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.

A very good discussion erupted in another thread. Allskins stated what many Redskins fans are probably thinking but unwilling to admit publicly summarized thusly:

We can make all of the excuses we want…he’s had differnt coordinators, he had differnt coaches, he had to learn different systems…..THAT IS PART OF THE GAME!!! He is the next great redskin QB the same way Ramsey was the next great redskin QB….We need to face the music and realize that we wasted a 1st round pick and not keep believing that he is the answer. I really hope that I’m wrong and this is his break out year because being a die-hard fan I’d rather be wrong and see our team get a ring this year than see all the “experts” get paid big bucks and we are sitting at home in January…..I just don’t get why our great Campbell gets outperformed by all of his competition….Just check the stats and tell me I’m wrong

That is probably a bit stronger language than I would use, as I think there are compelling reasons not to yet give up on JC as the future here with the team. But the stats is what they is and hardly tell the story of a can't miss quarterback prospect worthy of all our hopes and dreams. The truth for me personally is that I have a lot at stake with Campbell and should just admit that honestly. When this team was going down in flames with Mark Brunell at the helm circa 2006, I made repeated, strongly worded appeals for Jason Campbell to replace him.

The purpose of this thread is to keep the discussion moving forward, as I think it's a worthwhile one for Redskins fans to have. Indeed, fans are having it right now in Ben's Brett Favre post because one can hardly consider a future with Brett at the helm without considering the impact that will have on Campbell. And the degree to which one supports a QB change hinges primarily on how one feels about Jason.

Where I stand will probably be revealed in the link I provide shortly but I'm going to do my best to stay objective throughout this engagement. I think I probably put too much faith into Patrick Ramsey (as TexSkins is quick to remind me when we discuss the former Redskins QB) and supported him longer than the stats or his actual on-field performance justified. I wish to commit against doing the same with Jason Campbell.

In any event, I'm not the only one who hasn't given up on him. Per ESPN The Mag's Top 5 players who will "blow up" (whatever that means) this season:

JASON CAMPBELL, QB, WASHINGTON REDSKINS We like this for a lot of reasons: (1) his new coach is Jim Zorn, a good QB in his own right; (2) Portis/Cooley and company give him a bunch of weapons; and (3) we like guys from undefeated teams in college—oh wait.

I concur that playing under Jim Zorn will certainly help Campbell as much or more than any other player on the team. But now I flee this discussion and submit it to readers to sort out amongst yourselves.

Elsewhere (ATTENTION CHRIS MOTTRAM: The stalker is absotively posilutely not, not, not played out and don't you dare change) Jamie Mottram hollared at me about a Chris Cooley interview available here or something. (As per usual, CptChaosSidekick was on point -- he misses nothing.) I was going to post about it but then Mr. Irrelevant went all blogotastic on my face and beat me to the punch, which is just as well 'cuz I found his take delicious. Among other topics discussed:

3. Albert Haynesworth is a piece of shit. Well, he didn’t say that in so many words, but he did, when asked about dirty players, tell a story about Haynesworth blindsiding him on an interception return in the Pro Bowl. There’s a thin line between that and Sean Taylor laying out Brian Moorman, sure, but at least that dude was carrying the ball. Plus, punter’s drop like a house of cards. And, oh yeah, Haynesworth is the same guy who stomped on Andre Gurode’s helmet-less head.

Mr I. has some pretty phenomenal commenters who do good works. A representative sampling:

Nationalcoholic Says:
July 14th, 2008 at 7:58 am

In Haynesworth’s defense, who hasn’t thought of cleating a Cowboy’s face?

Also, pretty much everything The Mayor types makes me laugh robust-like.

Final word and them I have to return to taking care of my infirm girlfriend, I just want to shout at The Curly R's Ben Folsom for doing right in this space in my weekend celebration: I was at a wedding, I was indeed in it, but couldn't have asked for a better website caretaker in my absence. Maybe if reader(s) ask real super nice style he'll decide to stick around on a regular basis. In truth, I wish Ben would join me here permanently at Hogs Haven and have told him as much through email, though now make my intentions known publicly in the hopes he posts more more more here. He usually disagrees with me which is why he's usually right, and this place is in desparate need of correctness, as I can't be bothered to provide much of it. But you already knew that.