I think he’s a bit dilusional based on some of his comments.  Read below and discuss his thoughts with him in our forums.

—————————————————————————

Let’s not get too excited about this last win, shall we?  First, the Broncos are clearly among the most overrated teams in the NFL.  McDaniel looks like this year’s version of Jim Zorn and I have never been impressed with Mike Nolan as a Defensive Coordinator.  They are soft, especially along the defensive line.  When a patchwork offensive line like ours can take it to the opponents line and handle them physically in the second half, it says more about them than about us.  Still, it is the first time in quite a few games when most of the line play was on the opponents side of the line of scrimmage.  Credit where credit is due, as our linemen were much [more] physical than Denver’s through the second half.

Second, if you want to know the two plays that turned the game in our favor you only need to look at Orton’s egregious overthrow of Royal for what would have been an easy touchdown, and Orakpo’s ankle twisting take down of Orton at the end of the first half.  I just don’t see any way we beat Denver if Orton stays in the second half as he was totally in control of the offense and had the Skin’s defense on it’s heels the first half. Simms is simply atrocious and any thoughts that I might have had of considering him for the Skin’s backup QB position were the product of vapors or some other such nonsense.  He might be worthy of the Canadian league or the USAFL, or whatever alphabet soup league is now out there, but he isn’t a QB that any team can win with in the NFL.  Still, credit the Redskins’ defense for stepping up and making him miserable when it got the chance.

We won’t have any such delusions next week as we are facing a team that can move the ball on both the ground and through the air in Dallas.  More on that later.

Some individual and squad comments:

Offensive line:

Forget about the fact, for a moment, that we were facing a defensive line that was not particularly big or physical.  They still had the league leader in sacks (Dumervil).  What Levi Jones brought to the unit was instant stability at the key left tackle position.  No one got close to Campbell over him.  He is simply the best left tackle we have had on the field since Chris Samuels was healthy.  We were able to run left much of the time as well.  If he can stay healthy, he represents a solid player at a position of extreme need.

Unlike Mike Williams, expecting him to provide quality starting minutes is not a figment of Vinny’s imagination.  The risk in signing him to a long-term deal now is that we invest large dollars in a player who has been a tease during his career with the Bengals because he couldn’t stay healthy, and still likely has spine issues.  The risk in not signing him now is that we won’t be able to get him signed in the offseason and will have to find TWO starting tackles for next year.  This is a win/win situation right now because Jones needs a team that needs a starting tackle, not a reserve.  Plus, if he gets hurt before he gets re-signed, his value plummets once again.  I think he is worth a contract now, simply because there is no way we can find two starters in the offseason.

I think that the coaches need to leave Rinehart in at starter, barring injury, for the remainder of the year.  He needs reps and the more he gets, the better he looks.  He got pushed around some in the first half, but during the second half he looked solid.  Also, remember that was Heyer playing next to him, so he got little help from that direction. The issue with him is footwork, and for that reason I think he is better suited for the left guard postion than the right. What made Randy Thomas so valuable was his ability to pull and move in space. Right guard is not the same as left guard.  There was a great column written by ex-Redskin Ross Tucker on that subject.  Having played the line, it was his observation that left guard was the easiest position to fill on the line–much more so that right guard, because of all the movement that is required of most right guards.  In the offseason, maybe the team might give some thought to moving Dockery to the right and letting Rinehart play left?  Or, they simply might leave well enough alone and hope that Rinehart grows into a solid starter with additional reps at the position.  One way or the other,  Rinehart represents the better option at guard over Montgomery and should be given every opportunity to win the position long-term this year.

Rabach is fine as long as he doesn’t have to play against a better grade defensive tackle.  Let’s see what he does against Ratliff this week.  I expect we will see at least one holding call and pressure up the middle, if he plays true to form.

Heyer proved he belongs on the right side–or more likely the bench.  He simply lacks strength, technique and quickness.  On the other hand, he is far better than Mike Williams, who looks more and more like a failed good-will project, or at best, a reserve guard.  Vinny’s decision to trust Mike Willliams, as opposed to signing Levi Jones from the start of the season, is reason enough alone to justify his removal as G.M. All you can say is “What was he thinking?”

Dockery managed to get through a game without a false start penalty.  His presence on the team should not prevent the next front office from looking for another guard in the upcoming draft, on the second day.  But, right now, he is the least of their problems along the offensive line.

A few short comments about the rest of the offensive players:

Campbell - Was better than Simms; not as good as Orton.  That about says it all.  Oh, and how does he miss Todd Yoder standing in the endzone with no one within 10 yards of him? Yeah, I know, the excuse is the pressure on him.  Not going to waste much more time on him because he simply won’t be the QB next year and will be a source of constant frustration for the fans of another team.

Betts - He ran harder than Portis has run at any time this year.  Made a couple of tacklers miss him as well.  If he can hold onto the ball, right now, he is the better option for the team at running back.

Ganther - Now THAT is how you pick up a blitzer!

Receivers - It is simply a crime the way Zorn [and] Campbell have hampered the growth of Thomas, Kelly, and Mitchell.  I am convinced all would be far more productive with another head coach and QB.

Tight Ends - Davis is growing with every game he starts.  Even his blocking is better now.  Young players need reps, it is that simple.  Yoder is still worth having on the roster.  On Betts’ touchdown run, it was Yoder and not Sellers, who made the key block.  Plus, he should have had two TD catches in the last game and still has sneaky medium range speed.

