I much prefer getting these out immediately following a game's end as the results are fresh in my mind. Too bad. Anyways, here are my brief thoughts from the game yesterday, enjoy or don't. As always, I use only my eyes to evaluate a game and have no special monopoly on interesting commentary on the results. Reader(s) are encouraged to post their own thoughts. Lots of great commentary over at Blogging The Boys, Grizz covers the Xs and Os much better than me so you might stop by over there.

• Cliches were the name of the game. All those things talking heads love to discuss that allegedly good teams do so well... we did so well. Starting with: Stop the run. Their explanation for why they abandoned the run so early are baffling but entertaining:

"It wasn't hard to run the ball against them," guard Leonard Davis said. "We had a game plan based on the looks they were giving us, and that dictated we stick with the passing game."

Mr. Davis is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts. You can say "it wasn't hard to run the ball against" the Redskins if and only if you... ran the ball against the Redskins. What that doesn't look like is 11 carries for 44 yards. Marion Barber had 8 touches for 26 yards -- 2. 3 something yards per carry -- and Felix Jones had zero carries. Barber had 15 of those yards on one carry, which should tell you how good the other 7 were. The last drive of the game the Cowboys ran the ball to Barber more than once was their first of the 3rd quarter. Result was a touchdown. I have no explanation for why they so willingly gave up on the run, but it wasn't working even before they did, whatever Davis has to say about it.

• Cliches continue: Run the ball well. Final damage was 161 ground yards for 4.4 yards per carry, highlighted by a monster game from Clinton Portis for 121 yards on 21 carries (5.76 YPC). This is the kind of drive that would give die hard old school coaches orgasms:

When this drive begins, the Redskins are up by one touchdown and there's a whole lot of game left. When it ends, seven minutes later, the Redskins are up by two possessions and that's all she wrote.

• Give your secondary a round of applause. If you had told me, prior to the game, that the Redskins would have zero sacks and still win, I'd have laughed. Shawn Springs had what we might colloquially refer to as a "statement game" that statement being: I am a bad ass shutdown corner and I piss excellence routinely. Terrell Owens was silenced by Springs in the first quarter, who did exactly as I'd asked by painting himself all over T.O. The final damage from Owens was 71 yards and a touchdown (12 of which came against prevent defense at the end of the game), not a bad day by most measures, unless you consider that he was targeted 17 or 18 times on the day. He did not have a 20 yard reception. There are no easy solutions to a player as good as Terrell Owens unless you have an incredible player to line up against him, and we do. Shawn Springs is incredible. Anyone who doubts how important he is to this defense has just to recall the horrible shit storm that was 2006 and realize he was the missing link. It wasn't the presence of Adam Archuleta (which we fixed) but rather the absence of Springs for much of the year that did us in. He is the most talented player on the defense. (Fred Smoot you played great, too.)
  
