Let the Second Season Begin

Will the Redskins’ good times continue to roll? The real season, the run for the playoffs, begins with the Steelers.


The first half of the season seemed like a pipe dream. Everything went right. Well, maybe not everything: see St. Louis.


Monday night Pittsburgh arrives in town to usher in reality. To make the playoffs the Redskins need to win half of their last 8 games. How well the season is going? It is quite possible Washington will be favored in 6 of them.


The four hardest contests: the Steelers, Dallas, the Giants & Philly; are at home. Right now only the NY Giants would be favored. The road games are Seattle (2-5), the Ravens (4-3), Cincinnati (0-8) & the 49ers (2-6). Only the Baltimore would be favored.


If the dream season continues and the Redskins were to win 6 of their remaining games, they would not need a pumpkin carriage to get to the ball because they would have home field advantage in the playoffs.


The next three weeks should decide how well the playoff run will go. They play the Steelers, have a bye week and then it’s Dallas again. The Redskins need a spit. Losing 2 straight at home and it will be very difficult to continue the fantasy season.


The key to the second half is injuries. So far the Redskins have a list of walking wounded but no key players are lost for the season. Next week’s bye could not have come at a better time. It eliminates a short week after a Monday night game and it is before Dallas.


First half of the season report card:


Overall -- A --The lone failure was St. Louis
Offense -- B -- Trouble finishing scoring drives
O Line -- A -- Play very well together
Coach -- A -- New student is surprise of the class
QB -- A -- Reaching his potential
Backs -- A -- Portis is better than ever
Wide Outs -- C -- Moss to head of class; rest average
Tight end -- B+ -- Big catches but not scoring


Defense -- B -- How without a pass rush
D Line -- C+ -- No pass rush
Linebackers -- B+ -- Follow leader: London Fletcher
Cornerbacks -- A -- Passing every man-to-man test
Safeties -- B -- No big touchdown mistakes
GM -- C- -- 2nd round picks a bust
Owner -- B -- Bumper Sticker “Honor Roll Student in NFL”

Impressive or Unimpressive?

The Redskins beat Detroit 25-17 to improve their record to 6-2. Impressive.

Washington could not put away the worst team in football until there were 39 seconds left in the game. OK, maybe Shaun Suisham’s 42-yard field goal with 1:56 left iced it. Unimpressive.

Jason Campbell was 23 for 28 for 328 yards. Clinton Portis rush for over 120 (126) for the 5th straight game. Santana Moss caught 9 passes for 140 yards. The Redskins had 439 net yards in total offense. Exceptional. What makes the triumph truly remarkable is the fact that if it wasn’t for a Moss’ 80-yard punt return for a touchdown, they could have lost. Nothing special, maybe just lucky.

Stats wise the defense didn’t play poorly. Detroit completed just 2/12 3rd down plays, only had 57 yards net rushing while passing for 274 net yards. Of course, 81 of those passing yards came on a 4th quarter drive that cut a 12-point lead to five.

Impressive stats usually are for losers. Points are for winners and the Skins scored over 20 points for the 3rd time this year, all wins. They did this while resting many of their walking wounded including their best offensive lineman, Chris Samuels and their best defensive back, Shawn Springs. Hopefully, everyone will be ready for Pittsburgh next Monday night.

So it goes. The Redskins had the ball for over 10 minutes more than Detroit, but couldn’t put the Lions away.

This is the yin yang of Redskins football. They do a lot more right than wrong. So they are winning more than losing. Who would not always trade an infuriating loss to St. Louis for the exhilarating triumph over the Cowboys? They are a pleasure to watch most of the game. Then they make you squirm in your seat at the very end.

Remember -- a win is a win. Hey, at the beginning of the year people would have been overjoyed with a 4-4 record.

The Redskins would take the same outcome when they host the Steelers because they know it is not important to be impressive. Or perfect. Winning cures everything.

Easy Victory? Pass the Ball!

Look up horrible in the dictionary and you may find a picture of the Detroit Lions.

The reason the Lions are winless is really obvious. They are averaging just 16 points a game and are 27th in the league with an awful average of 265 yards of total offense. This is the better half of Detroit’s stats. Hideous may be the better word to describe the defense, which is ranked dead last giving up 419 yards a game.

