Good, Bad, Ugly: Redskins Lose to Rams, 30-16

Redskins Lose to a Rookie Quarterback for the Sixth Straight Time

Sunday, September 26 , 2010 – 4:05pm
Edward Jones Dome – St. Louis, MO

Redskins (1-2)
Donovan McNabb – 19-32 for 236, 1 TD, 1 INT
Ryan Torain – 7 for 46
Santana Moss – 6 for 124, 1 TD

Rams (1-2)
Sam Bradford – 23-37 for 235, 1 TD, 1 INT
Steven Jackson – 10 for 58, 1 TD
Mark Clayton – 5 for 85

As tweeted yesterday afternoon by Rich Tandler of RealRedskins.com, our home team has been quite generous to the last six rookie QBs that they have faced.

2010: Rams’ Bradford
2009: Lions’ Matthew Stafford
2008: Ravens’ Joe Flacco
2007: Bills’ Trent Edwards
2006: Bucs’ Bruce Gradkowski, Titans’ Vince Young

Coincidentally, the last team the Redskins were able to beat with a rookie QB behind center was Ryan Fitzpatrick’s Rams.

Here are some thoughts on the team and their performance. Some are from this week’s game, some are just general observations.

THE GOOD

• Devin Thomas is sixth in the league in kickoff returns, averaging 28.4 yards per return. On a few of those, he seems he’s just an ankle grab or trip from going the distance. If only we could have some of that height and speed on the offense.
• Laron Landry is the league’s leading tackler with 34 tackles (Rocky McIntosh is third with 31 tackles). It’s not usually a great sign when your safety is the leading tackler, but Landry’s presence has been felt on seemingly every defensive snap. When I’m watching, I feel like as soon as the play begins to show itself, I’m expecting a blurred #30 jersey to come in and lay a hit within 2.3 seconds. On an otherwise charitable defense, he, along with Brian Orakpo, are the two guys you’re most confident won’t screw it up when the play comes their way.
• Philip Daniels is getting up there in football years, but the veteran proved he’s still strong and spry enough to split the Rams’ special teams front for a field goal block right before the first half ended—unfortunately, three failed runs inside the Rams’ 10 to start the third quarter made that momentum short-lived.
• A dose of hope: it’s only week 3 and just one win next week would put the Redskins on top of the NFC East, regardless of the outcome of the Giants and Cowboys games.

THE BAD

• I may be wrong on this one, but from what I saw during the game, there were huge holes in the zone coverage when a blitz was sent. Whether it was inherent to the scheme or guys not sticking to their assignment, I’m not sure, but little Sammy Bradford seemed to often find his man in open space despite the pressure.

Philip Daniels’ take:

“For the most part, we got guys that, I think, come out and try to do too much. They over-run the ball or not being where they are supposed to be or trying to do somebody else’s job. Every man got a job to do on that field, and if you do your job, we’ll be sound. If you’re out there trying to do too much, then you hurt the defense.”

• Quick note on the Clinton Portis saga: setting aside the somewhat contradictory explanations by Coach Mike Shanahan and Portis, my take is if Portis’ hand wasn’t feeling well enough to take a hit in the secondary, Shanahan was correct to bring in backup Keiland Williams Ryan Torain (!) to be the primary ball carrier in the second half. The larger issue is still the running game in general. Just looking at the numbers: between Portis, Torain and Mike Sellers, the backs averaged just over six yards over 15 carries. What’s of concern is that after the Sellers-Torain-Portis triple-fail deep in the red zone, there were only two more attempts to run the ball all game. The next four possessions were all passes, beginning when the Redskins only down five at the time: three & out, three & out, INT on third play and then the  last drive of the game. Despite what seemed to be early success in the running game (over 100 team rushing in the first half), it was completely abandoned in the second half. Granted, over the five carries in the second half, they only netted one yard.
• Dear Albert Haynesworth, please don’t compare your “plight” as a 100-million-dollar athlete to slavery. All I can do is pile on by saying: Come on, Albert… are you serious? No one’s asking you to go mine coal! Just shift over in front of a different offensive lineman, cash your checks and shut up. Haynesworth is still a feared defender—he was double-teamed almost every snap that he played this week—and a valuable part of the defense. A 3-4 defense. I just hope he’s out there more often in the future.
• Next week is a road trip to Philadelphia to play the second-highest rated quarterback in the league: the reborn Michael Vick. Vick, his offense and the always-formidable defense with Trent Cole will probably cause Shanahan to lose a tanning session or two for extra preparation. Please get well soon, Trent Williams.

