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Redskins-Browns Winners & Losers
By Chris Mottram | October 20, 2008
Handing out labels following Skins games. Today: 14-11 win over Cleveland.
WINNERS:
Clinton Portis. 175 yards, 6.7 per carry, 1 touchdown, and, yes, one fumble that could’ve caused total disaster. He now leads the NFL with 818 rushing yards, 134 more than Adrian Peterson in second place. He’s hands down the MVP of the league right now, and it’s not really even close. Still though, not a leader, which will obviously prove to be this team’s downfall.
Jason Campbell. Another steady game, doing what needs to be done to win. He obviously didn’t set the world ablaze with his 164-yard performance, but he didn’t make any mistakes and I can only recall one throw that he missed (Fred Davis down near the five, who was wide open between the LBs and secondary).
Santana Moss. It was great to see him getting his touches again after being shutdown the past couple weeks. His touchdown was particularly impressive. It looked like he was gonna be stopped somewhere around the 10, but somehow maneuvered his way in for the score. A score we all missed seeing because some dude’s hands were blocking CBS’ camera. He also got in on his first punt return, which resulted in neither a spectacular play nor an injury, so it’s a push.
Ryan Plackemeier. He only averaged 38 yards on eight punts, but several of those were kicked from inside, or near, the 50. He landed two kicks inside the 20, and a third kick (his first one) landed on the one and took a bounce into the endzone. On top of all that, the man has a silhouette that just screams “professional athlete.”
Alex Ovechkin. That’s him there to the right, gettin’ his burgundy and gold on.
London Fletcher. No. 59 is the most important player on this team. He is all over the place, constantly finding the ball carrier, and his performance on the Browns’ goal line plays was incredible. Sure, Cleveland eventually scored a TD, but it took them eight plays from inside the two – and many precious minutes – to finally punch it in. The credit for the stand goes in large part to LFB.
Carlos Rogers. He is finally emerging as a true shutdown corner. He was able to keep Braylon in check all day, and made the biggest hit of the season on Joshua Cribbs, who you may have heard is a D.C.-native. Ian Eagle only mentioned it about 19 times.
LOSERS:
Fred Davis. Really, it’s no fault of his own, but his second touch of the season went for a three-yard loss. It was also the first tight end reverse I can ever recall seeing, a play I hope Zorn rips to pieces and disposes of quickly.
Shaun Suisham. He missed his only attempt of the game, a 39-yarder with time running out in the first half, on what was as ugly a kick as you’ll ever see. It appeared to be a tough snap, but the hold looked good, so I’ll put the blame on the kicker. As it turns out, those three points could’ve proved quite important.
Shaun Alexander. Three carries for eight yards and he ran like the bitch we all knew he is. He should not be on the field unless Portis or Rock is injured, period.
Jim Zorn. I love this man, and really, there’s something wrong about labeling him a “loser” when the team wins. But the offense, which is his baby, just looked sluggish all day. Sure, the run game was great, as it’s been every week, but the Zorn-built passing game was nearly non-existent. It’s silly to complain about them not taking any deep shots without knowing the playcalls, the coverage, etc., but fuck man, take some deep shots.
Topics: Redskins, Winners & Losers | 8 Comments »
October 20th, 2008 at 11:08 AM
London Fletcher’s flying balls-on-head at the goal line was amazing.
What did London Fletcher’s two balls say to Jamal Lewis’ earhole?
SLAP-PAP!!
October 20th, 2008 at 11:09 AM
The past two weeks have caused pause, but the St. Louis game and this squeaker look better in light of the Rams and Browns slaughtering the Cowboys and Giants, respectively.
The Skins are a great running and very good defensive team right now, and the passing game isn’t bad either. The only albatross is special teams, but, overall, they’re as good as any team in the NFC.
Must. Stay. Medium.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:36 PM
Winner: Chris Horton
He could turn out to be one of the best draft picks in the history of the Washington Redskins. He is everywhere on the field.
October 20th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Definitely gotta tag the CBS camera crew as losers too. The Santana Moss hand-obstrcuted play was one of at least 3 or 4 plays near either end zone that was blocked by fans’ hands or heads popping into view just as somethign exciting happened. It also happened a couple of times on the first goal line stand the Redskins’ D had in the 4th quarter. How hard is it to predict that the guy sitting in front of the camera might get up if something exciting happens?
October 20th, 2008 at 2:25 PM
You know, the Redskins’ drafts are looking better and better this season, especially on defense.
On defense, you’ve got a secondary full of draft picks – Landry, Horton, Rogers, and Smoot were on the field for every play, and they looked awesome against an attack that had befuddled the Giants.
Cartwright and Horton are some damn good seventh round picks, I tell ya. Now if only the 2nd rounders could contribute that early.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:05 PM
I think you overlooked an important point when hating on the pass game this week. Campbell “tweaked” his groin during the first quarter, and even from my view up in the 400 section, I noticed he was visibly less mobile than usual… taking extra steps only when he needed to. To compensate for a groin injury, a QB relies more on the upper body than usual, avoiding hard plants and stepping into the throw for extra power, exactly what you need to throw a long ball (and hit Davis on the five). So Zorn backed off the pass game (and didn’t take any deep shots), won on the ground with Portis and saved Campbell from turning a slight injury into a full-blown injury which could cause him to miss several games. I think if we’re behind in that game, we see more Zorn passing at the risk of our QB. More power to Z for winning on the ground and protecting Campbell. He’s in my winner column this week.
October 20th, 2008 at 3:18 PM
We clowned Browns fans all fucking day!!!!!!!!!!1
Its good to have an opposing team have people for me to torment, because for the Saints and Rams and Cardinals, I had to turn my attention to make fun of ticket scalpers and hat vendors and the occasional MoonShine salesman.
And FYI, Norv Turner used the TE REverse with former Terp, former Redskins, former steriod cream user Frank Whycheck.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:41 PM
First of all i had not seen that SICK Ovechkin picture its the sweetest thing ever. 2nd I love how the Mayor prefaces most W and L comments with bragging about talking shit to away fans cause that is just funny and very appropriate.
Now to my point, while I enjoy good games I’m afraid we are going to dick around with every fucking team this year putting us all on the verge of strokes, thats fine if we win. But what is going to fuck us is not being good at putting padding on the score so if these close fucking games keep happening we are def. going to have at least 5 losses i predict. I’m with chris if we dont start seeing 1 to 2 long balls a half I’m going to shit it a bag and send it to Zorn Star (even though i love him so far)with a note that says this poo signifies our displeasure with that lack of deep passing. TRUST ‘TANA ZORN! at least if Jason makes smart throws deep we might get easy pass interference in our favor. I’m sure Zorn will read this and get scared…