expect most of the run defense to remain intact.  The Redskins have very strong run defenders at the tackle position, which no doubt will help extend the length of London Fletcher's career.  They appear to be set at the safety position, especially so if Kareem Moore develops.  Rogers and Hall figure to return as a starting duo at corner, but some serious decisions will have to be made on Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot as depth.  Springs has too high of a cap number to keep around if he can't stay healthy for 4 months.  With regards to Smoot: there's no where on a football field to hide a bad corner.  Defenses must be balanced, and offenses will always exploit a weak matchup if they can get it.  Therefore, if the front office doesn't think Smoot can be better than he was this year, you have to free up his roster spot for a guy who you don't already know is bad.  Even Justin Tryon makes more sense as a No. 3 CB than Smoot at this point, simply because he's an unknown quantity.  Hopefully I'm wrong on #27, but he appears to be a lost cause.

All the key decisions will be made at the defensive end and outside linebacker positions next year.  Marcus Washington, Jason Taylor, and Phillip Daniels carry the high cap numbers.  The defense is clearly in need of some veteran leadership, but not all of those guys are needed.  Demetric Evans is a free agent, and he was somewhat exposed in the second half of the year as a weaker end player.  Rocky McIntosh may never be the player the Redskins wanted when they traded up to get him in 2006.  London Fletcher won't be the surest thing in the NFL forever, he's going to miss a game sometime.  Does the FO trust HB Blades at MLB, or should they bring in the eventual replacement for Fletcher in the off-season?

Lots of questions to answer on the defensive side of the ball.  On the offensive side, there's just clearly defined problems.  On the defensive side: obscure questions.  Is this mix the right mix for 2009?
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-vs-49ers-defensive-gt-review-a-cold-hard-reality.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-vs-49ers-defensive-gt-review-a-cold-hard-reality.html Andre Carter Greg Blache Redskins Game Tape Review The Numbers Washington Redskins Defense Defense Game Tape Review Greg Blache San Francisco 49ers Washington Redskins Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:38:29 +0000 Redskins will face lots of choices, few real holes in the offseason
Yeah, that's going to mean sweeping changes in the way teams will have to operate this coming off-season.  And for a cap-strapped team like the Redskins, tough choices will have to be made by the guys currently in charge.  Sure, Dan Snyder will bring in a consultant or two, in addition to the advice he's already going to get from his current employees, but people around Redskins park know that whatever decisions are to be made, Snyder is going to have to be on board with them.

For one season at least, the way the Redskins have done business in the past will not be sufficient.  The new, carefully written rules were crafted by the league in 2006 to prevent the big spenders from having a significant advantage over smaller-rolling owners.  They were specifically written to keep the Redskins and Cowboys from having their cake and eating it too.  Thus, choices will have to be made, for better or for worse.

The Redskins current roster is actually the team's best asset against these rules.  The Redskins are on the verge of having their third winning season in four years, a nice accomplishment for any team, a very impressive one for young Daniel Snyder.  Their young players are all very talented, and they are all under contract or liable to restricted free agency in 2009.  That means that the young nucleus of the Redskins will return next season.

But the Redskins are at a crossroads with their Gibbs-era talent.  While the future of the Redskins is safely under contract for next season, the past is nearing the end of the road, if they haven't hit it already.  Remember the big, successful free agent class of 2004?  Well, this was year five for that group.  Some of the deals were six years, most were seven years.  But that entire class is reaching the point where 1) they are past their prime, 2) they are in their most expensive years of the deal, and 3) they've earned basically all of their prorated bonus money in the first five years of the deal.

That's a lot of big fancy language, but it really comes down to this: the core of the defense is older, more expensive than in the past, and at a point where it's starting to become very profitable for the team to cut ties with these guys.

The players I'm referring to include LB Marcus Washington, CB Shawn Springs, DT Corneilius Griffin, and DE Phillip Daniels.  All of these guys play on the defensive side of the ball, and they've all played vital roles in the Redskins defensive success in the past five years.  The Redskins have three choices to decide between this offseason, with regards to the aformentioned veterans.

