Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

So what have we learned from Sunday's performance now that the fuzzy warm feelings have faded away?

The Redskins are better than the Texans. We already knew that.

Mark Brunell can complete screens and dump-offs accurately. We already knew that.

Clinton Portis completely changes the game. We already knew that.

There has to be something that we've learned, other than Ladell Betts is much better coming off the bench, but everything that was obvious is not what we need to learn to be that team we expected to see during the offseason.

Can Mark Brunell throw downfield? If you take away Clinton Portis' 74-yard scamper in which he did all the work, Brunell only racked up 187 total passing yards. With proper protection he won't throw the ball away as quickly as previous games, but he still seemed to go to his checkdown way too quickly and sometimes not even giving them time to really get in a position to make a play afterwards because the ball came too quickly. And he probably wouldn't have had so much time to throw the ball if the line wasn't called for numerous holding penalties.

The defense played much better, but that's only relative to their pass performances. Playing against a QB who gets sacked on average more than three times a game, it makes you question how the defensive line only sacked him once. And a rookie got a piece of it. As far as the secondary, I thought Reed Doughty put on Adam Archuleta's jersey and simply made rookie mistakes, but it was the $30 million safety biting on play fakes and leaving his deep zone wide open. Texan WR scorched the secondary for 152 yards. Who was covering him? Carlos Rogers, the next coming of Champ Bailey?

So what did we learn? Well, there was Derrick Frost and his booming kicks, averaging 56 yards a kick.

[NOTE: I am resisting all urges to post that I am 100% confident Jason Campbell could've made the same screen passes, short dumpoffs, checkdowns to RBs standing a few yards in front of the line of scrimmage and handed the ball off to Portis. Would Campbell have completed 22 in a row? Probably not. Al Saunders would've probably called a real passing play and went downfield to one of the numerous playmakers, and maybe even connected on one or two. But for now, I'll just trust Joe Gibbs' intuition that Mark Brunell is our best chances of winning a Super Bowl.]

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Well it's about time. Only, coming against the NFL's worst defense, what do we make out of it?

In a league in which dynasties are no longer a realistic possibility and every year a team or two rises from the ashes to shock the world, every victory is a hard-fought victory that shouldn't be taken for granted. And from the looks of how the Redskins have performed in the preseason and the first two weeks, beating the Texans the way they did was impressive.

So what was it that brought the Redskins to form? Was it the return of Clinton Portis? Was it Mark Brunell getting some extra time to throw the rock? Was it Al Saunders' play calling? Or was it simply a combination of everything?

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Obviously football is one of those games in which there's no such thing as a one man team like the NBA. If an offensive lineman doesn't do his job, the passing and running game suffers. If a receiver drops a key pass, the momentum can shift and the game lost. If the offense scores 35 points and the defense gives up 36, what difference will it make.

In addition to the 22 starters, the backups have to execute as well. What's the point developing a running game if on a 3rd and short, the backup comes in and fumbles. Or the nickel back gets burned. And then there's the special teams. The game is based on field position. If the opponents' average starting position is around the 35, the defense's job already got harder. John Hall has to make his kicks. Derrick Frost has to continue to pin opponents' offenses deep.

And then there's the coaching staff. What happened to the explosive offensive play calling by Al Saunders or the suffocating defense by Gregg Williams? If is just player execution or can the coaching staff make better decisions as to what to call and when? Is Joe Gibbs involved in any of the play calling at all?

All the attention so far has ended up with Mark Brunell. As I watch all the pregame shows and read all the articles on the internet, fingers are being pointed everywhere but eventually being pointed at Mark Brunell. I'm pointing the finger at Mark Brunell.

