I'm gonna make this short, since they isn't much to say. The team looked bad. Yeah, there was a pass interference call at the end that was missed, but it would have only led to getting the Skins within 10 points.

The picture says it all. (Image from here.)

Yeah, the Giants are good, defending champs and all that. But they didn't play their best game today. Eli looked good, not great. Jacobs looked human. Ward had a good day. The defense looked good (man, Tuck is something else) but there were dropped balls and missed chances. JC wasn't very good.

The Skins defense held the Giants to only 23. They averaged 29.9 coming in (Fox did a great job pointing out that the most the Skins have scored all year was 29.) Rogers had another bad day and Hall had another INT.

Yeah, Portis was in and out all game. He probably should've taken the end of the game off. There wasn't much running to be done after the Giants got up 2 (and then 3) scores late. But that's not his style. Especially on Sean Taylor day.

Which brings me to my final point: this was Sean Taylor day. Say what you will about his play, his passion, his skill... the guy never gave up. He never went half speed or coasted. He never gave up an extra yard without a fight. He never let a team come in to FedEx and have their way.

And I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

This team is 7-5, 3rd in the division and all the momentum they might have gained early in the season is gone. It's a dog fight just to make the playoffs from this point until the end. I just hope I still have a dog in the fight.

One year ago today Sean Taylor was shot during a robbery in his home in Florida. He died the next day, which means his family will be holding their first Thanksgiving without Taylor on the first anniversary of his death.

There will be tributes all around the web about this, including this one from the NY Times. 

Taylor's name will be added to the Redskins' "Ring of Fame" at Fedex on Sunday before the game against the GIants. Per the Times article:

Knowing this would be an emotional week — the Giants game would have been important under any circumstances — the Redskins’ first-year coach, Jim Zorn, brought up the sunject of Sean Taylor's death before reporters started asking about it.

“I just wanted to make sure that these guys knew that he was the kind of player that these guys wanted to practice like and play like,” Zorn said. “And that’s part of the memory that we need to keep alive here on this football team, just the kind of player he was.”

It's still kind of jarring to think that he isn't with us. A tremendous loss for the team, for his family, for football fans everywhere. 

In other news, the Redskins released Shaun Alexander yesterday, presumably because of the improved health of Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts.

UPDATE: Hat tip to HH regular dr WNC, who posted the Alexander release below with the news that we may be re-signing DT Ryan Boschetti.

Quick thoughts and then I'm off to bed. As I doubt no Cowboys fan likes to write about losing to the Redskins, no Redskins fan likes to talk about losing to the Cowboys. I'm brief because I hate the territory.

• The offensive play calling was not good. Normally when we convert 3rd downs I have some sense that it was due in large part to a well designed play. This entire game, barring one screen pass which I thought was well timed, when we converted on third down (so, really, the other four times, as we went an awful 5 of 14 on the most important down) it felt like great individual effort by the players. It is never fair to blame exclusively the coaching staff, or the players, for a loss, but this one felt like coaching.
• Clinton Portis is a man. He came out and ran despite injury and I respect him more and more as this season moves forward. His pockets are, indeed, straight.
• 3.6 yards is how many we had per passing attempt. I read a lot of box scores post-Redskins games and I cannot recall the last time that number was lower. That includes sacks, but even without we're well below 5 yards per attempt. That's just dog meat. How many times does the well have to come up dry before you stop lobbing to the sideline. If it doesn't work the first two times -- and by doesn't work I mean getting tackled for a loss or somewhere around there -- it's not going to work. Even when that play is working you shouldn't go there more than 3-4 times a game. They watch game tapes, ya know?
  
