Each in turn…
The Offensive Line
Chris Samuels retirement left a gaping hole on the left side of the line. And let’s be kind, this was a porous line at the best of times. Once the position at draft-time was sorted (see Quarterback, below) then there was very little doubt that the line would be bolstered with the #4 pick and sure enough, it was. Trent Williams comes in to protect McNabb’s blindside. The 7th round also saw us pick up Erik Cook (C, but versatile) and Selvish Capers (G) to give depth in the future. McNabb isn’t the scamperer that he was in years past, so he and our running backs (again, see below) are going to need a solid line.

Running Back (s)
The off-season has seen the free agency pick-ups of Willie Parker and Larry Johnson. Which together with Clinton Portis gives us a very old running back corp. Sharing the load, can these guys get the job done? Probably yes, but we’re going to need the Shanahan magic to get the running game going. To be inventive and surprising. But I can’t see any of these guys escaping many secondaries, even though Chris Cooley is saying that they’re all looking good. It will be interesting to see if Anthony Alridge gets beyond the practice squad this season as well as how motivated Portis will be after quite a lot of nay-saying about him from a lot of quarters recently.

Jason Campbell
As I said in the original article, and repeated here, I think Campbell showed a lot last year. He deserved a chance and it’s just the way that things have turned out that it won’t be in burgandy and gold I am pleased to see him moving (probably) upwards.
But there’s no mistaking that Donovan McNabb represents an upgrade, as he would to many teams. It’s easy to point at flaws in his game, but he’s a good age for a QB, has the skillset, experience, leadership and most importantly – the motivation to take us into the post-season sooner rather than later. Personally, I’m really excited about watching him play and hope that the receiving corp can step up.

Older Players
March 4th saw a big clearout of older players. Fred Smoot – gone. Antwaan Randel El – gone back to the Steelers. Rock Cartwright (has joined Campbell in Oakland) and Ladell Betts – gone. Randy Thomas, Cornelius Griffin. Blam… they’re gone. Do I need to say anymore?

It’s now a younger (but not outright young) team and that should reflect well across all elements of play.

The Defence
With the switch to 3-4 coming, there are still some areas to be looked at here. Most notably in the hulking form of Albert Haynesworth. He does not want to be paid to get double-teamed every week as nose tackle and him and Shanahan are apparently not on good terms.
I hope they sort it out. He didn’t have a bad 2009 all told. No, be wasn’t the dominant tackle that he’d been in previous years, but he was a big part of our line despite the setup not playing to his strengths. Whilst his deal is as financially crippling as it is he’ll be going no-where, so let’s make the most of him.

We really need help at safety and I hope that gets addressed in free-agency. But I like the look of our linebackers, who have added depth with 4th round pick Perry Riley.

So all in all, the team is looking good. I fancy us to have a good run at the post-season this year, though won’t get carried away. There’s still a lot to happen before the pre-season.

It’s been a tough time for former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Jason Campbell. His days were numbered from the moment Donovan McNabb came over to the burgandy side (and I’ll be talking about that another time). He signed his tender, but no-one really expected him to stick around. In fact, the only real surprises have been how long it took and the price that the Redskins got for him.

Yes, Jason Campbell will be turning out next year in black and silver as he switches east coast for west to join the Oakland Raiders. He’s also got an extension out of it, and would look to be the starter or at least to compete with JaMarcus Russell. I’m thinking he’ll start, as JMR will surely be released before his massive salary for the season is due. I also think that it’s a good move for the Raiders and for Campbell. Campbell will have to learn yet another new system but he’s proven adaptable over the years and the Raiders will surely use his arm more than the recent schemes in Washington. Whilst I’ve not been his biggest fan, he did impress me last season to the extent that I’d have been happy to see him start again. By all accounts conducted himself with a high level of professionalism throughout his time at FedEx Field and you have to admire that attitude.

The Redskins don’t play the Raiders this year, so I can safely wish him well and say thanks for his service and wonder about just getting a 4th round pick (in 2012!) for a proven starter…

Image Credit: jf photo, with thanks.

The likable, but perhaps out of his depth Jim Zorn has gone, in a move that is in no way surprising – he’d probably been emptying his office steadily over the last few months – and Mike Shanahan is in. Not just as Coach, but in an Final Say role that he likes and that the team needs. But there’s a lot to fix, let’s take a look at some of the problems he’s inherited.

The Offensive Line
Make no mistake, this was a terrible unit this year. Whether it was injuries or just bad play it all starts with these guys and a lot of the other issues are direct results of these guys. When passing, there is never any confidence that when Campbell drops back he is going to have any time or space, that the pocket will hold as long as it needs to.

