2013 Draft Results

 



Let us take a look at the 2013 draft selections of the Washington Redskins.

1st Round - The Redskins did not have a 1st round pick, due to the trade last year with the Rams to get the 2nd pick and acquire the services of one Robert Griffin III.  I have no problems with that move, and giving up a 1st rounder this year is well worth it, as the Redskins were in a great need of a franchise QB.


2nd Round - With their 1st pick, which happened to be the 51st pick in the draft on day 2, the Redskins picked need, a very big need, and chose a DB.  David Amerson, from N.C. State.  From all that I have read on him, he is a ball-hawk.  He almost set the college record for INT's in a season.  He is also a big player, and some would put him at Safety instead of a CB, and I believe he should be able to play in either position.  He does get beat at times, but if you are aggressive and go for the ball, you do end up being beat from time to time.  As long as he has Safety help, if he is playing CB, then that shouldn't be a problem.  If he is to play Safety, then he will have an advantage, since he doesn't have to cover a WR/TE, and can roam around and go for the ball.  He is also a very good special teams player, returning kicks and punts, which the Redskins do need help with.  This pick was a very good pick, and one that addresses a big hole in the team.

3rd Round - TE - Jordan Reed, Florida.  At first, I was a bit surprised by this pick, as the Redskins just resigned Fred Davis, and they also have Logan Paulson and Niles Paul at that same position.  But when I checked him out, and read more about him, I see the reason for picking a TE at this position.  This guy is an elusive receiver, able to make people miss and make plays, much like Fred Davis.  Now that the rules and play styles are going pass heavy, it makes sense to have another play making TE on the team, since the Redskins were hurt pretty bad when Davis went down.  Much like the Cousins pick last year, at first I did not like this pick, but after thinking about it, I do like it, and am interested in seeing him play, and possibly take the place of Niles Paul in that position.

4th Round - SS - Phillip Thomas, Fresno St.  This is another ball hawk, a very good Safety who has an eye for spotting and picking off passes in his area.  He is also a very physical player, meeting ballcariers head on and making the tackle.  The major issue he has is injuries.  He missed the 2011 season at Fresno St. because of a very bad leg injury.  Although he should have recovered from that by now, it is still part of who he is, and it might return.  Overall this is a very good pick for the Redskins, and depending on who is going to playing Safety next year, Thomas has a good shot at starting and contributing early on in the season.

5th Round - RB - Chris Thompson, Florida St.  With their first pick in the 5th round, the Redskins went with their 2nd offensive player.  At first look, it does not make too much sense to pick up a RB, with Alfred Morris, Evan Royster, and Roy Helu on the team, but from what I have read, Helu had a setback in his recovery after the foot surgery, and might not be able to start the season.  Thompson is a lot like Helu, a very good pass catcher, and a quick and agile RB who can make people miss and make quick cuts.  But he is also injury prone, having dealt with major back issues.  If he can stay healthy, he will be a great change of pace for the Redskins, as Morris and Royster are more of the bruiser type backs, and Thompson is the quick and elusive type back.

5th Round - DE - Brandon Jenkins, Florida St.  With their second pick in the 5th round, another need was met, picking up a defensive lineman.  This is yet another player the Redskins drafted who has injury issues, dealing with a foot injury.  Jenkins is a very good pass rusher, getting off the snap quickly and going past offensive linemen and finding the QB.  He is a bit slow in recovering from a trick play and changing directions, but if used as a pure pass rusher, I think he would be able to help the Redskins get to the QB more often, which is something they lacked majorly last year due to injuries.  This pick should also help out the outside LB's to have more one-on-one matchups, and be able to get to the QB.

6th Round - SS - Bacarri Rambo, Georgia.  Another secondary pick by the Redskins, and I would have to say one of the best names in the draft, Rambo was a very good pick.  Thankfully, he is a physical player, and with a name like that, it would have been a shame if he was not.  Also, he is yet another DB that has an eye for picking off the QB, being able to read the receivers and the QB's eyes, and jumping a route to make an INT.  He does have some off-field issues, as well as lacking some quickness, but those can be dealt with.