  1.  Keep all hands on deck, pay them the balance of their contracts, and try to win with an improved offense while asking these guys to hold down the fort.
  2. Release all of the veterans, saving between 20-25 million dollars on the 2009 salary cap.  Re-invest the money either in extensions for the younger players, or big money free agents who are young enough to be the staples of the Redskins' defense in the future.
  3. Pick and choose the players who mean the most to the 2009 Redskins, make the tough calls to release the others, and invest the 7-12 million saved into an extension for Jason Campbell, and then maybe one big name free agent.
Obviously, therein lies the problem: the Redskins can't say for sure which option gives them the best chance to win in 2009.  If they choose to keep all of their veterans, what's to say they won't loose most of them to injury or decline? If they choose to get rid of all the veterans, can the Redskins really expect to get enough talent in free agency to plug all the holes?  If they choose to straddle the fence and move forward without, say, Daniels and Springs only, what's to say that the Redskins won't end up being too thin in the secondary, not effective enough on the LB level, and needing Daniels' presence on the DL?

The Redskins will hit the offseason with very few holes to fill.  They'll need a youth infusion on the OL, and will have to find a new Center either through the draft or free agency.  But outside of that, they really are just looking for that one talented player to take the team to the elite level.  Perhaps if they free up enough cash, they'll find that man amongst a strong free agent class.  If they can fill their OL holes in free agency, perhaps they can use that first round pick to draft a great LB prospect.

The Redskins will not be forced to follow any sort of path this offseason, but with the way the next two seasons are going to be structured, it's critical that the Redskins have their team of the future assembled by the end of April, one way or another.  It's simply not going to be easy enough to get those spare parts you need without dealing away draft picks after the 2009 offseason.
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-will-face-lots-of-choices-few-real-holes-in-the-offseason.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-will-face-lots-of-choices-few-real-holes-in-the-offseason.html Washington Redskins Free Agents Washington Redskins Off-Season Washington Redskins Salary Cap NFL Draft NFL Free Agency Salary Cap Washington Redskins Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:36:12 +0000 Fourth down for George Michael and the Redskin Report blowing Washington's long running Redskins Report off the air.

The Washington Post reported on Christmas Day that George Michael, the popular sportscaster on WRC-TV (Channel 4) ended his 28 year career with the station when WRC's parent, NBC Universal, demanded deep cuts in Michael's Redskins Report, covering the Washington Redskins, and Full Court Press, covering the Washington Wizards NBA team.

The Redskin Report was a fixture on Saturday evenings during the NFL season. The show featured Redskin Hall of Famers Sonny Jurgensen and John Riggins, and Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon.

Tony Kornheiser, Wilbon's colleague in the Post's sports department often substituted when Wilbon was not available. The Redskin Report launched Wilbon and Kornheiser on their visual media career. Both are seen on ESPN and other sports venues.

Michael feigned fan indignation at poor performance by the Redskins, but he is known to be close to owner Daniel Snyder and former coach Joe Gibbs. He is, or was, a reliable defender of the team.

Sonny Jurgensen remained popular in Washington long after his playing days ended. He always picked the Redskins to win every game. He was the official homer guy.

John Riggins correctly predicted on the show that Steve Spurrier and Joe Gibbs would leave the team before the end of their contracts. Riggins sensed that Spurrier was frustrated in the job and that Gibbs was worn out four years after he returned to the team.

NBC Universal intended to cut production costs. While Redskin Report was the leading show in its time-slot, the salaries for Michael and his guests were very high. Michael elected to end the relationship rather than carry through with the edict.

It is the second time Michael has chosen that path. He stepped down as WRC-TV's prime time sports anchor in 2007 rather than cut staff in an economy move.

The Redskin Report did not air last Saturday following the Redskins loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, leading to my suspicion that the team pulled the plug on the show to avoid embarrassment. The Jim Zorn Show appeared in its regular 7:30 p.m. time slot. That show is also hosted by George Michael and Sonny Jurgensen.

The Redskin Report is scheduled to appear for the last time at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, December 27. They were the big gorilla in the room for Redskins coverage. I'm going to miss them Their absence opens the door for the other network affiliates and for Comcast Sports Network.