But I also feel that the other 21 starters, handful of key backups and the entire coaching staff needs some finger pointing. Jon Jansen looked terrible against the Cowboys. I liked him better with two broken thumbs. The secondary is playing like a practice squad. David Carr had an impressive game last weekend, but he was overshadowed by Peyton Manning's performance. If we think Carr is vulnerable (he has the NFL's third best passer rating), he might put up better numbers than the two aging QBs we've faced so far. The d-line spends all game dancing with the o-line. Adam Archuleta is a heat seeking missile looking for the football instead of where the football is going. Andre Carter? Hello?

There are a lot of individuals that can get a finger, but ultimately, it's a team sport. The ultimate team sport. Hopefully the 0-2 start has refocused everyone and instead of spending all week whether or not Mark Brunell should be the starter, let's hope everyone collectively can figure out how to make it easier for him to do whatever he does and win some games. If it's Todd Collins or Jason Campbell back there, everyone still has to do what they do better in order for it to make a difference.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

After a successful season last year and another high profile offseason, the Redskins entered the season with some experts saying they could possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. Even Sports Illustrated predicted the Redskins to finish first in the division and winning a playoff game.

But after only two weeks, not only are the Redskins looking disappointing, they don't even look like they'll be competitive. One of the key reasons (out of many) is the absolute lack of a running threat. Offensive guru Al Saunders is known for his power running games which set up aerial assaults no matter who was the QB. So far, though, his offense looks no better than Steve Spurrier's offense.

Going into the season some even said Ladell Betts could be a starter on most teams. Others even said TJ Duckett could given a chance. With those two lining up behind one of the NFL's marquee RBs, the Redskins looked like they had one of the best RB tandems in the league. The most productive runner on the team so far is Santana Moss (4 rushes for 47 yards averaging 11.8 yards a carry), only he's supposed to be catching passes. Ladell Betts has more yards but is only averaging 3.3 yards a carry. Ironically, the leading receiver stat-wise is Ladell Betts with 10 catches. The only rushing TD is scored by, well, Clinton Portis.

But it's not too late. Clinton Portis is back, and Saunders is addressing the need to refocus on the run. Joe Gibbs mentioned the reason the passing game hasn't been effective is defenses are keeping an extra man in coverage taking away the deep threat because there is no running game to fear. Mark Brunell has thrown for no TDs and has a QB rating of 67.7. With Portis lining up, though, things are expected to change.

And it helps that we're playing Houston this weekend. Their defense is giving up an average of 127 yards rushing a game (though only two games) and a whopping 350 yards passing (thanks primarily to Peyton Manning). QBs have completed 68.5% of their attempts (73 attempts so far).

This is the weekend for the Redskins to gain some traction and develop some momentum, self-confidence and more importantly, some respect. It all begins with the running game and if it can't be established against the Texans, brace yourself for a long season.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Last year every week, I would check Fox Sports' power rankings and every week the Redskins consistently was ranked in the top 10. Even when they were 5-6, the Redskins would be ranked high enough to make the playoffs. People questioned how this could be, and Fox consistently wrote, "We use a system based off this and that and some other stuff so how the Redskins got ranked that high every weekend, well, we have no idea..."

Sure enough, the formula was right and not only did the Redskins make the playoffs, they even won a game vindicating Fox Sports' power ranking system.

So, I checked them out recently to get an idea of what the HAL of NFL rankings thinks so far, and sure enough, there's been a change of heart. The disappointing thing is that the Redskins are ranked 25th. But there is some good news. The Houston Texans are ranked 31st!

The complicated formula is based a lot on previous games, but not all of them. It's something like the last eight. Since we're only two weeks into the season, maybe the formula is just getting warmed up. So, I checked out CBS Sportsline. They have the Redskins ranked two places higher at number 23, but they have the Texans tanked three spots better than Fox does, coming in at 28th.

Well, let's take it to those who really know football. Those who put money where their mouth is. I checked out Covers.com to see what they think. And slowly but surely we're moving up the rankings already. They have the Redskins ranked at number 20 and the Texans at number 29.