The Redskins can select its attack mode. The Lions rank 31st on pass defense ( 251 ypg) and 31st against the rush (168).

The best idea would be to get back to the West Coast passing attack, for a couple of reasons. Clinton Portis has rushed 48 times for 304 yards in the last two games. Both games came down to the opposing team lining up for a game winning/tying field goal attempt at the end of the game. The Redskins split the games. The Lions’ Jason Hanson is 8 for 8 in field goals, so it would be wise to avoid this scenario.

There is an oddity to the last two games. Despite Portis’ rushing success, the time of possession was no longer a big advantage for the Redskins. Cleveland actually had the ball for two more minutes, while the Redskins advantage against St Louis was just two minutes. In the 4-game winning streak that has made the season, the Redskins averaged a 10-minute possession advantage. In those 4 games, Jason Campbell averaged 32 passes. In the last 2 games, his average is 25. In the first 3 games of the streak, Portis carried 21 times a game while in the last 3 his averaged went up to 26.

In the winning streak, the Skins averaged just under 26 points a game. In the last 2 games, just over 15 ppg.

Now the Redskins will attack what Detroit’s defense gives them. One would have to think that the Lions first defensive priority would be to stop the running game after watching Portis average 132 yards in the last 3 games.

First downs appear to be the key to the way Washington plays. Against Cleveland, the Skins pass on its first 2 first-down possession in the first half. Then didn’t pass again until there was 2:16 left in the 0-0 first half. On the two second half touchdown drives, the first down plays were split between the run & pass. The first touchdown coming on a Portis run and the second coming on a pass to Santana Moss.

It is scary to think that the Redskins will let the Lions stay in the game. Maybe if we find the West Coast passing attack again, Washington can have an easy triumph.

Redskins Success -- Lack of Injuries

There is a combination of reasons why the Redskins are off to their quick start. The improved play of quarterback Jason Campbell; the running of Clinton Portis; the execution of the offensive line; ditto for the defensive line, the inspired play of linebacker London Fletcher.

A major part of the mix for success is injuries or lack of them.
The Redskins have made the playoffs 2 of the last 3 years. In 2006 Portis went down, so did the playoffs. Ouch!

This raises the question: which players can the Redskins least afford to lose?
1. Quarterback Campbell
2. Left tackle Chris Samuels
3. Portis
4. Linebacker London Fletcher
5. The rest of the offensive line.

Who would have thunk? Campbell is on the top of the list? There were some people hoping he would get hurt so that Colt Brennan could play. Forget Brennan! Last year’s replacement Collins was successful because he was the only man in the NFL who could run offensive coordinator Al Saunders ridiculously complicated system. Without Campbell, the Redskins would be facing 8-man fronts. As well as the offensive line is playing, they can only block so many people.

If Samuels goes down, say good bye to the running game. On the NFL web site the depth chart for the Redskins has no backup listed. The backup is Stephen Heyer, who started the year at right tackle, was hurt and has now been beaten out by Jon Jansen.

Portis is carrying the offense right now. His back up, Ladell Betts, is out. Betts did so well replacing Portis 2 years ago, that some believe he was the better runner – Betts is no Portis. It is too much to expect that recent pick up Shaun Alexander can approach his Player of the Year form of 2005.

The defense is playing out of this world. However, it is truly a no-name defense. Andre Carter and Cornelius Griffin anchor the line but their names are not call all that often. The name you hear is London Fletcher. He is 5th in the NFL with 60 tackles. He had 12 solo tackles against the Giants. His leap frog of the offensive line to stop Cleveland on the goal line Sunday was a play you see once every 5 years and usually in a high school game.

The offensive line is playing so well, trauma of breaking it up with an injury is hard to imagine. Heyer can play either tackle spot, but is better at pass protection than run blocking. Jason Fabini, who started 13 games last year, when the line was crippled by injuries, is the only other experienced backup.

Right now the Redskins have some walking wounded, but are relatively healthy. The longer they stay hale & hearty, the longer the roll will continue.