7th Round - RB - Jawan Jamison, Rutgers. Picking up a second RB with their last pick, the Redskins finished out the draft on a "solid" note.  Jamison is a pretty good RB, built very solid with a small frame.  He is a bit young, only playing two years at Rutgers, but he does have talent.  However, with the list of RB's the Redskins currently have and drafted, I don't think Jamison will see the active roster and will most likely be on the practice squad, if he makes the team.

 

Overall I think the Redskins did a very good job with the number of picks they had, and also not having a 1st round pick.  They were able to fill a lot of their needs on the defensive side, and pick up a couple of very talented offensive players.  They did not draft a LB, which I thought they needed, but perhaps they did not see one available that they liked.  The DB's that they selected are good at locating the ball and making a play on it, which I think is the way the DB position is going.  I think the days of having a shutdown corner are gone.  With all the rule changes, and the play calling and style of offensive plays, it is getting much harder to cover fast and agile WR's throughout the whole play.  I think defenses are going to start taking and using players who can get to the ball while it is in the air, rather than cover a receiver so that the QB does not attempt a pass.  This style of play will lead to more deep completions, but I think overall it is the only way to "stop" offenses these days.  I don't think teams will be able to stop offenses from going down the field and making them punt, but instead they will have to rely heavily on getting turnovers to get the offense off of the field.  But we will just have to wait and see how this plays out.  I for one am very much looking forward to seeing the 2013 Washington Redskins Defense in action!

Redskins at Buccaneers

Record : 2-2

I had not had a chance to blog for the past week or so, mainly due to car troubles, so I'll play a little catch-up today, and also get to Sunday's game.  So let's get this started.

The Redskins lost to the Cincinnati Bengals at home, which was the Redskins and RGIII's first home game.  They lost by the final score of 38-31, falling to 1-2 for the year.  The theme continued for the 3rd straight week, as the Defense gave up huge plays to the Bengals, including the opening trick passing play by one Bengals WR, Mohamed Sanu, to another WR, A.J. Green, for a one play TD pass going for 73 yards.  Although the Defense did make some plays, overall they gave up huge passing plays, giving Andy Dalton a 328 yards passing with 3 TD's to 1 INT day, completing 19 out of 27 attempts.  Although A.J. Green is a somewhat big name in the WR ranks, the Bengals Offense was not known for big plays, but against the Redskins, they played big.  On a positive note for the Redskins Defense, they forced a fumble by BenJarvus Green-Ellis, the Bengals RB who had previously carried the ball 480 times without a fumble.  In fact, this was his first fumble in his NFL career, which started in 2008.

The Redskins Offense did not have a great game, with RG3 completing 21 out of 34 passes for 221 yards and only 1 TD.  He did, however, rush for 85 yards on 12 attempts, with a very nice TD run in the Redzone.  Having said that, he got destroyed by the Bengals Defense, getting his 24 times, including 6 sacks, and one of the hardest hits he has received this year in an option play.  There were reports that he had received a concussion test after one of the drives, but he was not hurt.  Alfred Morris had an average day, rushing 17 times for 78 yards and 1 TD, since he had to share carries with RG3.  When the QB rushes for more yards than your RB, it usually does not end well.

There were a number of questionable calls by Mike Shanahan in the game, including challenging a Redskins punt which was called a touchback on the field.  In my opinion, they wasted a timeout there, and with having burned the other two timeouts earlier, that left them with none at the end of the game, where they were trying to go for a game winning drive.

Overall an average performance by the Offense, and a (what has become the norm) poor performance by the Defense.

Now onto Sunday's game against the Buccaneers.

The Redskins were able to win the game by the final score of 24-22, and reaching a .500 record at 2-2.  They won the game with a Billy Cundiff FG from 41 yards.  But Cundiff is not the hero of the game, in my opinion.  Previously he had missed 3 FG's, which placed the Redskins in the situation of trying for a game winning FG.  If he had made those 3, then it would have been a different story at the end.

