**Official 2007 Washington Redskins thread***

[Tyler Durden]

Not sure who the Skins fans around here are besides myself, Assani and Carl Spackler but let's give this a shot and hopefully get some good NFC East discussion going.

I was at the Miami game and was encouraged by some things: our run defense looked a lot better than last season (sure, it was against the Dolphins' lame offensive line) and Clinton Portis looks fully recovered from his injuries of a year ago and from the knee tendonitis issues he had in training camp.

We also had two sacks and forced a turnover, but sadly could not intercept Trent Green once. Rocky McIntosh and LaRon Landry and London Fletcher seemed to play very well.

I was not too pleased w/ our pass defense however. Greg Williams was playing a lot of cover-3 w/ Landry near the line of scrimmage in run support and Sean Taylor playing center field. In a bizarre development, Fred Smoot got the start over Shawn Springs. That better not happen again, but word is that Springs may have fallen out of favor w/ the coaches after refusing to take a pay cut in the offseason. Smoot gave up a bunch of catches and dropped a sure pick-6 to end the game in the last minute of regulation. At that point I was thinking, "same old Redskins" b/c we couldn't hang onto an INT last year if our season depended on it.

Jason Campbell really killed the momentum that the defense gave the team by throwing a pick over the middle on his first attempt of the season. Apparently he didn't see the safety jump in front of Chris Cooley. Decisions like these should get easier for him as he gets more experience. Campbell looked great on the deep balls he threw to Antwaan Randle El for 35 and 49 yards to set up scores. Neither of those receptions were the Hail Mary at the end of regulation. I don't think JC could have thrown those bombs any better--they were right on the money. He also had a great scramble for a first down on 3rd and 7 in the 4th quarter. He avoided the pass rush very well too.

Santana Moss caught only three passes and Cooley had just one catch, but it was a big one on a 3rd down in overtime. Randle El should be a much bigger part of the offense this season and he really showed us something on Sunday.

We signed Reche Caldwell yesterday and that will hopefully end the Brandon Lloyd experiment in DC. Lloyd failed to make a play on the ball that JC threw him in the endzone and it resulted in an interception. Lloyd proceded to not hustle to tackle on the play. I wanted to see him succeed this year but he just doesn't have it and is not a team player.

Shawn Suisham was great and even tho it was just one game, hopefully we have finally found a real [censored] kicker and can end the revolving door that we've had at that spot since the days of Chip Lohmiller. Not too sure why Joe Gibbs elected to kick the OT FG on 1st down. I would have preferred a couple of runs b/c the Miami D was fatigued and we were running all over them.

The victory came at a price however as Jon Jansen suffered a broken fibula and dislocated ankle and is out for the season. Todd Wade will play in his stead and he might be better than Jansen in pass protection. It looks like Jansen has been losing it in recent years and I think we definitely need to try to get younger on the offensive line in April's draft.

I see this team going 7-9, maybe 8-8 if JC continues to improve and if the defense bounces back from last season's debacle.

As for the Eagles on Monday night...it's going to be a tough game to win. We've dropped four of the last five in Philadelphia and it's going to be a long night if we don't get any kind of pass rush at all, which has been our M.O. since Ken Harvey was on the team.

Okay everybody reply and Go Redskins!

[MuresanForMVP]

Hail

[Assani Fisher]

Great writeup...thanks for taking the time! Go Skins!

[PokerFink]

Seems like a pretty fair analysis to me, Tyler. I think the Skins are pretty solid, and Campbell will only get better, but they still have enormous depth problems because they give away so many draftpicks. Do they have all their 2008 picks?

I'm predicting 7-9 or 8-8, but they could easily steal a game or two here or there and 9-7 is probably a wildcard spot in the NFC.

I'm looking foward to Monday night, should be a good measuring game for both teams.

[Magra]

Washington is actually one of my sleeper picks this year. Barring any major injuries, this is a strong offense with a decent defense. Not deep playoff run strong, but wildcard round is possible.

[wh1t3bread]

[ QUOTE ]
Do they have all their 2008 picks?


[/ QUOTE ]

No. I believe they gave up their 2008 4th for Kendall and their 2008 5th for Duckett last year. Maybe I'm reversing these two, I dunno. Either way I think they are already out 2 of 7 picks in 2008.

[Tyler Durden]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Do they have all their 2008 picks?


[/ QUOTE ]

No. I believe they gave up their 2008 4th for Kendall and their 2008 5th for Duckett last year. Maybe I'm reversing these two, I dunno. Either way I think they are already out 2 of 7 picks in 2008.

[/ QUOTE ]

The pick we gave up for Kendall is a conditional one. If he plays 80% of the snaps or more this season the Jets get our 4th rounder in 2009, b/c our 4th rounder in 2008 was traded for Duckett. If Kendall suffers an injury that keeps him out of enough snaps, New York will get the 2008 5th round pick.

I believe we picked up an extra 2008 6th rounder by dealing Adam Archuleta.

[Tyler Durden]

It was good to see Pierson Prioleau (sp?) on the field again. We brought Omar Stoutmire back and he signed today b/c Prioleau and Vernon Fox suffered injuries on Sunday (neither is believed to be serious).

It looks like Frosty has bounced back from a rough preseason.

[wh1t3bread]

Ah gotcha. Thanks for the correction. Pretty likely Kendall sees 80% of the offensive snaps (barring injury of course).

[MacGuyV]

I remember Prioleau playing for Williams in Buffalo - didn't realize he was still in the league. Not a terrible player IIRC.