per La Confora's column after practice today:

Clinton Portis is questionable at this point and his chances of facing Dallas on Sunday are "50-50," Coach Jim Zorn said after practice today. Portis has a knee sprain that has worsened since the team last played Nov. 3.

Zorn remains optimistic that Portis will play, but conceded that "it would be a major issue for all of us," if he cannot. Zorn said that second-string back Ladell Betts may be back from his knee injury for Sunday's game, but that he is not "expecting" that result.

"50-50" is perhaps better than the "doubtful" of my headline; yet I say "doubtful" for two reasons. One is, coaches tend to put a more positive shine on situations than they actually are because it's better for morale. The other is that the knee has actually worsened over the past week. If it's trending the wrong way, it has to turn around and trend the right way in the next 6 days. Ugh.

With Betts also likely inactive, we are potentially looking at Cartwright and Alexander doing all the RB work, which I imagine would mean a gameplan involving more of Cooley and lots of slants to Moss, who is expected to play, In the good news department, both Springs and Taylor are also expected back.  

The season is officially halfway done, and the Skins are a surprising 6-2. Some games (the Rams) might have gotten away,

but in some others, the team was able to hold on. So, lets take a look at how the team has done thus far:

OVERALL: 6-2 is good. Wins at Dallas, at Philly and at home for New Orleans are good. Losing at the Giants is long forgotten, and the Rams game appears to be an aberration. Like I've said before, if you told me 6-2 before the season started, I would have taken it without second thought. This stretch of schedule featured some of the easier games the team had all season, but like the old saying goes: you can only beat those teams on your schedule.

Grade: B+

COACHING: Jim Zorn has been better than expected. He doesn't look like a rookie head coach based on his decisions and game management. He also looks like a veteran OC with the way he's called some of the games. Mistakes, yes. But overall much better than I expected.

On the defensive side, Blache is good at 2 things: giving quotes and calling a game. I really like the way he has worked with his personnel and really developed a pretty good defense. They've had some key injuries (Taylor, Doughty, Springs) but they've worked around it. They are 6th in yards allowed at 278.1 and 8th in scoring defense after giving up 18.1 points a game. I'd like to see more turnovers, but I always take what I can get. In the NFL, the magic number is 20: you score more than that consistently, you should win because you should be able to hold teams to that. This defense does.

Grade: A-

OFFENSE: Two words: Clinton Portis. He's been on fire all year, but especially after getting called out. Thank you, Brian Mitchell. He leads the league in rushing with 944 yards. But since he's had an extra game (no bye week yet), it might be misleading to say that the next highest rusher is Adrian Peterson with 684, or 260 yards less. So, I'll go to the 118.0 yards per game for Portis compared to Peterson's 97.7. Umm... yeah. He's been that good. Big props to the offensive line.

Almost under the radar is JC's season. He has finally lived up to the 1st round QB hype and is one of only 6 QBs with a 100+ rating and his 100.5 is good for 5th. That puts him ahead of the likes of Manning (both), Favre, and Roethlisberger. Not too shabby. Of starting QBs, he's the only one to have 0 INTs and has only 1 fumble lost all year. Talk about protecting the football. Again, big ups to the offensive line for allowing JC time and giving up only 16 sacks.

Overall, the offense is towards the bottom of the league in points (20.6) but they are towards the top in TOP (6th at 32:30), a stat I personally don't put much stock in but some of you might. A stat I like better is 1st downs (7th at 20.3 per game). Mike Leach taught me that. Well, not personally. #rd down percentage is middle of the pack at 38.8%, but the 4th down percentage is tied for 2nd best at 80% or 4 for 5. Good stuff.

Grade: B (Portis gets an A++.)

DEFENSE: This phase has carried the team thus far this year. London Fletcher is the man. Rookie Chris Horton has proven himself in place of Doughty, but the man I want to spotlight is Carlos Rogers. He, along with fellow 2005 1st rounder Jason Campbell have both come of age this year. Rogers, coming off a knee injury that ended his 2007 season, has looked like the corner the team thought they were getting when they drafted him 9th overall.

The only problem with the defense is the pass rush (10.0 is 8 games). A lot of that can be chalked up to Jason Taylor's injury, but still... they need to get to the opponent's QB. The 5 Forced fumbles and 5 INTs (3 from Horton) are good, but pressure from the front 4 makes everyone else better. The 35.6 3rd down percentage is another good thing.

Grade: A-

SPECIAL TEAMS: Yikes. Anytime you replace a punter mid-season, there have been some problems. Rookie Durant Brooks was just flat out bad. He had some good punts, but he was inconsistent... which is pretty much the one thing an NFL punter cannot be. To his credit, P Ryan Plackemeier has been pretty okay since joining the team, but the team is still dead last in punting with a 39.1 yard average. Double yikes.

The incumbent K Suisham has been pretty okay as well. Only 5 touchbacks, but the coverage teams have been there to make plays. He's also 16 for 21 on FGs, but at least one of those has been blamed on Brooks' holding. Not great but okay.