When Running, there’s little confidence that they’ll clear the way or win the battles that they need to The ‘Skins were 27th in rushing yards, with a paltry 94.4 yards per game. That’s something to be addressed. Which leads me onto…

Running Back
Clinton Portis is a great player, there’s no mistake on that. Through all his years, he’s given is all but it’s that effort that’s starting to take its toll. Even when fit (or at least as fit as he gets) he didn’t look like the same player. Those years of hard-won yards starting to take their toll? Age? Conditioning? That damned offensive line again? Probably a combination of all these things and more. We also saw that Ladell Betts was not a starter, and that the rest of the backs weren’t really up to it either. One glimmer is the emergence of Quinton Ganther as a hard runner who’s difficult to bring down and who will fight for those extra yards.

Clinton Portis played his first two seasons under the new Man in town, and there’s a strong chance that we’ll see an offense that will suit him better next season.
A fan favourite, they’ll be many who’ll want him to do well. But I can’t help but think that he’s on the downside and we should be looking to back him up with a young stud. Could that be Ganther? Probably too early to say, but I don’t want to go into the 2010 season with the backs as they are.

Jason Campbell
There are some, me included, who think that Jason Campbell has shown us an awful lot this season. He’s been strong, he’s made plays and he’s shown the sort of guts and determination you can build a team on. He’s still been frustrating, but not in the sort of measures the 2008 model was. All things considered, he was certainly better than he ended last season and you got the feeling he could see a drive out when it matters. Of course, the record won’t reflect that and his teammates (yes you, Clinton) taking shots at him – questioning his leadership, temperament and virtues won’t help at all. He’s out of contract this off-season, and we don’t know at this point what Mike Shanahan is thinking. If not him though, we’ve got no-one who can lead the team and will be looking at the draft and then to start a rookie.
Personally I think he’s earned a solid chance to show what he can do. I’ve not been his biggest fan over the short years, but he’s won me over this year.

Older Players
There’s nothing definitive that says that older players cannot be productive, though it favours some positions more than others. Some coaches thrive on it, and get the best out of players in the ‘later’ years of their playing careers. Let’s see what Shanahan can do, as Santana Moss and Antwaan Randel El will both be 31 before the next season starts, Clinton Portis will be 29 and across the board this isn’t a young team. Half of the O-line will be well into their 30s.
Some of the younger players stepped up this year (finally, in some cases!) and it will be good to see how they progress from this. Even if in some cases, like at Tight End, it could mean some tough choices.

The Defence
If there was one bright spot (and for the record, there was more than one) then it was the performance of the D. They frequently kept us in games, and played hard. Of course, they got blown out on a couple of occasions, and in a couple of days they were beaten in the 4th quarter after tough games. But there have been misteps too. DeAngelo Hall has missed so many tackles that I’ve lost count; LaRon Landry took a step backwards this season and an opposition QB will pick on Fred Smoot all day long. Albert Haynesworth wasn’t the same player he’d been at the Titans, but he was doing a different role. With solid play from the rest of the line (who are also ageing) and rookie wonder Brian Orakpo at linebacker with the best MLB in the NFL in London Fletcher there is a solid core that can make good things happen.

It’s way too early to make guesses or predictions for what next year will bring. We have the #4 pick and can expect some aggressive free agency work too. As ever, it’ll be interesting to watch the off-season and see what happens.

Image Credits: Skaines, clydeorama and davidseletyn
Check out their work at Flickr.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but this was a good win. And one I saw coming, which makes it even more sweeter.

Three things I liked:

And three things that I didn’t like:

So roll on the Cowboys! They’ll be smarting from a loss against the Packers and whilst they’re strong favourites you can just never tell in a big rivalry game like this. One I’m very much looking forward to.

Image Credits: The Bad M@ttitude’s from Flickr. Visit his photostream.

I was excited for this game, though to be honest I never saw us winning it. Mainly I wanted to see how week looked coming out of the bye-week. Would there be an improvement on the offense, will the defence be strong… sadly the answer to both these questions was “No, not really.”

The defense wasn’t the unit we’re used to seeing and gave up yards to Michael Turner because of really shabby tackling. And the offense capped out – again – at 17 points, which just isn’t enough.

The offensive line continues to shuffle and change as injuries take their toll. I’d be surprised if Jason Campbell even knows the names of the 5 guys in front of him next. Obviously he’ll remember Casey Rabach – not just as he puts his hands on his rump quite a lot but the refs call it out every week. Usually after “Holding” and before “10 yards”.

Anyway… 3 things I liked this week:

And 3 things I didn’t:

Image Credit: The Suss-Man (Mike)

A special review this week, and one that allows me to stop thinking about how bad the Redskins are or dwelling on Chris Cooley’s broken ankle.