Defense:

Line - Haynesworth may be a drama queen, but he is a force who makes everyone better around him, all the time.  Jarmon needs to start from here on out over Daniels.  Wynn needs to be cut to make room for someone,  ANYONE !!  Carter is on pace to match or beat his career mark for sacks.  He is especially dangerous in the second half of games when his conditioning makes a big difference.

Linebackers:

Orakpo - the guy is dangerous and starting to make plays in both the running game as well as pass rushing.  He should reach 10 or more sacks easily and should be solidly in the running for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Rocky - another solid game. If he can stay healthy, he is a solid starter.

Fletcher -  uh-oh starting to look slower, and only had 1 tackle for the entire game.  Starting to wonder if age is finally catching up with him?  We better hope that Henson or Blades can step up their games because I don’t know if Fletcher has another year of starting effectively left in him.  Yes, he is on pace to make a ton of tackles this year, but he really looks like he is wearing down.

Secondary:
Rogers - Just an awful performance and I cannot agree enough about benching him.

Smoot/Tryon - Okay, and nothing more.

Hall - The new version of “50/50″.  The guy makes plays and has a real feel for the ball in the air, but he has lapses of concentration.  Having that group of corners to go up against the Dallas deep receivers is just plain scary to think about.

Safeties:
Doughty - Can’t cover. Scary to think about Witten and Bennet running routes on him.

Moore - Brain dead out there.

Landry - Regressing in front of our eyes.  I don’t think he is the next Paul Krause, but I DO think tdDefensive coordinator will find a way to utilize him appropriately.

Lendy Holmes - PLEASE get him on the field instead of Moore.

Special teams:
Shout out for Lo Alexander and Hunter Smith for outstanding individual plays.

Shout out for Suisham for remaining perfect on Field Goals, but how does a guy have TWO out of bounds kickoffs?

Coaching - I have to say that whatever Sherm Lewis is doing seems to have resulted in smoother play calls and more efficient play calling.  The odd thing is that he made his rep as a WCO coordinator, and yet he had the power running game going against Denver.  Someone needs to remind Blache that pressure works against NFL starting QB’s as well as reserves and to bring the heat against Romo next week.

So, overall, I think this team has at least a couple of surprise wins left in them.  I think we will have great difficulty beating Dallas even once, but, ironically, I think if the Saints are undefeated when we play them, I would give us a decent shot against them.  We have beaten Brees twice as Saints QB, and SOMEONE is going to knock off the Saints before the playoffs– might as well be us.  If the Saints lose this week, I don’t see that happening,  but if they are undefeated, I like our chances in a huge upset.  As for the rest of the games, we might sneak up on the Giants, and should beat the Raiders. Philly?  Without Westbrook, you never know.  What once looked like a 2 win season. probably ends up being a 5 win season.  Damn shame we lost to the likes of Detroit and Kansas City.  Those two go on Vinny and Zorn and justify canning that pair at the end of the year all by themselves..

1-The story of the game, at least for the skins, was the play Levi Jones replacing Heyer at left tackle. It was a night and day difference with a competent player manning the most important line position. The skins still had Heyer being a liability on the right, and the Denver exploited it all game long, but having Jones in place at LT allowed the skins to do what they’ve been dependent on for the last few season: tight runs behind the left hand side of the offense. Campbell still got battered in the pass rush, but the improved run game allowed the skins to move the ball with some consistency.

1a-No matter what happens with Chris Samuels, Levi Jones probably has a couple good years left in him. He’s part of the solution with this team. He’s better than any FA olineman available next season and he would solidify one part of the line.

2-The turning point and other big story of the game was Kyle Orton’s injury. When he was in for Broncos, the Redskins were effectively powerless to stop them from moving the ball(even when the Broncos fumbled in the first quarter, they were in the middle of a long drive). Orton had a massive QB rating(134) and was on pace for almost 400 yards passing(and the Broncos were on pace for over 500 yards of offense). After he went down because of an ankle injury suffered towards the end of the first half, the league found out why no one has seemed to want to sign Chris Simms since his spleen surgery.

3-The defense—especially the pass defense–was pretty bad. The 269 yards given up in the first half speaks for itself. Chris Simms bailed them out in the 2^nd half with an ugly Qbing performance, but there was just no excuse for the 1^st half display by this unit. Blache schemes his defense to prevent big plays, especially in the passing game, but the problems with the pass defense are deeper than just scheme: they shouldn’t be biting on every single double move by the outside receivers since that’s why they give them so much cushion. And if they can’t cover the deep ball playing so far off, what exactly can they do right in the passing defense since the deep cushions prevent them from slowing down the short passing game.

3a-On top of the passing problems, Knowshon Moreno basically was able to move the ball at will on them thanks to a lot of poor tackling. A lot of this falls on the back of Haynesworth, who was generally ineffective against the experienced Broncos’ line.

3b-Landry followed up his awful game against the Falcons with another poor game where his freelancing left the deep middle uncovered far too much.

3c-The tackling was awful again, and even guys like London Fletcher and Haynesworth were guilty of it.

4-Campbell had his usual up and down game. He looked shaky early, especially forcing passes in the middle of the field, but then calmed down and had an efficient game without creating major mistakes. He’s still not getting great time, even with Levi Jones on the left hand side of the line, but he’s reacting incrementally better to the pressure he’s seeing and the calls in the passing game are slowly getting better. What I find encouraging is that Campbell’s YPA stat is staying at career highs for him. That is telling me that he’s being very efficient with his passing.

