State of the Washington Redskins

For an inside look at the Redskins game plan, Skin Patrol from our SBN brother site dedicated to the Redskins, Hogs Haven, has kindly agreed to help us out. Big thanks to the Skin Patrol!

Hola Rams fans. Your benevolent host and I agreed to swap words on each other's teams, seeing as the Rams play the Washington Redskins this Christmas Eve. It was a Skin Patrol family tradition that we got to open one -- just one -- giant can of whup-ass the day before Christmas.

I kid. 5-9 teams do not talk trash, though I will caution Rams fans from looking past this team. My understanding is that your playoff hopes depend on a win this Sunday so I wish you the best of luck. But not really.

Here's my Redskins for your viewing pleasure.

Zee Offense -- The glorious Jason Campbell era has begun in D.C. and we're happy to have it. He's played well enough to win a few times though we'd like to see him complete a higher percentage of his passes. He is about as calm and collected as any 2nd year QB I've seen and throws a beautiful deep ball. Stacking 8 men in the box to stop our blossoming (I don't feel comfortable using that word in a Football discussion) rushing attack is a dangerous, perhaps Faustian, bargain.

Clinton Portis might be on IR but you'd never know we were without our starting RB. Ladell Betts has 4 straight 100 yard games and we look to repeat that this Sunday with a fifth. The Redskins now employ a zone blocking scheme which attacks right at the gut of opposing D-lines. Betts is a superb straight ahead runner and has little trouble moving chains.

Speaking of that blocking, we do have a pretty decent O-line. Chris Samuels is headed to the Pro Bowl (with Marc Bulger, Torry Holt, and Steven Jackson) but the real stud is Randy Thomas. Our center, Casey Rabach, is getting it done with a broken hand and Jon Jansen insists on playing despite a nagging calf injury. His replacement, Todd Wade, had no trouble carrying Betts to a 100 yard rushing game against the Saints last week. Pressuring Jason Campbell will be difficult, especially given his mobility in the pocket. Still, he has made a few rookie mistakes and upsetting his offensive rhythm (second longest word without a vowel) could lead to points.

Our receivers are well known. Santana Moss and Chris Cooley are the main targets offensively, though Ladell Betts can catch the ball coming out of the backfield about as well as anyone. Antwaan Randle-El recently supplanted Brandon Lloyd (due to a helmet throwing incident, and a dropping problem) as the #2 receiver though both get plenty of rotation. The latter has zero touchowns, so you might as well ignore him if he runs for the endzone. The main focus should be keeping Moss and Cooley from having big games.

Overall we drive well (due to our run game) but fail to score points. If the Rams defense can bend but not break, and force us to leave 4 points on the field, the game is yours.

Zee Defense -- The Redskins are horrible at putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, though have been better in recent weeks. Andre Carter is doing a much better job of getting at the QB, and DE Phillip Daniels is a ball hawk. We have a rookie named Kedric Golston at Tackle who has played very well this year. Keep an eye on him.

Good news for you at Linebacker; Marcus Washington is questionable and he never misses practice. In the event he is out, Warrick Holdman might shift over so that rookie Rocky McIntosh can pick up his first start. Lemar Marshall is a reliable inside linebacker though is a bit undersized. Running to Warrick Holdman's side is the preferred offensive strategy.

The secondary has played surprisingly well as of late. Sean Taylor is a beast and should be feared. Vernon Fox got the start last week and will likely do so again this week, across from Taylor. Carlos Rogers is usually unreliable but had a pick and swatted the game winning pass last week against the Saints. Shawn Springs is as close to a cover corner as the Redskins have had since Champ Bailey.

It's tough to measure this defense because they've played so inconsistently. Right now we're playing better in the secondary than we have all year though we were totally exposed early on. Former Ram Adam Archuleta will not see much playing time outside of special teams, as he's the team's scapegoat. Given that the defense has improved in his absence, perhaps there is something to it.

In any event, best of luck Rams fans. I would imagine that you're the favorite, at home, but the Redskins have played solid football lately and this could be a trap game. Looking forward to it.