The Redskins cut Graham Gano in preseason because he had missed 10 FG last year.  As I had mentioned before, 5 of those were blocked, and 2 were from over 50 yards.  Last year, he had made 4 out of 6 FG's from beyond 50 yards.  So this year, the Redskins brought in Billy Cundiff to remedy the accuracy of the Kicker.  What does Cundiff do?  Well, as mentioned above, he missed 3 FG's.  One from 41, one from 57, and one from 31.  Now the one from 57 yards is not entirely on him, it is on the coaching staff, mainly Mike Shanahan.  Cundiff's career long FG was 56 yards, back in 2005.  Since then, and including this year before the Bucs game, he was 1 out of 10 tries from beyond 50, with the only made FG being from 51 yards.  He had missed one from 50+ this year already, so I have no idea why in the world would Shanahn think that Cundiff could make a 57 yard FG.  That is beyond idiotic, and if I didn't know any better, I would start to think that Shanahan had not clue what is going on.  But that is another topic all together.  Back to Cundiff and his two other misses.  The other two were on him, and reminded me of last year's game against the Patriots where he missed a last minute FG from close range, which would have given the Ravens the win.  So all those people, including the Redskins coaching staff, that didn't want Gano to be the kicker this year, are most likely regretting that fact, as he had a very strong leg.

Now onto the second bad thing about the game, and it should not come as a surprise, the Redskins Defensive unit.  For most of the game they had actually been playing well, keeping the Bucs out of the endzone, and making plays.  But towards the end of the game, their now true colors came through once again.  The Redskins were leading 21-6 at the end of the half, which is a very solid lead.  But by the end of the 4th quarter, they were behind 22-21, after giving up a number of deep passing plays to Vincent Jackson.  The they keep the Bucs to only 80 yards rushing in total, but they gave up 299 yards in the air, with Jackson finishing the day with 100 yards on 6 receptions, and Mike Williams with 115 yards on 4 receptions.  Those are not good stats.

The Redskins Offense had a very good day, which it needed to.  RG3 threw for 323 yards, completing 26 out of 35 passes.  He did not find the endzone with his arm, but he was able to do so with his legs, rushing for 43 yards and a TD.  He did have a fumble at the 1 yard line, but luckily, Pierre Garcon, who had returned to the lineup after being out two weeks, was able to jump on the ball for a TD.  Alfred Morris had another great day, rushing 21 times for 113 yards and one TD.  This against a Buccaneers Defense that had come to the game giving up only an average of 47 yards rushing per game.  It appears as though the Redskins have a solid rushing game, and an improving passing game, and are able to make plays and score TD's in the Redzone, something they have not been able to do for many years.

Next week the Atlanta Falcons come to town, and they bring with them a 4-0 record and an average of 365 total yards per game, and a league 3rd best 31 points per game.  That Offense is led my Matt Ryan, who has passed for 1162 yards, with 11 TD's and only 2 INT's.  He will be passing to Roddy White, who has 3 TD's with an average of 15.3 yards per catch, and Julio Jones, also with 3 TD's and 13.7 yards per catch.  If the Redskins secondary does not step up their game big time, they are going to have major problems covering these two big, fast and very talented receivers.

Redskins at Rams results

The Washington Redskins have gone from Superbowl champions to the worst team in the NFL in the spam of two games.....at least in the eyes of the fans.  After beating the Saints in New Orleans, the Redskins lost to the Rams in St. Louis in a very close game, by the score of 31-28.  What most fans will remember of the game, unfortunately, is the unsportsmanlike play by Josh Morgan, when he threw the ball at Cortland Finnegan after being tackled short of the first down mark.  But before getting into that, and the other negatives about the game, let me first look at the positives.

The best thing about the game for Redskins fans was RG3.  He was able to impress by with abilities once again.  He had a long bomb to Leonard Hankerson for a TD that was a thing of beauty.  RG3 threw the ball 68 yards, and it landed right in Hankerson's hands.  Hankerson did not have to slow down, or speed up, or change directions, or stretch out for the catch.  He was running at full speed, and simply opened his arms and the ball landed perfectly.  However, he did almost drop the pass, but was able to keep a hold of it and take it a few yards to the endzone.  RG3's arm strength was well known, but he showed that he is damn accurate with the long balls as well.  He also had another deep pass to Aldrick Robinson, but the 2nd year WR was not able to make the play as the ball bounced off his shoulderpads.