Post and Sun to share content

Though Baltimore and Washington shared the metro region, their local newspapers acted as though the other did not exist. Until now.

The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun agreed to share content for daily local news coverage and sports beginning January 1, 2009, according to a December 23 joint announcement.

"For example, instead of sending its own reporter to write about a Washington Redskins football game, Franklin said the Baltimore Sun will publish the Washington Post's game coverage. In other areas where the two papers compete head-to-head - Maryland state politics, University of Maryland sports and exclusive stories - each newspaper will continue news coverage on its own. Franklin also said his paper will continue to cover important news events, even if their coverage overlaps with the Post's."

The Sun is owned by The Tribune Company which sought protection from Bankruptcy Court. The Post is owned by the profitable Kaplan, Inc., that has emerged as the leading revenue generator. The Post seeks to run the newspaper business on a scale with its declining performance. The paper offered buy-outs to the writing staff earlier this year in a workforce reduction move.

The Post's Jason LaCanfora and Jason Reid are leading beat writers covering the Redskins. Presumably, their Redskins stories will be published by The Sun.

Up in Detroit, local newspapers Detroit News and Detroit Free Press are coping with the economic climate by stopping home delivery except for the weekend.

Weekday papers will be available on news stands and on line by subscription.

That move elicited a strong response from Big Al at The Wayne Fontes Experience. (See The Detroit Newspapers have signed their death sentence.)

Big Al has a point. Internet consumers expect content to be free and site owners want it to be free to attract a vast audience. Profits come from selling ads and marketing agreements with companies like Google.

I predict the newspapers will drop the subscription in about 90 days.

Man, it's tough out there.    

  

  ]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/fourth-down-for-george-michael-and-the-redskin-report.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/fourth-down-for-george-michael-and-the-redskin-report.html Off Topic Baltmore Ravens Detroit Lions NFL Washington Nationals Washington Redskins Washington Wizards Sat, 27 Dec 2008 04:29:06 +0000 Non-tape related thoughts on Eagles v Redskins
Thought #1
It remains to be seen whether or not the Redskins will be a better defense in the post-Blache era.  But if Blache's poor gameplanning is to blame for defeats to the Cowboys and Giants, then it's only fair to credit Blache for a job well done leading up to the game this week.  The same man who ran a poor gameplan in the rain against the Giants that gave Eli Manning a nice pocket and man coverage on his receivers, managed to call a game that -- in the wind this time -- gave Donovan McNabb no where to put the football while he got considerable pressure from the Redskins front four, or oftentimes, three man rush.  McNabb was totally stymied when the Redskins defensive line simply held Brian Westbrook coming out of the backfield, which is legal behind the line of scrimmage.

It's a very simple strategy to prevent Westbrook from being a receiving threat.  There's a reason a lot of teams opt to play zone against the Eagles instead: it's because you cost yourselves a pass rusher doing this, and teams feel like if they can get pressure on McNabb, they can force him into mistakes.  Problem is, if you aren't covering his outlet receiver, how the heck are you going to get any pressure on him?  The Redskins were able to collapse the pocket with just a three man rush most of the day, and their corners in man coverage on the Eagles WRs, with safety help usually available, is going to be a matchup that heavily favors the Redskins.  Except Fred Smoot, who was responsible for pretty much all 10+ yard passes in this one.

While DeAngelo Hall has shown questionable fundamentals in tackling, a short fuse causing him to hit people after the play, and you generally don't want him on an island with any receiver, when you give the guy safety help and tell him to play what's in front of him, you can see that he's pretty darn good.  I do think Hall can be a good second corner if his secondary mates are Carlos Rogers, LaRon Landry, and Chris Horton next year.

Thought #2
Jason Campbell made too many mistakes in this game, which caused Jim Zorn to pull the ball out of his hands in the fourth quarter.  I counted three bad plays from Campbell, which will generally cost his team the game, but luckily, none of the three became Redskins turnovers.