As usual, KR Rock Cartwright is near the top of the league with a 25.5 yard average and a long of 50. That's consistency. The team has a 25.1 yard average overall. The PR is middle of the pack at 9.4 yards per return, but that's largely due to Moss's return for a TD last game. ARE has been less than spectacular. They have the second most chances in the league (26, 1 behind Tampa Bay) to this point and they need to capitalize on them, which will help the offense score more points. The defense has done it's job, the returners need to make the most of it.

Grade: C-/D+

That's all I got for now. SP sent me this link to another report card, which I have not looked at for this post. So, tell me if I'm in line with things or if I'm just crazy. As always, leave it in the comments section.

- - -

Week 9 Blogger Deathsport. Because I can:

BAL @ CLE (-1.5)

TB (-8.5) @ KC

NYJ @ BUF (-5.5)

ARZ (-3) @ STL

DET @ CHI (-13)

HOU @ MIN (-4.5)

GB @ TEN (-5.5)

JAX (-8) @ CIN

MIA @ DEN (-3)

DAL @ NYG (-9)

PHI (-7) @ SEA

ATL (-3) @ OAK

NE @ IND (-5.5)

Monday

PIT @ WAS (-1.5) 24-21.

I'm out. Hit it up.

Hat tip AOL Fanhouse, I guess I didn't read as closely as I should have the Official Site's announcement that Shaun Alexander is in the house:

Alexander could see snaps in place of Ladell Betts, who suffered a knee injury last week. Rock Cartwright is also on the roster, but he contributes primarily on special teams.

“Shaun is the kind of guy who is smart enough to understand the situation," Zorn said. "Clinton understands the situation. We said it could be temporary or it could run the full season. We are not going to put some sort of limitation on where we are at in four weeks, two weeks, however long it takes Ladell to get back.”

Sportz Assassin says:

It seems as if the "situation" is in the realm of temporary. Unless Alexander shows some of his old form and becomes a productive part of the offense, he will take his veteran minimum salary and go home when Betts is healthy.

Curly R says:

Here is another thought, courtesy of Jason La Canfora. With all the tailbacks hurt or unproductive lately, Jospeh Addai, Felix Jones, Brian Westbrook and still no signy signy, and the Bengals, Saints and Lions all taking a pass after trying Shaun out, what are the other 31 teams in the league seeing that the Redskins are missing?

Anthony Brown at Hog Heaven:

There is abundant evidence that Alexander is done as a NFL running back, even as the second back on a team. Things have to be really bad if he sees much playing time.

Yikes. First off, Ladell Betts produced well enough in 2006 to earn himself a contract extension. I never viewed this as a move to replace Betts at all, and suggestions from Coach, who has every reason in the world to remain tight lipped on this, that the move could be temporary, really screams at me that this is temporary. Between the lines I read: but for an injury to Betts, Alexander wouldn't be here, therefore when he returns... You get the picture.

I join my fellow bloggers in skepticism of Alexander, as he's now years removed from looking anything like a reliable starting running back. Point of parliamentary procedure, he might be years removed from looking like a serviceable backup RB. As far as running the ball, though, I imagine he's not being asked to do very much. If Betts was running the ball around 6 times a game, I imagine the team will apply substantial pressure on Portis to carry a larger load with Betts gone. So we're talking something like <6 carries a game for Alexander. However serviceable Alexander doesn't look, we're not asking much of him, at least in the running game.

What worries me far more is what's to be done with Shaun Alexander on passing downs? I have questions about his hands out of the backfield and his ability to pick up the blitz. First, from an interview with Doug Farrar:

I would liken [the West Coast offense Zorn learned] to the Elway-Davis Broncos of the late 1990s, very balanced, with a little more passing to the backs thrown in (he likes to do it more than he has because Alexander was a better runner than he was a receiver when he was elite).

Not really a big criticism of his receiving skills, just a weighing of his talents. Still, let's look at some of Alexander's receiving numbers compliments Football Outsiders:

2007: 56% catch rate (ie, he caught 56% of the passes thrown at him) and just about the worst (5th to last) receiving RB with over 25 passes. There's maybe three players who caught fewer than 60% of their passes, obviously because RBs typically are thrown short, at the line of scrimmage passes. Portis, by comparison, caught 81%. Betts 66%.

2006: Although his success rate (DVOA) was still remarkably bad, he caught 81% of his passes. Sample size was substantially smaller, though.

2005: Huge year for Alexander but, again, not a good receiver. Just about at the bottom of the receiving RB rankings with a dismal 54% catch percentage. No RB with over 25 passes caught a lower %.

2004: Rating is better, which is to say he's not among the worst, merely among the mediocre, and he caught 61% of his passes. About the 5th or 6th worse among that statistical range (over 25 passes) in catch %.

You get the picture.

I can forgive that. What I can't forgive is a failure to block that lands Campbell on his rear and, thus, the football in the opposing team's hands potentially. I've heard rumblings that he can't block. Mind the sources, I have to since I don't watch Seahawks games, but here is a representative sampling of comments from a pair of sites.

hawkdawg:

I'm afraid we do know that the pass first offense won't work with Shaun, because 1) he can't or won't reliably block, and 2) he can't reliably catch, with or without the cast.

redeye81:

Alexander is the highest paid cheerleader in the league. We are a better team with him out. He is too one dimensional. He can't catch or block as well as MoMo or Weaver.

Or...