• I hate when the Cowboys succeed at anything, but I appreciate the logic in going for it late in the game with a 4 point lead. Wade Phillips had guts for doing that and I respect him for it. One of the reasons I love Jim Zorn is because he's not afraid to go for it, so I can't well criticize the other bastard for sharing similar sentiments, especially when they succeed. We went for it on 4th and 4 with 6 minutes left. I imagine many of you are going to have something to say about that decision. I loved it, we didn't convert, that sucks, but I thought it was the right call.
• 228 yards of offense? On an average day, the worst offense in the league (Bengals) gets 240 someodd yards. That just sucks and it tells the entire story of the game, which probably wasn't as close as the score.
• The defense played better than I'm feeling about them right now. Fresh in my mind is Marion Barber and company running down our throats seemingly at will, but the box score looks fine. 315 yards drags the Cowboys' season average down, two turnovers, nothing ridiculous on either yards per rush or passing attempt... A slightly high third down percentage (5/11, lower, actually, than the Cowboys' season average) is the only thing bothersome I see. You should've stopped them at the end, defense, but why do we deserve to win any games if we can't score more than 10 points? We'd be 0-9 this year with 10 points per game.

Congrats Dallas, etc. I'm not in panic mode just yet, but we looked strong at the beginning of the season and progressively worse since. Getting demolished by the Steelers, beaten by the Rams, and struggling to beat the Lions and Browns is not good. I don't know where that week two through five team went, but I miss them.

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.  

It's worth spending a couple of moments to preempt the inevitable discussion of Adrian Peterson as this year's NFL MVP, or even the league's best running back. It's true, after his fine performance against the Packers yesterday, Peterson now leads in one important category: rushing yards. An impressive feat to be sure. But how do his numbers stack up to other runningbacks around the league Clinton Portis?

Well, let's go back to those rushing yards. Peterson has carried the ball 206 times for 1,015 yards (4.927 yards per carry); Portis, 200 for 995 yards (4.975 yards per carry). Most sports websites will round Peterson's down to 4.9 and Portis's up to 5.0, but the difference is only an extra 1.72 inches per carry for Portis, not statistically significant at any reasonable sensitivity level, even when ignoring potential measurement error effects (officials spotting the ball imprecisely). Bottom line, Peterson rushed for 20 more yards on 6 more carries. Ho hum. Point reluctantly goes to Peterson, but only so the end tally appears somewhat impartial.

Touchdowns: 7 to 7. ...Next.

Fumbles: Peterson has 4, including 3 recovered by the opposing defense; Portis has 1, also lost. Point goes to CP.

Versatility: Both players have made minor contributions in the passing game. Portis's 150 yards top Peterson's 98, and actually put him over the top when it comes to total yards (1,145 to 1,113). Oh, and "not everyone knows this, but Portis is the best pass protecting RB blocker in the league." Point goes to CP.

Match-ups - the coup de grâce. I don't know of a single coherent argument that the NFC North is as tough of a division as the NFC East, so the previous comparisons greatly benefit Peterson (although not to the same extent as comparing Babe Ruth to others like Hank Aaron). So let's set aside every game these two backs have played - except for their shared opponents:

Clinton Portis: 45 rushing attempts for 222 yards and 2 touchdowns, with no fumbles. Peterson: 46 rushing attempts for 143 yards, no touchdowns, and 2 fumbles lost. Point goes to CP.

Final Tally: Portis 3, Peterson 1.

Welcome to midseason or thereabouts, which coincides nicely with our bye week. We get to face the Cowboys at FedEx field but not for 10 days. Meantime, thanks to Big Blue Shoe at Stampede Blue for organizing and collecting votes for the now-annual SB Nation NFL Midseason Studs and Duds of 2008, where a gaggle of us bloggers vote on best and worst of this maturing season. Clinton Portis you done good, son. Enjoy:

Clinton Portis is playing like an MVP right now.

The Studs

NFL Mid-Season MVP: Clinton Portis, Redskins

Comment from David the Falconer at The Falcoholic:

The homer in me wants to say Michael Turner, but he's done the majority of his damage against the league's weakest defenses. Portis has put the Redskins on his back and carried them 100 yards or more down the field most games, and for that he deserves my vote.

Best Player on Offense: Clinton Portis, Redskins

Comment from Skins Patrol at Hogs Haven:

He also has 150 yards receiving and has had his role increase with the injury to Ladell Betts Not everyone knows this, but Portis is the best pass protecting RB blocker in the league and is a big reason why Jason Campbell is playing well this season.