  • Campbell's first mistake came on the first drive of the game, the second third down conversion attempt.  The Eagles did not blitz, and played a zone coverage.  Campbell kept his eyes downfield like he's taught, but for some reason, did not feel all the pressure behind him.  Campbell knows he is supposed to step up in the pocket in this situation, and he'll see his mistake in the film room.  By not sliding up in the pocket, Campbell's big windup allowed an Eagles rusher to get his hand on the ball and force a fumble, which was recovered by Casey Rabach.
  • Campbell's second mistake came on a third down play in which they scored a touchdown against the Bengals the week before with the same call.  It's a max protect scheme where Randle El runs across the formation trying to draw the coverage, and the Redskins try to slip Santana Moss in between the coverage in the back of the end zone.  The Eagles came with a 5 man rush, not the seven man rush the Bengals came with.  Moss was very well defended in the end zone, and Campbell threw the ball anyway.  Moss made a great defensive play to keep the ball from being intercepted, and the Redskins got three points out of the drive.
  • Campbell's final mistake was the most obvious: The Eagles brought an overload blitz from the blind side that should have been picked up, but Campbell realized quite early that it wasn't going to be, and scrambled out to his right.  That's an early win for the Redskins offense, since the Eagles had dropped coverage on the side Campbell was rolling to.  However, the Eagles were bringing a corner and a safety, and there was no way Campbell was going to out run them, so he tried to throw off his back foot out of bounds.  Only he threw way too far down the field, and the ball came down in Asante Samuel's arms, only to see him drop it.  Would have been a tough pick for Samuel in a full on sprint, but a throw away pass can't be left on the field of play unless the QB's arm is hit as he throws.  Campbell knows he's got to get the ball onto the sideline. The Redskins would not get a first down the rest of the game on offense, because the Eagles shut down the run, and the Redskins dropped all of Campbell's short, safe passes in the 4th quarter.
Thought #3
The special teams had a really good game.  I don't think I've ever been able to say that this year, but if the Redskins are going to win any games with two replacement-level offensive tackles preventing the offense from moving, someone is going to have to pick up the slack.  Ryan Plackemeier has now had TWO good games as the punter of the Redskins.  How about that?

And even Antwaan Randle El had a return of over 30 yards.  Which is longer than 16, his previous season long.  Which is pathetic.  Er, was pathetic.

And even though Shaun Suisham missed short again, he was punching the ball into the end zone with regularity on kickoffs, so we know the problem on the FG team isn't a lack of leg power.  It's got to be something with the hold, or where Suisham is striking the ball on his longer FGs.  Either way, it's can't hurt to change the holder, especially since Todd Collins at holder allows the Redskins to have a fake FG package.  I don't see the problem with Suisham on those shorter kicks that others do, as he's usually right down the middle with those kicks, not hugging the goal post on either side.

Thought #4
Troy Aikman mentioned this during the broadcast: the Redskins offense has declined at the same rate it's running game has.   The Redskins are now clearly a pass first team.  And while that was the plan all along, this change didn't come by design, it was dictated by neccessity.  Portis had a good game against the Eagles, but you just can't get Jason Fabini and Stephon Heyer to make their blocks in the running game with any regularity.  So instead of the 4.5-5.0 yards per carry that Portis got in the first game, he's now between 3.0 and 4.0 yards per carry.  I don't think that's Portis doing any worse, although he certainly had his chances one on one vs. DBs, I just think the OL isn't the run blocking force it was in the first seven games of the season.  Ever since Samuels got hurt the first time (against St. Louis), the Redskins have been not-so-great at protecting the passer.  Now, they just aren't good run blocking line either.  They've re-passed the receviers as the main trouble unit on the offensive side, in my opinion.

Thought #5
Greg Blache says that he wants Jason Taylor to return.  While he's not an everydown end at this point in his career, there's two main reasons I want him back next year.  The first one is this: there's no chance I see that any of our picks in the 2009 draft go to the defensive line.  Offensive Line and Linebacker are both greater need areas.  Any cuts we make on the defensive front will simply downgrade our production next season when I fully expect a much-improved offense to help us have a great team.  The other reason is that I think Greg Blache, or whoever the defensive coordinator is next year, will easily find a niche in the defense for a player like Jason Taylor.  You know who leads the Redskins in sacks this year?  Yep, it's No. 55, following his two sack performance against the Eagles.