4a-Campbell did get away with a fumble in the 3^rd quarter when Andra Davis sacked him and the Ref misremembered when he blew the whistle on the play.

5-Ladell Betts was the biggest beneficiary of the improved oline with Levi Jones anchoring the left. Running primarily behind him, he was able to rack up 114 yards, and Rock Cartwright was able to get over 40 yards in only 9 carries. This bodes well for Portis’ return if these two rbs, who have generally been ineffective behind the same line that Portis was able to produce at a 4.0 ypc clip behind. The skins need to ride Levi Jones in the rushing attack(obviously not by having him run the ball lol), because the Rinehart/Heyer right side is still a wasteland.

6-The WRs really didn’t contribute a whole lot to this win. Thomas had a nice catch late in the game to move the ball deep into Denver territory, and ARE burned Champ for a nice third down conversion, but Moss was invisible(again). At what point does Zorn care enough(and side note, is there a coach who shows less emotion now than Zorn?) to make dramatic changes? I don’t know if Marko Mitchell and the 2^nd round WRs are the answer, but they certainly can’t be worse than the starters, right?

7-Obviously when your special teams makes some a game changing play as a long td pass by the punter on a fake, they’re doing something right. And Rock’s kick returns were fairly decent, but this is balanced out by some poor kickoffs and poor punt returns again. Dierdorf made me chuckle with his quote from Zorn that the reason for the poor punt returns was the total focus on blocking punts. It does concern me that Danny Smith seems to be more interested in being Zorn’s Cardinal Richelieu on the sidelines, than focusing on coaching up his unit.

8-While Hall had a nice int in the 2^nd half, him and Carlos Rogers were just awful all game long. Rogers got benched for Smoot, but Hall was able to keep his job despite being as bad as Rogers was in the first half(I would have to guess that their respective contract situations probably had something to do with those decisions). With the total struggles of the safeties—especially in deep coverage—Hall and whomever plays the other Cb spot need to step up for the skins to have a chance to slow down the better passing attacks.

8a-And what does it say about Kevin Barnes that he can’t even get active for this defensive backfield.

9-Fred Davis is slowly improving week by week. His blocking, which was very poor to start the season is getting better(still not great), and its good to see how tough a ball carrier he can be, especially when you get him on the flanks against DBs. He, to quote Parcells, looks for contact. And while this has led to some fumbling issues for him in the past, he seems to be over that and now this means he’s always looking for those extra yards. He’s not going to replace Cooley, but he could force his way on the field as a 2^nd TE/H-back/FB hybrid.

10-The bottom line about this game is that it’s an example of what Napoleon said about its better to be lucky than good. This was a good win for the skins, but outside of the improvement from Levi Jones at left tackle, the skins really didn’t do anything extra than got them this win. They benefited from a QB who had accumulated a 134 Qb rating in the first half going down via injury and his backup being totally incompetent. This is not to say that the skins can’t build off this win and find positives in it, but they exit this game with almost as many question marks and problems as they had entering this game. They have a pass defense which is a sieve. They have a better run game thanks to Levi Jones, but the passing game—due to protection, receivers and QB—is incapable of doing anything more than short/timing routes. The run defense just can’t stop anyone with a halfway decent Rb. The Skins still have to look for which players are still playing hard(Davis, Jones, Campbell, Thomas, etc) and which could care less(Heyer, Rinehart, Rogers, Hall, Landry, etc) with an eye to 2010.

Player grades:

To make it clearer what the grades mean, I submit to you a legend on how to read the grading:

10: Legendary performance.

9: AP All Pro team caliber performance

8: Pro bowl caliber performance

7: Good, maybe a brain fart here or there.

6: More good than bad.

5: More bad than good

4: I’m looking at NFL.com’s depth chart for who’s behind him

3: Liability

2: Should be starting for the Raiders

1: Opposing fans not only know his name, but openly mock him(and we have creatively snarky nicknames for him)

0: The player must have incriminating photos of his coordinator or position coach(or both)

Pass: the player didn’t play enough to merit a grade.

X WR: Santana Moss 3.45. Invisible

TE: Fred Davis 6.2. Improving every game.

LT: Levi Jones 7.98. Not quite pro bowl level, but one of the best performances by a Skins’ Olineman this year.

LG: Derrick Dockery 6 flat. A couple breakdown in pass pro, but solid run blocking as always.

OC: Casey Rabach 5.4. Called a much better game.

RG: Chad Rinehart 3.4. A waste of a draft pick.

RT: Stephon Heyer 2.77. Blech.

Y WR: Devin Thomas 5.5. Had a big catch late in the game, but generally was invisible. He had a big drop in the first half.

QB Jason Campbell 6 flat. Efficient without being very good.

FB: Mike Sellers 6.3. Good TD catch, so-so blocking.

RB: Ladell Betts 6.4. Good yardage, but Rock’s production tells me this was more Levi Jones than Betts.

PK: Shaun Suisham. 6 flat. A couple chip shot FGs.

DE: Andre Carter 8.1. Great game by the Vet.

DT: Albert Haynesworth 5.99. Pushed around way too much.

DT: Cornie Griffin 4.5. Pushed around also.

DE: Philip Daniels 2 flat. BRAAAAAAAINS

SLB Brian Orapko 7.75. Very good performance at DE, lost at OLB.

