Defending the Lions offense... or just Calvin Johnson

Rookie QB Matt Stafford is bumping a 40.5 QB rating with a league-high 5 picks. RB Kevin Smith is averaging 2.6 ypc. Can you see where I'm going with this? Lock up Calvin Johnson and the Lions reach 20 straight losses.

To Detroit's credit, the Lions are probably playing with their most balanced offensive team in years. Stafford was the smartest choice at #1 for the Lions who have regrettably started Orlovsky, Culpepper, Kitna and all-decade bust Joey Harrington at QB in recent years. Stafford has a strong arm and can make all the throws even though the only one he really needs is the one that gets it to #81.

6'5'' Calvin Johnson is a top 10 WR in this league but falls victim to a suspect supporting cast. Nevertheless, the man is still a threat especially after recording a 44'' vertical earlier in the year. DeAngelo is going up against his hardest mark of the season so far, by far.

As far as the running game goes, don't expect much from the Lions. 30 percent of running plays against the Washington D have gone for 1 yard or less this season. That stat right there deserves a moment of silence...

... Against a similarly talented Viking D-line, Kevin Smith ran for 83 yards on 24 carries. Against the Saints, he only had 20 yards proving that Detroit will abandon the run early when trailing.

3 matchups to watch: Calvin Johnson vs. DeAngelo Hall. Look for Landry to shadow CJ all day possibly looking for the big hit. I'd be shocked if Blatche left D. Hall on Johnson 1-on-1 but that is what he's getting paid for.

Redskins D-line vs. Lions O-line. Double team or no double team, that pocket will be gone 2-3 seconds into every play. Lions might run some screens with Smith- he's got nice hands and good quickness in the open field- but the Redskins will inevitably add to their sack and TFL total.

Lastly, there's a chance Blatche overemphasizes coverage on CJ. If so, the Lions have capable secondary WRs like former first round pick Bryant Johnson or receiving TE Brandon Pettigrew.

Matchup not to watch: former Redskin OT Jon Jansen- he doesn't start. Redskins win 24-13.

JC and JZ mic'd up

Courtesy of NFL.com: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/09000d5d812dca56/Sideline-sound-Zorn-and-Campbell

This is a nice video I found that really shows what JZ is trying to do play calling-wise. Also it shows JC's other side- his competitive side. I think it does a little to affirm JC as a leader and is capable of carrying this offense. Either way, it's worth watching. Enjoy.

Lions preview

Redskins are favored by 6 and a half... only? Ouch. Zorn and Co. are going up against a professional team (allegedly) trying to avoid their 20th straight loss. So what if the Skins only beat the lowly Rams by 3 at home? That's more of an insult than Robert Henson could ever tweet. Here's what to look for:

Zorn and Campbell, despite the disappointing play from the rest of the offense, are officially on the hot seat. They face a team that has given up 45 and 27 points respectively, so production from the offense is expected to say the least. Brees and Favre have combined for 513 yards and 8 TDs against the Lions' swiss-cheese-D in the first 2 weeks so there is no excuse for JC not have a 100+ QB rating this Sunday.

But the playmaker has to be Clinton. He has yet to eclipse 100 yards and has been held scoreless this season. Some of that can be put on the O-line but Detroit is allowing 4.5 ypc on SIXTY run plays. In the first 2 weeks alone, on average, they're allowing 390 ypg, 134.5 of which is on the ground. That's not even junior varsity, that's pee wee. Gotta call 26's number this weekend Jimbo.

Randy Thomas is gone but I doubt his replacement, whether it be Rinehart or Montgomery, will be a glaring weakness. Look for Zorn to keep RBs in to block or chip before going out on routes. Anthony Alridge? The boy is FAST but he won't see more than 3 carries this weekend.

Players to watch: This might come back to haunt me but I'm calling for #17. JC is banged up but WILL throw for 250+ and 2 TDs with a high completion rate. Santana WILL finally drop the swine flu and catch a TD and Portis WILL top 85 yards and find the end zone.

Skins win 24-13. Look for Zorn to be overly aggressive in his play-calling after being called out by Sonny and the rest of Redskins nation. Maybe an extra green light on 4th down or some big plays down the field to get the media monkey off his back. It's now or never for Skins fans... as always.

Robert Henson did what?

So some obnoxious, outspoken, and realistically, out-of-place rookie LB opened up his big mouth and insulted the fans. Do I really need to address this? He's played as many downs as the beer man in the nose bleeds for DC yet he feels the need to disgrace thousands of fans most likely who have rooted for the Skins longer than he has been a member.