Oscar:

There isn't nearly enough Alexander bashing going on around here...
The bottom line is not what Alexander was, but what he is,...a washed up RB makeing way more than he is worth. Greeeeeedy, won't restructure for the good of the team, won't, or can't, run hard, can't catch, can't block.

Again, mind the sources, but they would probably know better than me, at least.

But everyone loves a redemption story, so forget I said anything. Should we wake up next week and Alexander has had a huge game (in reserve on his 4-5 carries, somehow) and doesn't drop an easy pass or miss a crucial blitz, we'll all be on that bandwagon. Until then... Temporary indeed.

Once more into the breach, dear friends, we go with Arizona Cardinals blogger extraordinaire cgolden, on the remaining Cardinals @ Redskins key matchups. Post is also up over at Revenge of the Birds here.  And it looks much better, since he uses pictures and other shiny things to make the post look much, much better than it appears here. Enjoy:

Match-up #5: Redskins Defensive front 7 vs. Cardinals OL (rushing)

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Redskins - Cardinals are near the bottom of the league in both traditional and DVOA rushing statistics, so I don't view this as much of a problem. The Redskins run defense has been merely average, but that should be enough to keep this game from turning on the strength of the Cards running game. One thing to watch and hope for is a stubborn insistence by the Cardinals to run the ball even if they aren't getting very much production out of that. Every play that this team isn't passing to Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin is a victory for the Redskins defense.

CG: Advantage: Redskins - The Cardinals rushing attack hasn't been very encouraging through two games and it'll be interesting to see what their game plan is heading into this game. Against the Niners, the plan was to grind out yards on the ground and eat up the clock, but against Dolphins they went to the air early and often. They didn't have a very good average (2.7 ypc) in either game, but Ken Whisenhunt is trying to establish a reliable ground game so I don't see them giving up on it anytime soon. I'd still expect them to run 30-35 times on Sunday but it'll probably end up being quantity over quality.

Match-up #6: Cardinals defensive front 7 vs. Redskins OL (rushing)

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Cardinals - Arizona and Washington are about equal in running defense vs. running offense production so far (Redskins have about as many YPC as the Arizona has given up). But that's not the whole story, as DVOA reveals the Cardinals as a top 10 rushing defense. Lest you say "Well who have they played," DVOA adjusts for opponents. Which tells me that, despite giving up 4.1 YPC, a lot of those 4+ yard rushes were on X and long where the opposing team needed more yards to meaningfully advance the ball. I'm of the opinion that whether the 'Skins run the ball will have less to do with the offensive line (same as it ever was) and more to do with Jason Campbell, as he's the one who has been inconsistent thus far this year. If he gives Arizona cause to fear the pass, Portis and Betts will have much fewer defensive players in the box to account for.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - This could be one of the more critical match-ups of the game because the Redskins need to be able to run the ball to take pressure off of Jason Campbell. The Cardinals have been decent at stopping the run and they're getting better as Alan Branch (will play) and Gabe Watson (probably won't) get healthy. The Niners were able to move the ball on the ground because both players were out and third string nose tackle, Bryan Robinson had to play most of the game. The Dolphins saw a much tougher front wall last week when Alan Branch returned to the lineup and he's much closer to 100% this week. The Redskins may run the ball on Sunday but it'll be for around 3.0 yards per carry.

Match-up #7: Cardinals return team vs. Redskins return coverage

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Redskins - Some explanation is required since the Redskins punt unit has been horrid. Our kick unit has been pretty good, though, which matches up well against a Cardinals kickoff return unit that hasn't done much so far. Arizona's average kickoff has been way down and, incredibly, Shaun Suisham is currently a better kicker offer than Neil Rackers (that won't last the remainder of the season but, wow, how does Suisham have as many touch backs as Rackers?). I'm not worried about kickoffs. Punting is another matter. Durant Brooks has been horrid and I'm willing to blame him more than our actual coverage unit for the ills of our season so far. Having said that, I simply refuse to believe that the best punter in CFB somehow forgets how to play the game after reaching the NFL. Whatever ills Brooks right now is mental, and I have confidence that he'll get his game back. This is a true test, as Arizona has been very good returning punts with an 11.7 average, despite having a long of just 17. This is, right now, the most consistent punt return unit in the league. Brooks needs to kick the living hell out of the football.

CG: Advantage: Push - The Skins have been pretty decent at limiting opposing kick returners (18.7 avg) but they did allow a Reggie Bush to take a punt to the house last week. Steve Breaston is a really good punt returner (11.7) but a sub-par kick returner (16.5 avg) so the match-up should be pretty interesting. The Cardinals committed a couple of penalties on punt returns last week and they'll have to avoid a repeat performance in that area. Breaston does have the speed to expliot a poor punt or bad coverage though and the Cardinals could put in something special after seeing Bush's return last week.

