Week 1: The Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins are prepping the field in the Nations Capital for their week 1 match-up with the Miami Dolphins.

Football is here, no more training camp, no more two – a – days, no more waiting. It’s here folks. As I sit here today, Phins players are breaking down game film, from pre-season and last year as well. HC Cam Cameron is going over his offensive game plan with Trent and Co. It is time.

So lets get started. Today I will break down the Washington Redskins.

Coaching: The Redskins have a hall of fame HC in Joe Gibbs. Many speculate that this will be the final year for the only man who has taken the Skins to a Super Bowl.

Perhaps the biggest off-season addition also falls into the coaching category with assistant HC and offensive coordinator Al Saunders. Saunders is hailed in many circles as a genius. Saunders is of the Marty Schottenheimer school of football along with Miami coach Cam Cameron. Saunders also has a close relationship with Miami QB Trent Green. Hugs and kisses at the 50 prior to kick-off? Probably at least a few “good-lucks”.

Offense:

Saunders is the perfect segue to the offensive side of the ball. Since being traded from Denver, RB Clinton Portis has done a lot of a little in Washington. Where he was supposed to be the next John Riggins, Portis has done the IR happy dance while CB Champ Bailey has been the bridesmaid to Jason Taylors’ MVP season last year. Make no mistakes thought, when Portis is on, he is on, and very tough to stop. Ladell Betts will spell Portis and that will provide the young Jason Campbell at least some time to breath in the pocket.

The problem on the Washington offense is that they are a talented bunch of underachievers in the case of Portis, and over achievers in the case of Campbell. Jason could be a future star, but for now, he is a “potential” who has only shown glimpses of the same.

On the outside Campbell will have Santana Moss and Antwan Randal El to throw to. A solid yet unspectacular group. Moss is an up and down guy in terms of break-out performances but he is consistent at the above average level. El will provide a fast over the middle guy who can also stretch the field. Moss will likely see one on one coverage with Will Allen while El will likely see the same with Travis Daniels. Neither figure to be huge factors into the outcome of the game, at least not on their own.

The passing game will incorporate the skills of Chris Cooley who has been steadily progressing over the last 2 seasons, now, he will have the OC who knows how to use a TE…Tony Gonzales. Cooley will play a roll in this game, from his lead blocking on the end for Portis to his route coverage of a LB, likely Zach Thomas.

The line is solid if unspectacular a list of underachievers who together could be very good. Perhaps the weakest spot on film right now in terms of the Oline is the newly added Pete Kendall who is listed as the starter at LG. Kendall is a good addition to the team but he has only been with Washington for a little over a week. There will be some acclimation problems, hopefully ones that Miami will expose. The rest of the line consists of Chris Samuels at LT and Jon Jansen at RT, Casey Rabach at Center, and Randy Thomas at RG. The line is good, but again, as the past has shown, they can be underachievers.

Offense Review: A solid group at WR, a solid RB, solid Oline. Qb is young and still lacks experience. If given enough time, Campbell should be able to exploit the secondary CBs’ of the Dolphins. However, time may be hard to find. The line will have the hands full in this one.

The Defense:

The defense is led by former Bills HC Gregg Williams. Entering his 3rd year with the Skins, Williams has brought a blitz crazed attack with a swarming secondary, one of which on paper is close to the best in the NFL. Williams will use a lot of straight forward blitzs’ to attack the Dolphins suspect Oline. Newly named starter Reagan Mauia will need to have his head on a swivel to stop the oncoming blitzers. Stopping the run will be their first priority. By forcing the Dolphins to throw the ball, the stout secondary will be in a position to take the game over. They will come out in a base 4-3.

DLine: The left side consists of Phillip Daniels at end and Cornelius Griffin at Tackle. Combined, they have 20 years experience. Griffin has been around for 8 years after being drafted in the 2nd round by the Giants. He is good but not someone that is likely going to invoke fear into an offensive lineman. Daniels, who has 12 seasons under his belt is starting to wear down and his stats are starting to show it. 3 sacks all of last year and only 30 some odd tackles.

Beyond the left side is Kedrick Golston at RT and Andre Carter at RE. Both, like the left side are productive but need to step up and start putting pressure on the QB. The Washington starters slated for the Miami game had a combined sack total of 10.5.

LBs: Marcus Washington and Rocky McIntosh are the W/S Lbs and are the weak part of the Washington defense. The power of the front 7 lies with the inside LB spot, London Fletcher. Fletcher logged in over 141 tackles combined last year. The 10 year veteran logged close to an average of 10 tackles per game. His middle presence will play out much the same way that Zach Thomas plays for the Phins. Solid, instinctive, and able to blitz. It will be his job to match up on the short routes of David Martin and the backfield RBs’ in the Miami passing game.

DBs’: If there is a number 1 secondary in the NFL, the Washington Redskins will be pushing to be that unit this year. The weakest spot on this unit belongs to starting SS Laron Landry…a rookie. Because he is unproven he is weak. That is the only reason. Landry loves to hit. He loves bone crushing hits, and the Miami WRs’ will have to know that when they cross into the middle where Landry could be. A guy like Ted Ginn is not going to be stretching the field on these guys.

Once you are past the “potential” of Landry, you have to deal with 3 very good DBs’. Carlos Rogers, Shawn Springs, and Sean Taylor coming off a pro-bowl season. These 3 guys at one time were supposed to be the best, for whatever reason they have underperformed, yet they are still better than most of what the Dolphins will see in the opening weeks.

The DBs’ will be content to play a support roll as the Dolphins do not have the receivers to really test the long ball. Even Ginn will not be able to find much room up the sidelines and the middle will be a dangerous part of the field. Look for the DBs’ to play a creep coverage, meaning that at least one of the safeties will crowd just behind the LBs’ and wait, as the Dolphins do not pose a serious aerial attack quite yet.

STs’: Antwan Randal El, Rock Cartwright, and James Thrash will handle the various return duties and none of those 3 pose a serious threat to their return game, so long as a the Miami STs’ do not leave holes where there should be none. The place kicker is Shaun Suisham. He was brought in for the final 5 games where he only missed one field goal and that was from over 50 yards. The punter is Derrick Frost who averaged just over 42 yards per kick with an inside the 20 average of just over 33.

The Special teams hold nothing special but the home town crowd will be the 12th man.

Intangibles: The Redskins are a team that is comprised of a lot of names who have yet to find the right recipe to melt together. A team that has been a media prediction machine to win the division seems to often come up flat and sometimes slow. For the Washington Redskins, a vanilla game plan may serve them better than a complicated one.

Coincidentally, ESPN has the Redskins ranked at number 19 in their “power poll”. One spot ahead of the Miami Dolphins.