RG3 also showed off his rushing abilities, carrying the ball 11 times for a total of 82 yards and 2 TD's.  It appeared that he was able to run fairly easily when they had QB sneak play called.  On one of the TD's, he was able to split two would-be-tacklers very quickly and smoothly, and make it to the endzone.  The only concern is that over the length of the season, if he continues to rush as many times, his body will not be able to handle it, or that he will leave himself open for a very nasty hit.  I'm hoping that day won't come, as the Redskins need RG3 to be healthy for a very long time.

The rest of the offense played well also.  Alfred Morris had another good rushing game, going 89 yards on 16 carries, but he was not able to find the endzone.  The great thing about Morris is that whenever he is hit, he has so much momentum, that he almost always falls forward another yard or two.  And he is a rookie, so if he is also able to stay healthy, the Redskins have a fine RB leading the rushing game.

The WR core played ok, as they were able to make catches, but they were not that good at yards after the catch, mainly due to the fact that Pierre Garcon did not play in this game.  He is their number one WR, and the main person for YAC yards.  He should be back next week, and should be able to contribute once again.

The Offensive line also played well, allowing only one sack on RG3, but he was rushed a number of times.  This unit is doing a pretty good job, but the last two weeks they have not been fully tested, because both of their opponents had D-line issues.  With more time playing together, the unit can protect RG3 pretty well.

Now onto the negatives.  In regards to refs, I will just say that they have been horrendous in the entire league.  Even though they were horrible, making extremely back calls and multiple no calls, they were doing it to both sides, for the most part.  However, the real refs know about player reputations, and who to watch out for, which in this case would be Cortland Finnegan, the CB of the Rams, and the entire Rams team, because of their head coach Jeff Fisher.  Fisher, when he was with the Titans, had a team that in his tenure led the league in most personal fouls, with 163.  The 2nd highest teams were the Giants and Cardinals, with only 137.  In those 10 years, the Titans committed 67 unnecessary roughness penalties, 46 roughing the passer, 18 unsportsmanlike conducts, and 32 in other variations of personal fouls.  This team was also the same team that had the famous head stomp by Albert Haynsworth.  Cortland Finnegan was also with the Titans, before coming to the Rams.  In 2010, he was fined $5000 for throwing Giants WR to the ground by his helmet, then $10,000 for unnecessary roughness when he hit a Broncos' lineman who had lost his helmet, and then ejected from a game against the Texans and fined $25,000 for getting into a fist fight with Andre Johnson.  Finnegan is a very good CB, but he is considered one of the dirtiest players in all of sports.

Although a major negative in the game, it was nothing the Redskins could do anything about, other than to hold their composure, which they did for the most part.  What the Redskins had problems with, to start, was surprisingly the Defense.  For years now the Redskins had relied on the D to keep them in games, in hopes of being able to get lucky and score enough to win games.  It appears that this season the roles have been reversed.  The Offense is able to score points, but the D is not able to stop the other teams.  They gave up 32 points to the Saints, which can be chalked off to the fact that they are a formidable offense, and this week they gave up 31 to the Rams.  Now the Rams do have a good QB in Sam Bradford, and a very good RB in Steven Jackson, but Jackson was sidelined after the 1st quarter, and a rookie RB was killing the Redskins defense.  Sam Bradford was also able to easily find receivers open throughout the game, mainly Danny Amendola, who racked up a total of 15 catches for 160 yards and 1 TD.  It appeared that the Redskins could not cover any of the Rams' WR's, specially Amendola, until the end of the game, when they finally cut back on the zone scheme defense.  For the day, Bradford was 26 of 35 passing, for 310 yards, and 3 TD's, with only one INT.  On top of that, the Redskins gave up 151 yards on the ground.  The Rams were also about to convert 7 out of 12 3rd downs, which means the Defense was not able to get off the field and give the Offense a chance to score points.

The Redskins also gave up a blocked punt, for the 2nd time in as many games.  Although the reason for the blocked punt was given as one of the linemen releasing too early, this is not looking good for the special teams.  This on top of the fact that Brandon Banks fumbled another return.  He is not being used in the passing game, and his sole purpose is to return kicks, for which he isn't doing a great job, and he is having major problems hanging on to the ball.  If this continues, they will need to find a different solution.

