“You can definitely sense it. Late in the game against the Cowboys, [linebacker] London [Fletcher] came up and talked to me during the game, which he usually never talks to me during the game. I think he’s in his own world as well. You can feel the excitement they have about what we have brewing here. You want to do it for them. When I was in college, I wanted to do it for the seniors when I was a freshman and now that I’m a rookie, you want to do it for those vets.”

-- Redskins QB Robert Griffin on playing important football games in December.

The Washington Redskins have signed LB Bryan Kehl off waivers from Kansas City.  To make room for Kehl, the Redskins released LB Mario Addison, who was signed a few weeks ago off waivers from Indianapolis. 

If the name sounds familiar, it should.  Kehl was in Washington's 25012 training camp and was among one of the final roster reductions.  His touhg play in practices and pre-season games helped keep Kehl around deep into the pre-season.  He compiled a team high 17 tackles with 3 pass deflections, 2 sacks, and 1 pick in pre-season for the Redskins.  He played three regular season game for the Chiefs this season before being wiaved on November 27. 

Kehl will boost depth at Linebacker after rookie 4th round draft pick Keenan Robinson was placed on the season ending injured reserve.  Smart move by the Redskins considering his familiarity with the Redskins defensive scheme. 

We track all roster transactions HERE.

[Photo by Patrick Semansky/AP]

Andrew Luck is on the cover of the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, but the award for best rookie of the month of November goes to Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III. That's right, RG3 has won NFL Rookie of the Month for the second time this season, becoming the first rookie to do so since Rams QB Sam Bradford in 2010. Griffin previously won the award in September. 

The month of November did not begin well for RG3 and the Redskins, when the team dropped a home game to a reeling Carolina Panthers team that was 1-6 at the time. A much-needed bye week followed that. However, coming out of the bye RG3 and his teammates have been on fire, destroying the hapless Philadelphia Eagles in DC in a 31-6 rout and then going to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day to upset the Cowboys 38-31, putting the Redskins back into the playoff race at 5-6. In those two games RG3 threw 8 TD and only 9 incompletions. For his performance against the Eagles, which featured a perfect 158.3 passer rating, RG3 won Rookie of the Week honors -- something he has done four times this season. 

Houston Texans 34, Detroit Lions 31

Texans- Keep rolling with QB Matt Schaub, RB Arian Foster and WR Andre Johnson.  Andre 3000 has almost 500 yards over the last two weeks.  

Lions- WR Calvin Johnson now has four straight 100+ yard games and 3 TDs over his last four games.  WR Ryan Broyles is coming off a 100 yard game and should be considered a decent emergency option.

Washington Redskins 38, Dallas Cowboys 31

Redskins- WR Pierre Garcon had a quality game (5 rec for 93 yards and a score).  He can be safely deployed as a WR3.  

Cowboys- WR Dez Bryant has found the endzone in three straight games.  TE Jason Witten has had at least six receptions in eight straight games.

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A day after Head Coach Randy Wittman and the players held a team meeting to discuss Washington's disastrous and embarrassing 0-12 start to the NBA season, the Wizards finally got their first win of the season, beating the visiting Portland Trail Blazers [6-8] 84-82 in front of a half empty Verizon Center. Washington is the last NBA team to win a game this year. 

It looked like the Wizards might get their first win of the season easily, as they kept pace with the Blazers early before taking control of the game in the third and early in the fourth quarter. The game was tied at halftime and Washington struggled early in the third quarter before coming on and outscoring the Blazers 25-16 in the third, helped by Jordan Crawford's shooting. However, that's when the wheels fell off. Washington led 79-64 with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter before giving up the next 16 points to turn a likely win into dogfight. The Wizards went about six minutes without scoring a point and Portland had an 80-79 lead. 

