Game 15: Redskins (5-9) at Rams (6-8)

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One team is 4 games below .500, the other 2 games. How hilarious is it that when the Redskins kickoff at 1pm Sunday in St. Louis, the game will have playoff implications? If the Rams win out and the Giants and Falcons lose out and the 49ers have to lose one and the Panthers or Vik...ok forget it it's too complicated. Just go check out our 5 Questions trading partner VanRam's St. Louis playoff roundup here. For the Redskins it's easy: win and the Rams are home for the holidays with the Redskins. Being the spoiler is the next best thing to being a good team, like the guy coming to grips with drunk chick not going home with him but still having the focus to cockblock dude with too much hairgel.

There's been a fair amount of back-patting and conflatulations this week for the defensive secondary, but I'm still not convinced. The defense gave up big yards when the opposing offense needed it against the Falcons and Eagles. But, against the Panthers and Saints, the defense played very well and all four of these teams are in playoff contention, were in playoff contention or might be in playoff contention. I can't figure it out, it's all a mess so look for yourself here and here.

Any confidence I had in the defensive side of the ball was disappeared when I read that Gregg Williams is going back to formula. Technically speaking in the media narrative, a feature piece in the hometown paper that basically says TEAM ALL WRONG AT HALF THE GAME presages a bad loss, letting the opposing offense have its way, getting off again and again, piling on hot loads of scoring so everyone just forget Andre Carter is playing well at this point, Marcus Washington spent a decent part of the Saints game in Drew Brees' face and the three Muskateers Sean Taylor Carlos Rogers Shawn Springs and Vernon FOX got Brees jammed up downfield. Too bad Marcus won't play in this game, but it's good that Jon Jansen will.

On the offense dare I hope for another steady performance? A random stat that is decidedly un-Redskinslike, at least in the last ten years:

[the Saints game] was the first time one of Washington's starting offensive linemen had missed a game this season.

That was Game 14 people! This group has played better steadily all season, especially run-blocking and I hope Ladell buys these guys Rolexes or at least a steak dinner because I didn't comment on that thread Skin Patrol but my Redskins pick for the Pro Bowl is Ladell. He's been the most valuable player on this team since Jason took over. So valuable that you can add former Redskins beat writer Mark Maske to the chorus of voices asking the musical question, is Ladell a better runner for this offense than Clinton?

Curly R aside: speaking of things you give to offenive linemen for taking care of you, does anyone else remember at the end of the 2003 season when Emmitt Smith, finishing up his first year in purgatory in Arizona, gave his five offensive linemen Hummer keys and told them to follow him to the lot? And when the freaking out players got to the lot and found five remote control Hummers next to his full size Hummer? Man, what an ass. No wonder he only ran for 3-1/2 yards a carry in 2004 and then retired. I'd be ole' blocking for him too.

In the pass game, it's a little like interpretive dance because no one has the same opinion. Joe Gibbs, the man responsible for drafting Jason Campbell, is boldly praising his QB, comparing him to my man Mark Rypien so Joe sees the real deal coming, or is making a confidence play for his QB. Or both. In that context, last Thursday a piece ran where Al Saunders on Jason was in essence, ok fine now go faster, with slightly more backhanded praise:

The Redskins need to simplify things enough to give Campbell the best chance to succeed over the last three games of the season while also identifying and correcting the flaws in his technique that must be refined for long-term success, Saunders said. The coaches cannot overload Campbell with too much information...

Hunh. Al sounds a little petulant, a little condescension in there as well. Then I go back and re-read yesterday's Gibbs-Campbell story and there it is, buried in the 10th paragraph, smack in the middle of a story about the things Jason is doing right, Al's first appearance in the piece:

"Whatever your history is will dictate you falling into that pattern. You know, Mark had completed 65 percent of his passes," said Al Saunders, the Redskins' associate head coach-offense. "He wasn't turning the ball over and was doing a real good job of managing the game in the way it was asked of him."

Velly intellesting. Sounds like soooomeone isn't 1000% behind Jason. I'll ask the Fox News question about this situation:

Is Al Saunders hurting this team by not supporting the starter?

On special teams, Joe Gibbs loves Shaun Suisham but then again he loved John Hall all the way to IR. Shaun is 8 for 10 on field goals with a 62 yard average on kickoffs and it's good to know the Redskins have a kicker. For now. And like some others I've read on this, I take Gregg Williams' cryptic message to reporters about Adam Archuleta's likelihood of playing this week as meaning he'll play special teams, and there's little chance we'll see him playing defense against his former team.

Numerically, here's how it looks. The Rams are ranked 8th overall on offense, 6th in passing yards, 21st in rush yards and 14th in scoring. The Redskins are ranked 15th overall on offense, 22nd in pass yards, 5th in rush yards and 23rd in scoring. Defensively, the Rams are 21st overall, 9th against the pass , 31st against the run and 25th in denying scores. The Redskins are 23rd overall, 21st against the pass, 20th against the run and lets in the 20th fewest points.

Put that in a blender and the Rams will be gameplanning a big day for Marc Bulger and the Redskins will be counting on Ladell. Let's see the Redskins defense turn out another performance like they did against the Panthers and Saints and the Redskins can win this one, especially since St. Louis is so apathetic about the Rams that the game did not even sell out, and therefore it won't be seen by the home town fans. If the Redskins can get a good drive and score early, there will be no crowd noise to worry about.


Other previews and sundries: Skin Patrol has a State of the Redskins posted on Turf Show Times, and his take on the Rams offense at Hogs Haven. Lee's crib notes at The Redskin Report.

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Uh-oh, so John Riggins' daily radio show on Dan Snyder's Red Zebra radio network is going to be simulcast on MASN TV starting in February. This is good because the sum total of blank-faced catatonic Nationals fans staring at the MASN test pattern waiting for baseball is triple the total number of people in the Washington area that can actually hear Red Zebra progamming on AM. This is bad because, well, did you ever get the sense that John Riggins is like sausage, the final product is fun but you don't really want to see it being made? See also Lighten Up Baby and Living in a Storage Unit.


I'll be in Charlottesville tomorrow (where I am now) doing Christmas with the in-laws, so football blogging will be on the agenda.


This is a gameday open thread.