Redskins Roundup: Shufflin' off to St. Louis

Bad news on the injury front. WR Pierre Garcon [aka RG3's favorite target] was limited in practice today and will be a game time decision against the Rams on Sunday.

Rams QB Sam Bradford was saying nice things about the Redskins defense:

 

 “I think it’s an overall effort from their defense,” Bradford said when asked what made the Redskins effective Sunday. “Their pass rush last week was really good. The guys they have up front are big, physical, athletic guys, who are good pass rushers by themselves.”

 The front seven was expected to be the strength of the Washington defense, but questions have loomed over the secondary.  Bradford was equally impressed with the Redskins’ defensive backs however.

“If you look at what they did in the back end last week, some of the man coverage they played really locked up the New Orleans receivers and forced [Brees] to hold onto the ball for a little longer than he would have liked to. … I think those pass-rushers are great by themselves, but when that back end is playing as well as they are, that makes them even better.”

Rich Tandler looks at how rookie quarterbacks who have had really big games generally come back the next week with a substantially inferior performance. Doesn't mean that'll happen with RG3 the next week, but it's worth considering. 

ILB London Fletcher discusses how to handle TB Steven Jackson, the best player on the St. Louis Rams: 

“He does have speed and power and some shiftiness to them so he presents a different challenge. You have to get as many guys around him as much as possible to try and coral him.”

Redskins GM Bruce Allen has had discussions with former TE Chris Cooley, but nothing has come of it yet. There have been reports Cooley may return to the Redskins, but he says he still wants to start in the NFL and that won't happen as long as Fred Davis is around. Frankly, I don't see him starting on a decent NFL team and I can't see him getting really good money under any circumstances. If Cooley wants to continue his NFL career I think he will have to adjust his ambitions accordingly. 

Rich Campbell asks five questions about the upcoming Rams game. Leading off, he wonders how the Rams will respond to the Redskins zone read run scheme and what new wrinkles the Skins will unveil this week to keep St. Louis and the rest of the NFL guessing. 

The defense pitched a pretty good game against the Saints last week, but they're hoping to do bettter and maintain it in the weeks to come. 

Deron Snyder writes Redskins fans can finally dare to dream big about their favorite football team. 

ILB Lorenzo Alexander, one of my favorite players on the team [great hitter, hard worker, smart guy, terrific talker], has been re-elected as the team's representative to the NFL Players Association. Alexander took that position over from former DL Vonnie Holliday in 2011. 

TE Logan Paulsen has a friend who was badly injured in a motorcycle accident and will require a prostheses to walk again. His medical bills will be about $400,000 and his friends have already raised $60,000 to help him out. In addition, Paulsen has decided he won't cut his hair or shave until his buddy walks again. Not sure what body hair has to do with someone walking about, but if it works for Paulsen and his pal, that's should be good enough for anyone.

Tarik Al-Bashir and Rich Tandler debate who needs to step up his game for the Redskins in week two. Watch it.