Power rankings are supposed to give you an idea of what a team's season is going to look like when the dust settles and not how it looked in the previous games. Perhaps many people think the Redskins are that bad. They also forget that football is a 16 game season. They're also probably the same ones who predicted the Redskins to win the division during the offseason. After a few victories, we'll revisit the rankings and see who finally decided to base their rankings off how the season is going to end and not how it looks right now.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East, NFL Injuries

Well, Clinton Portis is back, but Shawn Springs is going to miss another game this weekend after straining his groin when he tried practicing Wednesday afternoon. Springs had surgery Aug. 14 to repair an abdominal muscle that had torn from the pelvic bone. The injury Wednesday did not aggravate that injury, but how much better is it to have two injuries?

Through the first two games so far, the Redskins' defense allowed two aging QBs to shine, Mark Brunell not one of them. Brad Johnson consistently picked apart the secondary, specifically picking on Carlos Rogers, making sure no one in Minnesota is missing Daunte Culpepper (actually, Culpepper is doing that himself). Then just when Tony Romo was gearing up to be the next Cowboys QB, Drew Bledsoe had a consistent game, stayed off his back and threw his way to a victory at the expense of the Redskins' secondary. And that was without an effective T.O.

Without Springs, the corners will be manned by Carlos Rogers, Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph. Adam Archuleta is going to have to figure out how to play pass defense, Marcus Washington is going to have to keep pace covering TEs and the defensive line is going to have to put some heat on David Carr.

Springs may return week four, but there are no guarantees even that will happen. An MRI revealed an abductor sprain, ummm, whatever that means. All I know is they said something about a groin problem. That can't be good.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

If you've never been to a Redskins game at FedEx Field, there is no way possible to describe the atmosphere so that you can understand the energy in the air. When you have almost 90,000 people screaming at the top of their lungs, it's like putting your ears on a vacuum cleaner. The decibel level is shattering!

But not everyone who attends the games can hear. You see, the National Association of the Deaf filed the class-action lawsuit Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, on behalf of three fans from Maryland who regularly attend home games. The three are deaf. So when announcements are made over the loudspeaker, obviously, they can't hear it.

One of the issues brought up was when a player gets ejected, deaf fans don't know why. All they know is Sean Taylor is sitting on the sidelines when the game is coming down to the wire. It should be obvious if this happens why Taylor is sitting on the sidelines next to Jason Campbell, but wouldn't it be easier to simply read why and know for sure?

One solution being suggested is offering closed-captioning in the stadium. The University of Texas has it for their games, making it obvious that Daniel Snyder can open up his pocketbook and make it possible at FedEx Field. Another idea floating around was providing deaf and hearing-impaired fans with seven-inch televisions, which would pick up captioning in the stadium.

Who knows, maybe they can even give a few of the seven-inch TVs to those fans who have seats in the sections where part of the field is blocked from their view and they have to rely on the big screens to see what's going on.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Let's see.The Redskins traded some draft picks, including first rounders to move up in the draft to select Auburn QB Jason Campbell. He joined a roster with Mark Brunell who had just signed a serious contract though people felt he was washed up after losing his job to a new guy named Byron Leftwich. Competing for the starting position with Brunell was supposed to be the future in Patrick Ramsey, another first round QB waiting patiently for his chance to shine.

And then Brunell began his decline last year after the Giants game (when Ramsey came in and secured the win), and Brunell is continuing his deterioration through last week. Yet Campbell still rides the pine. And Campbell's not slated as Brunell's backup (sorta). If Brunell goes down in a game, Todd Collins hands the clipboard to Campbell and gets to play a little football (and essentially prove why he's a career backup).

Ummm, this is confusing.

I believe in Joe Gibbs. If he decided to coach DC United (the soccer team), I'd put money that they'd win the championship within three years and Freddy Adu would be MVP of the league and the championship. If Gibbs says he's resting Portis for the long season instead of risking any aggravation to his sore shoulder, well, I'll zip my lip and take his word on it. If Gibbs says let LaVar Arrington, Fred Smoot, Antonio Pierce, Laveranues Coles, Ryan Clark and even Patrick Ramsey go that we'll be okay, I'll suck it up and invest some faith in the decision.

