(You are not reading about this because I refuse to have anything to say on the subject. Readers are free to discuss whatever they'd like.)

Long odds those furry critters had against the evil Empire, which frames well this week's game against the Dallas Cowboys. Depending on who you ask, the Redskins are something like a 10-11 point dog ewok, which is the biggest margin of the gambling week. That's especially distressing in light of the fact that someone has to play Kansas City.

The importance of a sploding the death star cannot be overstated, and hinges largely on where one shoots. In this instance, Terrell Owens is a womp rat sized target:

[Last year at Texas Stadium] Shawn Springs was matched up in man coverage on Owens for most of that half, and though Owens beat him to the corner of the end zone for a four-yard TD, Owens didn't hurt the Skins otherwise in that half (four other receptions for 40 total yards. Washington had yet to give up the big play - QB Tony Romo's longest pass in the first two quarters was for 23 yards.

But the Skins went to much more of a zone look in the second half, the corners played deeper off the line, and they were burned repeatedly for it. Three of Owen's four catches in the second half were for long TDs, with linebacker London Fletcher, and safeties Pierson Prioleau and Reed Doughty among those who got caught making coverage mistakes. Sean Taylor was hurt for that game, with the season about to take a sickeningly horrible turn, and the secondary was in disarray in the second half, with communication between the safeties and corners problematic to say the least.

Yea so that sucked, etc. and raises questions why we make adjustments to the strategies that work. That might be Jacksonville's problem now, but I digress. I would happily sacrifice our old strategy of lining up #1 and #2 CB on their side regardless of who lines up opposite them (like Carlos Rogers yo) in favor of just painting Shawn Springs on T.O. every minute of the game. I'd send him over to the Cowboys sideline, if possible. They should carpool.

Crikeys I'm too honest to ever succeed at blogging. Over two years ago I made a ridiculous case that Santana Moss was a better receiver than Terrell Owens. I was wrong. My heart was in the right place, the actual results were not. But, for the first time since 2005, I'd wager, Santana Moss is owning Terrell Owens statistically by traditional and better metrics. On a long enough timeline, many even ridiculous claims have a good shot at validating eventually, so here's to hoping for a 2008 that looks like 2005, for Moss at least.

And for us, since that was both the last time I didn't attend the Cowboys-Redskins game at Texas Stadium and also the last time we won. My fault.

Why didn't the league schedule the final game at Texas Stadium betwixt the Redskins and Cowboys? You spend 50 years developing this intensely bitter rivalry only to squander perhaps the once every 50 year opportunity to actively encourage this bitter hatred, and you give it to the Ravens? On NFL Network? I'm about half as pissed off by that as any self-respecting Dallas Cowboys fan should be. As crazy as this sounds, instead of giving Texas Stadium a proper funeral at the hands of the Washington Redskins, a team the Cowboys have history with and have played more than any other team in the league, you give it to the Baltimore Ravens who the Cowboys are 0-2 against or, put differently, the team they've played fewer times than anyone else in the league? Cool beans, NFL. Looking over the list of their opponents, there quite literally isn't a single team the Cowboys could have played in the final game of Texas Stadium history that would be less interesting. The Texans are the only other team to have played the Cowboys as little as the Ravens, and at least that represents state pride fight night.

Anyways, I'll ask Dave of Blogging the Boys about it later this week. In the meantime, scope out their concerns for this weekend:

Jason Campbell is a young QB with a mountain of potential. He played really well against us last year, throwing for almost 350 yards and two scores in Dallas. It took some T.O. heroics for us to pull that game out.

No one's saying Campbell is near Romo. But he can hurt us. We need to get pressure on him and keep pressure off Romo. The Deadskins are hurting with injuries. Jason Taylor is sitting this game out.

I'll take it.

Suffice to say this goes double true for us, given that we're the damned underdogs in this fight and pressure without blitz is the great equalizer in the NFL. If Tony Romo can pass comfortably with all the time in the world, it won't matter what T.O.'s stat line looks like because whatever omissions exist in his TD column will be filled by production in Jason Witten's. Speaking to yesterday: No one is going to beat the Cowboys for us, and if we want to do so, on the road, it will take more than crossed fingers. Chris Wilson save us and nom nom nom Tony Romo.

(NO FEAR.)

via virtualhug.files.wordpress.com

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.