Game 1: Redskins (0-0) vs. Vikings (0-0)

vs.

It's finally time to get things started for real. No more preseason vanilla, no more hours scrutinizing Buck Ortega and Kili Lefoutu. Which reminds me. If none of these guys made the team, why the hell did we see so much of them? Are they just filler? Someone has to catch the ball in the fourth quarter of a preseason game I guess, and it's not going to be Randle El.

The real season kicks off tonight, national coverage on ESPN no less. The Redskins will be looking to exploit a Vikings team trying to find an identity. New coach Brad Childress comes over from the Eagles, where he worked four seasons as Andy Reid's offensive coordinator, where Andy Reid ran the Jersey Shore variant of the West Coast offense, but don't put a label on Childress, says Jason La Canfora in his excellent Redskins Gameday (PDF), because

The perennially mediocre franchise has revamped its entire offense and will not utilize much of the West Coast system Childress took to the Super Bowl as offensive coordinator with Philadelphia. That means using the pass to set up the run, lots of short passes to the running backs and spreading the field wide with the receivers.

Exsqueeze me? I thought that was the West Coast offense.

Clinton Portis is 75%, 83%, 93.9%, 96.1% good to go, and Shawn Springs is doubtful, and the two main replacements, Kenny Wright and Mike Rumph are castoffs. Look for Brad Johnson to test the secondary, and for Ade Jimoh to come in as a nickel back in passing downs. La Canfora says Childress looks at Chester Taylor as a Brian Westbook-type player, less of a punisher on the ground and more of a scatback catching lots of short passes. The Redskins will come out soft on defense, allowing these short pass plays to try and prevent longer plays, tightening it up throughout the game with the ultimate goal of disrupting Johnson's patterns as he goes at gamespeed for the first time in this new offense.

Offensively, look for the Redskins to focus on their prized receiving corps first in the absence of Portis in an effort to give Duckett and Betts some room to get comfortable. If they can get a 10 point lead, get ready for a long dark night of counter-left, counter-right as Saunders tries to run out the clock from the second quarter.

Daily Norseman thinks we all underestimate the talent on the team (personally, I do not, it's just a new system and they have to work out the kinks) and predicts Vikings 20-17. The Ragnarok predicts Vikings 17-10. Hogs Haven has a good long preview, and no prediction, but judges this game advantage: Washington.

National coverage, ESPN, 7pm ET. Come back here after the game and drop a comment about how baaaad Kornheiser was.

This is a gameday open thread.