Match-up #8: Redskins return team vs. Cardinals return coverage

Hogs Haven: Advantage: Redskins - Similar to above, this one requires 1/2 explanation, because we're great in one area and dismal in another. The good news is that our kickoff return is phenomenal, as Rock Cartwright is one of the most consistent and underrated return men in the league. Neil Rackers, as stated above, is really playing below his ability with just a 25% TB percentage, lower than even limp legged Shaun Suisham. The Redskins have a top 5 return unit (per DVOA) and Cartwright has as many 20+ returns as any player in the league. So long as Neil Rackers continues to forget who he is, we will be in great shape in the return game. The bad news is our punt return unit, which sucks because Antwaan Randle El simply isn't very good at returning punts. He's great at dancing. If dancing were a talent, if juking two tacklers but advancing the ball 0 to -3 yards in the process were a rewarded skill in the NFL, he'd be a star punt returner. The maybe good news is that murmurs have continued to reach print this week (they started in the off season) that the team may be ready to give Santana Moss a chance to return punts, which he did in College to great effect I believe. As he is the most dangerous player we have in space, replacing Antwaan Randle El for Santana Moss in the return game instantly takes us from an awful unit to a top 10 one. Fingers are crossed.

CG: Advantage: Cardinals - Rock Cartwright isn't your average kick returner but that doesn't stop him from being very effective (27.6 avg). On the other hand, Antwaan Randle El looks like he's really slowed down as a punt returner (less than a yard a return this year). The Cardinals have been pretty successful in limiting kickoff returners (18.7 avg) but those numbers are dragged down by three squib kickoffs that resulted in a total of six yards. The Cardinals have allowed at least one return of 25 yards each game so far. They'll have to pay special attention to Cartwright and they'll need Rackers to put nearly every kick in the endzone (top 5 in touchback percentage). If he's able to do that though, the Cardinals should be able to limit the Skins return game.

I hope Rock Cartwright performs; I've pumped him up so much for the past two years that he is in prime position to make me look like a giant horse's ass. I have faith in him.

These are my brief, uncollected thoughts having been drinking for most of the game and existing in a bitterly disappointed state, currently. I think these things are best analyzed with the benefit of a night's rest but, whatev.

• Whoever was the Giants defender who was injured on the last play of the game, I hope he's ok. The result was obviously decided by the time whomever that was started favoring their injured parts and the last thing I want to see, even against a division foe I hate to lose to, is someone get injured on a meaningless play. Chris Samuels looked sufficiently contrite.
• Jason Campbell didn't play so hot. I felt he held on to the ball too long or else made the wrong decisions. The only time he, and the team, were able to move the ball was consistently was in desperation time when the opposing defense was giving up space.
• I don't think the offensive line was horrible but they were definitely below average. JC was rushed a few times and the penalties are a problem.
• Defense exhibited what felt like a bend but only enough to break after wasting a bunch of clock time. The few times I remember us pressuring Eli Manning he did something horrible, which raised the obvious question; why weren't we pressuring more? I recall Doughty getting a hand on Manning during a safety blitz and him completing a long pass but, beyond that, I can't recall Manning doing anything right when we pressured him. Our interception came on a pressure play. This is not rocket science, if you scare the opposing quarterback, he'll screw something up.
• Speaking of turnovers... we won that battle and lost by 9 points. Sad fact is we're not going to escape a dramatic majority of games with the turnover lead and we certainly won't have 0 turnovers for even a simple majority of our fights. If you can't keep it close when you win that crucial +/- turnover scuffle, you aren't playoff bound.
• Defining moment of the game was Jacobs plowing over LaRon Landry. That's one of our best against one of their best and they won.
• Good news! I forgot how many weeks (months?) it took us to score a touchdown with a wide receiver last year and we did it in week one this time around. Drinking to not having to listen to ESPN repeat that gruesome statistic every day.
• We lost 16-9 against the Super Bowl Champions in their house filled with nearly 90 thousand motivated partisans. Is that really so horrible? I don't know that it's any worse than losing to the Giants 24-17 in our own house, which is what we did early last season and still managed to make a success out of the entire affair.
• Looking back on the score, as pissed as I was at the defense for much of the game (50% third down defense won't cut it, period) we can win if the other bastard only scores 16 points. Eli was held to 6.1 yards per pass, meh, with a pick and no touchdowns. Their 4.8 yards per rush was troubling but not terrifying.
• Terrifying was our useless offense. 3.5 yards per carry sucks. Clinton Portis looked ok but not good (sometimes he did look great, though). We didn't reach the line of scrimmage on 4 rushing plays or, put differently, 1/6th of the time.
• Rock Cartwright is awesome.

Good way to end it. Let me sleep with nightmares on this one and leave it at that, before I get sore on Jim Zorn's clock management or Jason Campbell's future. Way too early to indict either of them.

History unfolds:

Clinton Portis is expected to play on Saturday against the Buffalo Bills, but Rock Cartwright may be sidelined due to a rib injury.

I don't remember seeing him play against the Bills, but apparently he did...

Rock Cartwright, who broke a rib Saturday night against Buffalo...

Redskins Insider goes on to add that he hurt his rib again at practice today and that ultimately led to his tending by team trainers. I'll try and update this post with additional info as soon as it comes in.

I love Rock Cartwright and think he's a huge asset for the team as a kick returner. Last year he was one of the most consistent returneres in the league and, behind Josh Cribbs, arguably the 2nd best returner in the entire NFL. I doubt that Rock is the type of player to break more than one touchdown a year, but he's going to get you that 25+ yards of return position more consistently than just about anyone (again, besides Josh Cribbs). Granting the importance of field position means granting the importance of Rock Cartwright to this team.

