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:
HELLIE: It was a pretty sweet homecoming for you to go to Dallas just two hours from your hometown, and I don’t remember if it was the first touchdown pass or the second or the third or the fourth, but at some point, they started chanting “RGIII.” Did you hear that?
RGIII: I did hear the chants of “RGIII.”
HELLIE: What did you think of that?
RGIII: It’s crazy that you hear those chants. I’m a Texas kid, so there’s a lot of fans of myself and what I’ve been able to do throughout my whole career playing football, but whenever it comes to the NFL and you know how the rivalries are with the Cowboys and the Redskins, to hear them chant my name in Cowboys Stadium was something you thought would never happen, but it happened.
HELLIE: According to Jerry, it’s never happened, so that’s a first, I guess.
The Redskins are getting some solid production from the tight end position despite the loss of starter Fred Davis early in the first Giants game. I'm particularly impressed by the way Logan Paulsen has played. Despite being signed as an undrafted rookie in 2010, Paulsen is now an accomplished blocker and has made some good plays catching the ball, too. He is by no means a go-to receiver and likely never will be, but he's become a solid producer at the position, capable of stepping in in the event of injury.
I know there has been some speculation by Redskins fans that the team might want to grab DE Jason Babin now that the sometime-sackmaster has been cut by the Eagles. That's extremely unlikely to happen. Babin is a 4-3 defensive end and the Redksins play a 3-4 defense. Furthermore, Babin is 32 years old and has never done anything when not playing for defensive line coach Jim Washburn, who coached him in Tennessee and Philadelphia.
People are finally noticing that C Will Montgomery has responded to his big new contract by having a very good season -- the best of his career.
Ten Redskins running backs have rushed for 1000 yards in a season. With 18 more yards rookie TB Alfred Morris will beome the eleventh.
Entering this week’s games, Morris ranks fifth in the league in yards (982), sixth in carries (208) and 13th in yards per carry (4.7). Washington’s 1,792 yards on the ground are second in the NFL to San Francisco’s 1,797.
Morris’ 89.3 yards per game, meantime, currently ranks as the seventh highest single season mark in franchise history among running backs who played at least 11 games. The running backs in front of him? Larry Brown, Portis, Stephen Davis, John Riggins.
The Giants like to use a 3-safety look on defense, but injuries may prevent them from using it against the Redskins.
Long snapper Nick Sundberg is a tough, tough man.
46 years ago yesterday the Redskins and Giants set the NFL record for most points scored in an NFL game. The Redskins won. NFL Films made a video of the game called "The Day the Sky Rained Footballs."
