Not a Moment Too Soon: Taylor Is Back
By Chris Mottram | October 10, 2008
The unstoppable force that is the Redskins’ pass rush is being revved up to 11 this Sunday: Jason Taylor is back! And seeing as he accounts for exactly 16% of the team’s total number of sacks this season (6), this is kind of a big deal. I guess. Plus, we totally need all our weapons ready to launch against the Rams. Taylor’s athleticism should really help keep the always wily and mobile Marc Bulger at bay. Let’s go to the sound bite:
When Taylor awoke yesterday after practicing Wednesday, his leg “felt like I used it. It’s sore, which it should be. It’s only been two and a half weeks.
“But it felt pretty good. It felt decent yesterday, it felt a little better today, and I think I’m trusting it a little bit more. Barring a setback, I’m hoping [Zorn will] give me a shot.”
Good … decent … better! His leg is totally somewhere between worthless and 100% reliable! All systems go.
In other injury news that you probably already heard about because we’ve been in the weeds, as they say: Shawn Springs seems good to go. Hopefully he can lock down Torry Holt, who’s averaged 47 yards a game this season. We can only hope to contain him. Cornelius Griffin will be all up in Bulger’s ass, as well. He’ll play after banging up his shoulder last week. Finally, it seems unlikely that Stephon Heyer will play, which is fine, ‘cause Jansen be holdin’ down that tackle spot like it’s 2002, or somebody.
Topics: Jason Taylor, Redskins | 1 Comment »
My Grandma Has a Message for Our Time
By Jamie Mottram | October 10, 2008
Since we’re not doing anything productive*, please take this opportunity to admire our grandmother’s refrigerator magnet art.
* Just kidding. We’ve actually been busy doing our jobs, which led Chris to write something Skins-related on The Sporting Blog. Traitor.
Topics: Dibs!, Collectors, Redskins | 3 Comments »
LaVale I Mean JaVale McGee Is Our Savior
By Jamie Mottram | October 9, 2008
Haywood is out for up to six months, Antawn may be gone ’til December and Gil probably longer than that, but stay medium, Wizards fans, because remember who we drafted:
THE VALE OF CASHMERE A.K.A. LaVALE I MEAN JaVALE MCGEE!!!1!
Who, you ask? Oh, just the best player on the board at No. 18 in June’s draft, and the guy who busted loose in last night’s game:
McGee helped the Wiz even their preseason record at 1-1 by coming off the bench to score 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting with eight rebounds and three blocks. He outplayed Grizzlies rookie center Marc Gasol (the younger brother of Pau) who you may remember, was not a bad player on that Spanish National team in the Olympics …
The most impressive things about McGee so far, in order, 1) He’s not the least bit intimidated … No woofing and fake tough guy stuff, just ball.
2) As I’ve written several times, he’s very, very, very athletic …
3) His shot is smooth for a 7-footer. He’s going to make those 10-15 footers on a consistent basis because he has good, sound stroke and he shoots it way over his head where nobody is going to block it.
The last time I read preseason praise like that for a Wiz first-round rookie 7-footer, Kwame was on the receiving end! So, yeah, maybe too soon to be shaking off the loss of BTH, but it’s not like the sky’s falling, Wilbon.
Regardless of McGee’s play, Etan is back and Blatche continues to improve. There will be some regular season dropoff in frontcourt production, sure, but they should be alright and just fine come playoff time. Plus, Caron’s at 100% and can carry this team (30 ppg?) until the scorers return.
And it’s not like the Wiz haven’t dealt with adversity before (see: Gil and Caron missing lots of time each of the past two seasons). They’ve played through it to make the playoffs four seasons running and still have enough to get there again, hopefully at full strength this time around.
Topics: JaVale McGee, Wizards | 2 Comments »
So, I Guess the Redskins Can’t Play the Underdog Role Anymore
By Chris Mottram | October 9, 2008
This is something we’ve only seen once since I was 10 years old. And I would know. I had a huge gambling problem back in ‘92:
As you can see, the Skins are favored by 14 points against the Rams, as of right now. The last time they were favored by 13 or more was 2005 against the 49ers, a game the Skins won by 35. And according to Bodog, this number is expected to go up as gameday nears. Madness.