So NFL Sunday at Wembley! As we’ve done for all three years now, I met up with Graham, Ant (Pats’ fan) and Dom (general good time guy) early in the afternoon near one of the many eating and drinking huts that were set-up around the stadium. In the past we’ve played a sort of Shirt Bingo – to see if we can see all 32 teams represented. They obviously are, and this year we limited ourselves to picking out shirts of distinction (“Is that a JaMarcus Russel shirt? In public?”… that sort of thing).

Anyway, a couple of beverages to the good and we headed inside. The inside of the stadium never fails to impress me – the walkways are wide, there are plenty of tables and areas to stand about with a beer and a hotdog. There are bars, eateries and shops dotted all over the place. In Club, where we were this year, there are also leather sofas dotted about and enticing windows into fancy restaurants and hospitality sections. As old pros, we got a beer and settled down. Only heading for our seats about an hour before kickoff.

I won’t give a play-by-play rundown, you’re probably all aware that it wasn’t a great game.

The Good

Wembley Stadium. It looked fantastic again. The US NFL stadia are all impressive in their own ways, but Wembley holds proud against them all. Seeing it decked out NFL-style is an amazing sight.

The Spectacle. Football could learn so much from the NFL in terms of presenting a match. And it was all with pinpoint precision. A countdown told us how long before the pre-show would start, and it was to the second. The pre-show music I could take or leave, but it was well done. The anthems were nicely done, and all three years we Brits have shown the right amount of respect to the US anthem. And the British anthem was brilliantly delivered and sung along to (unlike like last year, Ms. Stone)
Best of all, the Bucs’ intro video (which shows the galleon defeating it’s divisional rivals then turning on the Patriot’s ship) included a Wembley fortress island. Little touches like that put the NFL a league apart.

The Pats. Love ‘em or loath ‘em, this is a professional outfit that can really play ball. All aspects of their game was working. Brady made some nice plays (though he also made some bad ones) and Wes Welker had a great game. I’d have liked to have seen more deep shots, but it wasn’t necessary.

The Bad

Just the one thing really… The Bucs. This is a poor team in the deepest part of its rebuilding process and it showed. If there were any doubts about how the game would go, they were gone the second time Brandon Merriweather picked off Josh Johnson. The first pick though… if we could see from the stands where the pass was going, then he was telegraphing it.
Even though the crowd wanted to back them (well, it was more like 50-50 Bucs to Pats in terms of the fan split) we all pretty much gave up early in the second quarter and just enjoyed what was happening.

All in all though, another great day out. The game was never going to be as good as last year’s Saints and Chargers throw down, but it was enjoyable for different reasons.

There is talk of two games next year. If there are, the NFL will need to be more considerate with the teams it sends. Given the choice, I’d pick any other team than the Bucs.

Image credit: Graham!
Image credit (Cheerleader): Vanessa Guzan

Well, it’s all getting a bit silly isn’t it?

In all honesty though, I never saw us doing more than propping up the division so I’m not hugely surprised at our results. Just how bad we are though… that is surprising.

Another scoreless first half, more of the same again and again. I just… really, I don’t know what to say. This season is shot to pieces and if anything we’re being flattered with our 2-4 record. We have no easy games coming up any time soon and could easily be looking at 2-8 when we travel to Oakland in week 14.

Jason Campbell has surely played his way out of Washington. He’s not been good, and though he’s been let down across the board the bottom line is that he’s the quarterback, and more responsibility falls onto his shoulders. Even if the offensive line can’t protect him, you just don’t feel like he’s carrying the team or taking any sort of leadership role. That might be wrong, but that’s how it seems.

And let’s not forget that management have not been sure on him for a while now about him. Worse is that we can watch Jay Cutler and Mark “Sanchize” performing well (though not this week, eh Mark?) we can surely see someone new in teh ‘Skins backfield in 2010. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Portis out either.

Jim Zorn has been stripped of play-calling duties. But I’m not sure Sherman Lewis is the answer just a few weeks after joining the organisation. He might though, and we’ll have to see what happens first half next week.

I can’t possibly get three things I liked, but I did get to two and that’ll have to do this week. (I can’t find it in me to give the special teams some credit for not falling over each other during punt returns.)

What wasn’t good to see was a deserted FedEx field by the time Collins ambled into a safety to end the game. I never like to see a stadium that quiet, and certainly not the Field.

Anyway, the Philadephia Eagles are up in primetime on Monday and then we head into the bye-week. Nobody is going to be surprised if Coach Zorn is clearing his office early next week, regardless of the result.

Image Credit: pillpusher

Well, talk about a game of two halves!

First half… well this was just awful. All the same issues cropping up again and again: 4th down calls, Jason Campbell throwing interceptions twice whislt trying to get the ball to Kelly (one bad throw, one bad decision into double coverage), Campbell fumbling to allow the Bucs to score their first 1st quarter points of the season, Clinton Portis getting stuffed at the line, Ladell Betts getting stuffed behind it, penalties on Casey Rabach… it goes on and on.