THE UGLY

The Offensive Line
Thankfully, McNabb escaped Sunday’s contest having been sacked only once, but it was just that: McNabb escaping. The Rams’ defense got in for five hits and plenty of hurries on McNabb. I hope Trent Williams is resting his knee, taking his drugs and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. If Stephon Heyer is the best option the Redskins have to back up Silverback on McNabb’s blindside, they might as well go into two tight end sets perpetually. The problem’s not just Heyer specifically, but the position he’s in makes him the most visible example for a right-handed quarterback needing protection.

For a more complete example, let’s take a look at the interception in the fourth quarter with 3:42, when the game wasn’t completely out of reach and the Redskins still had all of their timeouts:

• It’s 2nd & 15, following a false start penalty on LG Kory Lichtensteiger. Ball is on the Skins’ own 31 yard line.
• Rams show a seven-man rush, overloading the right side of the offensive line with five.
• After the snap, both defensive guys on the left side of the line drop back into coverage.
• The Redskins’ offensive line, as a group, sits back in pass protect formation… except RG Artis Hicks. Hicks steps in front of C Casey Rabach to engage a stunting Fred Robbins, who had been lined up in front of him at the snap, leaving a gaping hole between himself and RT Jamaal Brown
• Rabach engages the next lineman over and Heyer has the defensive end stood up. Lichtensteiger stands without a man to defend.
• Rams’ LB Bryan Kehl and DB Marquis Johnson hit the hole with no one but Portis in the backfield to block.
• Portis chips Johnson, but Kehl is able to put unabated pressure on McNabb, forcing him to throw early.

It was a poor throw by McNabb, and maybe he should have taken the sack, but the pressure he faced in that situation was indicative of the pressure that came all game long. Not particularly because of the strength of the Rams’ defensive line, but because of the offensive line’s inability to adjust and protect. I put the failure to score on three straight runs on the back of the offensive line,  as well. True, those are the toughest yards to earn, but those were points that the Redskins needed badly and they didn’t get the push necessary to get over the goal line.

Five questions going forward:

1. Will Haslett’s last-place defense show enough improvement this week to keep Vick & company contained?
2. Will Trent Williams be able to return to the line?
3. How will McNabb fare in his return to Philadelphia?
4. Whatever the gameplan for the running game turns out to be, can it be effective?
5. With only two touchdowns and five field goals in nine red zone trips so far this season, can the Redskins get in the end zone more often when they get close?

NFC East Standings:

1. Eagles (2-1)
2. Redskins (1-2)
3. Cowboys (1-2)
4. Giants (1-2)

Some fans around town have already thrown in the towel, claiming Shanahan’s nothing more than Jim Zorn 2.0. Of course they have; we live in D.C., land of knee-jerk reactions. Some of the stats so far even support that way of thinking. Maybe there’s some credence to that thought, but I’m not buying it. I’m not saying the Redskins are Super Bowl-bound, but a loss to the Rams has definitely brought the expectations for the season back to a realistic level. Keep in mind, a .500 record would double last year’s win total, though the schedule ahead is very formidable. The one thing we do know is that, as inconsistent as our team is, they seem to adjust their level of play to keep the game close with whoever they’re up against.

NFC East Standings:

1. Eagles
2. Redskins
3. Cowboys
4. Giants (

Redskins May Go Without a Punter

Josh Bidwell needed to be helped off the field during warmups by kicker Graham Gano.

