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Jason Campbell: ‘nother year, ‘nother new system
By Spence | July 23, 2008
ESPN asks how QB Jason Campbell will adjust to yet another new offensive system being installed with him at quarterback. Then, ESPN answers its own question:
Campbell has grown as a QB and improved every season, but with first-year head coach Jim Zorn now running the show, Campbell is on his third offense in four years with the Redskins. Of course, this is nothing new for Campbell as he had four different coordinators in his four years at Auburn. Campbell is a tall, strong-armed QB who throws the deep ball well. The Skins’ new version of the West Coast offense is going to be a great fit for him because he flourished in a similar system in his senior year at Auburn. Some things will be different, obviously, but he has plenty of practice at learning new systems, and has show he is a quick study and a hard worker in the film room. This new offense shouldn’t slow him down and he could be poised for a big season.
That sounds right to me. Campbell needs help so he won’t put up big numbers this year if his offensive line doesn’t give him time. What’s more, considering how injury-prone WR Santana Moss is, Washington will need at least one of its rookie pass-catchers — Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, Fred Davis — to catch on quickly and have a pretty good season. That’s partially because Antwaan Randle-El is such a weak #2 wideout [he belongs in the slot as a #3 WR], but also because Moss typically misses a lot of the season with bum wheels.
However, the system Jim Zorn is installing is very similar to the system Campbell used when he was quarterback on an undefeated Auburn football team. If the offensive line has more luck with injuries this season and at least one of those rookie receivers is a quick learner, Campbell could put up big numbers in a potent Redskins offense. But those are 2 big IFs and only a fool would bet the house on it.
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Topics: Jason Campbell, Offensive Line, Redskins, Training Camp, Wide Receivers | No Comments »
Know your Redskins: Jason Taylor
By Spence | July 23, 2008
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Topics: Redskins, Training Camp, Video | No Comments »
Redskins Training Camp, Day 4
By Spence | July 23, 2008
Over the offseason, TB Clinton Portis restructured his contract, became a father, and decided to grow up. Portis also decided to spend time working out with the Redskins during the offseason rather than staying down in Miami, where he went to college. Head Coach Jim Zorn says he’s pleased with Portis’ work ethic and the fact that he’s been around so much — though he correctly attributes much of Portis’ new commitment to offseason work to financial incentives built into his new contract.
Portis, 26, received a $9.3 million signing bonus in March and was guaranteed at least $15.7 million through 2010 as part of his restructured contract that helped the Redskins get under the NFL salary cap.
Although Portis, in his seventh season in the league and fifth with the Redskins, played down financial motivation for his new offseason approach and increased leadership role, Zorn said he believed money was a factor.
“I think [Portis] had a financial motivation to stay here in the offseason,” he said. “I think that worked into his contract.”
Zorn has been pleased with Portis’s performance throughout the offseason and early in training camp but alluded to the contract several times.
“It was a forced issue for him,” Zorn said of Portis. “I’m sure he would have loved to have been in Miami in the warmth and stuff, but he made some sacrifices. Partly it was extrinsic motivation that he made sacrifices. But he did it.
We know Portis doesn’t like to play in the preseason. He injured himself early in the first game of the 2006 preseason and didn’t play again for weeks. He didn’t play in the 2007 preseason at all. Jim Zorn now says Portis will not play in the team’s first preseason contest, the Hall of Fame game against Indianapolis on August 3.
By the 3rd week of the 2007 season, the Redskins lost the entire left side of their starting offensive line — OG Randy Thomas and OT Jon Jansen. Although newcomers like Stephon Heyer, Jason Fabini and Todd Wade tried to step into the breach, the offense never fully recovered from the loss. The problem might be a recurring one. Every single starter on the offensive line is at least 30 years old and some, like Jon Jansen, have become increasingly injury-prone with the passage of time. Both Jansen and Thomas have suffered more than one serious, season-ending injury in the last 3 years. All Pro LT Chris Samuels is 30 years old, LG Pete Kendall is 35, Thomas and Jansen are both 32. Fabini, 33, Wade, 31, Heyer, 24 and 3rd round pick Chad Rinehart will return as backups — at least for now. It looks like a deep line on paper, but it is also an old and injury-prone line, so the Redskins have to expect their backups will see plenty of action this season. Samuels has been held out of contact so far, but will likely see some bouncing around next week.