All of this lovin’ the Skins are getting kind of freaks me out. I’m just not sure how to handle this team actually being good. And not just like “oh, we can maybe make the playoffs as a wild card … that’ll be cute” good. The Skins are, by the standards of every meaningless power ranking out there, a top 3 team. That terrifies me. It means there are expectations, and with expectations come let-downs, and with let-downs come depression … and … shit, Portis, help me out here, my man. I’m losing my medium:
“Us as a team – we’re gonna go out and play like we under the radar, we’re not gonna give in to the headlines and ‘the Redskins the best team in the NFC East.’ At the end of the season if you call me back and you can say that, it’ll be a great conversation between us, but for right now, I don’t think we’ve done nothin’, we’ve taken it one game at a time, this season can easily turn around. So what we’ve gotta do is focus and find a way to continue to win.”
Thank you, NFC offensive player of the week. You’re always there to keep me calm. How dare I start to think this team is good. I should know better.
Topics: Redskins | 4 Comments »
Strahan Leads Three Cheers for Skins
By Chris Mottram | October 8, 2008
I try to avoid all NFL pregame shows like the plague — especially ones that feature Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson on the same set — so I missed this on Sunday. Here’s Strahan, who you may recall played for the Giants, leading a “hip hip hooray” cheer after discussing Jason Campbell’s awesomeness:
Howie Long: “Hard to believe Jason Campbell fell to where he did in the first round.” Really? Is it? Because the only two QBs taken ahead of Campbell in ‘05 where Alex Smith, who at the time was the consensus No. 1, and Aaron Rodgers, who was taken one spot ahead of Campbell and still may turn out to be a great player in his own right. Maybe Howie is suggesting he should’ve gone 15th to the Chiefs who we now know have a little QB problem.
Other hindsight clairvoyance from the ‘05 draft that Howie would like to let you know: Cedric Benson went way too high at No. 4, David Pollack has a flimsy vertebrae, and you guys all slept on Marion Barber and Brandon Jacobs — they’re beasts.
Topics: Hip Hip Hooray, Media Bird Doggin', Redskins | 5 Comments »
Join Zorn’s ‘Stay Medium’ Movement
By Chris Mottram | October 8, 2008
Thanks to Zorn’s zen powers, everyone is staying medium:
- Chris Cooley!: “We just need to continue to get better. We kind of have to stay medium here, not get too high on what we’re doing, and just get back to work.”
- Ladell Betts!!: “We are getting better as an offense every week, and we continue to get better. But we have to stay medium there. We can’t get too high on what we’re doing right now.”
- Jason Campbell!!!: “At the same time we have to keep a level head, we have to stay medium about this, because when you start winning games, teams start to focus on you more, they start to understand.”
- Jim Zorn!!!!: “I think acting medium is when we got sacked and it was 2nd and 19. Then we ran a tight end screen and got eight yards back. And then it was third down and we completed a pass for a first down.”
- Tim Gunn!!!!!: “Why must there be so much consternation and sturm und drang? You have 15 minutes to caucus, stay medium and make it work. Carry on.”
See! “Stay medium” is the new “hard fought.” Now, you can support the movement. Get your “Stay Medium” shirt today. And don’t forget: save 15% on purchases of $25 or more with the “OKTOBER1″ coupon code!!!11!!!!1!
Topics: Zorn Star, High Fashion, Redskins | 6 Comments »
LaVar and Russ Thaler Get Awkward
By Jamie Mottram | October 7, 2008
The highlight of my appearance on Friday’s edition of Washington Post Live was LaVar and Rusty’s end-of-segment handshake. Or fist pound. Or both:
And in case you couldn’t make out my silver-tongued quip, I said, “That was like the high five/fist pound that Zorn and Buges had in the Dallas game.” This is why I’m on the talking picture box, folks.
Topics: TV Videography, Pound It!, Comcast SportsNet, Redskins | 3 Comments »
Spotted: Bruce Smith Ordering at Panera
By Jamie Mottram | October 7, 2008
I’m not sure who buys a Bruce Smith Redskins jersey, other than this guy:
You can’t really blame him though, as he was no doubt persuaded by an administration pushing hard on the public the jerseys of a past his prime, recently acquired AFC East defensive end.
And in today’s other random Redskins jerseys news, it’s Jay Schroeder!
Topics: High Fashion, Redskins | 6 Comments »