Jason Taylor is not good against the run at all, but every other player on the Redskins defense is (save maybe LaRon Landry), so there is absoultely a spot on the team for him next year.  Now, if the Redskins can save his 8 million cap number next year, and re-invest that money into the team, more power to them, but I like our defensive line in the short term just the way it is right now, and would like to bring back Jason Taylor for one more season.  We saw how improved Andre Carter got from year one to year two on the Redskins, I would give Jason Taylor the same chance.

Final Thought
We could play the what if game this week.  Had we beaten the Bengals, we would control our own destiny in the NFC playoffs right now.  But I'm not worried about that.  Had we beaten the Bengals, Blache might not have altered his gameplan to defend the Eagles as well as he did.  And going forward, this divisional win, a much needed quality victory, is way more important to the Redskins' future than any win in the AFC.  Given the hatred that Eagles fans deserve, this is really the best Christmas gift the Redskins could have given us, much better in my opinion than a 6th seed playoff birth that saw us losing to these guys.  If we can go to the west coast and beat the 49ers, the Redskins are guarenteed a 3rd place finish in the NFC East.  A loss by the Cowboys, and we finish ahead of them in the standings.

Given, a last place schedule gets the Rams and Lions next year, and a third place schedule gets the Seahawks and Packers. So there's that benefit to losing the game this week.  However, any finish ahead of the Cowboys or the Eagles, and you HAVE to consider this a successful season.  9-7 in this division IS something to write home about.

Happy Holidays everyone!
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/non-tape-related-thoughts-on-eagles-v-redskins.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/non-tape-related-thoughts-on-eagles-v-redskins.html Game Review Greg Blache Jim Zorn Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Greg Blache Jim Zorn Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:47:08 +0000 Things could be much worse for the Redskins
We could be the Detroit Lions. Times are genuinely tough in Detroit.

The Detroit auto industry is out of gas. Jobs are at stake. That's when you need a sports team to lift a town's spirit. Not in Detroit. There's no escapism offered by the Lions who are 1-21 dating back to week 10 of 2007. Pity the poor Detroit fan and think kindly of them this holiday season.

We could be the Kansas City Chiefs, by coincidence the last team the Lions beat (25-20, week 16, 2007). In the midst of a two year rebuilding effort, the Chiefs are 6-25 since 2007. They don't have a franchise quarterback. Their starting runner has "issues." Their future Hall of Fame tight end wants to end his playing days with a contender, definitely not Kansas City.

Carl Peterson, the Chiefs long time GM, perhaps made the wrong coaching decision to bring in Herm Edwards. Back in the olden days, in 2006, it was thought a smart move to bring in a guy with coaching experience. Maybe Peterson should have brought in one of those hot young assistants. That's all the rage these days, thanks to Mike Smith, John Harbaugh, Tony Sparano...and Jim Zorn.

Now Peterson is out. Edwards will soon follow. Somebody else will come in to pick up the pieces. Start the clock on rolling another multi-year rebuilding project.

We are not that team.

Ask any Oakland Raiders fan if they would flip Al Davis for Daniel Snyder. That giant sucking sound you hear is the Danny being inhaled from the Chesapeake region to the San Francisco Bay.

Don't like the Skins receiving corps? Al Davis thought Javon Walker was No. 1 material. (Curse you, Drew Rosenhaus.) We've already had our Brandon Lloyd experience.

If Al Davis called the shots for the Redskins, you would still be screaming for a real GM. Only louder.

Only in Dallas would you hear fans call for Wade Phillips' head. He's only 22-9 over the past two seasons. Dallas has this little problem winning playoff games. Since 1996, the Redskins have won more playoff games (2) than the Cowboys (0).

We are not them.

Ironically, by beating the Eagles Sunday, the Redskins gave the Cowboys a second chance to make the playoffs. The Cowboys play the Eagles in Philadelphia this weekend. Who ya got in that game? Here's a hint. It's December. It's the Cowboys. Fly Eagles Fly.

Daniel Snyder did not sell his soul for Brett Favre.

