Jim Zorn may have played some starters to breathe some confidence in before Thursday’s season opener against the Giants, but if that was teh case, the oxygen wasn’t present. The Redskins starting unit sputtered, just like it did against Carolina one week ago. Granted, Clinton Portis, Santana Moss, and Antwaaan Randle El did not play, but the offense is clear struggling to move the football, unlike the first three weeks of pre-season.
The Jaguars handed the Redskins their second straight loss, 24-3, finishing the Redskins pre-season on a down note, and 3-2 overall. In thee last two games, the Redskins have now been out-scored 71-6. Jim Zorn summed up the offensive problem.
“We couldn’t sustain the drives,” Zorn said. “I wanted to get ‘em out in one series, but going three and out, three and out, we didn’t sustain. We didn’t sustain, for whatever reasons.”
Granted, your starting running back and receivers did not play. But, the offensive still failed to move the ball, several times being stalled by receivers dropping passes. Chris Cooley and Devin Thomas both stalled drives by whiffing on passes. The only small good thing to come out is the fact the offensive line was not nearly as offensive as last week, providing overall, decent pass protection for Jason Campbell.
But, Campbell took the leadership role last night, speaking to soothe concerns
“If people start to panic, if they start to panic now, we had three great first preseason games offensively,” said Campbell, who completed 1 of 4 passes for three yards. “We struggled against Carolina, and then tonight we had three series and shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times.
“It’s nothing to start getting discouraged about because everything we’re doing is very correctable. We can’t hit that panic mode. If we start panicking, you can’t start the season off as strong as you want.”
Jason LaCanfora writes that one of the spots on this team that could become a problem is the aging offensive line. JLC discusses the fact that the new Zorn regime and Vinny Cerrato focused on wide receiver, instead of addressing an offensive line that is gaining age quickly. Chad Rinehart was taken in the third round of the draft has shown some excellent promise, but he was it on a rapidly aging line. Instead, the Redskins chose to address receiver in taking Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly. The unfortunate thing about it is, Thomas and Kelly have been utterly disappointing.
JLC also infers that Frost holding for kicks last night is not a good sign for rookie Punter Durant Brooks.
Michael Wilbon spelled out my thought exactly at the end of his read in today’s Post.
If the Redskins go to Giants Stadium and get blown out, we will all say we should have seen it coming. If they go up and knock off the champs to start the season, we (I certainly) will remind anybody who will listen that the preseason is a barometer of nothing.
Washington Times points out, as you all noticed last night, barely any defensive starters played. So don’t get too down on Matt Jones and David Garrard owning the defense last night, that would have likely been different with Shawn Springs, London Fletcher, Laron Landry, Andrew Carter, and Jason Taylor in the game. In other words, don’t get too down on the defensive performance last night and Jacksonville’s 24 points because it really was meaningless. Now, my problem is, the Redskins offense, even though just an inept last night, felt they needed to play and go out there on the field. What about the defense? What about the missed tackles? What about the Carolina offense embarrassing and humiliating them? Yet they felt they didn’t need to make a statement? Hmmmm.
Redskins blogosphere
CurlyR provides a game wrap. Check out Matt Terl’s blog post on Zorn after the game at the Redskins official blog.
My thoughts on Roster spots
Guys that may have lost jobs last night: CB Materreal Richardson, Devin Clark, Durant Brooks, and Justin Tryon.
Guys that may have won jobs: Derrick Frost, Alfred Fincher, Justin Hamilton, Matteral Richardson, and Justin Tryon.
Confused because Richardson and Tryon are on both lists. Don’t be. They both sucked last night and you have to pick one. Given Tryon’s draft status, he is the best bet.
Discuss it in the Redskins Park Fan Forum. Remember, just 6 days to go to join our Forum and enter our Redskins pick’em contest with a chance to win free stuff.
Don’t forget to visit the Original NFL Mock Draft Database, with 52 2009 Mock Drafts so far.
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