The best reaction, BY FAR, to this idiot's tweet is that belonging to Mike Greenberg from Mike & Mike in the Morning: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4495020 courtesy of ESPN. Enjoy.

Response to Jason Campbell critics

Possibly Jason Campbell's greatest talent in his short Redskin career is his ability to avoid INTs so sure, when Campbell throws the ball away or scrambles out of bounds on 3rd down it seems like he is shying away from heaving the ball downfield into traffic similar to Brett Favre. But on the same note, where should he go for big plays?

No Redskins WR has proved to be the complete package, thus be considered a legit big play threat. I consider the complete package to include breakaway speed, leaping ability in traffic, sure hands, and the ability to break tackles. Santana has been MIA and fumbled away a scoring opportunity. That leaves Randle El (too short), Cooley (too slow) and up-and-coming Malcolm Kelly (too... raw), none of which are consistent deep threats.

Skins fans want big plays, and I'm no different but you have to be realistic. As far as the "3 yard screen pass" accusation goes, that can be attributed to JZ's west coast offensive scheme and I'd actually argue that JC looks very comfortable in the pocket and perhaps waits on his progressions too long potentially risking sacks.

Campbell's WRs aren't getting open so far this season and THAT is what is plaguing the passing game. Substitute big play WRs for Devin Thomas and Sellers on those dropped TDs and we win 20ish-7 and there are no JC haters come Monday morning. Substitute big play WRs for Santana on the pass he fumbled away or the one he gave up on against NY resulting in an INT, and JC has flawless numbers through two games.

It is FAR too early to be blaming the inabilities of the offense on the QB, and I'm astounded that fans would prefer the likes of Jay Cutler considering his weak and, moreover, underachieving performance early into this season. Campbell hasn't set us back "three years and counting." The inability of Dan Snyder and GM Vinny Cerrato to put a balanced team together through the draft is. Campbell is just your easy scapegoat.

Randy Thomas update

Torn triceps- they're saying he's done for the year. Personally, I think this injury is career-ending for big #77, at least with the Redskins. He definitely had some nice years for DC but at this point, Washington's greatest most glaring weakness is offensive line and he's no young buck. Mad respect to Mr. Thomas but this might be a blessing in disguise. The line needs a revamp and right guard looks like first in line.

Possible replacements already on the roster: 2008 3rd round draft pick Chad Rinehart. Bugel and his staff keep raving about this guy every offseason but I haven't seen anything promising. Backup center, Will Montgomery played in Thomas's spot after he went out on Sunday and got blown up on a few occasions.

First name that comes to mind NOT on the roster is old Pete Kendell. He was on the roster the last few years at left guard but was replaced when the Skins brought back Dock. Seems like an old vet could make the switch from left guard to right guard pretty easily, especially since the Skins run left predominantly anyways.

Prominent names that are currently unemployed: Jason Fabini, Kwame Harris, Levi Jones, Matt Lehr, Edwin Mulitalo, Chris Naeole and Mark Tauscher. But don't forget there's a reason they're unemployed 2 weeks into the season.

Defense wins games, defense wins championships

Whoever said offense wins games probably just felt the need to include them somewhere because it's downright false. The Skins are .500 right now solely because of their D, particularly against the run. Yeah, so Steve Jackson topped 100 yards, but isn't that misleading thanks to 1 fluke 58 yard scamper? Take away that one hiccup and Jackson averaged 2.8 yards on 16 carries.

The Rams offense managed 12 non-penalty-aided 1st downs and went 6-12 on 3rd down. Bulger threw for as many yards as the Skins ran for (125) and he averaged a lowly 4.5 yards per pass. Rocky forced 2 fumbles but one was negated by penalty.

MVP goes to Chris Horton. Fletch and Andre Carter both brought their A-game on Sunday but Horton tallied 7 solo tackles, 2 pass breakups (1 of which ended the game for St. Louis on 4th down), and the game-clinching hit on Donnie Avery that forced a fumble recovered by C-Rog in the red zone.

Didn't exactly show up in the box score, but Big Al and Orakpo also deserve credit. The Rams had no answer for Haynesworth up the middle and Orakpo contributed significantly to an impressive pass rush. Before the game I said the team who won the line of scrimmage would win and that proved true. Between our 4 lineman: 17 total tackles, 1 sack, 2 pass deflections, 2 tackles for loss, and 4 QB knockdowns. That's what I'm talking about baby.

Sunday's offense

The offense showed more balance against the Rams than in the previous week. No doubt about it. Portis found openings, mostly on the left side, but none the less totaled 79 yards on 19 carries. JC was good for 28 yards and Betts added another 13. The Skins totaled a respectable 125 yards on the ground Sunday but what bugged me was the disappearance of any kind of push in the red zone once again. The Skins totaled 22 yards on 10 carries inside the 20-yard-line. That's how you end up with 9 points after 4 legit scoring opportunities.