• Rest of the guys played great too. Carlos Rogers was good and bad but not so much of the latter to make me wince. Chris Horton had the pick and continues to find the ball, making him cliche numero tres: "playmaker". Marcus Washington got beat by miles on the Jason Witten touchdown but besides that the linebackers played ok. Witten had a big game but the reality is you can't stop all the people on the Cowboys offense. You shut down Owens (relatively speaking) and Marion Barber and Felix Jones -- not necessarily by anything we did, mind you -- and you've got a good chance to beat them. We beat them.
• So a crazy thing happened. Doghouse Durant Brooks is insecure about his job security, shows up in someone else's house against probably the best punter in the NFL, and outplays Mat McBriar. Final damage was: Brooks 4 punts for 42.8 yards average with two touchbacks, long of 60. McBriar: 6 punts, 39 yards average, only one touchback, 59 long. Welcome to the team, rook.
• What a toolbox this guy Skin Patrol is going to spend all this recap talking about the punter and kicker? You bet I am. You beat the Cowboys by 2 points on the road and it all comes down to: If Suisham misses one of those four kicks we lose. You can have this phenomenally played game otherwise that hinges on whether Suisham is going to go 4/4. His kickoffs were good too.
• ALL HAIL SPECIAL TEAMS I WILL NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT. Kick and punt coverage units were both flawless. Pacman Jones returned three punts for an average of 4 yards. Felix Jones averaged 13 yards per return on kickoffs. Underewoks need to find ways to win and winning on special teams is how you go about doing that.
• Jason Campbell is the quarterback of the future. He will no doubt stumble at some point in the future and throw an interception. He is not without flaws, he is simply playing that way through 1/4th of the season. Having said that, I'm a believer, I've seen enough, Jason Campbell has what it takes to lead this team to sustained success for the foreseeable future. And he's playing well because he cliche alert protects the football. This time last year he would've fumbled the ball six times and lost it seven (check my math on that). We all speculated that Jim Zorn would be great for Campbell, indeed that was the only aspect of Zorn that few of us wondered about, and it's been true. Joe Gibbs placed a huge emphasis on protecting the football but it has been his successor who has somehow convinced this team not to fumble or give away the ball. He's completing 67% of his passes. NFL, you're on notice.
• Also on notice regarding our head coach, who is as real a deal as anyone right now. No offense to the past, this wasn't a Monday Night Miracle. Jim Zorn went into the devil's house and beat them without theatrics or requisite belief in unlikelihoods. This wasn't a game dominated by the loser for all but one quarter. Coach Zorn found a way to get the most out of his players at a time when the rest of the world was expecting the least out of them, and for that he should get 10 strong Hail To The Redskins. I saw him doing hip hip hoorays or some other nonsense after the game. As lame as a hip hip hooray is, I don't care what he says so long as we win.
• And we did win how 'bout that.
• Santana Moss eleventy four million yards on 8 catches bla bla bla this thing can't go on forever. I'd go line item down our roster praising the team because so many people did so many of the little and big things right for us to win this game. This was huge on so many levels, I'm really speechless. I am without speech.

Someone save me here in the comments section, my fingers hurt.

Indebted to Dillweed of Post Game Heroes [ED NOTE: Their post is up here] for taking the iniative on the initial Redskins Roundtable, currently involving just a small smattering of questions between myself, Dillweed, and Ben of the Curly R [ED Note: His post is up here] (who also revealed his Blogger Deathsport picks; he's actually good). Questions w/ answers from Ben and Dillweed posted below, make sure you check their sites periodically throughout the day for my responses to their questions. Enjoy:

1.  What do you consider our biggest strength going into the regular season?

Dillweed: I agree with Will, it's the linebackers.  Our running backs are good…not great, and the defensive line seems to be average at best.  It's hard to say Corners are our strength when the D-line (and blitzes) aren't getting to the quarterback.  With LaRon Landry back our safety position looks a lot stronger, but I have a huge concern at Strong Safety.  We just need to
find a guy that can occasionally cover while primarily being a weapon in
the box, and I don't think we've found that guy just yet.  On offense, our
passing game is unknown to us…we'll find out a lot more about it this
Thursday.

Ben: It has got to be the defense, despite some changes in personnel, Phillip Daniels out and Jason Taylor in, and some injuries, safety LaRon Landry's hamstring, linebacker Marcus Washington's hip and cornerback Shawn Springs bruised calf, this unit has managed the proverbial continuity Joe Gibbs was hoping for at the end of his second term in Washington.  They get started a little dinged with linebacker Rocky McIntosh and cornerback Carlos Rogers coming back from inury in addition to those mentioned above, this unit should get better as the season wears on.

2.  What about the team makes you want to resort to alcohol abuse to
help numb the pain?

Dillweed: Reed Doughty.  It's really not all his fault either…we have been
absolutely spoiled with Sean Taylor and LaRon Landry.  Doughty's mistakes
in the run and passing game have been amplified this preseason because of those two guys.  I still haven't adjusted to the fact that teams will
throw deep on us.  I mean just a year ago that was something you couldn't
do…ask Brett Favre.  If we had a defensive line that could apply pressure
then I wouldn't be so worried about having a weak link in coverage at
SS…but we don't.  And even if Doughty improves in his run defense, which I
think he will in a hurry, what does that leave us with…Adam Archueleta?