Head Coach Jim Zorn wisely retained all the offensive line terminology that OL Coach Joe Bugel has been using with this group for years, so the transition to the new West Coast Offense should be smoother for it.
Chad Rinehart has been welcomed to the Redskins by being lined up against Jason Taylor. Clearly, Joe Bugel isn’t mellowing with age.
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Topics: Clinton Portis, Offensive Line, Redskins, Training Camp | No Comments »
Nats trade closer Rauch, re-sign Guzman
By Spence | July 22, 2008
Meanwhile, the Nats also re-signed SS Cristian Guzman, the team’s only All Star selection this season and clear team MVP so far in 2008. Guzman is now signed through the 2010 season and scheduled to earn $16 million in the two years after this one.
Looks like the future of the Nats middle infield is all in this post.
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Topics: Christian Guzman, Contract negotiations, Nationals, Trades | No Comments »
Chris Cooley and his bag of…uh…tricks?
By Spence | July 22, 2008
The one cool thing about the first month of camp is living in a dorm room. I love it when I get to leave my 2.8 million dollar house and live in a 400 square foot box, trade in the Mercedes for the bus, and curl up in my twin bed. The TV’s are great too, who isn’t happy when they pick up 10 total channels on a 24 inch box? Yea, I guess now people can say what a ungrateful bastard I am and how much anyone would give to play pro football, but please, whether it’s a high school or NFL training camp, it’s still gonna be as fun as a bag of dicks.
I actually sympathize with Cooley when he writes that he loves football, but training camp just takes the joy out of the game for him. Training camp is about repetition. It’s about doing the same things over and over again until they are second nature — the sort of thing Petyon Manning and Marvin Harrison actually seem to enjoy. In football, as in life, it is often the drudge work that makes the glamorous stuff look easy.
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Topics: Chris Cooley, Redskins, Training Camp | 1 Comment »
What do you get for $111 million?
By Spence | July 22, 2008
What do you get for $111 million? That’s the question Bullets fans are asking themselves right now. Most likely, the Bullets management is also asking that question. Gilbert Arenas, when healthy, is a proven scorer who can hand 30+ points to anyone on any night. He can also be moody, indifferent to defense and prone to undermining his coach. At the official press conference to celebrate the signing of his $111 million contract, Agent Zero said he’s putting all that behind him.
“All of those little things I’ve done in the past are going to come to a halt,” he said. “I think I’m up to the task. I just need to cut out some of the foolishness I do.” Then, in the same breath, Arenas almost contradicted himself. “You know? But, I think it’s a good thing. I create hype, I create excitement but some of that other stuff (like undercutting his head coach) I know I have to calm down.”
But Gil is still Gil and apparently three straight playoff losses to Traveliers haven’t dulled his edge.
“Everybody says we can’t get past Cleveland. Cleveland beat us one year, that was three years ago. The other years they’ve just been beating up on some hurt dogs. We just want to get our fair shot when we’re healthy at the right time, because two years we showed what kind of team we are….We were rolling, we were top five in the league, and that’s what kind of team we are when we’re healthy. When we’re healthy that’s the kind of team we are, we’re a top five team in the league.”
Later, he explained what he had told his teammates after the season.
“You guys played the whole season without me and you guys made it to the playoffs,” he said. “Tell Cleveland to play without LeBron. I don’t think they won a game last year.”