MLB London Fletcher 5.2. Invisible.

WLB Rocky McIntosh 5.3. Slightly less invisible.

CB DeAngelo Hall 5 flat. Good Int, but no-one is afraid to throw it on him.

FS LaRon Landry 4.5. Freelances too much.

SS Reed Doughty 5.6. Good getting a fumble, way too many blown coverage’s/tackles.

CB Carlos Rogers 4 flat. Terrible, just terrible

P Hunter Smith 8 flat. Good punts and a TD pass.

Coaching grades:

Offense: B-

Defense: D+

Special teams: B

The Redskins gave up an early touchdown where the cornerback bit on a double move.  The secondary actually gave up several big plays biting on double moves from the receivers.  The Broncos did miss an opportunity in the first half to a wide open receiver  The boos started after that 1st touchdown the Redskins surrendered but the bounce back with a solid drive that ended with seven on the scoreboard.

The Redskins did have trouble pass protecting on longer drops by the quarterback, but this was probably the best run blocking effort put forth by the offensive line.

The Redskins looked like the Redskins of old in the 2nd half of the game.  They pounded the Broncos on the ground rushing for a total of 174 yards.  Betts, in for an injured Portis, ran for 114 yards on 26 carries.  Cartwright added 41 yards with 9 carries.

The passing game wasn’t all the great but it was effective.  Devin Thomas too a wide receiver screen play and turned it into a big gain with some good moves that Berman is sure to have fun with on ESPN tonight.

It was great leaving Fedex Field with a win today.  With the great weather we had today and win, Redskins fans couldn’t ask for much more.  Well, maybe we can.  BEAT DALLAS

We Want Dallas.  We Want Dallas.

Hail To The Redskins

1-The biggest story of this game was the bipolar nature of the skins’ play. They were an unmitigated embarrassment in the first half, when the Falcons were mowing them down like grass. Then, they came out and took advantage of the Falcons switching to a more conservative/safe scheme especially on defense. The real Skins’ team is probably more of the one in the first half who struggled to get anything right. The Falcons’ withdrawal into a safe scheme would account for the skins ability to move the ball more effective—especially running a lot of stretches and draws against them.

1a-Why they look this bad in the first half is a fairly simple answer: coaching. Yes, the skins have massive problems talent-wise and the constant stream of injuries have depleted an already flawed roster, but the sleep walking the skins always seem to do in the first half of any games comes from the total lack of effective preparation during the week by the coaching leaders: Zorn, Blache and Sherman Lewis. There is no more evidence of the house cleaning that has to take place in the coaching staffs then this continuing problem that the team has.

2-Another constant theme that we’re seeing from this team is mental mistakes. They had 10 penalties for 88 yards, including 3 15 yards personal fouls and 3 offsides. These are hallmarks of a team that plays with zero discipline. Which means that they have no fear of the coaches or of being benched for mental errors. This is on top of the usual missed blocks, lazy routes, blown coverages and lack of effort early in games. Independent of the talent issues this team has, there needs to be a massive change in how accountable players are held for their mistakes.

2a-And I guess when Haynesworth said that he had changed from the player who stomped on Gurode’s face, he was lying. His coming in late in the scuffle and pushing a Falcons player should have merited an ejection.

3-I don’t think that anyone can say anymore than the defense’s struggles come from the offense keeping them on the field too long. Not only did they struggle to stop the Falcons’ attack, after the offense kept the ball for essentially the entire 3^rd quarter and pulled the skins within a touchdown; the defense goes out fired up with plenty of rest and gives up a 73 yard drive(66 yard rushing touchdown). The defense was also fairly ineffective giving up 5 drives of 60 yards or longer—3 of them with 10 or more plays. Those aren’t hallmarks of a quality defense. And it wasn’t turnovers or short drives either, the skins defense gave up 24 points and the Falcons didn’t start a single drive in Redskins territory.

3a-Anytime a Rb, no matter how good he is, goes for a 9.2 yards per carry average against your defense in more than a few carries, your defense is struggling.

3b-The pass coverage was just awful. Hall and Rogers looked like they were doped up before the game, and the Falcons’ WR didn’t seem to be covered in any traditional sense. Roddy White is a dangerous player who can burn just about any CB in the NFL, and the skins were giving him 10 yard cushions all game long. On one of the Falcons’ scoring drives, he had two catches where there wasn’t a defender anywhere near him.

3c-Nothing shows the failures of the defensive front 7 more than the stat that out of the redskins’ 46 solo tackles against the Falcons, 16 of them(the top 3 tacklers actually) were from Horton, Landry and Doughty.

4-Santana Moss has another game where he really didn’t make an impact. He was targeted 8 times and made 5 catches—one of them going for negative yards. He’s still a major drag on this passing game, especially since he has 40% of his receiving yards this season in one performance against the Lions. On the other hand, Marko Mitchell finally saw some real playing time at WR for the skins, and he showed some real promise. They ran him on some slant routes, and he made 2 catches in heavy traffic that requires real concentration and ability. I don’t understand why he isn’t seeing more action at WR especially over Thomas and Kelly(both of whom were no-shows against the Falcons).

5-While Mike Sellers did have a very nice long pass catch, he turned in another godawful game at fullback. His pass blocking was horrendous, and his run blocking was not memorable. This sudden decline in his play has coincided with him signing his new contract(which is the biggest of his career). At this point, he has to be one of the first cuts of whomever is leading the new regime in Ashburn. His play is beyond unforgivable and the skins would be better off finding a young hungry player to replace him with.

