Smoke Signals: 'Psst. Need a job?" edition

The Redskins are holding an audition for punters ["don't call us, we'll call you"] at Redskins Park in preparation for releasing incumbent Durant Brooks, who has an approval rating with Redskins fans roughly similar to another incumbent’s approval rating. On his Monday radio show, Redskins GM Vinny Cerrato said Brooks was history, but Head Coach Jim Zorn appeared to indicate that Brooks would get an opportunity to compete for his job with the other punters. Since it is now revealed that Brooks has a minor hip injury, one possibility would be to place Brooks on injured reserve and sign a replacement. That way, the Redskins would retain Brooks’ rights next season and he could be brought back if he ever figures out how to punt in the NFL.
TB Ladell Betts suffered a mild knee sprain during Sunday’s loss[!] to the Rams and could miss a couple of weeks. The Redskins have brought in TB Shaun Alexander, a former MVP and league rushing champion, who played on the Seattle Seahawks when Jim Zorn was the QB coach there. Alexander never recovered the production from his legendary 2005 season and, amidst a flurry of injuries, was cut in April by Seattle. Personally, I thought he looked finished in 2007, but we’ll see if he has anything left. Jason LaCanfora sees the Alexander signing happening because: “It fits the Skins’ MO perfectly – big-name player, a little over the hill – and he knows people on the staff well.” I can’t argue with that logic — it’s flawless. I agree with LaCanfora that Rock Cartwright is perfectly capable of giving Washington those 7-10 carries per week that Betts was getting, but Zorn might not know that. He does know Shaun Alexander.
Jim Zorn is blaming Washington’s pass protection problems on Sunday on “miscommunication” among the players. That seems pretty odd considering the Redskins were playing at home and didn’t have to deal with crowd noise. Why would the players be unable to communicate with each other about their assignments. Sounds pretty fishy to me. 
Nickel CB Leigh Torrence is still broken up about the 49-yard completion he allowed late in the 4th quarter. The play allowed the Rams to get into position for the eventual game-winning field goal. Torrence didn’t make a good move on the ball on that play, but it is a huge stretch to point that play out as the reason Washington lost the game. Washington’s defense gave up a total of 12 points and gave 7 points back to the offense by turning St. Louis over on its own 3 yard line. The Redskins lost to the Rams because they lost the special teams battle in a rout and they couldn’t protect the passer or make long gains in the passing game.
The Redskins are finally admitting the obvious: Right now, Malcolm Kelly is a hospital case, not a football player. The alleged wide receiver had his knee drained of fluid again last week and Zorn admitted he’s thinking about putting Kelly on injured reserve, which would end the 2nd round draft pick’s rookie season. Might as well do it because he’s not giving the Redskins anything and there is no reason to think he’ll be able to change that any time soon.
Zorn also said that RT Stephon Heyer will have a competition with RT Jon Jansen when Heyer is healthy again. Let’s hope that is soon because QB Jason Campbell won’t make it through this season with Jon Jansen protecting his right side.
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