Besides the Redskins defensive coaches not being able to adjust fast enough to what the Rams were doing, another major bad point in the game was the head coach, Mike Shanahan.  There were two calls make by Shanahan, which in my and many other's minds were completely wrong and dumb.  His first was at the end of the first half, when the Rams were going for a long FG.  Mike called a timeout right before the ball was snapped, a "move" that he has been credited with creating.  The idea behind this is to get into the mind of the kicker and make him miss on the second attempt.  This move has only worked a very, and I mean very small number of times, and this was not one of them.  The Rams actually missed the kick on the 1st attempt, but since Shanahan called a timeout, the kick did not count and they were able to retake it, which he nailed.  That gave the Rams 3 points which they should not have had.  The second dumb move came at the end of the game, and this one I have a major issue with.  The Redskins were pushed back to 4th and 15, because of Josh Morgan's mistake, and well out of FG range.  Their kicker, Billy Cundiff, has been in the league since 2002.  His career long successful FG kick is 56 yards, which he kicked in 2005.  That is also the last time he made a FG longer than 55 yards.  Since then, he is 1 for 10 in kicks over 50 yards, and in his career, he is only 5-20.  From those stats, anyone can see that he is NOT a long distance kicker.  If I, and many other fans, know these stats, then I sure hope that the coaches know it as well.  Which is why I am baffled at the fact that they brought him out to try a 62 yard FG!!!  Just to add to that point, the NFL record for the longest FG is 63 yards...  So that means that the coaching staff, mainly Mike Shanahan, since he makes the calls, thought that a guy who hadn't made a FG of more than 56 yards in his career, and who had missed 9 out of 10 FG of over 50 yards, would somehow be able to make a 62 yard FG, with a Offensive line that has had issues protecting FG attempts, and the game on the line.  This instead of having RG3, who was having a very good day against the Rams defense, specially when he ran the ball, trying to give the Redskins a first down.  If that is not the worst decision in the game, I am not sure what is.

I am hoping the Defense can get it together this week, as they have a pretty good Offensive team coming to town, because if they cannot, then it will be a very long day, and a very high scoring game.

Redskins at Rams

Redskins at Rams

Sunday September 16, 2012

4:05PM EST

The Washington Redskins are 1-0, and going to St. Louis to face the Rams, who are 0-1.  The Redskins and Rams have played 8 times since 2000, mainly due to the fact that they have been at the bottom of their own Divions.  Most of the games have been close between the two clubs, the Redskins having won 5 out of the 8 meetings between the two teams.  For some reason, no matter how well the Redskins are playing leading up to this game, they find a way to play very badly.  Could it be that the Rams have a great Defense?  Doubt it, or else they would not be as bad as they have been.  I think it is mainly due to the fact that the Redskins have played down to their opponents' level recently.  Regardless of the reason, this meeting could possibly result in the same thing, at least that is what most people fear.

The Rams are coming off a loss to the Detroit Lions, 27-23, with a poor showing on the Offensive side.  They were only able to get 14 first down, and racked up only 250 total yards on Offense, 77 of which were rushing.  Their stud running back, Steven Jackson, was only able to get 53 yards on 21 carries, and did not find the end-zone, in fact none of the RB's got to the end zone.  Sam Bradford did not have a great outting either, although not as bad as the RB's.  He was able to connect on 17 out of 25 passes, for 198 yards and 1 TD with 0 INT's.  He was sacked 4 times, which is mainly due to the fact that the Rams are having some injury issues on the Offensive line.  Although not much stock can be placed in only one week of Football, these stats due favor the Redskins, who had a pretty good day against a very potent Saints Offense last week.  The Defensive front 7 of the Redskins should have a good day against this offense, and should find Bradford on a couple of occasions.  They should also be able to limit Jackson's yards, since from the looks of it, the Rams are committing to the run this year, and the Redskins have been good at stopping the run.