6-I’ve watched a lot of football in my life, but the current incarnation of the redskins offensive line has to be arguably the worst one I’ve ever seen. They struggle, in a straight up situation, to pass block(Campbell took 10 hits in 22 attempts, along with 5 sacks), to run block(Betts was able to move the ball in the 2^nd half, but that had more to do with the Falcons playing the deep pass as much as possible after getting up 3 Tds) and they can’t even block well in space against smaller players. The only way the skins can keep the rush off of their Qbs is to run bootlegs, quick routes and misdirection. To give you an idea of how pathetic this unit is, Derrick Dockery is currently the best pass blocker this team has, and he’s never been known as a pass blocking specialist in his career.

6a-I’ve said it before, but Bugel is one of the major problems with this o-line. He has enough respect from the front office that he could have objected to the Stephon Heyer/Mike Williams experiments and demanded the team get him some real talent or depth.

7-The playcalling was as schizophrenic as the rest of the team was. Lewis called a fairly bad game in the first half, which led to an ineffective rushing game and a passing game designed to get the Qb killed. In the 2^nd half, Lewis used more bootlegs and runs designed to take advantage of the Falcons using more deep zones..and the skins were able to move the ball much better. When they switched back to more deep drops and less traps/draws, the falcons were able to shut down their offense much easier. Also, it was special that Zorn snuck his nose into the 4^th down call late in the game, leading to a very questionable play-action throw to the fullback 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

7a-Another terrible coaching idea, probably from the bingo-addled mind of Sherman Lewis was the concept of using Rock Cartwright in at the goal line. 5’7” RBs not nearly as quick/shifty as Darren Sproles are essentially useless as goal line backs, and Rock showed that by being easily stopped each time he carried the ball in that situation.

8-LaRon Landry’s play was another major issue coming out of this loss to the Falcons. He had arguably his worst game as a member of the Redskins, generally looking ineffective in coverage and run support, and compounding the problem by taking himself out of plays looking for the big hit rather than stopping the bleeding of a big run/pass. I used to think that Landry’s problem was merely being played out of position at Free Safety and playing 20-40 yards off the line, I don’t know how effective he would be in that role anymore if he these problems with making basic tackles.

9-The special teams plays was, as is standard with the skins, inconsistent. The kickoff coverage was much improved, but the punt returns were just as crappy, even with DeAngelo Hall being the only returner who made a real return. Also, they never really saw much return from the kick return game. Add Danny Smith to the list of coaches who should go also.

10-The bottom line of this game was that it was much closer than it should have been. The Redskins only showed competency after the Falcons dialed back their team holding a 3 touchdown lead. And even then, they really had to scuff and struggle even to get within a touchdown. And predictably, the well rested defense gave up a long touchdown, putting the game out of reach. Although the franchise would never admit it, this is the part of the season to start benching/cutting dead weight and even playing young hungry guys like Marko Mitchell regardless of who gets offended. Unfortunately, this is merely the first wave in the Skins’ November from Hell. So, it’s just going to get much darker before dawn.

Player grades:

To make it clearer what the grades mean, I submit to you a legend on how to read the grading:

10: Legendary performance.

9: AP All Pro team caliber performance

8: Pro bowl caliber performance

7: Good, maybe a brain fart here or there.

6: More good than bad.

5: More bad than good

4: I’m looking at NFL.com’s depth chart for who’s behind him

3: Liability

2: Should be starting for the Raiders

1: Opposing fans not only know his name, but openly mock him(and we have creatively snarky nicknames for him)

0: The player must have incriminating photos of his coordinator or position coach(or both)

Pass: the player didn’t play enough to merit a grade.

X WR: Santana Moss 5.2. Dropped a couple big plays and generally wasn’t a threat.

TE: Fred Davis 5 flat. Had a couple nice catches, but was generally ineffective.

LT: Stephon Heyer 2.25. Sadly, our best OT against the Falcons.

LG: Derrick Dockery 5.33. Solid in run blocking.

OC: Casey Rabach 1.5. Just terrible all game long.

RG: Will Montgomery 1.15. Jonathan Babineaux destroyed him and Rabach.

RT: Mike Williams 2.1. Awful.

Y WR: Devin Thomas 3.2. invisible.

QB Jason Campbell 5.4. Statistically, not bad, realistically subpar.

FB: Mike Sellers 4.7. Good long catch, subpar blocking

RB: Ladell Betts 5.22. A couple nice runs in relief of Portis, a nice screen catch, but generally only effective when the Falcons were in dimes and deep zones.

PK: Shaun Suisham. 7.7 Nice long FG.

DE: Andre Carter 5.25. A nice tackle early, generally invisible otherwise.

DT: Albert Haynesworth 6.2. The Falcons kept him bottled up a lot of the game.

DT: Cornie Griffin 4.4. Golston played a better game.

DE: Philip Daniels 1.4. A major liability in the run game now.

SLB Brian Orapko 5.6. A couple sacks(although I think one will be reversed in the official scoring since Ryan was over the los) as a DE, but was lost..again…as OLB.

MLB London Fletcher 6.01. A couple nice plays, but Turner ran all over him.

WLB Rocky McIntosh 6.4. A nice INT early in the game, but was as culpable as Landry on Turnover 66 yard TD run.