Catching a Break

 

Did the Redskins catch a break when Cleveland upset the Giants Monday night? No question it helps in the standings, but the real question is that with Cleveland coming to town on Sunday, does it put the Skins in a better position with the Browns coming of a Monday night triumph at home? We will see.

Speaking of breaks, I am going on vacation. Will try and keep track from a far. Will return next week.

Total Loss

The Redskins lost to the worst team in football! At Home!!!!

They could of, maybe would of, if guard Pete Kendall hadn’t caught a pass only to have it turn into a 75-yard fumble return for a touchdown, but they should not of won.

Are we right back where we were after the season-opening loss to the Giants?

No, this was a completely different loss. Right now the Giants are arguably the best team in football. In that game the Redskins were completely out played. The could not of, would not of and should not of won.

Looking at the stats, the Redskins looked like winners – they had 368 net yards to just 200 for St. Louis; 22 first down to 8; averaged 5.8 yards a rush to 2.9; average 6.2 yards passing to 4.4. They scored 10 4th-quarter points to take the lead. Stats are for losers and the Redskins lost.

St. Louis didn’t do anything special to win. At the end, it appeared that they tried to give it way again when Richie Incognito got a 15-yard personal foul penalty to lengthen the game winning field goal attempt from 34 to 49 yards.

How did they lose? Sacks & Fumbles!

The offensive line gave up 4 sacks including 3 in the second half which didn’t help the comeback attempt. The one in the 1st quarter preceded a St. Louis field goal drive.

They coughed the ball up 4 times, losing 3, including the one returned for a touchdown at the end of the first half, where the Redskins were ready to kick a field goal to give themselves a 10-3 lead but ended up trailing 10-7.

Some losses have silver linings. Not this one. The loss was to an NFC team and therefore could make a difference in playoff spot tie-breakers. This is a loss that players, coaches and fans will only regret and hope they can forget. Only a week ago the Giants were almost upset by Cincinnati, but pulled out a win. This is what playoff teams do.

Not only no silver linings, but a loss that makes the 4-game winning streak look like fool’s gold.

What? Me Worry?

The Redskins are underdogs no more.

They are solid 13½ point favorites Sunday against winless St. Louis.

The only stats you need to know are that the Rams are averaging less than 11 points a game while giving up more than 36. On the other side of the ball they are scoring almost 22 points a contest while giving up less than 20. Maybe an easier way to say it is both teams have played the Giants & Philly. The Skins lost to the Giants, 16-7, while beating Eagles, 23-17. The Rams were slaughtered by both – Giants, 41-13, & Philly, 38-3.

What? Me worry?

Well there are concerns.
1. St. Louis is coming off a bye week. Off hand this would not be a big issue, but during the last 2 weeks, the Rams fired their coach and hired former New Orleans coach Jim Haslett, who has had time to put in new schemes.
2. Since the back-to-back on-the-road wins over Dallas & Philly, the praise has been off the charts. Tim Brant of WJLA TV, called them the favorites in the NFC East. How this is possible with the Super Bowl champion Giants still undefeated & having beaten the Skins is mind boggling. However, it is the kind of statements people are making about the team.
3. There has to be a let down. While Coach Zorn preaches no highs and no lows, these are overpaid NFL players, who always have let downs a couple of times during the season. Best teams do not always win, that is why they play the games.

My biggest concern is the let down. Hopefully, the home crowd will fire them up.

St. Louis is a bad football team. The power rankings consistently have them as the worst team in the league. While Haslett is a good coach, he is not a miracle worker.

Haslett is a defensive coach by trade. Since he was the defensive coordinator promoted to Interim Head Coach, he probably will not be making a lot of changes to the defense. On the offensive side of the ball, what is he to do? He will go with Marc Bugler over Trent Green at Quarterback. Running back Steven Jackson is a talented and versatile. He can put up big number both running and catching the ball. He is not off to a great start, but that could be because he is still learning our friend Al Saunders’ 700-page play book.

This game is not about St. Louis, but about the Redskins. In the four-game winning streak, the biggest margin of victory was 7 points. The question is can the heavy favorite dominate a bad football team.

Redskins & Maryland Football

Has anyone every notice the relationship between the Redskins successes & failures and Maryland football?