The Rams did not do a great job on Defense, but they were able to contain Megatron, Calvin Johnson, keeping him from finding the endzone.  But he was able to grab 6 passes for 111 yards, with a 51 yard completion on one of the catches.  However, they were able to make Matthew Stafford's day a tough one, picking him off 3 times.  Stafford finished the night completing 32 of 48 passes, for 355 yards and 1 TD, along with those 3 INT's, one of which was returned for a TD by the Rams' newest CB, Cortland Finnegan.  The Rams' Defense was in bend-don't-break mode, giving up a total of 429 yards to the Offense of the Lions, with Kevin Smith rushing for 62 yards and one TD on 13 attemps.  The Rams are having some issues on the Defensive line, which was only able to get to Stafford one time for a sack.  This does not bode well for the Rams, if the Redskins are able to continue on the Offensive onslaught they started in New Orleans.  If the offensive line for the Redskins can protect RG3 as well as they did against the Saints, and if RG3 is as accurate as he was last week, then they should have a very good day against the Rams Defense.

As mentioned, this type of game is considered a trap game, a game that the Redskins have historically played as bad as their opponents.  But if we are to learn anything from week 1, this Redskins team is nothing like those of the past 15-20 years.  The Offense looks like a real Offense, with a real QB at the helm, and real WR's that can catch the ball and run with it.  The RB position looks solid, after the performance Alfred Morris had.  The Defense held their own against a powerful Saints Offense, but that has been the norm for the past number of years.  The Redskins can easily win this game, if they do not beat themselves by making stupid mistakes and if they do not underestimate the Rams, which want to make up for the loss agaisnt the Lions last week.

Redskins at Saints Result

So the game was played, and it did not go anything like most people had thought it would go.  As I had mentioned in my previous posts, it was a close game, and in fact it came down to the last play of the game with 2 seconds left on the clock, but I had no idea it would have played out like it did.  So let us get to it and go over what all happened.

As the picture at the top shows, the Redskins were able to beat the Saints, in New Orleans, by the final score of 40 to 32.  Yes, the Redskins actually scored 40 points!  The last time they did this was in 2005!  On top of that, all 40 points were scored by the Offense and special teams.  The Redskins were able to score 10 points in each of the quarters, which is insane if you are a Redskins fan.  The Offense looked amazing, and the Defense was able to make plays when it needed to the most.

Robert Griffin III finished the day with completing 19 of 26 passes, resulting in 320 yards and 2 TD's.  He did not throw a single interception, although one should have been intercepted, the CB lost the ball when he hit the ground.  He also ran the ball 10 times, both by design and scrambling, for a total of 42 yards.  Some of the run plays were by design, as mentioned, but some were the result of RG3 getting away from the Defensive rush and making a play instead of being sacked.  In fact, he was only sacked only once, and that was when he was tripped and had fallen down.  According to stats, RG3 was rushed only 8 times out 31 drop backs, which shows that the Offensive line stepped up huge and protected RG3 very well, and also that RG3 got rid of the ball very quickly, which will go a long way in keeping him healthy and injury free.

Besides the stats, watching RG3 play, it brought home the point that finally, after many years of poor QB play, the Washington Redskins have a legitimate QB, a franchise QB, now and for the foreseeable future.  Granted, it is just one game, but the future is bright, if he can stay healthy and continue to grow.

Not all was good, however.  The Offense looked crisp and efficient, it looked professional and it looked as though it knew what it wanted to do, and knew how to do it exactly.  In short, it looked very much like the Saints Offense last year.  But the Defense had trouble with said prolific Offense.  Drew Brees was only sacked twice, and was able to throw for 339 yards and 3 TD's.  Yes he did also throw 2 INT's, but one of them came as a result of a Hailmary pass attempt at the end of the game.  Although his accuracy was low, only 24 out of 52 attempts, he was still able to almost tie the game at the end.  Although the Redskins won't be facing such an air attack on a weekly basis, they will have to deal with a much better rushing attack.  The Saints stopped trying to rush the ball and went straight to the air, but other teams will not.  In fact, the Redskins' next opponent is a very good rushing team.

But not all is doom and gloom.  The Defense was able to stand up and make plays when it needed to, like the last play of the game to stop Drew Brees.  Also, with a potent Offense which takes advantage of field position and scores, the Defense does not have to be as tough and strong as it used to be in the years past.  They can take more risks, knowing that the Offense can make up for their mistakes.