CB DeAngelo Hall 5 flat. Invisible.

FS LaRon Landry 2.2. Unforgivable errors today.

SS Reed Doughty 4.7. Solid tackling…usually after deep into the skins’ defensive backfield.

CB Carlos Rogers 4 flat. Looked bored all game long.

P Sam Paulescu 7.75. 3 punts, 150 yards. Can’t ask for much more.

Coaching grades:

Offense: C-

Defense: D

Special teams: D

Clinton Ports suffered a concussion and will likely miss the next game.  Betts relieved him and picked up 70 yards rushing.  It was good seeing Marko Mitchell getting a couple of catches.

Anyway, they are 2-6 now and the only thing they will be playing for his their pride.  I hope they have some left.

Safety Chris Horton injured himself at practice and the extent of the injury is unknown.

We heard last week that Zorn was going to give DeAngelo Hall some punt return duties but this week Zorn has come about and stated that Randle-El is still the primary punt returner.  Why?

Fred Davis didn’t take much time off during the bye week.  He stayed back and worked with tight ends coach Scott Watchenheim on his blocking.  Davis will have to step up his game in relief of injured Chris Cooley.

Riggo attacks Dan Snyder on Showtime’s Inside The NFL.  He said Dan has a “dark heart” and is not a good person.  Greg Blache, who turned over his media duties earlier this season, appeared in front of the media to address the issue and support Dan Snyder.  He said he saw the story on ProFootballTalk in the morning and it didn’t sit well with him.  Don’t ask me why he’s looking at ProFootballTalk.  He basically talked about a lot of the good that Dan has done for him and his family.

I believe fans know that Dan has done some good and that’s not the issue with fans.  The issue fans have with Dan is related to football decisions.  That’s what has fans upset with him.  Yeah, he wants to win and he’ll spend the money to win but he has done nothing but wasted the money he has spent.  Remember the signings of the Deion Sanders, Jeff George, Bruce Smith just to name a few.

Blache also said the fans don’t get to know Snyder and that is true.  We’re not there in the building with him everyday but we do see the things he does and that tells us a lot.  Remember that season when he charged fans to attend training camps.  He’s banned fans from bringing signs to Fedex Field.  There were even some stores that some fans were asked to turn their shirts inside/out by security because fans were expressing their displeasure with Dan Snyder.  This says a lot and it doesn’t say he cares for the fans as Blache put it.  Maybe the fans can get to learn more about Dan if he makes himself more media friendly and not behind the face of Vinny Cerrato.

Dan thinks he knows how to build a football team.  It’s probably a challenge he has taken upon himself.  He feels he’s been a successful business man and he wants to apply that success to football.  He’s done it on the business side but he has downright failed on the football side.  He doesn’t have a long-term plan for building a team because he doesn’t know how to build one.  It’s that plain and simple and that’s what the fans are seeing.  That’s why we’re upset.

How apologetic can you be when you ban signs from Fedex Field when fans try to express their displeasure with the organization.  You disguise the real reason for the ban under the safety umbrella.  Give us a break, we’re not that dumb.  By the way, those towels you handed out a couple of weeks ago can cause some injuries as well as they’re being waved.  They can also obstruct fan’s views, should you ban those as well?  Don’t tell us how apologetic you are when your actions speak otherwise.

Dan, the fans don’t need your apology although it was nice of you to do it.  What we do need you to do is look into a mirror and realize that it is your fault.  All the decisions you have made over the years lead us to this point.  You made these decision hiding behind your so-called President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato.  You think you know how to build a football team and you don’t, so stop trying.  FIRE VINNY CERRATO and get someone that knows how to do it.  Then YOU get out of the way and let them do their job.  Don’t tell them you want a certain coach or player, let them take care of that.  All you need to do is sign their checks.

That would go a long way with the fan base and might just bring you and Redskins Nation what they want.

According to the DC Sports Bog, the Washington Redskins have changed their policy on signs at Fedex Field.  The new policy states that no signs are allowed at all.  So fans who showed up at Fedex Field on Monday night had their signs discarded in the trash by Fedex security before they could enter the stadium.  So folks did manage to sneak them in only to have security approach them with threats in they didn’t comply.

According to Redskins officials, the policy was changed for a number of reasons.  One reason being that they don’t want signs obstructing views of other fans.  My only question is why the hell do they sell obstructed view seats?  To me, there seems to be a conflict here in terms of obstructing views for fans.  It’s fine for the Redskins to obstruct your view and your view is obstructed the entire game.  But fans can’t obstruct your view for a couple of moments.  Of course, it’s the fans choice to purchase the obstructed view seats but if the organization really feels this strongly about obstructing fans’ view, then maybe they shouldn’t offer obstructed view seats.

1-The bottom line about the game was best expressed by Wilbon this morning: the eagles were an incomplete team who made a lot of mistakes, and yet the Skins didn’t put up much resistance to them. What we’re seeing is total failure by all sides of the ball to do their job and a team who’s stopped really caring about the season. If this wasn’t bad enough, the roster, especially on offense, has turned into a sick version of The Gong Show, where its only a matter of time before another starter is carted off the field(and the season). The really frustrating thing about this team is that the offense, defense and special teams might have good plays or drives; they never can put it all together or sustain the quality play for very long.