We go into the break with only 99 yards of offense, and without putting up any points. I’m becoming more and more convinced that it’s a ploy to get Punter Smith to the Pro Bowl. And we can’t even do that properly as he was unable to punt after suffering an groin injury early on.

To give some credit to the team though, the defense was doing a pretty good job. Across the day they only gave up 2 3rd down attempts and generally were looking good in coverage and getting pressure on Josh Johnson. Carlos Rogers had a great play on Michael Clayton that led to a sequence that involved a penalty for delay of game, an incomplete pass, then a FG attempt that faded to hit the upright and bounce out.

Yeah, you look great. Like you don't know that.

Second Half

The second half and things were much improved offensively. It started with a solid interception from DeAngelo Hall on the Bucs first drive and we didn’t really look back. The play calling was improved and Jason Campbell made some good decisions and some good really throws (which is infuriating! At least if he was consistently rubbish we could move on).

Chris Cooley showed us all how great he is, Portis kept hammering at the Bucs defensive line and got some good yardarge in the end, every inch of them hard-earned. Randel El had no catches, and Santana Moss only had two but one of those was for a 59 yard TD which had great movement from Moss and great awareness and a super throw from Campbell.

It wasn’t all good though, and Campbell forced another throw into double coverage and was duly picked off for the third time of the day and Suisham missed an PAT when Ronde Barber came storming on off the edge.

So my three favourite moments from this match:

So we travel to Carolina next week. The Panthers are 0-3 coming off their bye-week and will be a tough game. But if we play like the 2nd half ‘Skins and not the 1st half variety, we should give them a game.

“Father and Son” Image Credit: Nois29 @ Flickr
(This picture is from the Rams’ game two weeks ago, but I think it’s awesome. See the full size image here)

Strangely enough, I don’t feel as bad about the 19-14 loss to the Detroit Lions as I did about the 9-7 win against the Rams last week. This wasn’t, after all, the 0-16 Lions. It was the 0-2 Lions, who are barely recognisable in any way from the record setting 2008 variety. Likewise, we’re not the 6-2 Washington Redskins who opened up 2008 so strongly.

So it’s all the same complaints on the offense as last week: bad calls, no running game, Jason Campbell still looking like a deer in the headlights. However, we can compound the offensive problems with some defensive ones too: 99 yard drive for a touchdown? Check. Below average 3rd down performance? Check. This was shocking.

Needless to say, I struggled to find three things I liked this week.

Things I didn’t like… well, there’s too many to mention, but I join the clamouring call of people who want someone other than Jim Zorn calling the plays. I like the guy, but it might be too late for him already.
I didn’t like last week’s Touchdown-or-Bust call and I liked it less this week. I didn’t like the final play either: I know in my head that the game was over, but toss it up to the endzone and see what happens. We were never going to be able to lateral it to a score. In other areas, the state of the O-line makes me wince everytime the ball is handed to poor Clinton Portis, or when they form a pocket. Pretty much anything they do, actually.

Apart from some of the defence, practically the only other player who came out with any credit was Hunter Smith, whose superb punting did its best to pin the Lions back. So it’s come to this: I’m praising the punter… yeah, I don’t even want to mention the punter, let alone pick him out as doing well.

Anyway… 1-2 and propping up the NFC East. That’s where I think we’ll be at the end of the season, so at least my expectation is being correctly managed. But if we can’t be at least 3-3 after the Buccaneers, Panthers and Chiefs games, then we really are in trouble.

With thanks to randomgoodness from Flickr for the image

Oh dear, that was an awful game to watch. Firstly it was a lot closer than it really should have been because… secondly, we showed a complete inability to score and thirdly Dante Hall still doesn’t look very good.

To be fair to Hall, he did OK for most of the game but got beaten for the Rams’ only score. The defence as a whole looked really good though; I love to see Chris Horton making plays and it was great to see Haynesworth getting involved too.

I didn’t like the call to go for it at 9-7 though. I’d have kicked a field goal and taken the points. Whilst I admire Jim Zorn for wanting to get the score, it wasn’t the smart move even though it did pay off in this instance. But still, it’s easy to second guess.

Three favourite plays this week:

Things could get tougher now, with injuries taking their toll on the offensive line. Randy Thomas is out for the season (and perhaps his career is over) so a line that wasn’t looking great anyway is now weaker.

We have the much-improved Lions next week, and in all honesty it’s going to be a tough game. I’m pretty sure we can hold their offense, but scoring will still be hard again. It’s the same story that we’ve seen across the last two seasons: Campbell in particular, and the offense in general just can’t punch it in.

With thanks to ty law from Flickr for the image. All rights remain his