Ben: The FUD factor, fear, uncertainty and disarray.  Fear of weak offensive line play and nagging injuries, uncertainty in the strength of Jason Campbell's coming 2008 performance, disarray if the team gets off to a weak start or a large part of the team is simply not working right.

3.  Which NFC East team worries you the most?  How do you think we
will fare against our division foes?

Dillweed: With Sean Taylor, I never feared T.O.  I looked forward to playing him and seeing him get shut down almost every game.  But now…Dallas kinda scares me.  Giants are very physical but as long as Elijah is their QB I'm not too worried about them.  And the Eagles refuse to just open up the check book to hire ONE FREAKIN WR.  I'm so glad I'm not an Eagles fan.  It's one thing to just absolutely suck, but to have an obvious, and easily curable,
weakness never taken care of year after year…that's gotta make you
suicidal.  I think we split with the Giants, Eagles…and hopefully Dallas
too.

Ben: The Eagles, always the Eagles, they are the Redskins principal division rival now, I expect the Redskins will split with the Giants and Cowboys, depending whether the Eagles progress back toward the team they have been for most of the past decade or regress toward the end of the Andy Reid slash Donovan McNabb era, remember how surprising it felt to beat them in game two last season in Philadelphia and how unsurprising it felt to lose to them in Washington seven game later?  The Redskins are looking at best at 3-3 in the division, a more realistic assessment may be 2-4.

4.  What will our regular season record be?  How far do we make it
into the post-season (if at all)?

Dillweed: 9-7…Our running game and defense are the same…schematic wise at least, and I like the continuity on those fronts.  I think the passing game won't hurt us during the home games, JC seems to play a lot better at home. However, the away games are where JC will be tested and probably fail early on.  I think we go 6-2 at home and manage to pull out 3 wins on the
road.  If we make it to the playoffs, we might get one win, but I'd be
surprised (and really freakin happy) to see us go past that.

Ben: My walk through the schedule has the Redskins somewhere between 4-12 and 10-6, depending on whether this team comes together and stays together, or not.  If the Redskins finish 10-6 that should be good for a wild card playoff berth, maybe not, the NFC could be more competitive than the past two years, ie fewer 8-8 teams vying for playoff spots.

I'd like to expand this feature to either include more questions and/or more bloggers in the future, though give me some feedback for now on whether this is goodness or badness. It's greatness for me since Ben and Dillweed know more about the 'Skins than I do.

First, though, I'll open with my closing thoughts on TC from yesterday. I'm trying not to pilfer too much from the fine works of Gary Fitzgerald over at the Official Site, but he identified some compelling camp battles that deserve additional discussion. Moving along to...

Third Cornerback: Springs is number one, Fred Smoot is number two. If all goes well this is really just a battle for the temporary 3rd cornerback, as ostensibly Carlos Rogers occupies that spot (or pushes Smoot down into it) when he returns. I will be watching Rogers' rehab and subsequent return more carefully than whether Byron Westbrook can outmaneuver enough people to stay on the roster or whether Leigh Torrence ends up beating out newcomer J.T. Tryon (Note: I've also seen it spelled "Tyron" a non-trivial amount of times elsewhere; why can't we get this guy's name right?). Speaking of him, he represents a huge source of entertainment for the blogging community as heaping-big word thus far is he has a black belt in Fred Smoot style karate smacktalk.