2-Sherm Lewis should probably go back to the bingo hall. While the red zone play calling was better, it looked rather clear to me that after the first offensive play(a play action naked screen to Cooley), the Eagles’ defense knew the play calls better than the Skins’ offense did. In the first half, time after time, the Eagles knew exactly where to line up, where to blitz to and who was faking what. On the INT TD, Quentin Mikell knew exactly which crease to blitz in and knew Campbell’s throwing lane perfectly. This isn’t luck, this is a well coached defense that studies their film.

3-Jason Campbell was just awful against the Eagles. Most of his stats came when the Eagles packed it in and were in a vague prevent defense, so I discount his 284 yards(120ish of them came in the 4th quarter), but even in the rare plays when he had the time to throw, he wasn’t able to do so with any consistency. The problem isn’t a lack of talent, Campbell shows enough flashes that its clear he has some talent, the problem-imo-is that Campbell is just ruined; he doesn’t trust the team/coaches around him, and that’s as much on Campbell as its on the offensive talent/coaches around him. He’s too gunshy and too afraid of making a mistake that he refuses to really take any chances in the passing game. He needs to go elsewhere, and if we had a young Qb with some mobility(and memo to the Brennan cultists, Brennan has never been able to deal with pressure, so even if he was healthy, playing him would be an unmitigated disaster), this would be the time to transition to him. Since we don’t, the Redskins are living LBJ’s analogy about being on a Texas highway during a hailstorm Qb-wise for the rest of the season: you can’t hide from it, you can’t run from it, all you can do it get through it.

4-I’ve seen some really poor performances from Redskins’ Oline in my life, but the performance of Heyer-Dockery-Rabach-Montgomery-Williams had to be up there among the worst I’ve ever seen. Not only can’t they run block, but also Campbell had to have taken 20-25 hits last night. And worst of all: there are plays where they aren’t even blocking anyone. There were far too many plays where the Eagles’ blitzers had a free release at Campbell(or Portis). And while I know how depleted they are as a unit, a lot of the blame has to fall squarely at the feet of Joe Bugel. I honestly think he’s lost it as a Oline coach. Yes, guys like Heyer don’t have a lot of talent or are playing out of position, but when you have players getting out of their stances late, having bad footwork or just completely blowing their assignments, one has to wonder how poorly they’re getting coached.

4a-I hate to keep whipping a dead horse, but Stephon Heyer has no business playing in this league. None. I counted 4 pressures, 3 sacks given up along with 2 holding penalties called on him last night.

4b-Casey Rabach also had a really poor night blocking, snapping and calling the blocks. The first fumbled snap was on Campbell, but the final 2 appear to be on Rabach lazily snapping the ball. He also struggled to block DBs who blitzed up the middle and generally looked ineffective.

5-There is a temptation to look at the defense’s performance and be happy, they held the Eagles down in the 2nd half(too bad that was after the game was effectively over) and outside of the 2 big plays, statistically they held the Eagles in relative check, but this is precisely the problem with the defense. No matter who they’re facing, and no matter who’s on the field for them, the defense always finds a way to let the team down, whether that’s through giving up a couple big plays, or giving up a late drive or giving up a flurry of first downs late in a game to keep the opposing offense on the field, this defense just isn’t good enough. And more to the point, it’s schematically wrong for what the skins have on offense. A bend but don’t break defense, which is what Blache is going for week in and week out, is a good idea if you have an offense that can score quickly or put up 3+ TDs a week(see what the Colts have done for years). With the skins’ offensive ineptitude, they need a defense who can get a consistent pass rush(yes, Carter/ Fat Albert are providing a better pass rush, but there’s no consistency) and cause more turnovers.

5a-I did chuckle a bit when the announcers talked about how Blache said that his defense wouldn’t give up any big plays. This is part and parcel of the problem I describe in #5: Blache coaches his defense scared. He coaches them to give the opposing offense 7 yards if they won’t give up 40(which is why he drops so many guys into coverage, or has the zones at 7 yards on 3rd and 4 or tells the Cbs to give such big cushions and has Landry lining up in Annapolis). That really didn’t work out against the Eagles and cost them the game.

5b-Another reason to not get too chipper about the defense was the fact that Donovan McNabb bailed them out with a poor performance. Especially on 3rd downs, McNabb looks like he was still feeling the effects of his broken ribs: his passes were sailing, falling way short(and harmlessly hitting the ground) and even when he could get it in a good position, his WRs had a bad case of the drops.

5c-I mentioned them before, but Haynesworth and Carter are player who clearly are not part of the problem with the Skins. Haynesworth’s contract is obscene, and the skins could have bought a couple offensive lines with the money, but Haynesworth is delivering on that contract. He’s turning in a truly dominating performance. Its a shame that defensive coaches refuse to blitz much up the middle to take greater advantage of what he brings. Andre Carter is clearly playing for a final big contract(the skins aren’t going to give him his option bonus), but he’s one of the few players who appears to play hard most of the time.

5ca-Also, I was impressed by the performance of Jeremy Jarmon(who always seems to be around the ball) and Chris Wilson.

5d-A player who’s really regressed to the point of questioning his future on the team is LaRon Landry. I don’t know how much of his problem is his playing totally out of position or how much is regression, but he’s just not getting the job at Free Safety. I don’t know how much the defense has to lose by playing Smoot, Moore or Barnes at FS and bringing Landry into the box as the Strong Safety.

