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Redskins News Roundup

Lotsa' news to sift through, so let's get right to it.  As it's opening day, the pundits are giving their obligatory predictions. Deadspin has a great compilation of these, but for my money, Michael Wilbon does the best job of handicapping the league:

How in the world anybody can pick among the Redskins, Cowboys and Giants is beyond me. It's a coin toss, although the Cowboys could rate a slight edge because their strength of schedule is middle-of-the-pack while the Giants have the most difficult schedule in the league based on last year's results and the Redskins have the 11th-toughest schedule.

He goes on to suggest, "And in the NFC, the Giants, Bears, Panthers and Seahawks will win their divisions. The Redskins and Cowboys will go in as wild cards," though "only if Brunell and Shawn Springs are able to stay in the lineup in November and December."

Getting all of the buzz today were Jon Jansen's comments on HBO's "Costas Now" about Human Growth Hormone Use in the NFL:

Washington Redskins tackle Jon Jansen said Thursday it would be "very naive and foolish" to think NFL players aren't using human growth hormone.  But he backed down from his statement that "maybe 15, 20 percent" of the league's players use illegal performance-enhancing substances....

Jansen, however, did not shirk from making strong comments about HGH, for which there is no reliable test. He said he knows of no Redskins teammates who use it, "but other guys have talked about what goes on in other places."

...And Bill Romanowski is responsible for that 15, 20 percent of the league's drug consumption.

Next up, there's good content on the official Redskins site about the importance of the O-Line this season, a subject Skin Patrol has been focusing on recently.  I am optimistic they'll be able to make some holes for Ladell and T.J., since Portis is making some telling statements about his status Monday against the Vikings:

"I would love to be out on the field," Portis said, "but we've got to look at the long run. We've got to look at the overall season instead of trying to jump back early and play in this game and then miss the key games we've got coming up behind it."

When it was suggested that Portis had just ruled himself out, he replied: "You know, I guess you're just as sad as I am about that news, huh?"

Still looking for something to read?  The Washington Post has a good feature on Brad Johnson's tenure in Minnesota.