Fifth Wide Receiver: Gary calls Moss, Antwaan Randle-El, and our two draft picks Devin Thomas and Michael Kelly as the locks. I would be extremely disappointed if it hashed out any other way. That leaves a lot of guys (six as of this writing) competing for one final receiver spot, though teams do carry six wide receivers sometimes, don't they? (Gary says prolly not because we'll have too many TEs.) Especially in this kind of offense? Anyways, I love James Thrash but I think with each passing year the likelihood he still has gas in the tank decreases, and he was a beloved man by the former offensive staff, now largely departed. However, a guy like Thrash is unique from, say, Burl Toler (who Gary Fitzgerald likes, and he'd know more about this battle than I would) because I think Toler can be tucked away on the practice squad, but unless we add Thrash to the lineup he's not going to be with the team in any capacity. I'll throw my support for Anthony Mix, perhaps irrationally. We got pretty worked up for no apparent logical reason earlier this offseason simply because Anthony Mix represented the largest receiver we have on a unit that lacked as much both in perception and actuality. Let's not discount his size: 6'5, 235 pounds, making him closer to Chris Cooley's size than he is to Malcolm Kelly's (our 2nd biggest receiver). That also gives him 35 pounds on any cornerback on our team, which should give you a somewhat good indication of how he matches up against cornerbacks in Re: size generally in this NFL. Burt Toler, on the other hand, is the 3rd lightest person listed on the roster, heavier than only Leigh Torrence and Cedrick Holt. Let me repeat, though, that Gary Fitzgerald would know a lot more about this battle than I would, and if he likes Toler than I'd suggest you pay attention to that guy through TC as well.

Finally, Punter: I have no hate for Derrick Frost and feel bad that it's come to this, but my position is that this ain't no jockeying for position. Teams invest resources into punters infrequently, and our team invested substantial -- for a punter at least -- resources into Durant Brooks. You don't draft a punter to give your current guy something to think about; you draft a punter to punt for you come Sunday. Derrick Frost is a decent NFL punter who will likely find a home after this battle plays out, but Brooks is loaded with potential and talent and should have little difficulty earning the spot on this team. If he doesn't, that will reflect poorly on the team's decision  to draft him, duh. If this battle drags on too long, then I'm going to be flustered.

As intriguing as positional battles are every year, the biggest story, in my opinion, will be the new offense. Coach Zorn is the newcomer here and although he has no competition for head coach, yet, he is still measured by the past moving forward. If this offense shows up equal to or better than Gibbs and Saunders offenses of the past few years, all hail Jim Zorn. If we flounder it will be all eyes on him. The word out of training camp this coming week is going to provide much insight on just how near or far this team is from getting the new offense, and that's going to matter towards the W-L department down the road.

Jason Campbell likewise has no (real) competition for his position heading into camp, but he could a year from now, or much sooner. If he can't take the next step this coming season (and this all assumes he doesn't end up watching his idol throw fooballs for us instead) then the team will begin the move in a different direction, as we are now four years into the Jason Campbell experiment. He'll have much latitude this year, from me at least, but by 2009 I'm going to need to see some improvement to remain behind him. Many of you have expressed perfectly reasonable concerns with or committment to JC and I very much look forward to seeing those two camps of fans argue over him this coming season. Whatever position you may inhabit on that issue, let's all hope he develops into a star.

Enough of me, now to the blognets:

First and foremost, a gigantic welcome to Mark Newgent, newest member of the Redskins internet chattering class and lifelong fan. His new blog, DC Redskins Examiner, is going up on the blogroll to the left here shortly and I'm looking forward to visiting his site daily. Kudos to the DC Examiner for diving into this whole "internet" thing. He also linked here, which makes him good people. This blog is comma will be big time and I encourage you to make it a daily stop. Mark Newgent is no joke; assuming his work out of the gate is any indication, he can write.

Big news for me personally is that Ben is back and all makes sense now. He's been all over the potential Brett Favre to Redskins story, more more more:

I bet if you ask Jason Campbell if bringing Brett Favre onto the Redskins would hurt his development as a quarterback Jason would say hail no son. Wouldn't you like to learn a thing or two on the job from your idol before he retires?