But trading away the draft picks and future QB of Washington for someone just to give him a front row seat to the implosion of potentially the NFL's most explosive offense is just a decision that's hard for me to understand.

Now I'm not suggesting Campbell should absolutely be starting next week in Houston. But is he having a hard time learning Al Saunders' playbook (like Mark Brunell)? I'll buy that. Is he having a hard time figuring out the difference between cover two and eight in the box (like Mark Brunell)? I'll take my chances. Is Jason Campbell simply not the QB we thought we were getting (like Mark Brunell)? I'll tolerate the mistakes.

If anything, quit sounding so confident Mark Brunell will lead us to the Super Bowl! If he does, I won't complain, but right about now, hearing how good he performed under pressure in a 27-10 beating to Dallas of all teams makes me start questioning the decision-making process that once brought three Lombardi Trophies to Redskins Park.

If Mark Brunell can't convince anyone that he should still be the starting QB, someone else please educate me before I start assuming that Jason Campbell is riding the pine because he plays like Mark Brunell.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Well, we got a glimpse of him in week one and sorely missed him last week. But it now looks like Clinton Portis is ready to go.

After a seriously flawed offense in week one got worse in week two, the return of Portis brings some relief. Of course, he isn't the QB, nor does he play defense, but as long as he does what he does best, the offense should run smoother and the defense should get more than four or five plays off before they head back to the field.

Without Portis the Vikings and Cowboys were able to keep an extra set of eyes on Santana Moss while bringing some heat. With Moss buried behind opposing jerseys and Mark Brunell not having the time to look for Brandon Lloyd, Antwaan Randle El or Chris Cooley (or anyone for that matter), I'm wishing the preseason was six games long.

With Portis lining up in the backfield, defenses are going to have to cheat up to the line if they don't want him dancing in the end zone. And as soon as they come out of cover two coverage and rolling extra help to Moss, maybe, just maybe Mark Brunell will have more options than sideline, turf and the other team.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Now that the glass half full looks more like it's half empty, let's take a more realistic snapshot of what the Redskins are working with. It's easy to let the 0-2 record get us down, but last year's team, which was less talented (on paper at least) was 5-6 before making a run for the playoffs.

So what's going on this year? Are we really that bad? Is there any hope left for a run for the Lombardi Trophy?

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Well, T.O. wasn't a factor, but neither was Mark Brunell, the offensive line, the defensive line, the secondary, the play calling on offense and defense...

Other than Rock Cartwright's 100-yard kickoff return, the Redskins couldn't get anything going until late when Dallas was playing prevent defense. The Cowboys sent the Redskins to 0-2 with a 27-10 victory. The offensive line had a hard time giving Brunell time to find a receiver, giving up six sacks and forcing Brunell to throw several balls out of bounds and an interception. The running game scared no one without Clinton Portis even dressed to play.

The defense fared no better. Drew Bledsoe had all day to throw the ball and Julius Jones ran threw the middle of the line all night. Gregg Williams called a conservative game, blitzing lightly and finding no ways to get pressure on Bledsoe. The Cowboys averaged 5.2 yards per play, 4.5 yards per rush and converted 22 first downs.

The cameras were all on T.O. going into the game, but he had very little impact on the game. He dropped passes like a rookie (including in the end zone), only catching three passes for a mere 19 yards. Terry Glenn, on the other hand, pulled in six catches for just under 100 yards including a 40-yard TD.

Brunell completed 18 passes, but 11 were to non-WRs. Moss was quiet all game until the end of the game when he pulled in a couple of meaningless catches. Ladell Betts caught seven balls, most of the productive ones late in the game, but only rushed for 40 yards on 11 carries. Take away his 17-yard gain and he only averaged 2.7 yards per carry.