While I personally think Marcus Mason can make the cut with or without Rock on the roster, it will certainly be easier for him to sneak on as a backup RB if the team is unsure about Rock's health. I doubt the team will take my advice and move Cartwright to full back on the roster (bumping Nemo Broughton) while keeping Marcus Mason at tailback, especially if Rock is injured. But if Cartwright can't shore up the running back position, perhaps the team will consider keeping Mason around the roster anyways, for fear that dropping him on the practice squad will result in his early exit, and not keeping him on the roster is simply too risky given injury concerns for a few of our backs.

Let me throw this out there, though: While we're congratulating Mason on looking so strong this preseason, I'm still of the opinion that running back is one of the most fungible positions in the NFL, despite the enormous praise the league's best running backs receive. At least as impressed as I've been with Mason's running so far, I've kept my eye on the holes he's flying through and nodding in support of our offensive line and running scheme, which is largely a carry over from our old system. Jim Zorn has made a concerted effort not to alter the running game dramatically, and it has paid off so far; the Redskins are currently 6th in YPA despite not yet breaking out a single 20+ yard rush (which can hardly be blamed on the line or the offensive scheme).

Something to chew on this week. We don't have a Jets blogger, currently (if you know one email me), so don't expect any typical back-and-forth this week before the game. Really, I know so little about the Jets, I wouldn't hold your breath for much analysis on the upcoming game, period. Especially because: I'm sick as a dog. I am ill. I do not feel well. I have disease.

So forgive me for a lack of content, but I'm in recovery mode.

Let's get this out of the way: Your Head Coach wins his game-calling debut 30-16 and his quarterbacks play out of their minds, the hyperbole will run wild. So that I don't have to keep reminding reader(s) of the fact below, all my pending effusive phrase should be contextualized by the fact that it was a preseason game against an injured Colts team (Indy fan reaction here). Still, it's hard not to be impressed by...

19 of 22 for 199 yards and 3 touchdowns with zero picks. Cumulative QB rating is 144 including the less impressive works of Derek  Devine and Todd Collins. Colt Brennan was a 157 QB Rating with a 90% completion percentage and Jason Campbell was even better (157.7 QB Rating, no incompletions). I've said it before I'll say it again and again and again: the people who will benefit most from the Jim Zorn experiment are the quarterbacks, as one could hardly hope for a better mentor than a guy who has spent his entire professional career either learning or teaching others to learn how to pass the ball effectively. That was the conventional wisdom going in being confirmed to the extreme at least after the tiny sample size that is this young season. Could any of us have reasonably expected better production out of our starting three quarterbacks, all of whom have had to learn an entirely new offense?

And look at how much we spread the ball around through the air: ten different players had receptions on just 22 throws. I don't know if that's unusual for a preseason game whatsoever (to be fair, the other team had 13 players with receptions) but receiving progressions were clearly read. Campbell was: Cooley, Randle El, Moss, Moss, Cooley. Even better was Brennan, who passed all over the place: Mason, McMullen, Davis, Mann, Goode, Cartwright, Mann, Davis, Mason.

We didn't draft Fred Davis just to look pretty as tight ends appeared prominently last night; Davis and Yoder led the team in receptions with 3, and Cooley tied for 2nd with two receptions. All three quarterbacks completed passes to tight ends.

The runners would not be outdone, though. Ben at Curly R has a prepetual love affair with Marcus Mason, and I can see why: He carried the lion's share of our 155 yards rushing. His 5.4 YPC average was superb and an enormous credit to him for keeping his eyes forward and legs moving. Reader dr WNC noticed that Mason round lowground. No dancing or dipping or diving or dodging, just solid lower them shoulders and move towards the chains and endzone.

Cartwright also aqcuitted himself well with 58 yards on 13 carries, though he did pick up many of those yards on his first run against a 10 man Indy defense.

Speaking of the defense... Chris Horton was player of the game by a mile. He was second on the team in tackles (5) but added 2 sacks, the last one looking effortless. Rookie Rob Jackson added another sack for 3 on the day. Matteral Richardson closed the game out with a nice pick six late in the 4th. Jared Lorenzen, one of my favorite non-Redskins to watch, was not amused.

Before we get to the peanut gallery, a Redskin fan/friend of this site/obvious Colt Brennan partisan was screaming quarterback controversy to me after the game. I told him that's way premature but couldn't deny that Colt Brennan really could not have done better. He was throwing laser beams peeyow pachow bizzang all over the field and looked generally menacing towards an admittedly subpar defense (made up of backups). In other words: he played much like he did in college, as an incredibly accurate passer who knows how to get the ball in the endzone.

Moving on, the bloggers said, starting with Redskin Report:

I didn’t originally catch that Chris Horton recovered the onside kick… and with that hair, it was well into the 3rd quarter before I caught that it was Horton (all I could see was #48).  But #48 was ALWAYS near the ball.  In a defense that was giving up WAY too much yardage, he seems to have a been a true bright spot in the defense.  My wife even started commenting on it, stating he seemed to have a good instinct on where to be.  Even on plays where he’s NOT making the play, he’s almost always right there by the ball.  Early return says our 7th rounder may be a keeper.

