Smoke Signals: 'Questions answered' edition

TB Clinton Portis said he was benched against the Baltimore Ravens. Head Coach Jim Zorn said it wasn’t because Portis was playing poorly [Portis fumbled in the first quarter and it was recovered by Ravens safety Ed Reed, who returned it for a touchdown], but because Portis hadn’t practiced all week and TB Ladell Betts did practice. I suspect much of it had to do with the fact that the Redskins were trailing, needed to throw the ball, and Betts is the better receiver. [He had 3 catches for 57 yards.] 
Post columnist Michael Wilbon blames Washington’s woes on poor line play. He’s a bit late to the party on this [hey, he's got a TV career now!], but he’s basically correct. Read it if you want stuff you already know repeated to  you. 
OL Chad Rinehart, a 2008 3rd round pick who, like most of Washington’s 2008 draft picks, has given the team nothing, will be in uniform and on the field on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Expect the Redskins to also activate OL Devin Clark from the practice squad. The team needs healthy bodies on the line right now and it is long past time to see what Rinehart has got. We know LT Chris Samuels is out for the seeason. We don’t know whether or not RT Jon Jansen will play this Sunday or not. He’s banged up, but Jansen is insisting he will play. We’ll see. 
Meanwhile, the team is understandbly shaken by losing 4 out of 5, by a promising season turning to dust, by the offense being completely shut down, and by the injuries starting to mount.

“That sinking pit in your stomach just wears on you each week,” Zorn said. “It drives you down a little bit more. But I’ve got to come in to our group this afternoon, and we’ve got to tell it like it is [and] take the medicine before us, because the picture’s going to speak loudly as we watch the video.

“We have to make the corrections. But we can’t get so low. . . . If you can believe it, we’re still alive. We’re playing for something. And I think that part’s exciting.”

Pity the offense isn’t exciting, Coach Zorn. Seriously, is there a more boring offense in the NFL right now than the one the Redskins are running — or trying to run? I can’t imagine there is.
You might have noticed that Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs destroyed the Redskins on Sunday night. Well, apparently, he was particularly fired up for the game because he went to the Verizon Center a while ago to cheer on the Wizards, but he was booed by the crowd when it was announced he was at the game. Offended and hurt, Suggs immediately put it in his mind that he was going to demolish the Redskins on December 7. Mission accomplished, big fella. 
Nice person that he is, Suggs actually pointed out to the Redskins that they shouldn’t have put Justin Geisinger, a center, at left tackle after Chris Samuels left the game.

“I actually pointed at Jim Zorn and said, ‘You can’t do this, you’re going to get your quarterback hurt,’” said Suggs. “I was like, ‘I don’t think this guys is supposed to be here. You’ve got a mistake.’”

Suggs praised Geisinger for surviving the mismatch. “He did good,” Suggs said. “I only got one sack on him. He did a good job for what he was. As a center he shouldn’t have to play tackle.”

The fact that our bench had to have that pointed out to them by the opposition is downright scary. Who is paying attention over there? What is Zorn doing? What is Joe Bugel doing?
Dan Daly writes in the Washington Times that all the nagging questions we had about this team going into the season and even during the 6-2 start are being answered — in the most resoundingly negative way.

Question No. 1: Will the veteran offensive line hold up for 16 games?

Answer: No. Chris Samuels is out for the season with a torn triceps, and the other offensive tackle, Jon Jansen, might miss a chunk of time with a sprained knee. Anybody got a phone number for Todd Wade?

Question No. 2: Can Jason Taylor be the force he was in Miami playing on the left side of the line instead of the right?

Answer: Not even close. Yes, he’s been dogged by injuries and is just now getting healthy but … not even close.

Question No. 3: What are the odds the Redskins will turn the ball over only six times in the next eight games (as was the case in the first eight)?

Answer: After committing zero offensive turnovers in their first five games, they’ve turned it over in every game since. In their last five, they’re averaging almost two turnovers.

Question No. 4: At some point, doesn’t Jim Zorn’s playcalling become less mysterious to opponents?

Answer: We seem to be at that point, folks. Only once in the second half of the season have the Redskins scored more than 10 points – when they “exploded” for 20 against the 2-11 Seahawks. You can talk all you want about Opportunities Missed and the quality of the opposing defenses (Steelers, Cowboys, Giants, Ravens), but clearly teams have a better read now on Zorn, who benefited from being an unknown quantity in the early going.

That last point is absolutely correct. Zorn was like a new pitcher during the first half of this season. Since Zorn has never designed an offense or called plays before, teams had no idea what to expect from him and he took advantage of that. Once there was enough film of the Redskins for opposing defenses to diagnose and understand Zorn’s tendencies, they reacted appropriately. That’s inevitable. The problem is that Zorn hasn’t changed at all or mixed things up. He’s calling the same plays at the same time and it isn’t fooling anyone. Rather than realize this and alter his offense accordingly, Zorn has taken to complaining about “execution”, which is a fancy word for blaming everything on your players. It’s gutless and has to stop.