Other than the ineffective play on offense and defense, the Redskins committed 11 penalties surrendering 117 yards. Penalties allowed the Cowboys to drive the field 99 yards for the TD that essentially sealed the game.

It's not obvious why the Redskins can't execute Al Saunders' vaunted offensive playbook, but it is obvious that Mark Brunell doesn't look comfortable in the pocket, is having a hard time finding open receivers and that there isn't much to hang our hats on.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

The NFL has somewhere around 1,800 paid players, including practice squads. What if 360 of them were using illegal drugs for performance enhancement. Would you consider that a small number of athletes?

Jon Jansen didn't quite say that many were using HGH or some other form of banned substance, but when he said 15-20% of the NFL's players did use them, he might not have realized how many that is. His excuse, "Being a football player, I'm not real good at math. When you do the numbers, it sounds like a bigger percentage than it really is. I meant it was a small percentage of guys."

The league sent a couple of guys to talk with Jansen, but they got nowhere. Jansen, who has recently expressed his opinions about the use of illegal substances while talking to Bob Costas on HBO's "Costas Now," said none of the Redskins were using any that he knows of and that he can't recall anyone in particular. It's just a theory of his.

Let's just hope Jansen was talking out the side of his neck and gets his math straight in time for the Dallas game and remembers these keys numbers: Zero sacks, 4.5 yards per carry and away team's score greater than home team's score.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Two weeks into the season and already it feels like the playoffs. Starting the year off 0-2 with a division lose to the Cowboys would make a playoff berth an uphill battle the Redskins don't want to find themselves in.

After last week's performance, many experts believe the Cowboys will win. Las Vegas has the Cowboys favored by six points considering they're playing at home. Clinton Portis and Joe Gibbs see completely opposite at the severity of his ability to play. Carlos Rogers showed nothing last week to instill any confidence that he can handle T.O.

But anyone who thinks the Cowboys are the stronger team are seriously disillusioned. The amount of hatin' going on against the Redskins is just unbelievable sometimes. People say Redskins fans are in denial, but the anti-Redskins haters are even worse.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

All week I've been hearing and reading stuff about the upcoming Redskins-Cowboys game about how the Redskins secondary looked so bad against Minnesota that they should make Bledsoe look good again. The theory is that second-year CB Carlos Rogers won't be able to maintain T.O., let alone Kenny Wright or Mike Rumph.

Looking back at the Vikings game, Gregg Williams did not employ a lot of blitz packages. Brad Johnson was pretty much given a break because of the injuries suffered on our defensive side of the ball. With Pierson Prioleau going down early in the game and Shawn Springs still nursing his injury, that left zero depth in the secondary. If you blitz Rogers and Taylor, you have recently acquired Mike Rumph covering one-on-one with only Adam Archuleta covering the top. Not a good idea. The backup safeties are Vernon Fox and Reed Doughty, neither of whom has proven anything yet.

With Gregg Williams holding back on bringing the heat we're used to seeing, that left the pressure up to an injured Cornelius Griffin, Phillip Daniels and Renaldo Wynn. And where in the world is Andre Carter? Going against Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk and Bryant McKinnie, you HAVE to bring some heat.

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Filed under: Redskins

My Little League football coach used to always say to us, "It's not what you do right; it's what you DON'T do wrong..."

After a preseason in which John Hall did nothing to gain our trust, he misses a 48-yard field goal to cement our doubt about his ability to make the critical kicks the Redskins may need to make a run at the playoffs (Didn't I just write about this?). With 12 seconds on the clock and after driving to around the 30-yard-line with an offense getting there in less than a minute, John Hall hooked his kick, badly, and the Redskins are off to a bad start of the season.

Former Redskins Brad Johnson (16 of 30 for 223 yards and a TD) and Fred Smoot (six solo tackles, several were critical) both had solid games as the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Redskins 19-16 in front of the country on a Monday Night in which they were remembering the victims of 9/11 on its 5th year anniversary.

