Erasmus James Activated/ Randoms

by CptChaosSidekick on Aug 11, 2008 2:29 PM EDT

[Note by Skin Patrol, 08/11/08 2:36 PM EDT ] Promoted, edited slightly, thanks CptChaosSidekick.

Some good news, it seems that our training staff might be pretty good after all. As usual the Redskins Insider clues us in:

Defensive end Erasmus James has passed his physical and will be activated from the physically unable to perform list.

That means someone had to go and that someone is Kevin Huntley, a veteran defensive end who had failed to move up the depth chart. He's a DC area guy who had spent some time with Atlanta, but after the Jason Taylor trade and with James getting healthy, Huntley was expendable.

Now imagine this, if James can get back to full speed our Redskins could have three DE's capable of applying heat on 3rd down situations ala New York Giants '07. Jason La Canfora sees the Redskins posibly lining him up at DT in some senarios. Mr. La Canfora hosted an online chat:

D.C.: With all due respect to the previous HOF coach, this time last year and well into the season the Skins could not even line up and snap the ball consistently. After 2 mostly penalty free preseason games it seems Zorn's basic football coaching skills surpass previous administrations.

Jason La Canfora: I am with you 100 percent.

Game day was a mess under Gibbs. It really was. All of that clutter and pre-snap motion and mumbo-jumbo that never really fooled anyone and resulted in a lot of penalties (too much time, offsides, etc).

This looks like it will be a smoother operation, but, again, let's see how it goes when the results really matter. Early returns are promising, but that's not alwasy the best way to project.

The above is the first thing I was looking for when Zorn took the controls. IMO All of that clutter and pre-snap motion and mumbo-jumbo was a thing of the past and worked in the 80's & early 90's but not in this day-and-age. I remember several offensive personnel complain that the opposing defense knew what play the Skins were about to run before they hiked the pigskin. To Zorn's early credit, his uptempo way of doing things is looking good. Faster play-calling, faster coming out of the huddle to disrupt the defense, and playcalling generally all looking grand.

Randoms:

WR Devin Thomas could make his first appearance this preseason as he returned to the practice field. LaRon Landry is being handled with kiddy gloves and Zorn says he'll play in one of the preseason games; ny guess is that he'd be playing if this were the regular season. Against the Bills Antwaan Randle El had his hand stepped on but is doing fine and is practicing, however Anthony Mix, who, depending on where you go for your Redskins news, either broke a rib -- or didn't -- might miss up to a week or more. Fellow WR Billy McMullen is looking good and might just push Mix out of the roster.

Well that's it for now. -HTTR

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Careful on the Mumbo Jumbo and pre-snap motion

It won 3 superbowls, and was succesful enough to get the Washington Redskins into the playoffs twice out of 4 years. While that may not be a good success for the Washington Redskins it is more success than a majority of the teams in the NFL, ask the Superbowl-less MN Vikings.
At the same time do not want to knock what Zorn is doing and with all the pre-preseason Prognostication that the Redskins are not built for a WCO maybe that is the real difference. The team is very well setup to run the WCO version which Zorn is developing.
The up-tempo and doing it right everytime is the positive change which Jim Zorn is bringing to this group of veterans, Sorry, old players.

by dr WNC on Aug 11, 2008 3:10 PM EDT reply actions

If you remember those SB's were some time ago

Gibbs play-calling was lame. It reminds me of how most of the Big-10 operates, three plays and a cloud of dust. Constantly lining up with 2 TE’s and trying to John Riggins it when you don’t have that type of back lead us to many game we should’ve won or barely did win. As the Vikins go it was our D that kept us in those games and a backup QB that was a game manager. Great D + average offense= W’s. See 2000 Baltimore Ravens.

I'm worried about the beer supply. After this case, and the other case, there's only one case left- Barney Gumble

by CptChaosSidekick on Aug 11, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm with you Cpt.

As a fellow PSU fan, I can attest to the huge strides forward an offense can make when the ::ahem:: old guy stops calling the plays. There’s a special place in my fan heart for coach Gibbs and JoePa and I’ll never say anything truly bad about them, but just take a look at the numbers the PSU offense started putting up after JoePa relinquished control. It’s night and day.

Gone are the days of run, run, pass on 3rd and 5 or more and I truly believe that Zorn is capable of breathing some life into the Skins offense. The pieces are there, it’s just a matter of putting the puzzle together.

by ReggieBullits on Aug 11, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions