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Devin Thomas injured, may miss 2 weeks
By Spence | July 24, 2008
Devin Thomas, the wide receiver who was the Redskins’ first overall pick in the April draft, was taken from the field on a cart after suffering what Coach Jim Zorn said is a pulled hamstring. Zorn, speaking immediately after the morning practice, said the team was not yet certain of the severity of the injury, but that he did not believe Thomas, who is getting treatment now, would be out too long.
“There was nothing I could say,” Zorn said of the team’s training camp injuries. “Here we go again.”
Thomas was hurt running down the right sideline for a deep pass from Jason Campbell and fell to the ground as he went for the catch.
The Redskins badly need one of their young wideouts to learn early and be a real contributor as a rookie. The holdover wideouts don’t have good size and have a recent history of injuries. The Redskins are counting on Thomas to be a real threat in their offense from the first weeks of his rookie season. Hopefully, that will still be possible. It’s important that Thomas not miss more than 1 preseason game.
Less seriously, S Laron Landry suffered a slight injury to his hamstring, but does not consider it serious. CB Shawn Springs played some safety today in practice while Landry sat out. Moving to safety would be a natural transition for Springs, who has the size to play the position, but is getting long in the tooth for a cornerback. The only problem is that the Redskins need Springs too much at cornerback. Fred Smoot is the only other proven starting cornerback on the roster and Carlos Rogers is still recovering from serious injury.
UPDATE: Devin Thomas came out for the afternoon practice in shorts and with his right knee wrapped. Needless to say, he did not take part. Early reports are that Thomas will be sidelined about 2 weeks. Hopefully, he will miss only one preseason game.
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Topics: Injuries, Redskins, Training Camp, Wide Receivers | No Comments »
How aggressive will the Skins defense be?
By Spence | July 24, 2008
Of course, there is a catch. Aggressive defenses can create big play opportunities for the offense, too. Defenders that are constantly trying to get upfield and muscle up to their opponents can easily find themselves out of position, leaving large areas of the field undefended. As the old saying goes: Live by the blitz, die by the blitz.
Of course, blitzing is only one part of an aggressive defense. Another part is press coverage by the defensive backs. Man-press coverage involves the cornerbacks getting up close to the wide receivers and muscling them up, trying to jam them at the line of scrimmage, thus throwing off their routes and making the passing game ineffective. [See picture to the right.] When it works, it’s the best sort of pass defense to play. The Redskins haven’t done much of it lately. Former Defense Coach Gregg Williams typically ordered his cornerbacks to play 10 yards from the line of scrimmage and his safeties were often 25 yards off the line of scrimmage. [Yes, you read that correctly -- 25 yards.] Williams wanted to stop the offense from making big gains in the passing game against his defense — and it worked. The Redskins didn’t give up a lot of big passing plays in 2007 after being the worst deep passing defense in the NFL in 2006. The downside was that the Redskins gave up a lot of yards underneath in the short-to-medium passing game, leading to a lot of easy first downs for opposing offenses. It also contributed to the Redskins not creating a lot of turnovers; defenders who are closer to the receivers are usually closer to the ball, too.
According to Jason LaCanfora, new Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache, it seems, will do things differently than his illustrious predecessor.
The Redskins have been playing a lot of press-man coverage with their corners early in camp, more than what seemed to be the norm. Playing man is nothing new around here, but there was no cushion being given at all. Fred Smoot and Shawn Springs, the starting corners, have loved it, ‘cuz now they’re even closer to the WRs to beat them up a bit and also to ensure all of their smack talk is audible.
Smoot said he expects the team to play a ton of it this season, and that CB Coach Jerry Gray is stressing press technique. I asked Jim Zorn if the prevalence of the coverage was just to give the offense that look in practice, and he said, no, that he figured the Redskins would be a pressing team. Not 100 percent of the time, of course, but given the size and skills of their corner, the enhanced pass rush with Jason Taylor and the presence of a ball-hawk, head-hunter like LaRon Landry behind the corners at safety, it makes a lot of sense.
The CBs have to get a solid jam on the WRs and derail them from their route - within the ever-shrinking legal limits of doing so - and it’s definitely a high-gamble tactic (if the corner whiffs you’ve got a streaking WR going deep all alone), but it can be smothering if done properly.