Chris Cooley wasn't a factor (2 catches for -3 yards). Brandon Lloyd wasn't a factor (1 catch for 23 yards). Clinton Portis wasn't a factor (10 rushes for 39 yards, but he did get a TD). The special teams gave up some big returns (a critical 44 yard return late in the game). Mark Brunell threw away so many passes that Al Saunders should've just called running plays. Sean Taylor -- were the officials trippin' over last year's spitting incident or was Taylor just a bit out of control (a couple of crippling penalties late in the game for 15 yards each)?

Joe Gibbs was in attendance, but it made no difference. Al Saunders' play calling was decent, but nothing worth $2 million a year. I mean, the reverse that Antwaan Randle El finally got was immediately after two fakes to him. It fooled no one. I even called it before the snap. And the two runs prior didn't do that much damage to get the defense eying on our RBs!

Tom Cruise was in attendance with his wife (no baby, though). But who cares? Jamie Foxx talked about himself his time in the booth, but I sure did prefer listening to him than our man Joey T. Can we get Mike Tirico in the booth by himself?

The questions from the preseason don't seem to have found answers. The Redskins were 1 for 4 in the red zone, settling for very short John Hall FGs. But when a FG was absolutely needed to have a chance to win the game, Hall looked like he was a kicker recovering from two years of injuries who had no competition in the offseason and just couldn't get the job done.

Hey, it's just one game out of 16. We have Dallas next weekend. With a win against Dallas and we'll be back on track. That is, if we can get a kicker that can, well, kick.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Throughout the offseason, the preseason and virtually the last 14 years, I've been predicting the Redskins would win the Super Bowl. And if not Super Bowl, I always predicted them finally turn everything around. They can do it with Ritchie Pettibon. And Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith and Jeff George. Well, not Jeff, but with every offseason binge I saw the light. Especially Steve Spurrier.

Over the years I've been humbled. I've come off the Super Bowl runs and stuck with wildcard berths. Last year at 5-6, I optimistically predicted the Redskins wold run the table and make the playoffs. And they did. So this year, with my confidence back, I've been predicted anywhere from 11-5 to 12-4 and a "serious" Super Bowl run.

But one person has me beat. Rick Snider of the Examiner, a newspaper here in Washington, DC, predicts the Redskins future all the way to the score of the Super Bowl. And he keeps it a bit realistic. He says the Giants will win the NFC East and the Colts will finally make the big game. Snider even says the Redskins will lose to the Cowboys in week two. But he takes Washington to Miami and even politely apologizes for revealing the score of this year's Super Bowl.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East, NFL Gambling

If anyone knows NFL football outcomes, it has to be Las Vegas. Billions of dollars are at stake when they make their predictions of who's going to win each game. When the Minnesota Vikings show up in town, Vegas expects them to go home 0-1. Even without Clinton Portis expected to play and Shawn Springs dressing in street clothes, the Redskins are favored on average of four points, up to six and a half points on the spread.

What makes this game hard to predict is the Redskins poor preseason performance and the two new play-calling bosses for each team. The Vikings welcome Brad Childress as a head coach who'll install what used to be Philadelphia's offense. The Redskins are being led by former Kansas City play-caller Al Saunders. Looking at each of their histories, Saunders by far is the better play-caller, but Philadelphia has had more success when it comes to making the playoffs.

With only a four point spread, the game could come down to kickers. Kicking for the Vikings will be former Green Bay Packer Ryan Longwell who has a career FG percentage of 81.6%, though last year he finished at 74.1%, connecting on only 71.4% of his FGs whenever his team was losing. The Redskins will be relying once again on John Hall, who has a career FG percentage of 74.3%. For the past two season, Hall has been struggling with injuries missing 14 games in the last two years. Surprisingly Joe Gibbs has shown complete confidence in Hall, not bringing in any real challengers.