The Jets have to get their Super Bowl hit this year because old No. 4 is already making noise about retiring. Favre's is-he-or-isn't-he-retired melodrama is what soured his relationship with the Packers and it's about to be visited on the Jets.

The New York Bretts are now 9-6 and suddenly looking up to the 10-5 Miami Dolphins led by former Jets quarterback Chad Pennington. The Phenningtons and Bretts are standing in each others way for a playoff spot. If the Jets lose to the Phenningtons, the guttural noises out of Jersey will dwarf anything now heard from Ashburn, Virginia.

The worst of it is that Pennington has another year or two with the 'Phins. If Favre retires, the Jets are cooked. Was it worth it to bring in a big name quarterback for one season? 

Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers have moved on from Favre, from 13-3 in 2007 to 5-10 this year. The Redskins will finish no worse than one game off from their '07 performance.

Nobody picked the Redskins to win the division. Almost everyone picked the Packers to win the conference.

Be glad we aren't the Packers.

And if Zorn closes out with a win, he will have the best start as Washington's head coach since 1971 when George Allen finished 9-4-1.

Playoffs? No. Issues? Most certainly. But things could be much worse.

It's good to be a Redskin fan.


       ]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/things-could-be-much-worse-for-the-redskins.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/things-could-be-much-worse-for-the-redskins.html Dallas Cowboys Detroit Lions Washington Redskins Al Davis Brett Favre Dallas Cowboys Daniel Snyder Detroit Lions Kansas City Chiefs New York Jets NFL Oakland Raiders Washington Redskins Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:05:45 +0000 Redskins to Eagles: Misery Loves Company
But, the Redskins didn't pack it in. That's something. We might have expected that from a character team. High character has been a consistent quality of the Redskins. (Maybe a little less character and a little more scoring?)

As a result of a 10-3 win in which the Redskins led from beginning to end and did not fold in the last seconds, Washington has .500 Beast record a shot at an honorable 9-7 record. Funny how honor counts more when it's all that's left.

The Redskins swept somebody in the Beast at least. And they dealt a probably fatal blow to Philadelphia's post-season hopes.

From NFL.com:

"Had the Eagles (8-6-1) won, they would have moved ahead of Dallas and Tampa Bay (both 9-6) and into the final NFC wild-card spot with one game to play. Now even a victory at home in next week's finale against Dallas won't guarantee a berth."

In fairness to the Eagles, they looked like a team with pieces missing. Receivers Hank Baskett and Kevin Curtis did not play. It showed.

The Iggles had "half-a-dozen drops" according to the story on NFL.com, including a notable one by rookie DeSean Jackson.

Jackson ended the game with 2 receptions for 14 yards. Redskin rookie Devin Thomas caught 1 pass for 17 yards and dropped one other.

Over the season, Jackson caught 60 passes for 866 yards and two scores. Combined performance of Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly: 18 receptions, 138 yards, no scores.

The Eagles selected Jackson in the second round two picks before the Skins took Kelly. Not that Washington would have taken Jackson anyway. He is short when the Redskins lusted for tall.

Jackson was also ready to play at the NFL level. That extra 40 receptions, 700 yards and two touchdowns would have been a big lift for this team, especially if they came at the right time in the right games like, oh say, the Rams and Bengals.

Jackson also returns punts. He averages 8.7 yards per return with one touchdown return and two returns over 20 yards and two over 40 yards.

Antwaan Randle El's punt return average is 6.7 with no scores and no returns over 20 yards.

But, I'm being picky, like most fans these days. The Redskins came out and played football yesterday. They made an effort and gutted out a win.

That's worth celebrating.

The fact that they used all their 2008 draft picks like most fans wanted and found a hit in safety Chris Horton is worth celebrating.

The fact that they backed into a head coach and discovered that Jim Zorn has potential is worth celebrating.

The fact that said new coach will finish no worst than 8-8 and possibly 9-7 is worth celebrating.

The fact that the defense continues to play hard-nosed football and kept Washington in many games is worth celebrating.

The fact that Jason Campbell took another step in his development as a NFL quarterback is worth celebrating.

These are things to build on with the Redskins. That's worth celebrating.