You can see that the losses to Lebron really grate on Gil, as they should. The fact is, it’s not enough anymore for Gil and the Bullets to be entertaining and fun. They need to win or they’ll be written off as players and a team not to be taken seriously. Worse still, expensive players not to be taken seriously. From now on, fun is measured not by nicknames or last-second shots, but by winning in May and June.
THAT is what the Bullets better get for $111 million.
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Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
PM Training Camp Update
By Spence | July 22, 2008
Ryan O’Halloran notes that the Redskins are lucky because Jason Taylor can play both right and left defensive end. That allows Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache to move Taylor and DE Andre Carter around to find the mismatches and exploit them. That’s a very good point. The Redskins are very quick at defensive end right now, though also rather light. It will be interesting to see if Blache comes up with passing down schemes that move Taylor and Carter into a stand-up position, playing as pass-rushing linebackers rather then defensive ends. That would allow Blache to get as many pass-rushers on the field as possible.
Jason LaCanfora notes that the Redskins are thin at linebacker, with MLB London Fletcher probably too old [32] to play much on teams and OLBs Rocky McIntosh and Marcus Washington too injury-prone to risk. Linebackers are usually the heart and soul of your special teams and the Redskins should be on the lookout for some depth at the position that can play special teams. No impact players like Jason Taylor will be available, but there will be some players released that can help Washington.
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Topics: Linebackers, Redskins, Training Camp | No Comments »
What place for James Thrash?
By Spence | July 22, 2008
I’ve been thinking about James Thrash and his place on the team for some time and I see I’m not the only one. Thrash has always been a hard worker, a reliable route-runner, a good blocker and perhaps the best player the team has on its kick coverage units. In a pinch, he would also fill in at a punt and kickoff returner and if his returns usually didn’t go very far, at least he wasn’t a fumbler.
It’s clear, though, that Thrash is not a starter in the NFL. At best, he’s a 4th wideout on a good offense and perhaps not even that. He’s not quick enough anymore to get open downfield, though he can be counted on to catch anything that hits his fingers. But earlier during the offseason the Redskins drafted WR Devin Thomas and WR Malcolm Kelly to bolster a thin and oft-injured receiving corps. Let’s face it, when Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle-El are your starters, your backups had better be ready to play.
If we assume that Moss, Randle-El, Thomas and Kelly will all make the team, where does James Thrash fit it? Well, for starters, we have to figure out if Head Coach Jim Zorn wants to keep 5 or 6 wide receivers on the active roster. Anthony Mix, Burl Toller, Billy McMullen, Horace Gant, and Maurice Mann are all wide receivers in training camp. These men are James Thrash’s competition. The coaching staff had plenty of nice things to say about Mix during the minicamps and obviously the team would love to have another tall wideout on the roster. [That might not be such a big consideration now, though, as Kelly and Thomas both have good size.]
James Thrash is a proven special teams standout, which is something you can’t say about his competition. Randle-El is a return man, though he seems a bit overrated as a punt returner [only 6.1 ypr in 2007] and doesn’t do much else on teams. Moss doesn’t do much on teams. Mix played on coverage teams in 2007, but didn’t distinguish himself the way Thrash has. If the Redskins let go of Thrash they’ll need to have a suitable replacement for him who can race down the field and make plays, tackles, downing the ball on the 3 yard line after a nice punt. Thrash is the man who does lots of little things during a game that add up during a season. It’s not that he can’t be replaced, it’s just that he can’t be replaced by one man. Several others will have to do all the things Thrash does.
Right now, I’d say the WR position looks like this:
Starters: Moss, Randle-El
Backups: Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly, James Thrash, Anthony Mix
Will Jim Zorn keep 6 wideouts? Quite possibly, though he probably won’t keep all 6 active on game day. Right now, I’d say there is still a place for James Thrash on the Washington Redskins. If he can hold off Mix and McMullen and the rest, we will be able to enjoy one more season watching James Thrash do lots of little things in a Redskins uniform.
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Topics: Redskins, Training Camp, Wide Receivers | No Comments »