Yes, this does make sense. An improved pass rush means getting to the quarterback quicker. That means passing plays have to develop quicker and cornerbacks don’t have to hold their wideouts at the line of scrimmage for as long as they would with Washington’s pass rush last year. [Or the year before. Or the year before that. Or the year befor...Never mind.] Laron Landry is a quick ballhawk who could make some devastating plays in a defense like the one Blache and Zorn apparently envision.
However, it’s a more physical defense to play. CB Shawn Springs — who has always been a favorite of mine due to his speed and size — is getting up there in years and I’m not sure he can go 16 games playing this sort of defense. On the other side, Fred Smoot is small and may not be suited to playing a physical game with opposing wideouts. At the very least, I think the Skins will have to pick and choose their man-press battles for Smoot, using him in that defense against smaller receivers, but having him play back and employing his quickness against bigger wideouts.
Another issue is the safety not named Laron Landry. Sean Taylor would have ideal for a defense like man-press, with his amazing length and speed and fearsome hitting ability. Unfortunately, as we all know, Sean Taylor is no longer with us. We saw that his 2007 replacement Reed Doughty had problems covering ground in the passing game. In a man-press defense, safeties must be able to move around quickly and make plays on the ball if a cornerback misses on a jam and the receiver gets down field unmolested. At this point, it is unclear who the Redskins will use at the safety position opposite Landry, but when Washington is in a man-press defense, it better be someone who can really pick those feet up and lay ‘em back down in a hurry. We won’t get much of an idea how well the Skins can play this defense from the preseason games, since Washington — like every other NFL team — will show only the most rudimentary stuff during the games that don’t count. It won’t be until September that we will truly see whether or not the Redskins can play an aggressive, man-press defensive scheme.
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Topics: Cornerbacks, Defense, Fred Smoot, Greg Blache, Laron Landry, Redskins, Safeties, Shawn Springs | No Comments »
Redskins Training Camp, Day 5
By Spence | July 24, 2008
LB H.B. Blades, a 2007 draft pick, still hasn’t lost his anger from slipping down into the later rounds of the draft last year. He has seen work on special teams and all 3 linebacker positions, though right now he is focusing more on backing up MLB London Fletcher. That would give the Redskins two smallish, but very quick middle linebackers.
Head Coach Jim Zorn has a teaching style that can be rather unconventional — at least by the stuffy standards of the NFL coaching fraternity.
Zorn has come up with another of his special drills. In this one, the quarterback takes the snap and the other QBs — plus Zorn, plus Sherman Smith — throw those big blocking pads (they’re soft, but they’re probably 2 1/2 feet wide by maybe 4 feet long) at the scrambling QB, simulating a rush. Jason Campbell is particularly enthusiastic about throwing the pads. He lifts them over his head and flings them.
Speaking of Zorn, he’s something of an outdoors exercise freak — perhaps a remnant from his days playing and coaching in the Pacific northwest. In this video, Zorn talks about his teaching style, his passion for biking and for football. Enjoy.
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Topics: Jim Zorn, Laron Landry, Linebackers, Redskins, Training Camp, Video | No Comments »
Know Your Redskins: Malcolm Kelly
By Spence | July 24, 2008
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Topics: Malcolm Kelly, Redskins, Training Camp, Video, Wide Receivers | No Comments »
Jason Campbell: ‘nother year, ‘nother new system
By Spence | July 23, 2008
ESPN asks how QB Jason Campbell will adjust to yet another new offensive system being installed with him at quarterback. Then, ESPN answers its own question:
Campbell has grown as a QB and improved every season, but with first-year head coach Jim Zorn now running the show, Campbell is on his third offense in four years with the Redskins. Of course, this is nothing new for Campbell as he had four different coordinators in his four years at Auburn. Campbell is a tall, strong-armed QB who throws the deep ball well. The Skins’ new version of the West Coast offense is going to be a great fit for him because he flourished in a similar system in his senior year at Auburn. Some things will be different, obviously, but he has plenty of practice at learning new systems, and has show he is a quick study and a hard worker in the film room. This new offense shouldn’t slow him down and he could be poised for a big season.