As far as the passing game goes, I though JC was for the most part on target. There were some dropped passes that hurt Washington, particularly in the red zone, but I thought the emergence of Malcolm Kelly was promising. Had JC not under thrown him on that flag route up the right sideline in the first, he had him beat and could have taken it to the house. #12 is looking nice, it's official.

MVP goes to Cooley. Anyone opposed? He was targeted 9 times and caught 7 balls for 83 yards. He was the top chain-mover too with 5 1st down catches. Randle El continues to ball in the slot and Betts is looking nice out of the backfield.

Santana Moss. Where do I begin? 5 catches in 2 games and a drive-killing fumble. That's got to change ASAP. I'm picking Moss right now as my player to watch against Detroit next week.

Jason Campbell haters: here's one more thing...

I re-read my previous post and figured that it lacked statistical proof to again prove JC-haters wrong so I looked up the numbers and here we go:

JC, as of Monday, September 21, 2009, is currently 7th in the NFL in completion percentage at 68.9%. That tops Matt Ryan, Eli, Carson Palmer, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Jay Cutler and, of course, Tony Romo. He's thrown 1 INT in 61 attempts and if I'm honest, I'm thinking Santana could have at least batted it down had he not completely given up on it before Webster jumped in front during the NY game. Moving on...

JC has thrown for 453 yards- that's good for 14th in the league. He's averaging 7.43 yards per attempt- that's good for 12th. Last but not least, he's bumping a 89.0 QB rating which begs me to ask: Why in the hell are you trying to get rid of him?

He has a top-notch completion rate. He's consistently at the bottom of the league in INTs thrown and he proved on NUMEROUS occasions this season his ability to tuck the football and run for the first down. He's getting it to the open man when protected and he's protecting the football- that's what a defensive team needs. Give the man a consistent running game and Washington will be playing into late January. Just ask Flacco and the 2008 Ravens.

Skins top Rams 9-7

Ugly.

It's apparent that's what the 90,000 at FedEx thought after they booed the Skins nearly the entire game. They dominated the Rams in nearly every statistical category but a 2-point victory over a team that won just 2 games last year wasn't enough for the Redskin faithful. Going 0-5 in the red zone didn't help either.

Immediately following the game, Campbell and Zorn's ability to lead the team were called into question. But before you blame Washington's inability to finish drives on JC and JZ try to remember all 5 red zone trips: Devin Thomas and Mike Sellers both dropped sure TD passes on consecutive drives and CP overthrew an open Chris Cooley. On a 4th-and-1 toward the end of the game CP neglected to cut upfield and tried bouncing what looked like an off-tackle run outside and was stopped short.

In reality, JZ can only draw up a game plan and call plays that give his offense the best chance they have to score. JC's job is to put the ball where it needs to be. He can't catch it too. The boo birds and finger-pointers need to wake up or shut up.

Gameday: Rams

Skins home opener at 1 today, here's what to look for:

Rams new head coach, Steve Spagnuolo, leads a defensive cast similar to what he ran in NY: strong defensive ends that can rush the QB and force everything up the middle, and a reliable middle linebacker to clean everything up.

Matchup #1 will be how Samuels and Heyer handle Chris Long and Leonard Little. The difference in last week's 6-point loss was the sack-forced fumble-recovery-touchdown. Few things made it past rookie MLB James Laurinaitis in their opener against Seattle so keep an eye on him and Portis in the open field today.

The 2nd thing to look at today will be the comeback of Santana Moss after his no-show against the Giants. The Rams lack a strong cover corner so safety help will probably be Spag's answer to Washington's top deep threat. This means big days for Cooley and possibly ARE in consecutive weeks. Can the real Malcolm Kelly and/or Devin Thomas please stand up?

When the Rams have the ball the Skins have to stop Steve Jackson. He's one of the least talked about backs in the NFL these days because he plays on a JV squad but he's a top 5 back and can run over, around or through defenders. Look for Haynesworth and the rest of the front 4 to earn their money today.

The Rams' only other options are two young WRs, Avery and Robinson, and the ex-Dolphin, Randy McMichael. Bulger likes them on inside routes and Smoot is probably out with a rib injury so a pass rush from Orakpo and Andre Carter is crucial today.

Bottom line is the line of scrimmage- whoever brings it in the trenches today is taking this one home. My prediction: big days from Captain Chaos, Portis, and B-Rak (Orakpo). Skins finally put one in the win column 24-13 and Jason Campbell and Zorn can breath easy for at least the next week.