He benefitted from the dreads, as that made him the most recognizeable Redskin on the field at any given time. He didn't hurt himself, as Lee Gibbons pointed out, by constantly being in the play.

Curly R:

Marcus Mason is still the man, 18 carries for 98 yards and saw action in all four quarters. I am telling you people, this is the Redskins future tailback.

I am more convinced of that today than I was yesterday.

Redskins Insider, emphasis added:

The team has made a couple of moves, releasing safety Stuart Schweigert and linebacker Danny Verdun-Wheeler and signing safety Patrick Ghee and fullback-tight end Pete Schmitt.

1. Stuart Schweigert didn't play all that well but was hurt more by the great performance of Chris Horton, in my opinion. As telling perhaps as the way he played on the field was the fact that Chris was constantly on the field in the first place. He was on special teams to start and making sacks to finish. Best wishes to Schweigert.

2. Praise jeebus Pete Schmitt has returned -- JaLa should've said resigned. I don't know how long he'll last on the roster given he plays behind Nemo and Sellers and has already been cut once. Just speculating here, but wouldn't Schmitt make the perfect goal line player? He is being trained to block like a fullback but has phenomenal hands. His emerging hybrid playing style could do serious damage in the redzone a la Sellers circa 2005. Just sayin'. Hogs Haven still loves Pete Schmitt.

Hog Heaven:

The big concern when Joe Gibbs left was “continuity,” especially regarding Jason Campbell’s grasp of the offense. After a two year investment in Al Saunder’s offense, you figured the big payoff for Campbell would come this season. It was put at risk when Daniel Snyder sacked Saunders. 

Jim Zorn’s time invested in the quarterbacks showed in the Hall of Fame game. Campbell (5/5, 61 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT) was sharp leading the offense to an opening drive touchdown. Todd Collins, said to be struggling in training camp, was less effective, yet completed five of six passes. And then there was the Colt Brennan show (9/10, 123 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT).

Chris Cooley's iPod speaks.

TORB (The Pickler!) has the scoop on Malcolm Kelly which I can't quote because to do so would be to steal the entire post's content. To paraphrase: Kelly to have surgery, will be out at least two weeks. My hat is also tipped to TORB (The Magnificent!) for finding The Om Field, run by former Extreme Skins mod Om (hence the name). Om is a talented writer and an extremely passionate Redskins fan, and he probably likes Art Monk even more than I do:

I’ll be honest, what I've come to realize is that I don’t really want to know what it is that moved me so deeply last night, watching Art Monk stand tall, silent and humble as wave after wave of pent-up adulation washed over him ... all before he’d said a single word. Hell, two minutes into that tribute, as far as I was concerned he could have simply nodded, maybe given a little smile, and walked silently back to his seat.

AOL Fanhouse:

The only thing that truly disappoints me is that the interviews with the Hall of Fame class are too short. Usually, they invite each member into the broadcast booth and spend a few minutes with them. Now, they don't have everyone in the booth (some interviews are done on the sideline) and all the interviews are painfully short. I mean, ask a better question than "how does it feel?"

Of course, if I had my druthers it probably would've been more Art Monk, more Darrell Green, all the time, although that's horribly selfish of me. Fug it.

Washington Times quoting Jim Zorn:

On whether he took time during the game to take in the moment:

"I was very excited about calling plays. I was wondering how it was going to be on the sideline. What last night showed was that our staff has a lot of experience and everybody did their job. We had a lot of veteran leadership on the sideline, and all of them stayed in the game and rooted on the younger players."

Mark Newgent giving appropriate love to Darrell Green and Monk:

How fitting it is that Art goes into the hall with his teammate Darrell Green. For Redskins fans of a certain vintage, the names Art Monk and Darrell Green conjure up nostalgic reflections of our youth, the glory years. Watching the game with our families, turning the volume on the television down and the radio up to hear Sonny, Sam, and Frank call the game, when the playoffs were a given, and all that mattered in our lives was a win on Sunday. The Redskins provided moments, Art and Darrell’s among so many others, that transcend football.

Ben aint' alone in Marcus Mason love:

He was decisive, quick to the hole, and he had a sneaky way of dodging through traffic to make the most out of each carry. He wound up with 98 yards on 18 carries. Mason also caught a touchdown pass from Colt Brennan, improvising like a veteran as the rookie QB rolled out of the pocket.

And yet...

Barring injury, Mason has a very small chance of making the final 53. It's a numbers game, as simple as that.

And, finally, before I head to dinner, Mr. Irrelevant has the floor:

Loser: Shaun Suisham — Missed a 39-yarder, makes me hate kickers.

Loser: Me — Actually watched a full preseason game and blogged about it.

Kindred spirit, that guy.

And now I tag, which should probably take me another 10 minues. I'll be back tomorrow with more, make sure you keep an eye over at Buffalo Rumblings this week as we face him this coming weeked (I'll be in Las Vegas!). Cheers and HTTR.

