Smoke Signals: 'Loadin' up the shotgun' edition

Smoke Signals As the Redskins continue the progress of recovering from their embarrassing defeat in last Thursday night’s NFL opener — coupled with the fact that all division rivals are now 1 game ahead of them — they look anywhere for good news. And we have some. The best news the team could get right now is the return of a healthy Shawn Springs, the best defensive player this team has had since Champ Bailey left for Denver. Springs, who was injured in a friendly fire incident with SLB Marcus Washington, practiced yesterday and looked, according to Head Coach Jim Zorn, about 90 percent. That means Springs ought to be healthy enough to start and play unhindered on Sunday in the home opener against the fearsome New Orleans Saints offense. That’s good news because we saw how the Giants exploited the absence of a tall, physical cornerback by throwing repeatedly to tall, physical wideout Plaxico Burress. The Saints have a wideout of their own, Marques Colston, who is also tall and physical and would almost certainly destroy the Washington defense if the Redskins had to put Carlos Rogers or Fred Smoot on him. Fortunately, Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache will be able to put the proper player, Shawn Springs, on New Orleans’ most potent wide receiver.
MLB London Fletcher will start his 121st consecutive game this Sunday, which will move him up to 7th among active players, as QB Tom Brady, who was at 128, will not play for the rest of the season.
Speaking of Fletcher, he made 12 tackles against the Giants. Rocky McIntosh made 6 tackles. Marcus Washington only made one. The defensive coaches have lessened Washington’s role after a series of injuries the last few years, but maybe they should re-think that. McIntosh might have made 6 tackles, but he should have made a lot more and he doesn’t look anything like the player he was before last season’s devastating injury. Marcus isn’t used much as a pass-rusher now that the team has Andre Carter and Jason Taylor, but Taylor also looked like a shadow of his former self on Thursday. It seems to me that Washington is an under-utilized player in this defense. I’m sure he’s not the player he was in 2004, but he can do more for the defense than he is right now.
S Chris Horton, a 7th round pick in April, made the team as a reserve defensive back and a special teams player. He had an advantage, though, since his defensive coordinator at UCLA was DeWayne Walker, a coach hired in 2004 by then-Head Coach Joe Gibbs to help revamp Washington’s defense. Walker took those ideas with him to UCLA in 2005 and that’s the defense that Horton learned to play in college. Perhaps that explains why Horton seemed to get the defense so quickly and earned a spot on the roster so easily. Despite being the 4th-to-last pick taken in the entire draft, Horton beat out veterans like Vernon Fox and Stuart Schweigert to earn the spot backing up SS Reed Doughty.

“We ran a very similar defense,” Horton said. “We definitely ran an NFL scheme and some of the stuff Coach Walker called was the exact same defense as we have here. So I was kind of prepared mentally. When I learned I was going to the Washington Redskins I knew that fits what I do.”

QB Jason Campbell looked terrible in his season debut last Thursday night. We were told that this system was similar to the one he used to go undefeated with Auburn in his senior year so the adjustment this year would be seamless. Obviously, that was baloney. So now Campbell wants to use the shotgun formation more to enable him to get a better look at the defense and his smurfy receivers downfield. Jim Zorn appears willing to use the shotgun for Campbell, though it is clearly not what he wants to do.

Zorn was asked about the positives and negatives of giving Campbell a little more leeway to go to the shotgun more often – the passer already had the ability to audible into it in many situations – and had a hard time coming up with positives. As for the negatives, well:

“It limits any kind of real run threat,” Zorn said. “It puts the back on one side of the quarterback. You have to block one side.” You got the sense he could go on and on about why this isn’t the way to go on any kind of regular basis.

My view is that Zorn needs to let Campbell have this if it makes him feel more comfortable. Many teams use the shotgun without any problems for their offense. If it turns out Campbell plays no better in the shotgun than he does in a conventional set, Zorn can junk it. But for right now, he needs to do what he can to make Campbell comfortable. If Jason Campbell isn’t the answer at quarterback, the team is in real trouble.
The Bleacher Report reminds Redskins fans that if the team wins 5 or 6 games this year, that’s pretty typical for a new head coach on a new team. And pretty typical of the Washington Redskins, too. In other words, don’t jump off the Jim Zorn bandwagon too quickly.

Joe Gibbs I	8-8
Joe Gibbs II	6-10
Norv Turner	3-13
Marty Schottenheimer	8-8
Steve Spurrier	7-9

Looking ahead to this Sunday, Rich Tandler points out that the New Orleans pass defense is terrible. The team allowed opposing quarterbacks to put up a 97.4 passer rating last year and the Saints did little to address their woeful pass defense in the offseason.

Chris Redman of Atlanta passed for 298 against them (on a day when, by the way, the Falcons rushed for 37). Luke McCown QB’d the Bucs in one of their two meetings and threw for 313 yards.

Outside of the division some mediocre passers shined as well. They lost to Kyle Orton of the Bears. Quinn Gray of the Jags lit them up for 354 yards. When the Saints played Tennessee Vince Young completed 64% of his passes and Kerry Collins went four of four.

In other words, the New Orleans pass defense is just what Jason Campbell and the Redskins need right now.

Jason Taylor didn’t play very well against the Giants last Thursday, but he did a very good thing last night. Check it out.

Finally, Curly R is determined to keep Colt Brennan in the news despite his week one inactivation and here’s the device Curly R has come up with: Naming quarterbacks Colt Brennan is superior to. This week’s list:

Carson Palmer, CIN @ BAL: 10 of 25 for 99 yards and an INT. Two of Carson’s passes were longer than 20 yards meaning the rest of his line for the night was at best 8 of 23 for 59 yards. A 35.2 rating Carson? Really?

Peyton Manning, IND vs. CHI: 49 attempts Peyton? Yes the Bears have a suffocating defense and it was your first regular season game in the new venue so it was a bit unfamiliar and yes you missed the entire preseason with a knee, seriously Peyton the Bears offense still lives at its parents house.

David Garrard, JAX vs. TEN: two INTs and seven sacks? What are you waiting for, an invitation?

Maybe Brennan could ask for a share of those salaries. Palmer+Peyton+Garrard ought to be enough to keep Brennan in Hawaiian shirts for a while.

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