Best Players on Defense: Joey Porter, Dolphins

Comment from BigBlueShoe at Stampede Blue:

I thought this guy was DEAD. How the hell does he have 11.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles? I mean Jeezus, it is only Week Nine and he has 11.5 friggin' sacks! The hell are they feeding them down there in Miami?

Best Rookie: Chris Johnson, Titans

Comment from cgolden at Revenge of the Birds:

No explanation needed. Just watch this kid play and it's obvious why he's truly special. Were we really questioning his status as a first round pick six months ago?

Best Coach: Jim Zorn, Redskins

Comment from WCG at Windy City Gridiron:

I hate doing this, but in that division the Redskins should have easily been the worst team.

Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio has seen better days.

The Duds

Mid-Season Worst Player: JaMarcus Russell, Raiders

Comment from Dave the Falconer at The Falcoholic:

Consider that this guy was the first overall pick in the draft. Then consider that he can't throw a pass without collapsing into a heap.

Mid-Season Worst Rookie: Vernon Gholston, Jets

Comment from cgolden at Revenge of the Birds:

He's learning a new position so this probably isn't fair but seven tackles in eight games for a top six pick is simply unacceptable. You'd think he could at least be a situational pass rusher.

Mid-Season Worst Coach: Jack Del Rio, Jaguars

Comment from Chris at Big Cat Country:

Can I vote for Del Rio and the Jaguars for every possible spot?

See what I did there? "Not everyone knows this, but..." then I state what many would consider a subjective evaluation as if it were an objective fact. But, point of parliamentary procedure, as a matter of fact, it turns out to be the case that, Clinton Portis is the best pass protecting RB in the league. He deserves all the praise he gets.

The timing was wrong on the vote (shortly after our disaster against the Steelers) and I was worried Coach Zorn would get too penalized for that, but we got him called as the man of the half-year. What he has done with this team is simply phenomenal, and I'd be a liar if I said I knew from the start we would turn out so well under his coaching. I was very skeptical about the overall move and could not be happier to have been so wrong in doubt.

Readers are strongly encouraged to post their own votes and/or justifications and let me, us, know what we got wrong or who we unfairly left out.

The headline says it all.

(Image from here.)

That was an absolutely terrible game. I'm not going to even talk about how many Steelers fans were there. Shame on everyone who sold tickets. I take back every kind thing I said about Carlos Rogers in my mid-season report card. His missed INT was the turning point in the game, as it went from being 13-3 Skins to being 10-6 Steelers. The rest of the defense played well (4 sacks, 1 INT), but they could not get off the field on 3rd down to save their lives. Allowing the other team to go 7 for 16 on 3rd down will not cut it. Not all of that is on Rogers. As contributer hibachi put it in the open thread about Rogers:

He’s been awful tonight. He gave up the 43 yard penalty, the 50 yard pass to nate washington, the td to santonio holmes and the missed pick six.

Now all that said, give the Steelers credit. DC Dick LeBeau is the best in my opinion. His 3-4 blitz scheme has been light years ahead of everyone else... and still is. Who knew the player of the game would be the Steelers's QB... and it wouldn't be Big Ben. Leftwich made plays, moved the ball, scored points. That's what you want your backup to do (isn't that right, Dallas?) and he did it well.

QB Jason Campbell threw an INT to end his streak of "271 attempts—249 this season—before cornerback Deshea Townsend grabbed a pass tipped by Portis late in the third quarter." He had a bad game. He was throwing the ball high on almost every play, and when he didn't, he was on his back. Seven (7) sacks. Bad. Very bad. His 43 attempts is about 20 too many for this offense to have success. Yes, PIT is a good defense. One of the best. But the offense led by JC did not play well at all tonight.

Now, you're gonna hear about how Clinton Portis was "shut down" but 13 rushes for 51 yards is not shut down. That's getting down and having to throw the ball too much. A lot of that has to do with getting down and having to throw. Portis had another 73 yards receiving, giving him 124 total yards. Is that getting "shut down" by the Steelers? I'd say no.