Does this win change my mind on how the rest of the season will go?  Very little.  I still believe the Redskins will finish the season with an 8-8 record.  However, I now believe that those 8 loses will be close games, and the Redskins will be there till the end of the game in all the 8 loses, and the 8 wins can potentially be blowouts.  So as a Redskins fan, I am very much looking forward to the rest of the season, and am excited to see this Offense, specially RG3, grow and develop into a power to contend with.

Redskins vs Saints

Redskins vs Saints

Sunday September 9, 2012

1:00pm EST



The regular season of the NFL is finally here, and it was kicked off on Wednesday with a game between the Cowboys and Giants.  This weekend will be the first full weekend of Football, and there are a number of games of interest.  None of which are more important (at least to me) than the game between the Redskins and the Saints, which will be played in New Orleans.  There are several aspects of this game that are interesting, not only to the fans of both teams, but nationally.  I will try and go through them as fluidly as possible, but those of you that know me know that my mind jumps around a lot, so I apologize ahead of time.

Looking at the national interest, the first aspect is the Redskins QB, Robert Griffin III.  This will be his first regular season game, where the Defense will be coming after him and will try to confuse him with trick plays and false schemes.  A lot of people will be paying close attention to how RG3 plays against the Saints, to see if he is as good as promised, or will be start out rough as most rookies do.  Normally I would say this would be one of the most difficult opponents for a rookie QB, as the Saints have been a tough defensive unit.  They have been known for blitzing almost every down, from multiple directions, confusing QB's as to where the blitz will be coming from next.  Their front seven have been very good at applying pressure on the QB and making him throw bad passes.  This fact, combined with the ball hawks that the Saints have playing at the DB positions have resulted in multiple interceptions.  Again, normally this would be a bad thing, but due to the "bounty" scandal, some of the main Defensive players for the Saints won't be playing this week.  These include Jonathan Vilma, a very good LB, along with Will Smith, one of the best DE's in the game.  There is a possibility that Smith will play this weekend, if a judge rules to hold off on the suspension, but that is still up in the air.  The Saints are also going into the season with a new Defensive Coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo.  Although that would normally be a bad thing for a team, it appears that Steve has the Redskins' number.  He had been the Head Coach for the Rams for the past several years, and the Redskins had struggled greatly against the Rams, not being able to score many points.  Granted this is a new era for the Redskins Offense, but the scheme has not changed much.

Another national point of interest is how the Saints are going to respond to the hardships they have faced.  Not only were they hit with suspensions, Vilma and Smith on the field, their GM, Mickey Loomis, and Head Coach Sean Payton, have both been suspended, along with the Assistant Head Coach Joe Vitt, but the city of New Orleans has been hit with another hurricane.  The Saints have been known to bounce back from such hardships before, having won the Super Bowl after they were hit with Katrina, so many will be paying close attention to how they will respond this time around.

As far as the Saints' Offense is concerned, they will most likely not miss a beat.  Although Payton was the playcaller and the mastermind behind the Offense, Drew Brees has been the QB for several years, and has worked closely with Payton on the Offense, and knows the system as well as the suspended Head Coach does.  To add to that, the Redskins are having some issues on the Defensive side of the ball.  Although the front seven for the Redskins are very strong, there is some major questions in the backfield.  With the indefinite suspension of Tanard Jackson, and the injury to Brandon Merriwether, the Safety position is hurting.  This added to the questions regarding the CB's can be a problem, specially faced with the type of aggressive offense the Saints have.  Drew Brees shattered Dan Marino's record for most passing yards, and looks to continue on the roll.  This will be a major test for the Redskins' Defensive unit, to see if they can at the very least contain the Saints.

Both teams have players on Special Teams that can break open a game on a Kickoff or Punt Return.  The Redskins kept Brandon Banks on the roster mainly for this reason, as he is a very elusive and quick return specialist.  The Saints replaced their star return player last year, by letting go of Reggie Bush and picking up Darren Sprolles, and he was able to pick up exactly where Bush left off.

Since both teams are facing possible issues on the Defensive side, this looks to be a high scoring game.  The only question would be if the Redskins and RG3 can keep up with the Saints or not.  If both sides are able to drive the ball and score, it will most likely come down to which team can get lucky on Defense and either cause a turnover or stop the Offense from scoring.