The owner won't likely see it that way. That's worth worrying about.
_________________________

I just knew when the Redskins called time out on third down at the start of the second quarter that the coaches were planning a trick play when they were setting up for a field goal attempt.

They wouldn't really ask Shaun Suisham to make a 55 yard attempt against a heavy wind, would they? That's a low odds affair, isn't it?

If they could somehow draw the Eagles offsides, they would gain a first down by penalty. Or, by taking a delay of game penalty, they would better set up a punt to pin the Eagles deep in their territory.

Punter Ryan Plackemeier was excellent at that very thing yesterday, twice kicking punts for 50 yards to pin Philadelphia inside the five yard line.

Instead, the Skins had Suisham attempt the field goal. It was short. And it was returned by the Eagles' Quenton Demps 55 yards to the Philadelphia 47 yard line.

The defense held, but the Eagles' ensuing punt pinned the Redskins to their 14 yard line.

The Redskins launched a 16 play, eight minute drive from there to score a field goal from the Philadelphia 14.

The Redskins scored, but the exchange of field position left them poorly positioned to score a touchdown after that drive.

That decision to have Suisham kick at the top of the second quarter was a poor one by Danny Smith and Jim Zorn.
_________________________

I have to admit to a grudging respect for the New York Giants. They beat a tough Carolina Panthers squad the old fashioned way -- with power running and a physical defense. Are the Redskins a little too cavalier about going to the West Coast Offense and away from the power run game?

The question has nothing to do with Jim Zorn. Power-running / physical defense is how NFC East teams compete and has been the Redskin brand since George Allen was here.

Philadelphia made a run with the WCO in the first half of the decade, but not much since 2004.

Winning the NFC Beast way demands restocking muscular, physical offensive and defensive linemen to move up when veterans age or get hurt.

The Redskins use low draft picks and undrafted free agents to back-fill those slots. They've been getting away on the cheap. Maybe it caught up to them this season.     




]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-to-eagles-misery-loves-company.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/redskins-to-eagles-misery-loves-company.html Game Review Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins New York Giants NFL Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:09:23 +0000 Quandary for Redskin fan: to go, or not to go to Eagles game
No other Beast team lost to the Cincinnati Bengals. Heck, even the Philadelphia Eagles, our next opponent managed a tie.

Can your team be a member of the NFC Beast when you lose to both the Bengals and St. Louis Rams whose combined won-loss record is 4-23-1. Fifty percent of those wins are courtesy of us.

Yes, it's "us" and "we" and "me" because when you've had season tickets in your family for 45 years, it's "my team." I own it. That guy Snyder just holds the franchise.

Someday, I'm going to calculate how much of my family treasure passed through to the Redskins over those four and a-half decades. Yet, it's a number I really don't want to know.

The question of the moment is whether it's worth it to brave a wet, raw winter afternoon with a possible ice storm for what has become an outdoor entertainment event. A chance to say a seasonal good-bye to fellow ticket holders who you only see in the fall at the games. Not sure how many will be there.

Several season ticket holders I know are wrestling with the same question. They asked me if I were going. My unscientific survey (OK, I only asked four people) revealed that no one believes the Redskins will win this game!

Are the Eagles that much better. No, but they are fighting for something. You want to think that pride will drive the Redskins to win out and finish and honorable 9-7. And you know that the players are only human. Human nature won't let you sell out your body for such a meaningless use. Yet, selling out your body is required at the pro level.

They are coming

Them Iggles fans will be here in force in what has become known as Franklin South where the Eagles have won in seven of their last eight visits.

In the game in week five, Washington was perfectly balanced on offense. "We" made 10 first downs rushing, 11 by passing. Clinton Portis converted a key fourth down with under three minutes in the game.  Fifty-two percent of the yards on offense came on the ground. The Skins scored two touchdowns; one on a pass from Randle El to Cooley, the other on a four yard rush by Clinton Portis. The Skins controlled the clock for 34 minutes.

Last week, the lowly Bengals dominated the clock for 31 minutes. The Skins were forced to pass for 64 percent of the yards. The offensive line, without both starting tackles showed poorly against Cincinnati's defense. Only inches from the goal line, the Redskins couldn't score a touchdown in two tries. Cincinnati! Now here comes the last Beast defense of the season.