That's an interesting take but I think a debatable one. I think Ben would be 100% correct if JC were younger than me but, alas, he turns 27 this December. The time is now for Jason, imo. (Elsewhere, check out Sportz Assassin's take on Favre here, at Fanhouse.)

I thank Lee Gibbons of The Redskin Report for his grace in not embarrassing me.

Greg Trippiedi talks defensive backs at Hog Heaven and notes, among other things:

Reed Doughty

Reed Doughty was the biggest surprise of the season last year. He’s got a reputation as a run stuffing safety, and the numbers certainly suggest that’s his craft: No. 2 among all safeties in yards allowed per rush attempt (3.8). The team probably feels he can be a run stuffing dynamo (thanks, Mel Kiper) for the next ten years for them.

Where Doughty was more surprising was against the pass, where he actually had the numbers of a top no. 2 safety. Doughty ranked 26th in stop rate last year and 29th among safeties last year with 6.6 yards per attempt against the pass.

The training camp battle for Doughty's safety spot will be an interesting one to watch, but something to keep in mind throughout: no matter how it shakes out, Doughty will remain with the team. If he's the backup, if the defensive staff is convinced we have someone better, injury there won't kill the secondary. We know we can trust Reed to come in and play reliably, and that should never be discounted. It was circa 2006 when the defense was in shambles that an injured Pierson Prioleau necessitated the Adam Archuleta disaster, which turned into Troy Vincent into Vernon Fox into serious discussions of putting Shawn Springs at safety (even though we really didn't have the depth at corner to cover such a move). You're not going to win much of anything -- see, for example: 2006 -- unless you have injury insurance, and it's a good problem to have when your very capable starter from last year is being pushed for his position.

Over at Chris Cooley's blog (hat tip: Dan Steinberg), and I'm about a week late to this show, BEARD GROWING CONTEST:

I'm ready for a new adventure...Greatest facial hair of training camp is going to be this years motif. After leaving Wyoming for my summer vacation I came home with quite a start on my new project. It's been a little over two weeks since I've shaved and I'm as proud as I can be! One thing about my little endeavors is that it is much more fun if I can have a partner in crime, or as many participants as possible. So I've decided to start the Chris Cooley Beard Growing Contest.

Check the site for more details, all of which are awesome. I've already told my girlfriend (she said whatever, I suspect she doesn't take me seriously) that I intend to grow a mustache by the end of 2008, making me the only 25 year old in the continental United States with one. I look absolutely hideous without 1970s era facial hair, but with? Even more hideous, and it will be glorious. Pictures will be pending. In the meantime, I encourage all to participate in Cooley's Beard Growing Contest. Tickets can be won.

Speaking of tickets, CptChaosSidekick won the Redskins Rides contest. The good Cpt needs to email me so I can hook him up with those. For those of you who would likewise like to attend, perhaps with CptChaosSidekick, I'm told that more tickets will become available in the near future. Stay tuned, but while you wait you might keep an eye on Riggo's Rag, since free tickets will also be available there at some point. It is the blogosphere's position that no one should have to pay for tickets.

Homer McFanboy has an interview with Washington Times and Redskins 360 writer Ryan O'Halloran, who I read daily. Here's a teaser than I'll force you to go read the entire interview:

5. If you had to pick one Redskins player, who is most likely poised for a breakout season? Why?

Safety LaRon Landry. I got ripped pretty good for this last year but I think Landry is light years ahead of where Sean Taylor was at the same point of their career. Landry is athletically gifted like Taylor but, entering his second season, is already excellent at anticipating plays, making up for a teammates' mistake/blown assignment and sending messages with physical play. He might not make the Pro Bowl this season but he'll turn out to be the defense's best player.

David Elfin is also a Redskins 360 writer, and he has his take on Don Breaux retiring. I'm going to try and get an Ode post to Don up here later this week, as I think he's deserving of much more praise and admiration than he's received, given what he has done for/and thus what he means to Your Washington Redskins.

Finally, Chris Mottram is cool.