I have attached an event to this post which I believe creates some sort of specialty tag yet discovered in the mean streets of Hogs Haven. The event is a football game on Sunday Night, and I will be watching. Don't expect much on the day's open thread unless yours truly is saved from Ben or TexSkins or BnG or whomever. I intend to postdate an open thread sometime today or tomorrow with limited info, as I shall be celebrating the coming fake football season aaaaaaaaaall weekend. I think the rest of you should as well.

Let's just rant and rave like crazy people.

Ben, when he's not pandering to the lowest common denominator (throwing in Colt Brennan's name in a post just to get google searches is like scantily cladding women to talk fantasy sports -- you guys disgust me) has all the Training Camp updates in the ways I don't conveniently pooled into one paragraph:

The morning practice was spent in short yardage and with significant player on player contact. Bring on the hitting. Ladell Betts took a big hit but walked it off. There were some other collisions, every one was fine. Rich Tandler liveblogged it here, here, here and here. And after he got home he wrote about how great Jason Campbell looks.

Unfortunately, because we're the Washington Redskins in 2008, Betts' recovery was but short respite from sidelining shennanigans per Redskin Report:

Ladell Betts was once again kicked in the thigh during practice and has now been ruled out for Sunday’s exhibition opener against Indy.  Seeing as Clinton Portis is likely to play very little (if at all), all you Marcus Mason fans out there are going to be seeing a lot of your guy on Sunday.  In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of the team signing a FA running back tonight or tomorrow just in case of injuries to either Rock Cartwright or Mason on Sunday.

Eric Shelton (who at 246 pounds moonlights as a fullback), thy time is now. Speaking of whom, Shelton was:

drafted in the second round by the Panthers in 2005...

Which means at least one team thought he was better than Frank Gore, Marion Barber III, and Brandon Jacobs. For all the love Erasmus James is getting due to his "potential" perhaps Shelton should get a look. I say that recognizing, though, that 2nd round is much different than 1st round and that we're enough years removed on Shelton to wonder whether or not the Panthers effectively utilized their draft resources on him, but I'm just sayin'. Eric will hopefully show us something amazing this coming preseason.

Oh wait he was cut this morning. Here is usually where I redact the above paragraph but it remains because I took the time to find out which successful running backs were drafted after Shelton and that kind of contribution to the Football Universe shouldn't go unrealized simply because we think having something like two healthy running backs on the roster for a preseason game is a good idea.

Hog Heaven on Carlos Rogers allegedly playing somewhat soon, original story from WaPo. WaPo has first word:

Rogers plans to play when Washington kicks off the NFL’s regular season schedule on Sept. 4 against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium, and he said he is confident about achieving his goal. When Rogers comes back, he will rejoin a unit that was among Washington’s strengths during its late-season push to the playoffs and could be deeper this season because of an infusion of youth.

Greg Trippiedi at the other HH gets second word:

Everyone in the world knows that it’s only a matter of time before he gets starts, but why push it before it’s necessary?  Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot both had great seasons last year, and it would be tough to just pick one or the other to replace.  Rogers figures to be back in the starting lineup for any sort of playoff push the Redskins would make, but fewer early season plays would decrease the chances of re-aggravating something, or overcompensating for his knee putting another body part at risk.

Myself agrees aggressively with Mr. Trippiedi. I love the enthusiasm from Carlos Rogers as that evidences good football spirit as well as hints towards his mental/physical well-being, but let's simmer down. This is a dangerous summer to wear a Redskins uniform and there's really no utility in pushing him onto the field too soon. If he needs some time to get his sea legs, I say let him do it early in the regular season as a nickel back behind Smoot and Springs. The only thing he can learn during a premature return is how to reaggrivate an injury, just my two cents. (Tandler talks roster ramifications if Rogers isn't ready to go by season's start.)

Chris Cooley gets cool.

Because I wouldn't stoop to throwing out Colt Brennan's name just to get google searches, I'll let Ryan Wilson at Fanhouse talk about Colt Brennan because that's not what I'm about. Enjoy:

Brennan is facing pretty long odds, but who knows, if Collins continues to struggle, maybe Brennan wins the job. I don't see it happening, but, honestly, who had Mark Brunell as an NFL starting quarterback two years ago? Exactly.

In the meantime, Brennan will continue to work hard and do quirky things like wear tights to practice and play the ukulele. And who knows, if this all works out, maybe he can have a recurring role in one of Clinton Portis' many productions.

Just. Crazy. Enough. To. Work.

A great big happy blog welcome to two newcomers, Burgundy Army and Bleeding Burgundy. The former is run by Matt, associated with The Warpath Redskins MB, which is much more big time than this blog. He opens with Rogers and McIntosh injury recovery newsstuffs. Ben done it and alerted me too Bleeding Burgundy, who opened a minute ago but currently wonders why our newest Redskins receivers haven't figured out who Art Monk is yet. Good question.

John Lynch... Redskin? So suggests Riggo's Rag:

Think about it, Skins fans.  Doesn’t this make so much sense? Secondary depth is a problem for us.  Lynch is the kind of veteran leadership that this defense is built on right now.  He doesn’t trap a young player we want to develop.  I love Reed Doughtery’s guts, but he is no John Lynch even at the end of his career. Lynch will likely take a pay cut to go to a winning team so the cap is no problem. What would he cost?  A 7th?  Who would pay more for a 37 year old safety who is contimplating retirement?