6-Cooley’s injury devastated an already depleted offensive corps, and while Fred Davis showed some promise in replacing him, the Skins lost Campbell’s only reliable weapon when he went down. And I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but Cooley didn’t exactly look defeated or angry about getting hurt. He had a smile on his face from most of the shots I saw of him being carted off or in the locker room. I really can’t blame him.

7-Danny Smith’s special teams turned in another stink bomb against the Eagles, the most glaring problem being the poor performance of Hall, Moss and ARE at returner(to be fair, ARE is spectacularly worse than either Hall or Moss). The skins really just need to hold an open try out amongst the Cbs and WRs to see who can contribute anything in this area. This might be a good place to get Marko Mitchell involved with the team and the get ball in his hands since Zorn refuses to use him on offense.

8-Two young players who stepped up their games against the Eagles were the oft-maligned Fred Davis and Devin Thomas(Malcolm Kelly appeared to be stuck in line at Johnny Rockets for a majority of the game). Davis showed a lot of promise as a pass catcher, he’s clearly got the physical tools to frustrate Lbs in coverage like Cooley does, but Davis is a major liability as a pass blocker. Almost to the point where Davis should be split out in the slot and Yoder brought in as a dedicated blocker(another potentially good idea is to use Williams, Heyer or Jones as a 6th Olineman). Thomas showed flashes of what he struggled most with: route running. His red zone TD wasn’t just a solid call by Lewis, it was a perfectly run route by Thomas. He also contributed some other solid catches later on.

9-Another disturbing thing I noticed, and have mentioned before, was the total lack of energy by the skins outside of guys like Carter, Davis, Portis(you could see the frustration boil over when he threw his helmet into the bench) and Haynesworth. Independent of the coaching issues this team has everywhere on the field, the players just don’t look like they give a crap, even when they’re still technically in games.

10-College players to start watching if you’re a skins fan, assuming the season holds true to form, the skins should be picking in the top 5-6 and again in the top few picks in the 2nd round. Here are the top five players that currently would fit the skins’ major needs for each draft slot:
1st Round:
1-Russell Okung OT Oklahoma
2-Bruce Campbell OT UMD
3-Bryan Bulaga OT Iowa
4-Sam Bradford Qb Oklahoma
5-Charles Brown OT USC
2nd Round:
1-Jason Fox OT Miami
2-Jake Locker Qb Washington
3-Ciron Black OT LSU
4-Anthony Davis OT Rutgers
5-Mike Johnson OL Alabama

Player grades:
To make it clearer what the grades mean, I submit to you a legend on how to read the grading:
10: Legendary performance.
9: AP All Pro team caliber performance
8: Pro bowl caliber performance
7: Good, maybe a brain fart here or there.
6: More good than bad.
5: More bad than good
4: I’m looking at NFL.com’s depth chart for who’s behind him
3: Liability
2: Should be starting for the Raiders
1: Opposing fans not only know his name, but openly mock him(and we have creatively snarky nicknames for him)
0: The player must have incriminating photos of his coordinator or position coach(or both)
Pass: the player didn’t play enough to merit a grade.

X WR: Santana Moss 6.89. A very quiet 74 yards.
TE: Fred Davis 7 flat. Terrible blocking, good pass catching.
LT: Stephon Heyer 0. Godawful.
LG: Derrick Dockery 5.1. Solid, but can’t cover up for Heyer
OC: Casey Rabach 1.75. Inexcusable.
RG: Will Montgomery 2 flat. Almost as bad as Williams
RT: Mike Williams 1.5. Terrible.
Y WR: Devin Thomas 5.75. Solid contribution.
QB Jason Campbell 2.25. Arguably his worse half of football in years.
FB: Mike Sellers 3.3. Lazy and ineffective is no way to stay in the NFL.
RB: Clinton Portis 4.5. invisible except for marking where the Eagles defense were.
PK: Shaun Suisham 6.25. Nice long FG.

DE: Andre Carter 8 flat. Another good game for the Vet.
DT: Albert Haynesworth 8.2. Really dominated the entire Eagles line.
DT: Cornie Griffin 4.5. Up and down.
DE: Philip Daniels 2 flat. MIA
SLB Brian Orapko 2.5. The only time I noticed him on the field was when he got hurt.
MLB London Fletcher 6.7. Killer personal foul on 3rd down, otherwise solid
WLB Rocky McIntosh 5.25. There’s times you forget he’s on the field.
CB DeAngelo Hall 5.1. Invisible.
FS LaRon Landry 4.2. Blech
SS Reed Doughty 5.25. Good sack in the 2nd, otherwise ineffective.
CB Carlos Rogers 4.8. Looked clueless at times
P Hunter Smith 6.75. Solid

Coaching grades:
Offense: D
Defense: D+
Special teams: D-

The Skins went on to turn the ball over 4 times.  They were also dealt a huge blow to the offense when TE Chris Cooley left the game with what is being called a broken ankle at this point.  We should know more on Tuesday but we can expect him to miss a good portion of the remainder of the season.

So much for having a new play caller.  The Skins looked very bad on offense, I mean simply terrible.  The defense gave up some big plays but they dd manage to get some pressure on McNabb and even forced a fumble.  Too bad they couldn’t recover it.  The did manage to hold Philly scoreless in the 2nd half though.

All-in-all it was a terrible performance from the offense today.  Nothing has changed.  It’s like they regress with each and every game.  There is no improvement at all and this is what we have to put up with for the remainder of the season.  Personally, I don’t see them winning another game at home.

Here’s to another rough week in Redskins Nation.