The Perils of Codependence

If you left me I would have to kill you then myself

Mr. Ironman himself, Santana Moss has missed four practices in a row with a hammy, and Howard Bryant is speculating that he may miss the Dallas game. Since coming to the Redskins, Santana has not missed a game, and his consecutive games streak goes back to the relationship he was in before this one, and we don't talk about that. As far as we are concerned, he was a virgin when we met him.

Santana has been Mark Brunell's main squeeze since he arrived, and having him out will hurt at a time when the Redskins desperately need to administer a severe beating to the Cowboys on Sunday. A look at Santana's production in the offense:

In 2005, Mark Brunell completed 262 passes. Santana caught 84 of them, more than any other player by 13 passes. Chris Cooley was second with 71, then there's a *gulp* dropoff to Clinton with 30. That means Santana caught 32% of Mark's passes.

So far in 2006, Mark Brunell has completed 132 passes, 28 of them to Santana, or 21%. Betts is #2 this season with 23 catches and Cooley is #3 with 21. Adjusting for the fact that had Brunell not gone to Betts seven times in a row at the end of a futile loss in Indianapolis, Cooley would be #2, but it's irrelevant because the pattern has been established:

Mark goes to Santana first. Then Cooley, then the running back.

Blinding flash of the obvious you say. Right, but what does it mean this week if Santana is out? It means that ARE and B-Lloyd should get more involved in the game, but progress this season tells me not to expect too much. It means Cooley should see more action, but recall that he caught three touchdowns in this game at Redskins Stadium last season, so expect Roy Williams will have his eye (and maybe his 2x4 of a right arm) on Cooley.

All in all this is not good news, a situation made even worse because I don't have a lot of confidence the Santana-like receivers brought in this year will be able to stand in, even for one game. Hope I'm wrong.



Santana after the Seattle playoff loss: Jonathan Newton / Washington Post