All this prompted by Lynch leaving the Broncos. My retort: Maybe Reed Doughty really isn't just a constantly overachieving madman? I'd like to find that out.

Redskins 360 had a post up that titled: For the Gambling Junkies. My degenerate addiction is well documented here so you know I was jotting notes while reading, but stopped briefly to lament when one of the better College Football minds didn't think highly of this football team:

*Phil [Steele] projects the Redskins will 6-10 and finish last in the NFC East. He has Philadelphia and Dallas going 11-5 and the Giants 10-6. The Redskins are 40-1 to win the Super Bowl, 14-1 to win the NFC and 8-1 to win the division.

While we're on the subject of great college football minds, this isn't Redskins related but I've been meaning to get a post up about it all week. Actually: Speaking of greatest college football mind, the bestest will move on to bigger and better things. Sunday Morning Quarterback has been a daily read for me since my first introduction to his writing years ago, and you have him to thank for many instances of posts not getting written here. He writes, I read. He is hands down the most talented writer on this particular blogging network and one of the better sports writers out there, period. He will be missed at SB Nation though his pen will find paper somewhere: He'll write, I'll read.

What else is there, really, to talk about? Because I'm way above this sort of thing, I tsk tsk towards Dan Steinberg obviously pandering post about Colt Brennan and Colt Brennan's training camp blogging. I understand that Hawaii CFB fans are some of the best, greatest, most magnificent people on earth and also happen to frequent the internets massively searching for Colt Brennan news, but that's no excuse to spend a disprapportionate amount of verbiage on third string quarterbacks who happened to be named Colt Brennan. It's just really sad.

I suppose we're just continuing the theme from yesterday's special teams update. First, from the official site:

Special teams coordinator Danny Smith said he expects no personnel changes among his kick returners this season.

That means Rock Cartwright is slated to return kickoffs and Antwaan Randle El remains the punt return specialist...

"We'll use a number of guys to return kickoffs, because you can't have just one guy doing it," Smith said. "Rock obviously is our guy and he had a great season last year. He will be very, very difficult to beat out, in my opinion. But that's what camps and preseason games are for, so we'll see."

I don't know what to do with these mixed signals, but given the way he played in 2007, I have few issues speculating towards Cartwright to be the kick returner this coming season. I thought he played phenomenally in that role, better than anyone we've had in years. Football Outsiders had us at about the 8th best kick return unit in the league.

Forget what I said about Moss yesterday, as Coach Smith made clear:

"We'll use some other people [during preseason], but I wouldn't take it as a real challenge to Antwaan," Smith said. "We have to use some people, because he won't return all of the punts in preseason."

Speaking of Coach Smith, Matt Terl tracked him down to talk Brooks vs. Frost at The Official Redskins Blog, which I'm now calling TORB of the Mole People!:

All right, let’s talk about that battle, because when you watch some position battles, there’s noise and hitting and popping pads. Is this REALLY that heated?

It is heated in a sense – sometimes it’s more psychological than those other battles, which might make it harder. If it’s physical — and all these guys are physical specimens, so to speak — you can get out there and take out your frustrations on someone, and that sometimes helps....

We’re going to put our numbers on the table – who’s got the hangtime, who’s got the distance, who got the location, is it a plus or a minus. We’re going to put our numbers on the table and then a lot of people will be able to figure out who the best punter is.

Once more, I have to hope that Brooks ultimately wins the numbers game, not because I hate Derrick Frost, but because when teams invest valuable resources into punters a return is expected. Having said that, and I'm surprised by these numbers, FO (I'm consistent) said we were 6th last year on punting. Who knew?

Some nasal guy, might be me, talked Redskins football with the guys over at... FootballGuys. That's being added to the sidebar, and here are some testimonials to convince you that these people are legit (and thus I'm legit by association! See what I did there?)

There are all kinds of fantasy football updates that pop into my computer or onto my blackberry. Most I simply delete. But not the Footballguys newsletter. When it shows up, I sit down and read. And learn

Adam Schefter
Analyst, NFL Network

See? It's no joke. I'm told The Audible (a FootballGuys podcast) is the most popular football show on iTunes. And if you go here, you'll see:

May 30 2008
2008 Volume#123a - Interview with Will Allensworth from Hogs Haven. (#472)
In This Episode: Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom interview Will Allensworth from Hogshaven.com Topics Include: how is Erasmus James going to fit in, will this be the true breakout year for Jason Campbell, can Colt Brennan be the QB of the future, a discussion about the new weapons in the passing game, plus more!

Link to the actual podcast here.

In it you can find insightful comments from yours truly, such as: The 2008 draft reflects a philosophical shift in draft philosophy.

Huh. A philosophical shift in philosophy, yea? Are there other kinds, Will? I'm not s-m-r-t.

If you're interested in the Football Guys, you can explore their site linked above (and going on the blogroll shortly) or watch them here in this familiar draft profile of current Redskin Kerry Brown:

The two gentlemen on the other side of the interview are the ones above talking about and with Kerry Brown.

Anyways... I thought the questions were much better than the answers and was incredibly flattered to be included in a serious, legitimate podcast. If you're really starved for football podcasts, find their archives here.

Let me have it in the comments; you always do.