But that's over now. This team has a BYE week coming up and they'd better get ready for the Cowboys, who are desperate for a win.If they play like they did tonight, there are very few teams they can beat, including a reeling Cowboys team. They have some winable games left (SEA, SF, CIN) but they need to win more than 9 to even have a shot at the wild card, which the loss tonight pretty much sealed as the best they can do.

Going 6-3 into the BYE week is still a good start. They need to use tonight's game as a wakeup call and get better.

Keepin' it medium works both ways.

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.

Full story here at the Washington Times (speaking of, it was the Times Ryan O'Halloran who was the offending eye-roller, apparnetly, but it's all good now) though I quote the Redskins 360 cliff notes version because I'm one of them insular blogger types. David Elfin said:

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher just told me that Dan Snyder did call him about coaching the Redskins after Joe Gibbs surprised Washington's owner by suddenly retiring on Jan. 8.

"We talked," Cowher said. "It was a good talk. I was very flattered, but I expressed that it wasn't the right time."

I was troubled by how to frame the story, as we're now well beyond the point of caring about Bill Cowher not becoming the Redskins head coach. At the time, perhaps, there was a lot to be said about chinning up with Bill, but off to a 6-2 start I join my Redskins faithful friends in saying, uncontroversially:

We lucked out.

At the time of the hire I was as apprehensive as many fans, as we'd just taken a former QB coach and promoted him to his first head coaching job. I was unconvinced Zorn was the future and certainly others shared that skepticism. Quoting from Pro Football Prospectus:

Jim Zorn's huge leap to head coach comes with more questions than answers. The theme of his first minicamp involved the newcomers to the team, himself included, having to prove themselves to the veterans. Rookies got logo-less helmets. Zorn's opening speech to the team was part auto-biography. The core of veterans who control the locker room in Washington aren't stupid; they know Zorn is inexperienced, wasn't the team's first choice, and doesn't have anywhere near the pedigree that any of their previous coaches have had. If everything goes wrong in the first half of the season, there exists the distinct possibility that this coudl be a one-and-done head coaching career. That's not to say it's likely, but it's possible.

That's not the kind of thing that makes you leap out of bed in the morning, but thank goodness it all worked out. Safe to say that very little has gone "wrong in the first half of the season" and suggestions of one-and-doneness are easily dismissed in hindsight. A lot of coaches have to explain themselves and their performances this year, but Jim Zorn ain't one of them. If this continues -- this being something like a 12-4 record -- he'll be a candidate for coach of the year.

Speaking of candidates... once again, for I think the third time, Clinton Portis was nominated to FedEx's Ground Player of the Week. Having won it twice already, Portis is uniquely blessed to extend his lead over the field with a win this week. Not easy, though, given he's up against Brian Westbrook, who went off gang-busters style against the Falcons. Get voting, reader(s).

Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins

Portis rushed for 126 yards over 24 carries as the Redskins beat the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, 25–17.

(I suggest Drew Brees for the Air player of the week but whatev you want to do.)

• The Skins have faced a top-10 ranked offense in five of their seven games this season. Washington's defense has held that team to a season-low in yardage on every occasion.
• Detroit has been outscored 54-0 in the first quarter through 6 games.
• Washington enters week 8 with the leagues 7th ranked offense, and 6th ranked defense.
• Sunday breaks a streak of 51 straight Lion sellouts dating back to their final game at the Silverdome. (Today's game will be blacked out in the local Detroit market).
• The Redskins set a (team) record last Sunday: they have gone 332 passing attempts without an interception, breaking the Raiders' record of 281 set in 2001. (Collaborative effort from Jason Campbell, Todd Collins, Clinton Portis, and Antwaan Randle El).
• Chris Horton ranks 3rd in tackles amongst rookies this season.
• The Redskins are one of just six teams with fewer than 10 sacks this season, while the Lions are only one of four teams to allow more than 20.
• If Clinton Portis surpasses the 120 yard mark against Detroit, he will become the second player in NFL history to do so in 5 consecutive weeks for the second time in their career. (Joining O.J. Simpson).
  
• A win today would mark Washington's third consecutive road victory, a feat that has not been repeated since 2005.