Wizards took an 84-82 lead on two foul shots by Emeka Okafor after he was fouled under the bucket. The Trail Blazers couldn't get off a good shot on their next possession, a key defensive stop by the Wizards. With the ball and 29 seconds to go and a two point lead, the Wizards looked to put the game away. Jordan Crawford held the ball until there was about 12 seconds on the clock, when he started to drive toward the bucket. The defense slid toward him and he dished to a cutting Nene. Although replays clearly showed Nicholas Batum was moving, the officials called a charge foul on Nene and the ball was turned over to the Trail Blazers with nine seconds to go.

Rookie guard Damian Lillard drove to the basket, but was forced to pass near the bucket. The pass went wild and was recovered by J.J. Hickson, who took a 5-foot turnaround jumper that bounced off the rim. Chris Singleton grabbed the rebound and immediately called a time out. The Wizards had the ball and a two point lead with 0.5 seconds left on the clock. 

Washington tried to in bound the ball from Portland's side of the court, but the pass was intercepted by Wesley Matthews, who called a timeout. After caucusing, the refs decided the Trail Blazers had 0.2 seconds left on the clock. Portland chucked a lob pass at the basket that bounced off the rim and harmlessly away. Washington finally had its first win of the season. 

The key was Washington's defense and the play of its bench, which outscored the Portland bench 46-4. The Wizards defense held the Blazers to 35% shooting and 32% on 3-pointers. Rookie Damian Lillard scored 20 points, but needed 21 shots -- and missed 15 of them -- to get his points. LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17 points, but needed 19 shots to do it. It was center JJ Hickson, who scored 15 points on 6-8 shooting and grabbed 19 rebounds, who did the most damage. He also hurt his own team, though, with 5 turnovers. Washington's defense worked hard and held the Blazers to only 1 fast break point on the night, compared to 10 for the Wiz. "Our defense saved the day for us," said Randy Wittman after the game. 

Washington's bench hit 15 of 29 shots from the field, led by backup guard Jordan Crawford, who scored a team-high 19 points. Nene added 6 points and 6 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Of the starters, only Trevor Ariza [6-9 shooting, 5 rebounds] and Kevin Seraphin [5-13 shooting, 10 rebounds] scored in double figures, with 14 and 10 points, respectively. As usual, AJ Price shot horribly, missing 6 of 7 shots, and rookie Bradley Beal made his normal miniscule contribution, with five points on 6 shots and two turnovers. He did not record an assist, steal or rebound. I thought Beal worked hard on defense and did some good work on that end, but a starting shooting guard needs to score a lot more than five points. 

Despite the starting five again getting badly outplayed by the opposition, the Wizards won their first game of the season and the 13th game of the season was the charm. "We broke through the ice," said Wittman. 

Washington plays its next game Friday in New York. 

 (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

After reviewing the film of the Redskins-Cowboys week 12 game several times, I hand out the following class grades to the Redskins offense. 

HEAD OF THE CLASS

C Will Montgomery. Although RG3, Alfred Morris and Pierre Garcon got all the attention, steady Will Montgomery was the best player on the Redskins offense in week 12. Montgomery has been quietly fantastic all season, until the 31-6 win over Philadelphia, where he had easily the weakest game of  his season. He bouned back nicely, though, on Thanksgiving Day, with his best game of the season. Montgomery consistently got the better of Dallas defensive linemen and got to the second level, dominating linebackers like Bruce Carter, Ernie Sims. With all the attention understandably being lavished on the man who gets the ball from Montgomery on every play, the center has been largely overlooked, but he is having one of the great seasons ever by a Redskins center. Just months after re-signing Montgomery with a sizable pay raise, Redskins management must be satisified that for once they have spent their money wisely. 