This old idea came back watching the last 2 weekends. Maryland on the road at Clemson looks completely out matched in the first half and one could only hope that the Skins would not get routed by Dallas the next day. The Terps came back to win and the Redskins beat Dallas.

The same feeling came when Maryland lost to Middle Tennessee State and the Skins poor showing against the NY Giants. So you can imagine the feel of doom & gloom after Maryland was routed by Virginia. The Redskins were in the same scenario coming off a big-time road victory and on the road again. The hope was that the Redskins would stay competitive in Philly. Naturally the Skins made the weekend by winning.

This feeling of happiness and sadness did not start this season. It goes back to the early 1970s where the only football success since the mid 1950s, came and died with Vince Lombardi. While the years do not match exactly, Jerry Claiborne showed up at Maryland and George Allen with the Skins. Allen got the Skins to the Super Bowl and a couple years later Claiborne coached Maryland to the Cotton Bowl. The locals lost both games. The coaches kept their squads competitive but never reached those heights again.

Then came the early 80s, which is the best decade of football in Washington. Nothing can match Joe Gibbs guiding the Redskins to three Super Bowl appearances in seven years. Under Bobby Ross Maryland football became fun again, consistently ranking in the top 25. After basketball star Len Bias’s death, Ross was run out of town by Maryland’s academics, who would not let him recruit players who were allowed into schools like Virginia and North Carolina. This is still an issue at Maryland.

Gibbs retired after winning his 3rd Super Bowl in 1991 and both programs became irrelevant. Maryland became a factor again when Coach Ralph Friedgen arrived in 2001, winning 20 games his first 2 years and taking the squad to the Orange Bowl. After the Virginia loss last week, there is the feeling that the program is just hanging in there.

Four years ago Joe Gibbs returned to save the Redskins. While they made the playoffs twice in his four years, there was a feeling that a run in the playoffs was becoming an impossible dream.

Coach Jim Zorn is off to a fast start like Friedgen. The Redskins are exciting and a contender. We now get to see if the Redskins become relevant in the NFL again.

Redskins in the Playoffs

OMG – the Playoffs!

Can it be true, the Redskins are going to the playoffs? Unbelievable!!

The Skins are no longer the underdogs. Barring serious injuries, they will be favored in at least 6 of their remaining games – St. Louis, Browns, Detroit, Ravens, Cincinnati & the 49ers. Even if they only win four of these games, it would mean that they would have to win just 2 of their other games – Pittsburgh, Cowboys, Seahawks, Giants & Philly. All but Seattle are at home.

In September, everyone marveled about the offense. Well it is October and now it is time to praise the defense. Philadelphia’s offense scored one touchdown yesterday. One! It came on the opening scripted drive where the Eagles ran new plays. The Redskins adjusted right then and there. Not at halftime, but on the field in the first quarter. It was the key to the game as Philly scored on a punt return to put the Skins in its 14-0 hole, but couldn’t put the Skins away.

Defensive coordinator Greg Blache is doing a terrific job, quietly. Is anyone saying we miss Gregg Williams now? Unlike Williams, Blache has a down home way of talking. When asked how the defense was able to play so well when it was without end Jason Taylor, linebacker Marcus Washington and corner back Shawn Springs, here was his response.

“Our defense is built like an old automobile, you can buy another water belt or fuel pump or whatever; we don't have all the computer chips."

The old parts are getting better with age. End Andre Carter was outstanding. Tackle Cornelius Griffin just stops the run up the middle. Linebacker London Fletcher tackles anything that gets by and cornerbacks Fred Smoot and Carlos Rogers are playing man-to-man converge ridiculously well. Wait until the broken parts are fixed and put back in place.

Relatively new pieces like linebackers Rocky McIntosh & H.B. Blades along with safeties LeRon Landry & Chris Horton are keeping the “Old Chevy” running like new.

While the defense can not get enough credit for the unbelievable start to the season, PLEASE, do not overlook the play of the offensive line. Chris Samuels is playing like the best offensive tackle in the NFL, Randy Thomas has a pro bowl shot and center Casey Rabach has been outstanding. Forget those penalties against Dallas. Has anyone notice since Jon Jansen’s returns we are now running the ball to the right side?

