Smoke Signals: 'The straw that stirs the drink' edition

Let’s get straight to the injuries. Don’t expect DE Jason Taylor or LT Stephon Heyer to play Sunday in Philadelphia. They’re both almost certainly out of the game. The only other question mark is CB Shawn Springs. If he can’t play, it’ll hurt the Redskins defense badly, as he is clearly the best player on that unit. Even WR Malcolm Kelly should be able to play Sunday, though Head Coach Jim Zorn indicated he might not be activated to play.
I don’t know how many times I’ve written it, but it bears repeating: WR Santana Moss is the straw that stirs the drink. Joe Gibbs thought the key to his offense was TB Clinton Portis, but he was wrong. The key to Washington’s offense is Santana Moss — and he has been since 2005. When Moss is healthy, he’s one of the top 5 wideouts in the league, the only Redskins player capable of stretching the field and making big plays in the passing game. When Moss is not healthy, the Redskins offense bogs down in predictability and an inability to create the big play. There was no way for Joe Gibbs to scheme around that — particularly since he didn’t know what a huge problem it was — and there is no way for Jim Zorn to scheme around it, though I think he does know what a big problem it would be. Moss is the playmaker, the guy who scares defenses and draws attention away from the other wideouts, Chris Cooley, and the running game. The entire defense is better when Moss is healthy and on the field. 
He is healthy and on the field in 2008. That, as much is anything, explains Washington’s 3-1 record and QB Jason Campbell’s hot start. Jason Campbell and Santana Moss arrived in D.C. at roughly the same time, before the 2005 season. Moss had an immediate impact, setting a club record for receiving yards in a season and demolishing teams like Dallas and New York in the process. The Redskins went 11-7 that year, Joe Gibbs’ best season in his 2.0 incarnation. Jason Campbell, a rookie first round pick, never played a down.
When Campbell finally got on the field, more than halfway through the 2006 season, Santana Moss was injured. And he stayed injured. During 2007, Moss was injured again and never quite got healthy. It’s been the curse that has plagued Moss throughout his career — an inability to get healthy and stay healthy. Without a healthy Moss in the lineup, Campbell struggled with a receiving corps featuring the likes of Antwaan Randle-El, James Thrash and, occasionally, Brandon Lloyd. Unsurprisingly, the results were not stellar. 
What was diagnosed as a Jason Campbell problem was, in my opinion, a Santana Moss problem. With Moss missing a lot of games and playing injured in many others, Campbell just didn’t have a stud wideout as a target. Big plays didn’t happen very often, reinforcing Joe Gibbs’ reluctance to rely on the passing game and allowing him to retreat further and further into a 1980s coccoon that consisted of slamming Clinton Portis into the line 25 times a game. This was a gross misuse of Portis’ talents and led inevitably to the tailback missing a fair number of games with injuries.
I believe had Santana Moss been healthy in 2006 and 2007, we’d have seen a different Jason Campbell and a more successful Redskins offense. The Jason Campbell we’re seeing right now is the Jason Campbell I expected to see if Moss stayed healthy. Right now, Moss is healthy and that’s the strength of the offense. That’s also the weakness of the offense, unfortunately, Should Moss get injured again — and it’s never a good idea to bet on the health of Santana Moss — the Redskins offense will be in trouble. 
This Washington Post article hints at what I’m talking about:

The secret, it appears, is out. Slowed by numerous injuries the previous two seasons, Moss is physically sound again and has returned to the form that enabled him to set a franchise receiving record in the 2005 season. He has re-emerged among the league’s top deep threats in his eighth season in the league, and, more importantly for the Redskins, has become the go-to receiver, playing a key role in Campbell’s impressive performance this season.

The Campbell-Moss tandem has contributed significantly to the fast start of Coach Jim Zorn, Washington’s play-caller, who saw the spring in Moss’s step and made him a big part of his new spread-offense scheme. Moss, 29, took significant time off in the offseason, for a change, in an attempt to let his body heal, and the experiment was a success, coaches and players said.

…

“It ain’t the old ‘Tana, it ain’t the new ‘Tana, it’s just ‘Tana,” said running back Clinton Portis, among Moss’s closest friends on the team. “The man is healthy. That’s all you need to know.”

Wednesday and Thursday are the most important days between games for a football player. These are the days when they learn the game plan for Sunday and get in their practice time. This is what a typical Wednesday or Thursday looks like for a Washington Redskins player.

7 a.m. – Breakfast\Weight Room\Treatment
8 – Special Teams Meeting
Blitz Meeting (QBs and Centers)
9 – Full Team Meeting
9:05 – Group Meetings (by position for the most part)
11 – Dress for Walkthrough
11:15 – Walkthrough 
Noon – Lunch (media availability)
1:30-3:15 (ish) p.m. – Practice 
Post Practice Film
Weights and Treatment
Meetings 
5:30-7 – Dinner (Coaches Only)
Redskins special teams standout Rock Cartwright tells us what he thinks of the Philadelphia Eagles special teams play:

“Against these guys you have to prepare for everything. I know they’ve started a game off before with an onside kick, so you have to prepare for that. Their blocking schemes on kickoff returns, we really have to study the tape. We’ve looked at the tape from this season, last season and the year before because they’re really complex.

“They’re a tough team, period, but on special teams they fly around, they’re real quick. They cover kicks really well. [David] Akers has a good leg, the punter gives them a lot of time to cover. They’re a real good special teams unit.”

Cartwright said the team reviews every scheme the Eagles have used against them the past three years. “If you kind of know what to expect, then you’re not going into the game blind,” he said. The Eagles regularly change the blocking scheme on their wedges, Cartwright said, and use different players to kick in, or alter who they double team. The Eagles also are more prone to go for a block on a punt than most other teams.

“They’re real aggressive and physical,” he said. “We have to try to stay on our blocks a little bit longer. We really have to prepare for this match-up.”

Here’s some good news: QB Jason Campbell is an even-keeled hard worker who never thinks he’s learned everything about the new offense he’s running. Campbell’s improvement, which has much to do with the health of Santana Moss, is reason for great optimism for Redskins fans.
Finally, courtesy of the invaluable RedskinsBlog, this is always nice to see:

Discuss this in Redskins Park with other DC sports fans!