A-STUDENTS

Robert Griffin III. Another splendid performance by RG3, coming off a truly great performance the week before. Griffin took only three shots down the field and while one of the resulted in an overthrow interception, the other two were touchdown passes. He threw 4 TD on the day. Griffin continued to work the short and intermediate passing game beautifully, with 17 of his 28 passes being thrown ten yards or less from the line of scrimmage. Although he didn't run a lot in this game, the threat of his running was powerful, as evidenced on the 68-yard TD pass to Aldrick Robinson, in which the receiver was wide open because Cowboys safety Danny McCray was frozen by the zone read option fake at the start of the play. On Washington's final drive of the game, RG3 calmly led his team down the field, repeatedly converting third downs, until PK Kai Forbath could kick the clinching field goal. Another brilliant performance from the young star. 

Alfred Morris. He struggled to get enough touches during the 3-game losing streak and the Eagles effectively bottled him up most of that game, but Morris broke through against the Cowboys, gaining 113 yards and 1 TD on 24 carries. He ran hard, as usual, and made some great cutbacks, while really pressing his runs. This wasn't necessarily Morris at his best, but it was pretty close. He continues to make little impact in the passing game, though his blocking has improved since the beginning of the year. 

WR Pierre Garcon. He was only in on 29 plays and ran only 22 routes, but on those routes he caught 5 passes for 93 yards, including an absolutely jaw-dropping 59-yard catch-and-run touchdown. He also blocked very well, but that's nothing new. 

WR Santana Moss. Only on the field about half the time and ran only 23 routes, but caught the ball four of the five times it was thrown to him for 42 yards and a 1 TD. All of his catches were either first downs or touchdowns and he was often the man RG3 looked for in critical third down situations. 

FB Darrel Young. He hasn't had a bad game all season and Thanksgiving Day was his best performance to date. Run blocking was very solid, both for Morris and on screen passes. He may be the second best fullback in the NFC this year. 

PASS

WR Josh Morgan, TE Niles Paul, Aldrick Robinson. Morgan caught 5 of the 6 passes thrown to him, but gained less than 50 yards. He continues to be the consummate tough guy, running through walls for the offense. Paul caught a TD pass on a wide open play fake on third and inches to provide the winning margin. This was one of Paul's best performances of 2012. Robinson caught a 68-yard TD pass when a brilliant play fake by RG3 got him wide open. Otherwise, Robinson did little, getting in on only 10 plays. 

MUST DO BETTER

RG Chris Chester, WR Leonard Hankerson. Hankerson was only thrown at once, catching the ball for 12 yards. He needs to get open more often, though his blocking is solid. Chris Chester was average, as he usually is. 

FAIL

LT Trent Williams. I was shocked at Williams' poor performance against Dallas, but was not surprised to learn that it happened because he sustained a deep thigh bruise on the third play from scrimmage and played through it the rest of the game. Williams has been good or great all season and this was his first down game. He got schooled on running and passing plays, sometimes by backup linemen. He didn't allow a sack, but did allow four QB hurries and had a rare penalty called against him. 

LG Kory Lichtensteiger. He hasn't been very good this year, particularly in the run game, and has three games where he was downright bad. That was certainly the case against the Cowboys. He was consistently beaten in the run game, allowing penetration that spoiled otherwise promising plays. He also allowed a QB hit and a QB hurry

TE Logan Paulsen. He's been an average tight end this year, which is better than could have been expected from an undrafted free agent in his third season forced into a starting role by a season-ending injury to Fred Davis. Paulsen had his worst game against the Cowboys, giving up a sack and repeatedly getting blown up in the run game and failing to get to the second level. 

---

This was the Redskins Report Card, Offense for Week 12. Look for similar articles upcoming on the defense and special teams in week 12. 

Cyber Monday is the 'largest' discount online retail day of the holiday season, compared with Black Friday for in store sales.  Economic reports out yesterday indicated a 30% increase in Cyber Monday sales from a year earlier for some retailers. 

According to Fanatics.com, Redskins QB Robert Griffin III was the top Jersey to be sold on Cyber Monday. 

Fanatics.com, a top seller of officially licensed sports apparel, reported that Luck’s jersey ranked eighth among all professional athletes in cyber Monday sales—ahead of such stars as New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant.