Maybe the biggest sign the Redskins are going to the playoffs is that Santana Moss didn’t catch a pass and there were no complaints from him like our friend T O in Dallas. This team believes and it is now time that others start believing too.

Tough Call

Who’s going to win with the Redskins at Philly? Very tough call.

Picking winners is easier said than done. While I have been in the winner’s circle in office pools, so far this year I am only averaging 9 correct picks in my pool, without the spread. There are several factors going into making the prediction: stats, schedule, injuries, emotion and gut feeling.

On the surface the stats favor Philadelphia. After all, according to total yardage the Eagles rank 3rd on defense and 6th on offense; the Redskins are 14th and 9th respectively. Defensively the stats really favor Philly as they ranked 1st against the run (53.8 yards a game) and 11th defending the pass.

Yet, to consider just the stats and not the schedule would seem to be a mistake. The Redskins have played the 2nd (Dallas), 3rd (New Orleans), 4th (Giants) and 5th (Arizona) best offenses in the NFL. The Eagles have played Dallas and they have also faced 2 of the worst offenses , St. Louis (30) and Pittsburgh (29) and no one fears the 19th rank Bears offense either.
The schedule also favors the Skins on offense. Plus, the offensive stats are close. Philly averages 5.5 yards a play while the Skins are 5.4. Passes completed the Eagles are 65.8% while Washington is 65.6%.

If there is a big difference it is in rushing the ball. The Redskins are averaging 4.3 yards a carry while Philly averages 3.5. Part of this is due to Eagle running back Brian Westbrook who missed Sunday night’s Chicago game. Another part is a difference in West Coast philosophy. Philly really believes in pass first, second and sometimes third. The Redskins bring smash mouth rushing to their West Coast attack. This is the key to the game, if the Redskins can run they will be hard to beat.

Whether Westbrook plays is a big deal. His brother Byron, who is on the Redskins practice squad, says he will not play. Philly is saying he is doubtful, but he practiced. If he is practicing, count on him playing.

The key is emotion. Philly is 2-2 and really needs to win this game at home. The Redskins are on a roll and haven’t done anything wrong in 3 weeks. While they will come to play, there has to be a let down from last week’s upset of Dallas.

The gut feeling is Philadelphia.

Of course, the gut is only averaging 9 wins a week in no-points, pick-the-winner pool.

House Money

The Redskins are playing with House Money.

No one expected them to finish September with a 3-1 record. No one expected them to beat Dallas in their last game at Texas Stadium. No one expects them to beat Philly on the road Sunday. Well maybe no one is no longer true, but the spread has them 6½-point underdogs.

This is a double-down game for the Skins. If they lose they are 3-2 after playing all 3 NFC East games on the road. This again is ahead of all expectations. If they were to upset the Eagles, they would have a 2-1 division road record. Jackpot!

Even with a loss to Philly, the hand they have been dealt looks very good. They play St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit next with the Rams and Browns at FedEx Field. They could run those games. The pot would be right for the playoffs.

Home field in the playoffs? Outrageous idea, but not out of the question. With a victory over the Eagles, there would be No-Limit.

Right now the Skins are having had a run of good luck. Jason Taylor has been the only big-time injury. While no one is sure how long he will be out, the Redskins were able to pressure Romo enough to throw him off his game. Lack of depth would be one of their biggest weaknesses. Injuries will up the ante.

It seems each week is a showdown. New Orleans, Arizona and Dallas were undefeated when the Redskins played them. It was the Skins who had a loss. Teams coming off victories can lose some intensity the next week. They hear how good they are. Mistakes are over looked because winning cures everything. Well this week, it is Philly with 2 losses, including to the Bears Sunday night. While this is too early in the season for a must game, there will be people saying this in Philadelphia.

The trips-to-winning in the Redskins luck department is the hiring of Coach Jim Zorn. Don’t for a minute think that Dano Snyder and Vinny Cerrato were anything other than lucky. Coach Zorn doesn’t hold them; so far he’s never folded them…he just plays them straight up. Maybe as the season goes on the other coaches will figure out his style but right now he is All-In.

So are the Redskins.