I've run out of time. Enjoy Training Camp; I'll be around to keep you updated to the extent that's possible, but don't be shy about posting FanShots or FanPosts. You never have to wait on me to get the word out on a story here at Hogs Haven. What I'm saying is, explore this space, register, comment, etc. This place is so much more entertaining when it isn't me talking to myself.

I'm going golfing. Enjoy all these tags.

[Note by Skin Patrol, 05/20/08 11:03 AM EDT ] Update per my amigo WCG at Windy City Gridiron. He has his own post up right now on the move, that probably deserves attention. Here's what he told me in an email:

He worked for Bobby DePaul who is well thought of around here. The Bears scouting department, homer status aside, is one of the best in the league.  They get more from late round draft picks then a ton of of teams do with their 1st rounders.   I know the Bears did not want to lose him, I've seen a few blurbs talking about the Bears trying to up his money, but you can't keep a guy from a promotion and DePaul wasn't going anywhere.

I can't recall if I told you this or not, but the Redskins released their pro personnel director Louis Riddick a couple weeks ago. Per the Insider his contract was up this summer, and the team did not intend to extend it, so bon voyage. This created a void in the football operations heirarchy that the team will apparently soon fill with Morocco Brown, formerly of the Chicago Bears.This marks Brown's second stint in Washington:

Brown did not play professionally but worked for the Indianapolis Colts after graduation and joined the Redskins as an intern in 2000...

Brown left an impression in Washington, however, and in a 2001 interview with WolfpackChicago.com (a Web site devoted to N.C. State grads in that area), he said that owner Daniel Snyder mentioned him by name during an organizational meeting following the firing of head coach Norv Turner during the 2000 season.

"The Redskins called a meeting and Mr. Snyder came to address the entire organization," Brown told WolfpackChicago.com. "They said there were two people doing an excellent job . . . Morocco and the janitor."

A lot of people talk about "chemistry" or distinguish certain draft strategies or emphasize the need for a General Manager, but really, and this is just one man thinking aloud here, winning is all about your custodial staff. You clean up the toilets, you clean up on the field. That's always been my attitude; it starts and ends with the janitor. (The janitor? One janitor for all of Redskins park? This man deserves more print, whoever he is.)

Or at least that's what Dan Snyder must hope when he says something like that. Yes, everyone in the entire organization sans the year old intern and the janitor deserve denigration. Followup question: Who was responsible for hiring all those people?

I don't know much about Mr. Brown though the word, at least from Jason at the Post, is mostly positive:

Brown had been assistant director of pro personnel for the Chicago Bears since 2001, earning a reputation as a bright prospect, league sources said, and was someone the franchise did not want to lose.

I've already contacted our Bears blogger to see if he has much insight, though I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. Honestly, I barely knew who Louis Riddick was before we released him, and could only grade him on the pro scouting I was aware of, both the good (London Fletcher) and the bad (Brandon Lloyd). I don't know enough about the Bears' pro personnel transaction history over the past seven years to really judge Brown's tenure in Chicago, though he was the assistant pro scout guy so temper praise/blame accordingly. They did sign Adam Archuleta while he was in Chicago. To their credit, they also cut him. (But they also signed Brandon Lloyd! But then they released him this week; musical chairs.)

Welcome to the Redskins Mr. Brown and best wishes to you and the team.

The Post article had a not-insigificant note at the bottom about increasingly overworked director of player personnel Scott Campbell:

The Redskins are unlikely to hire a new college scouting director following Campbell's promotion, with Campbell slated to continue traveling to college games and overseeing the college scouts. . . .

I suppose it is good that the team has so much faith in Scott Campbell that they'd permit him to do two jobs, much as we did with Cyborg Workaholic Team President slash Head Coach Joe Gibbs, or our apparent one man custodial staff responsible for every urinal deodorizer block for the Redskins. If Scott Campbell is just half the one man show that either Gibbs or Janitor X were, he's going to do just fine.