@ryanohalloran: Redskins P Josh Bidwell being helped off field by K Graham Gano. Trainers were looking at his leg.

If Bidwell can’t go, Gano, who also punted while at Florida State, will handle both kicking and punting duties. Not sure who would would replace Bidwell as placekick holder.

UPDATE: Looks like it’d be Chris Cooley holding today. He’s the backup holder. Unlike last year when he was rumored to be the backup punter.

Interesting Tweet From Devin Thomas

At 6:12pm last night, Devin Thomas tweeted:

FINALLY D.THOMAS IS BACK IN THE ROTATION! PLEASE THROW UR ONE’S UP! #11

Looks like McNabb will have a new target against the Rams.

Larry Johnson Gets Vacation Time

The Skins have let Larry Johnson go and replaced him with third-year RB Jerome Simpson, previously with the Bills.

Bruce Allen’s explanation, of sorts:

“We appreciate Larry’s attitude and contributions to the Redskins. However, we needed to make a roster move in preparation for this week’s game against the Rams.”

Guess that’s what happens when you run backwards for -10 yards.

As posted on Redskins Insider, Johnson’s agent, Larry Schaffer, believes this could be a short-term move:

“We were caught completely off guard by it. It was not something that we were expecting. I was told, by the Redskins, that this was a short-term situation brought on by the need to have a special teams running back, that they cannot afford the luxury of two starting running backs for this week.”

“I don’t know [if the Redskins will re-sign Johnson later]. There are no guarantees about anything in this league.”

Redskins iPhone App Released by Washington Post, Reviewed

Personally, I use a combination of Twitter, RSS feeds, the radio, TV and whatever Clinton Portis spews to keep up with the Redskins. Now, there’s a new form of an old source.

The Washington Post just released their new iPhone application entitled “Football Insider” that aggregates all of their information from the popular Redskins Insider blog to columns by Thomas Boswell, Michael Wilbon and Rick Maese into a relatively convenient, yet slightly awkward interface.

The article/column content usually shows up first in an RSS or Twitter feed, but there’s decent value as a Redskins fan in their consistently well-composed game photos. The slowest section to load (it took about 8-10 seconds for the screenshot below), the photo gallery, has some fairly hi-resolution photos that could work great as wallpaper images. Unfortunately, Alex Barron’s “Holding Penalty Heard Round The World” is absent from the selection.

Features:

• “Headlines” section with Blog/Articles/Columns sub-sections
• “Games” section with schedule/results, game times and TV station
• “Photos” with aforementioned gameday galleries
• “Roster” section with player photos, sorted by last name only and only three players visible at once
• “Twitter” section — @RedskinsInsider tweets only.

Overall, the app could use a bit more polish. A few suggestions: searchable articles, WaPo contributors in the Twitter section, sortable roster and videos to go along with the great photos–with the written consent of the NFL, of course. Thankfully, it’s free (unlike the $1.99 version for the full publication) — so it’s worth a look to find out if it’ll be any use for you.

A few screenshots from the app below.

Redskins Players Vote to Decertify the Union

Unanimously, the Redskins players have voted to authorize the NFL Players Assocation to decertify as a union in the event that a new labor deal isn’t struck. The move coincides with recent similar votes from the Giants, Eagles and Cowboys to make the NFC East the first full division to approve this motion.

The move is intended to give the players leverage in negotiating a new CBA with a legal recourse. As long as the owners are negotiating the deal with a certified union, they are protected by the anti-trust exemption and retain the option of locking out the players without fear of litigation. By decertifying the union, the players will then retain the ability to sue the owners in event of a lockout.

It’s an eleventh-hour move, obviously, and teams all across the NFL are conducting these votes and based on the unanimous polls so far, there seems to be very little resistance to this idea.

The owners may still lock out the players in 2011—but it won’t happen without a legal confrontation.