Too Many Cooks: Redskins 2006 Season in Review Part Three

Anyone seen my playbook?

Following a playoff season in 2005, the Washington Redskins had high expectations for 2006. Super Bowl high. Those expectations were unmet as the team finished a miserable 5-11, good for last place in a division that placed its three other teams in the playoffs. This is the story of how it happened...

The Curly R concludes the first annual Redskins Season in Review, a three-part series looking at the chronology of the Redskins 2006 season and into 2007.

Part 1: 2005 Postseason, 2006 Offseason & 2006 Training Camp
Part 2: 2006 Regular Season Games 1-13
Part 3: 2006 Regular Season Games 14-16 & 2007 Offseason Outlook

Other Curly R Redskins Seasons in Review: 2007

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The Redskins limped to 4-9 through 13 games in the 2006 NFL season and were out of the playoffs, even in the weak NFC...

2006 Regular Season (continued)
Game 14: Redskins at Saints, December 17, 2006. Washington travels to the Superdome and shocks New Orleans 16-10. The Redskins defense holds the number one offense to 270 yards as Andre Carter registers 8 tackles and a sack, Carlos Rogers pulls in his first interception of the season, then seals the deal, knocking down a pass in the end zone to end the game. Ladell Betts goes over 100 yards for the fourth straight time, Jason Campbell is solid and the defense allows no big plays. Redskins 5-9 and playing for pride.
(preview / 5 Questions / recap / box / gamewrap)

Game 15: Redskins at Rams, December 24, 2006. Washington scores four touchdowns and still loses 37-31 in St. Louis. Ladell Betts has his fifth straight 100-yard game, but also has another critical fumble, and Chris Cooley is Jason Campbell's main target. But none of that can overcome a Washington defense that yields 579 yards, over a hundred more yards than any other opponent, and can't make a stop at the end. Steven Jackson abuses the Redskins for 155 yards on 4.5 yards per carry. Redskins 5-10 and disrespecting a competent offense.
(preview / 5 Questions / recap / box / gamewrap)

Game 16: Giants at Redskins, December 30, 2006. In the Saturday night national game, Redskins lose their home finale, 34-28. The Washington offense again plays well, netting 120 yards rushing and three touchdown passes, but the defense again was totally absent, surrendering 234 yards rushing and three touchdowns to Tiki Barber in his final regular season NFL game. Ladell Betts almost gets 100 yards and has yet another critical fumble. Redskins end their 74th season 5-11, last place in the NFC East.
(preview / 5 Questions / recap / box / gamewrap)


2007 Offseason Outlook
The Redskins leave the 2006 season in a sad state. No free agency move made by the Redskins in the 2006 offseason panned out as expected, and with the possible exceptions of the versatile Antwaan Randle El and Andre Carter, a solid pass-rusher but terrible run stopper, were all abject failures. The futures of Brandon Lloyd, Adam Archuleta, Christian Fauria are all in question, and keeping them may be as harmful and expensive as letting them go.

Offensively, great progress was made throughout the season. The Redskins got an apparently unexpected surprise in Ladell Betts, despite his being with the team for four seasons prior to 2006. He will tandem with Clinton Portis in 2007, though unless he stops the fumbling, may not see action at critical junctures. Jason Campbell showed development and appears to have the skills to come into camp next season as the starter. The Redskin futures of Mark Brunell and Todd Collins are less clear.

Christian Fauria made no significant impact at blocking tight end and Chris Cooley more than held his own at receiving tight end, and the Redskins would be wise to stick with this strength. At receiver, there are questions with Brandon Lloyd, but with Santana Moss and Antwaan Randle El returning, it is not out of the question that Brandon could be an asset to the team. He was, however, removed from the starting lineup after the 12th game and was not active for the finale.

The offensive line played well, particularly in the run game, and no starter missed a game until the 15th week. Only Derrick Dockery is unsigned on this line going into 2007. There is a question of age with this group and the team needs to start looking toward a future after Chris Samuels and Jon Jansen.

Defensively, the reader is free to take her pick for area of improvement. Rookie Kedric Golston impressed at DT, earning a starting job, but was this due to the 6th round pick's stellar play, or the soft play of veteran Joe Salave'a? Cornelius Griffin and Philip Daniels played well, and 2007 will be Daniels' 11th year. Andre Carter improved as a pass rusher over the course of the season, but never played up to his 30 million dollar contract and appears extremely vulnerable to the run.

The linebackers were a mixed bag all season, with Marcus Washington playing well, Lemar Marshall taking a step back from 2005, and Rocky McIntosh stepping in and playing relatively well. This linebacking corps will benefit from improved defensive backfield play in 2007.

That defensive backfield varied from bad to horrendous this season, with a couple of flashes of good play. Carlos Rogers was not ready to assume the role of the primary cornerback, and Shawn Springs was uneven in eight games. He finished the season on injured reserve, and Joe Gibbs is already talking about Shawn coming back to play at safety, which may be more projection than real plan. The other cornerbacks were barely heard from, or were right off the street. At safety, only Sean Taylor played well, and even he seemed to get bored playing in a bad secondary at the end of the season. The Redskins will clearly have to upgrade somehow at strong safety, Adam Archuleta's position, and Pierson Prioleau's return from season-ending injury in the season opener should improve that unit's play.

From a coaching perspective, the November 26 Tom Friend piece on ESPN describes infantile behavior and weak management by Gregg Williams of the defensive backfield coaches. Clearly, there is no place for egos at the position coach level in the NFL and the Redskins must move swiftly to fix things, whether it's by hugging it out or turning someone out to the curb. There are comparatively fewer coaching slots open right now in the NFL, with only Atlanta, Arizona, Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland currently without coaches, though New York Giants may also open up. Neither Al Saunders nor Gregg Williams is expected to draw interest as a head coaching candidate for another team.

Draft-wise, the Redskins go into April's 2007 NFL draft with four picks, the number 6 overall in the first round, along with fifth, sixth and seventh round picks. The second round pick went to the New York Jets when the Redskins moved up to pick Rocky McIntosh. The third round pick when to Denver in the TJ Duckett deal and the fourth round pick went to San Francisco in the Brandon Lloyd deal. One of those deals may turn out well, one might not end well at all and the other was a pitiful waste. Draw your own conclusions.

With regard to 109 million dollar the salary cap, the Redskins are somewhere between 1 million under and a quarter million over as of this moment. Naturally there will be the standard round of cuts and restructurings, but the team is going to be pressed for cap room to sign talent against a long list of needs and a short list of draft picks.

Jason La Canfora, Howard Bryant and Les Carpenter at the Washington Post were gracious enough to preface The Curly R Season in Review with a companion series entitled 'The Lost Season.' This is must-accompany reading for Redskins fans wondering what happened inside 2006 and what it might mean for 2007 and beyond. That series can be found here:

Part 1. Jason La Canfora: Problems at the Core
Part 2. Howard Bryant: Of Two Minds on Offense
Part 3. Les Carpenter: Coordinator Assumes Old Defensive Crouch


The Curly R will continue offseason coverage of the Washington Redskins.



One or Two Too Many Cooks: hand-colored etching by David Bigelow