The Redskin Report

Maybe this will work after all.

Jason Campbell rebounded from an abysmal opening day start to pass for 321 yards, including a go-ahead 67 yard touchdown to Santana Moss, leading the Washington Redskins to a 29-24 over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.  With fans doubting him, it was a giant step for Campbell.  He’s been a guy who’s struggled to lead the team to late victories, but he was a perfect on his final eight attempts in this game.  The big touchdown to Moss came on an audible and was a very nice throw.

Clinton Portis had a controversial week but he had another solid game.  He rushed for 96 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Fellow Miami alum Moss was the receiving star with 164 yards on seven receptions.  Chris Cooley also responded after a slow game against the Giants with 5 catches and 72 yards.  Both Malcolm Kelly and Fred Davis had their first career receptions for the Redskins today.

The defense was fairly stout against a strong Saints offense.  The run defense was outstanding, holding the Saints to 55 yards and 2.9 yards per carry.  Chris Horton has a huge day in his first NFL start filling in for an ill Reed Doughty.  Horton had two interceptions and a fumble recovery.  Horton may be a raw rookie, but he seems to have a nose for the ball, Doughty will need to play well to keep his job.  Jason Taylor had his first sack in a Redskins uniform early in the game, but did aggravate his knee injury during the game.  Rookie punter Durant Brooks struggled mightily again both while punting and holding.  

Its much to early in the season to call that 4th quarter a season saver, but it helps the Redskins avoid an 0-2 hole and perhaps more importantly helps invigirate a fan base that was shaken after last week’s debacle.

Photo from ESPN.com

I don’t care how you put it, Chris Horton has already earned early Rookie of the Year consideration.  In his first extensive action, he only picked off two passes, and recovered a fumble.  In one game.  Without much help.  Was it just two years ago the Redskins went the entire season with only 15?

Oh, and Campbell (officially) was 24/36 for 321 yards… isn’t that a career best for him?  And did I mention that the Redskins won?

Of course, not everything is roses, and the skunk this week will end up being Durrant Brooks, who had a poor performance.  If the Redskins had lost, a large part of the blame would have been on Brooks; as it was this is one of the few games where the punter had such a huge impact, from the poor holding for FGs and the line drive punt to Bush that nearly broke the Redskins back (or maybe just got them fired up enough to win the game).

At any rate, we’ll discuss the game more later in the week… for now, bask in our first victory.  Hello, Arizona!

Some thoughts on the week after the pitiful season opener in New York: 

Fan Reaction 

The fan reaction to a bad loss is always the same - some fly off the deep end and want to fire the coach, change the QB and blow everything up while others toe the party line and pretend nothing is wrong (obviously there are a bunch of fans in the middle ground in there as well).  To be quite honest, I was tilted towards the panicked fans hence my delay in throwing up any articles this week. 

There just isn’t a ton to be confident about after watching that first game, particularly offensively.  Defensively the team could have managed a few more turnovers if any of the cornerbacks could catch the ball (but we’ve said the same thing for years, so I doubt we’ll see a sudden increase in interceptions).  Obviously we have to give the team some time and you don’t go changing everything after week one, but a better effort this week would be nice to ease some concerns.

Jason Campbell and Jim Zorn 

It’s hard to give either of Zorn or Campbell a passing grade after week one.  Zorn coached scared plain and simple.  I know he doesn’t want Campbell to get killed and he doesn’t really trust the offensive line (although they aren’t a bad unit, so I’m not sure why), but you have to play to win.  Running every 1^st and 2^nd down just isn’t going to get it done these days.  He needs to open up the offense this week; the Saints aren’t a great defensive squad so Zorn should try to expose it.

Campbell was terrible in week one as well.  He looked like a guy who was over thinking and worrying about technique instead of just throwing the ball.  There were times where you could see Campbell staring at open receivers and just not throwing the ball.  He’s got a big arm and he needs to trust himself to be able to make some throws.  The idea to move him into the shotgun makes some sense as well.  He won’t have to worry about making his drop in the crouched down position that Zorn prefers. 

Both of these guys need to step up and show they belong this week.  It isn’t a make or break weekend, but it isn’t going to take much for the fans to start getting on both of them if things don’t improve.

Week 1 of the Redskin Report 2008 Pigskin Pick’em is now in the bag, and it’s time to begin with our weekly Kudos and Props.  Kind of like the Redskins last week, many players picked less than optimally, but like the Redskins, there were signs of life in the picks, too.

Leading the way, with scores of 11 (out of 16) for Week 1 were Whatif, Marc, Sundayisforfootball, and Terp4Life.  Those players beat the top of the pack, which clustered strongly in the 10-8 point area.  Even 9 picks is relatively good, however, and anything less… well, remember that we’re dropping the WORST week of the year, so NO body is behind yet!  Kudos to Whatif, Marc, Sundayisforfootball, and Terp4Life for their Week 1 picks!

This being the first week, if there WERE season Props to report at this point, they would be identical with the weekly Kudos… however, there won’t be any Season Props until after Week 3s games, to allow two guaranteed weeks to be in the books (with dropping the worst week, it will take three weeks to guarentee you have two good weeks).

It’s never too early to give Upset Picks of the Weeks Props, though…  Upset Picks are somewhat arbitrary… they are totally what I think are the biggest upsets (though sometimes I’ll have seen them coming, too).  They also have to have been an upset someone actually picked… I also don’t normally go with a “Trendy” upset… if too many people saw it coming a mile away, it’s not normally going to be an Upset Pick of the Week.  There are some REALLY big near misses for that, but the favored team pulled it out in the end after a close call.  Udothedishes.com correctly believed that Peyton Manning’s Colts would somehow be flat against everyones favorite Wide Receiver, Brandon “Big Bust” Lloyd, and his Chicago Bears, and earned Upset Pick of the Week Props.  If it hadn’t been called by so many others, Carolina causing the Charger’s to fizzle would have merited some love, too.  Props to Udothedishes.com for their prognosticating!

It’s not to early to get your picks in for this weeks games… and its not even too late (I thin…) to get into the game at all… but you need to get in it to win it!