Quick Hitters: A sign of things to come?

There are many areas of criticism for the Redskins after the most lop-sided preseason game I can ever remember watching. Let’s start with the offensive line, which looked horrible. Yes, Jason Campbell repeatedly held the ball too long, but that’s a small problem compared to the complete breakdown in pass coverage. C Casey Rabach, who has been the steadiest member of the line, was pushed around in the first half. Guards Randy Thomas and Pete Kendall did little better. Chris Samuels look uncharacteristically bad, especially on one play where DE Julius Peppers bull-rushed him right back into his own quarterback. Jon Jansen, quite simply, doesn’t look like a starting tackle in this league. I don’t know what, if anything, can be done about this group. It is old and injury-prone and there has justifiably been a lot of concern among fans and media this offseason about how it would perform. Apparently, the Redskins didn’t share that concern because they made almost no effort to upgrade the line. They may be regretting that now. That doesn’t look like a playoff-worthy offensive line to me.
It’s hard to see Jon Jansen lasting the season right now. Even if he can stay healthy, which is by no means a given, he just doesn’t look up to defending the passer right now. He doesn’t look nearly quick enough to protect Campbell and the offense will have to be schemed to account for this. Look for FB Mike Sellers and TE Chris Cooley to spend a lot of time on the right side, helping out Jansen against even average or mediocre pass-rushers. In any case, Stephon Heyer should stay ready because the job could be his by default at almost any time — whether because of injury or poor performance.
Jason Campbell, as mentioned, held on to the ball too long. He hasn’t look good in the last two games and the euphoria of the first two preseason games now seems like a long time ago. This is a big season for Campbell. Even for those of us who have believed in Campbell, it must be acknowledged that THIS is the big year for the young passer. If he doesn’t get it done this year, prove he’s a solid starting NFL quarterback, the team will have to look in another direction and find a player not currently on the roster.
As bad as the offense was, I was almost more trouble by the defense. The defensive line was shoved all over the field against the run and the linebackers looked slow and ineffective. WLB Rocky McIntosh doesn’t look to me as if he’s anywhere back to his old self and MLB London Fletcher just couldn’t get to the sidelines to close plays out. Did the team miss SLB Marcus Washington that much? I don’t know, but he couldn’t have done worse than what I saw on Saturday night. That was one of the worst performances from a linebacking corps I’ve ever seen. Basic things like filling gaps and tackling were simply not done.
SS Reed Doughty looks good on blitzes, but not much else. He doesn’t get to the sidelines fast enough and if he can’t evade the blockers, he’s taken out of the play. On pass defense, as we already knew, he just doesn’t look fast enough to close plays out. FS Kareem More does have the necessary quickness and he made a nice interception last Saturday on a bad pass by QB Jake Delhomme. However, he’s inexperienced and it showed. More was faked out of position on a couple of passing plays and missed several very make-able tackles. Apart from the interception, it was not a good game for More. The backup cornerbacks got abused and CB Carlos Rogers doesn’t look much better than fellow returnee McIntosh. Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs looked fine. One thing we really saw is how bad the secondary is without Laron Landry, who has hardly played this preseason. It’s not looking good for Landry to play against Jacksonville on Thursday and he might not even play against the New York Giants in the season opener. Without Landry back there, the secondary is full of holes.
There is a lot of pressure on Head Coach Jim Zorn because the Redskins management regards this as a playoff team. Washington got on a hot run at the end of last season behind a backup quarterback almost nobody had seen play in recent years. They made the playoffs — barely — in a good division, but a bad conference. They would not have been close to the playoffs in the more powerful AFC. The last two weeks, the Redskins have looked more like another 6-10 team than a playoff squad.
So, how much should we take from this godawful performance? The Redskins had played 3 preseason games before this one and it could be they were tired and bored and mailed it in. [That's a great way to get injured, by the way.] Is there any correlation to how a team plays in its 4th preseason game [or 3rd preseason game] and how the season goes for that team? If there is any evidence suggesting a solid linkage, I’m not aware of it.
On the other hand, I do remember the 3rd preseason game in 2006 when the Patriots destroyed the Redskins, particularly by throwing down the middle and exposing Washington’s weakness against the deep passing game. The Redskins defense fell apart that year and the team led the league in giving up big passing plays.
Was this game an aberration or a harbinger of things to come? Losing 47-3 to a team that went 7-9 last season is hardly encouraging. At this point, the only positive thing that can come out of that performance is a sense of their own weaknesses and an urgency in addressing those problems. Nevertheless, the Redskins first team has not looked good the last two games and Redskins fans can hardly be as confident as they were after the Buffalo and Indianapolis wins.
Discuss this in Redskins Park with other DC sports fans!