That sounds right to me. Campbell needs help so he won’t put up big numbers this year if his offensive line doesn’t give him time. What’s more, considering how injury-prone WR Santana Moss is, Washington will need at least one of its rookie pass-catchers — Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, Fred Davis — to catch on quickly and have a pretty good season. That’s partially because Antwaan Randle-El is such a weak #2 wideout [he belongs in the slot as a #3 WR], but also because Moss typically misses a lot of the season with bum wheels.
However, the system Jim Zorn is installing is very similar to the system Campbell used when he was quarterback on an undefeated Auburn football team. If the offensive line has more luck with injuries this season and at least one of those rookie receivers is a quick learner, Campbell could put up big numbers in a potent Redskins offense. But those are 2 big IFs and only a fool would bet the house on it.
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Topics: Jason Campbell, Offensive Line, Redskins, Training Camp, Wide Receivers | No Comments »
Know your Redskins: Jason Taylor
By Spence | July 23, 2008
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Topics: Redskins, Training Camp, Video | No Comments »
Redskins Training Camp, Day 4
By Spence | July 23, 2008
Over the offseason, TB Clinton Portis restructured his contract, became a father, and decided to grow up. Portis also decided to spend time working out with the Redskins during the offseason rather than staying down in Miami, where he went to college. Head Coach Jim Zorn says he’s pleased with Portis’ work ethic and the fact that he’s been around so much — though he correctly attributes much of Portis’ new commitment to offseason work to financial incentives built into his new contract.
Portis, 26, received a $9.3 million signing bonus in March and was guaranteed at least $15.7 million through 2010 as part of his restructured contract that helped the Redskins get under the NFL salary cap.
Although Portis, in his seventh season in the league and fifth with the Redskins, played down financial motivation for his new offseason approach and increased leadership role, Zorn said he believed money was a factor.
“I think [Portis] had a financial motivation to stay here in the offseason,” he said. “I think that worked into his contract.”
Zorn has been pleased with Portis’s performance throughout the offseason and early in training camp but alluded to the contract several times.
“It was a forced issue for him,” Zorn said of Portis. “I’m sure he would have loved to have been in Miami in the warmth and stuff, but he made some sacrifices. Partly it was extrinsic motivation that he made sacrifices. But he did it.
We know Portis doesn’t like to play in the preseason. He injured himself early in the first game of the 2006 preseason and didn’t play again for weeks. He didn’t play in the 2007 preseason at all. Jim Zorn now says Portis will not play in the team’s first preseason contest, the Hall of Fame game against Indianapolis on August 3.
By the 3rd week of the 2007 season, the Redskins lost the entire left side of their starting offensive line — OG Randy Thomas and OT Jon Jansen. Although newcomers like Stephon Heyer, Jason Fabini and Todd Wade tried to step into the breach, the offense never fully recovered from the loss. The problem might be a recurring one. Every single starter on the offensive line is at least 30 years old and some, like Jon Jansen, have become increasingly injury-prone with the passage of time. Both Jansen and Thomas have suffered more than one serious, season-ending injury in the last 3 years. All Pro LT Chris Samuels is 30 years old, LG Pete Kendall is 35, Thomas and Jansen are both 32. Fabini, 33, Wade, 31, Heyer, 24 and 3rd round pick Chad Rinehart will return as backups — at least for now. It looks like a deep line on paper, but it is also an old and injury-prone line, so the Redskins have to expect their backups will see plenty of action this season. Samuels has been held out of contact so far, but will likely see some bouncing around next week.
Head Coach Jim Zorn wisely retained all the offensive line terminology that OL Coach Joe Bugel has been using with this group for years, so the transition to the new West Coast Offense should be smoother for it.
Chad Rinehart has been welcomed to the Redskins by being lined up against Jason Taylor. Clearly, Joe Bugel isn’t mellowing with age.
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Topics: Clinton Portis, Offensive Line, Redskins, Training Camp | No Comments »
Nats trade closer Rauch, re-sign Guzman
By Spence | July 22, 2008
Meanwhile, the Nats also re-signed SS Cristian Guzman, the team’s only All Star selection this season and clear team MVP so far in 2008. Guzman is now signed through the 2010 season and scheduled to earn $16 million in the two years after this one.
Looks like the future of the Nats middle infield is all in this post.
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Topics: Christian Guzman, Contract negotiations, Nationals, Trades | No Comments »