Having said all that, I believe this will be a close yet high scoring game, and the Redskins do have a very good chance of pulling out a win.

Was cutting Cooley the right move?

NFL teams have to make tough decisions from time to time.  The coaching staff and the GM have to put aside certain aspects of humanity and make business decisions that will improve their team, both for the near future and for the long term.  Everyone knows that.  Most people don't like that idea, which is one of the reasons most of us will never be coaches or GM's, because we won't be able to make the tough decision and cut a player that has become the fan favorite and to a degree the face of the team.  Which brings us to the current situation, where the Washington Redskins cut their Tight End of 8 years, number 47 Chris Cooley.

Most of you know who Cooley is, and what he has meant to this team.  He has been the safety valve for many QB's that have put on the Burgandy and Gold uniform.  When in trouble, they would simply have to find Cooley and know that he was going to not only catch the ball, but make a play, getting a first down or moving down the field.  He was also a very good blocker when asked to block, either in passing or running situations.  Beyond his abilities on the field, he had a great personality.  He was a fan favorite, a fun loving, sometimes wacky person, who had the nickname of Captain Chaos.  I never had the chance to meet him myself, but from what I heard of him and from those that had met him, he was a great person and very friendly.

The news of him being cut, and his very emotional press conference, was a huge shock to many Redskins fans, myself included.  Even though he had been dealing with injuries the past couple of seasons, from all reports, he was in the best shape of his career this year, and looked to return to his probowl level of play.  So why cut such a player from the team?  Could it have been done differently?  Was it the right move for the Redskins, both in the near future and beyond?

To be honest, the majority of us can't answer those questions.  We can assume, we can try to put ourselves in the shoes of the Redskins' staff, to see why this happened, but we won't know for sure.  From what I've seen and heard, the main reasons were Cooley's salary and his age.  The Redskins have a young Fred Davis, who can be one of the best TE's, Logan Paulsen, who is getting better at being a blocking TE, and Niles Paul, who was a receiver last year, but the Redskins converted him to a TE over the offseason.  So just by the number of TE's, and their ages, one can see that Cooley might be on the outside, having been in the league more years than Davis, Paulsen, and Paul combined.  But the issue here is that you are putting a lot of trust in Davis, who is one substance abuse away from not playing for you, Paulsen, who is more of a blocker than a receaving TE and with only 13 catches and 1 TD, and Paul, who was a WR until this year, and who only had 2 receptions for 25 yards.  I for one would rather have a proven veteran on my team, which happens to be starting a rookie QB who will need all the help he can get, and which is also having major offensive line issues.

As for Cooley's price tag, I am certain that if they spoke with him, he would be more than happy to restructure his contract so that he can stay with the Redskins, and retire as a Washington Redskin.  He had said so many times himself, he does not want to see himself in another uniform, he wanted to be a Redskins for his entire career.  Not only that, he has invested so much of his time and money in this community, that to most of us, he is a fixture of this area.

There is another point that has bothered me ever since I heard of this news.  The Redskins are having major problems with their Offensive line, they had trouble protecting RGIII against the 2nd string Colts Defensive line.  They are going to have huge problems protecting him against probowl defensive players in the regular season.  So it would make sense that they would want every help they can get blocking said linemen and LB's.  Yet they let go one of their better blockers, and keep a player like Jamal Brown, who has never been able to stay on the field for the Redskins, who is now on the PUP list, and will most likely not be able to help them at all this year.  To me that does not make sense whatsoever.  Why keep an injured player, who hasn't done much for you, who most would agree is probably way past his prime, and yet let go of one of the better TE's, both in catching and blocking?  I don't know the answer to that, but would sure like to find out.

With all that said, we don't know the truth, and most likely will never know exactly what was said and done to lead up to this point.  All we know for sure is that the Redskins think they are better off with Cooley not being on their team.  I for one do not agree with that statement at all, but who am I to do or say anything about this.  I wish Chris Cooley the best of luck in his career, if he so chooses to continue to play, and the best of luck in whatever he decides to do after he is done playing this wonderful game.  You will always be one of my favorite Redskins, and to me you will always be a Washington Redskin.