As long as the Redskins get off to a solid start and eliminate the need for John Hall to kick any game winners late in the game, gamblers should confidently take the four points and start studying for the following week when the Redskins travel to Dallas to welcome T.O. to Texas Stadium.

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Filed under: Redskins

Guess who may be coming back to the nation's capital? The one and only Heath Shuler. Luckily, though, he won't be wearing the burgundy and gold if he makes it back. Shuler is running for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina.

Shuler's first tour of duty in Washington wasn't that successful. Out of the 19 games he started, 15 were failures. And that was enough for some to not even want to see him back, even in a suit and tie. Since leaving the Redskins, Shuler helped keep the New Orleans Saints sorry before exiting to the real estate and land development business. And now he's making a run for Congress.

Trivia question: what are the names of Shuler's two children? His four-year-old is named Navy, and his one-year-old is Island. And I have no idea if they are boys, girls, one of each or an unfortunate result of a losing wager on a bet.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Two days ago we were wondering whether or not Clinton Portis would be back in time for the Dallas game. Portis himself saying he wasn't ready. Today not only does he say he's 93.9% healed, coach Joe Gibbs says Portis will most likely serve as the backup to Ladell Betts and upgraded Portis to probable for Monday night's game against the Vikings.

Ahhh! There's nothing like the game of chess played out on the gridiron.

For weeks now the questions were stacking up on the seriousness of Portis' shoulder after the hustle play against Cincinnati in the first preseason game when he injured his shoulder. Trading for TJ Duckett only added fuel to the fire and got the media in a frenzy with speculations. Portis himself participated with a demeanor opposite of the free-spirited costume-sporting Portis we watched last year.

But now the masks come off and we put on the gloves. Portis went from out for two weeks to playing this Monday? Makes me wonder what other tricks does Gibbs and Company have up their sleeves.

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Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

One of my homeboys sent me a link to an NFL Preview that made an interesting observation about the Redskins going into the 2006 season. The article questions the Redskins' plan of investing in two free agents in Antwaan Randle El and Brandon Lloyd to go with the new and expensive offensive guru Al Saunders, getting playmakers Clinton Portis and Santana Moss in the last couple of years, drafting future star Chris Cooley and amassing one of the NFL's best offensive lines just to be led by aging Mark Brunell.

Of course the Redskins also drafted Jason Campbell for the future, but going into a season with the tools needed to make a run for the Lombardi Trophy, Campbell will be riding the pine backing up the backup.

Clinton Portis, once he returns from his shoulder injury, will be one of the NFL's elite runningbacks. Santana Moss, elected to the Pro Bowl last year, should see more opportunities to make plays now that the defenses can't exclusively focus on him on passing downs. Brandon Lloyd is the sleeper pick of the year. Antwaan Randle El is one of those athletes you don't expect to get the call often, but you can never quite take your eyes off of him. Chris Cooley is going into a year in which he'll earn his respect as one of the league's top tight ends along with Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzales and Alge Crumpler.

The offensive line is going into the season intact and on point. Gregg Williams has the defense humming, well-oiled and ready to show that the preseason was nothing more than a warm-up before they vcontinue to do what they've been doing since Williams got to DC.

All those weapons but the questions remain whether or not Brunell can use them. Everyone knows about his colossal collapse his first year in Washington, losing his starting job to Patrick Ramsey who was never someone Joe Gibbs wanted to see leading his offense. Brunell then answered the critics of how much he had left in the tank the next year (last year) by leading the Redskins into the playoffs and even winning a game.

This year, though, many critics aren't convinced that Brunell can do it again. Armed with an a fantasy football caliber offense, Brunell will be under the microscope from the media, the critics and most of all, the fans. This just well may be Brunell's last year, though I'm sure he'd beg to differ, but if he doesn't take home a Super Bowl ring, it's going to be time to see what Jason Campbell can do.

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