We are going to hold off Philly's defense with that offensive line?

This isn't looking good

Yet, I will show up for the Eagles game because I think the team needs support. Somebody has to cheer for them. The Players are clearly in the dumps in spite of the four Pro Bowlers on the roster. The curse of FedEx is that it's big enough to accommodate all comers. They will be there in numbers.

Three days ago, StubHub had listings for the Redskins-Eagles game priced about double the face value ($65 - $100) of the ticket. Today at 3:00 p.m., two fifty yard line lower level tickets are available for $108 each. Others can be had for $42 to $75 each. 

Big stadiums and StubHub and average performance at home makes you question whether you need season tickets. Waiting list or not, seats are always available and can be had for less for face value.

What a deal!

Not Lion to you

Scoring is a problem for the Redskins. You know that already, but how bad is it?

Washington beat the Detroit Lions 25-17 in week eight. If the two teams played a head-to-head series every week since that game, the Redskins would have been 0-5-1 against the Lions. Detroit scored more points week by week than Washington except for week 12 when both teams scored 20 points.

Sure, Washington faced the Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Giants and Dallas defense over that span, but Detroit played the Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Carolina, Minnesota and Indianapolis defense.

Schedules don't explain the difference. This is something about the team.

The good news is that we have the Lions right where we want them, off the schedule.  
]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/quandary-for-redskin-fan-to-go-or-not-to-go-to-eagles-game.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/quandary-for-redskin-fan-to-go-or-not-to-go-to-eagles-game.html Game Preview Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Detroit Lions NFL Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:54:57 +0000 Sammy Baugh Remembered passed away away Wednesday night at a hospital near his ranch in West Texas. He was 94 years old.

You will find plenty of accolades about Baugh on Redskins.com and at the NFL Hall of Fame where Baugh was a charter member, class of 1963.

Before Baugh joined the Redskins (1937), American football was more like British rugby. When Baugh left (1952) football involved "pitch and catch" and fans who wanted more of that.

His departure started the Skins in a long skid from which the team did not stop until George Allen's Over The Hill Gang of the 1970s.

Most Redskin fans have heard of the guy, but never saw him play. So, I went to a friend who has a first hand recollection of Baugh. Here is Tom Dillon's tribute to Sammy Baugh.

I grew up in a time when everything was in a status quo. We knew only one president (FDR), one Pope (Pius XII) and one Redskin (Sammy Baugh). I saw him play many times, probably as early as 1943. After the games the fans could go on the field at Griffith Stadium and get autographs from the players.

We (my brother, sister and me) had an autograph book and got many Redskin signatures in it, including Sammy's. After the games, Sam was always surrounded by the largest crowds, sometimes 100 to 300 people. He would probably stay on the field for 30 minutes before bowing out.

I was present at the stadium for his retirement ceremony. I remember that by that time we had worked our season tickets up to the 50-yard line on the north side of the stadium, (the permanent seats). The team presented Sam with a new Packard station wagon with real wood trim. The newspapers the next day reported, with photos, that Sam apparently took the car to Baltimore to celebrate after the game and managed to roll it over in a ditch. Quite a loss for a star who had reached his maximum reported salary of $30,000 after a long career.

There were a number of quarterbacks groomed the replace Sam - Harry Gilmer, Jimmy Youel, Tommy Mont, Jack Scarbath and others, but none ever had the success of Slingin Sam the Redskin man.

I could go on for a long time with old time Redskin lore, but that is enough for now. Guess I will go and put on my authentic Sammy Baugh jersey.

Good bye, No. 33, and thank you. And thank you too, Tom, for sharing your thoughts.

Sammy Baugh's record may be found at the Pro Football Hall of Fame at www.profootballhof.com.

From Cold, Hard Football Facts, Da Vinci of the Gridiron

Dan Daly, Washington Times, The greatest quarterback you never saw
 


]]> http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/sammy-baugh-remembered.html http://redskinshogheaven.com/2008/12/sammy-baugh-remembered.html Sammy Baugh NFL Sammy Baugh Washington Redskins Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:12:06 +0000