Luck’s popularity grew steadily this season, with his jersey No. 6 in sales among all NFL players, league officials said.

A few interesting names were ahead of Luck on the Fanatics.com top 10 list for cyber Monday. No. 1 was Robert Griffin III’s Washington Redskins jersey and No. 2 was Peyton Manning’s No. 18 Denver Broncos jersey.

So, RGIII is ahead in our Rookie QB Tracking and in jersey sales.  It pays to be No. 2 sometimes. 

Former Redskins great linebacker and head coach Jack Pardee is very, very sick with cancer. 

Redskins rookies Robert Griffin III and Alfred Morris are up for awards this week. Go vote for them. UPDATE: It looks like RG3 lost Player of the Week honors to Pathers QB Cam Newton. For the second straight week the honor goes to the QB facing the Eagles defense. 

Surprise, surprise -- the Redskins did not activate perenially-injured RT Jammal Brown by the 4 PM deadline yesterday, which means he will miss the entire season. Anyone who did not see this coming a long time ago is named Mike Shanahan. Brown still has 3 more years on the ridiculous 5-year $27 million contract the Redskins threw at him prior to the 2011 season. 

LT Trent Williams is "optimistic" about playing against the Giants on Monday night. That's good because after seeing what the Giants defensive line did to the Packers last Sunday night, I'm fairly positive they will annihilate the Redskins if Williams isn't healthy enough to play well when the teams face each other again. Williams is easily the team's best offensive lineman and trying to hold up against the NFL's best defensive line will be impossible without him. 

Jon Gruden of ESPN and Monday Night Football just said this on his parent network: 

"This is an electrifying QB. I’ve never seen speed at the QB position like I’m seeing."

He was talking about RG3.

Speaking of RG3, John Keim wonders how the Giants will handle facing him again.

They learned a thing or two about being disciplined. How will that impact their game plan or their rush? They intercepted Griffin once, caused him to fumble and sacked him three times. But he also posted a 108.9 passer rating and hurt them with both his arm and legs. Also, the reality is the Redskins have been adjusting their offense all season. Doing it again is nothing new.

Keim lists his studs and duds on offense for the Cowboys game and also includes a ton of interesting stuff about how the Cowboys did not react well to Washington's offense. 

RG3, Alfred Morris, Will Montgomery, Trent Williams, Barry Cofield, Perry Riley all made ESPN blogger Nick Graziano's weekly All NFC East team. 

DeJon Gomes was benched for sucking back in week 4, but the season-ending injury to SS  Brandon Meriweather means Gomes gets another shot at the starting job. I thought he played better against the Cowboys, so we'll see if he can do enough to earn the playing time rather than it being handed to him by the injuries and incompetence of others. 

Needing some warm bodies in their backfield, the Giants signed former Redskins TB Ryan Torain just days before the teams meet on Monday Night Football. 

Dan Hellie of NBC4 interviews RG3:

Redskins rookie QB Robert Griffin III and rookie TB Alfred Morris are both nominated for Rookie of the Week honors for their performances in a week 12 Thanksgiving Day triumph in Dallas. RG3 went 20-28 for 311 yards and 4 TD, becoming the first rookie in NFL history to throw for four TD in back-to-back games. Go HERE to vote for them. 

Griffin is also nominated for NFL Player of the Week. You can vote for him here. Finally, Griffin is also nominated for Moment of the Week for leading the Redskins to victory over the Cowboys. Vote for him here.

Former Washington Redskins head coach Jack Pardee confirmed today that he has terminal gall bladder cancer. He was told by his doctors he has approximately seven months to live.

Pardee, a five time All Pro Linebacker, coached the Redskins from 1978 to 1980 and was replaced by Joe Gibbs, after finishing the 1980 season 6-10.  In three seasons with the Redskins, Pardee posted a 24-24 record and finished third in the NFC East each season.

We hope for a miracle for Coach Pardee and send our thoughts and prayers to the Coach and his family.