X-Man

His power is getting open

As we have watched Jason Campbell be a starter this year it strikes me that the Redskins passing game has new dimensions to it. Antwaan Randle El is part of the reason why.

In 2005 the Redskins rode Mark Brunell and Santana Moss to the playoffs. By the end of that season it was so apparent the team had no other serious options at receiver that teams were double teaming Santana on most plays.

2005 line: Santana has 84 catches for 1483 yards. The next receiver on that list is two spots down, David Patten with 1200 yards less receiving than Santana. To get to Santana's receiving line from that season you have to add Chris Cooley's yards plus Clinton Portis' yards plus David Patten's yards plus Robert Royal's yards plus James Thrash' yards. That's the next five receivers down to get Santana's line.

That's why the Redskins went nuts in 2006 in acquiring Antwaan and Brandon Lloyd. Santana needed a legitimate second threat to take some of the heat off. Brandon was supposed to be that number two on the edge, the deep threat, the X receiver in Al Saunders' system but in 18 games (he was inactive for the final game last season) with the Redskins Brandon has been shut out six times.

Antwaan has ascended to the X receiver and he has been awesome to watch. In game one against Miami Antwaan had a 35 yard catch on 3rd and three in the 2nd quarter and that beautiful 49 yard in-stride catch in the 3rd quarter that set up Clinton's 19 yard touchdown run. At the end of regulation Antwaan had a head's up play to catch the batted hail mary pass from Jason Campbell and almost scored. That was a gratuitous 54 yards for anyone that has Antwaan on their fantasy team.*

In game two against the Eagles Antwaan was quieter with four catches for 44 yards and muffed a punt but in game three against the Giants he took a 41 yard Jeff Feagles punt back 27 yards to the Giants 35 giving Jeff a 14 yard net on that kick and giving Jason Campbell a short field to work with down a score with 2:19 to go in the game.

He finished that game trying to for the win, pulling in a 25 yard catch to the Giants 11 that was called back on a Casey Rabach hold then on third and 13 with no timeouts left hauled in a 20 yarder to the Giants one yard line that I still say should have been ruled out of bounds (and as such Jason Campbell would not have had to spike the ball to stop the clock which we all pretty much agree he did not have to to anyway but I digress this piece is about Antwaan and not Jason, Joe Gibbs or the end of that game).

Antwaan appears to be a great fit for that X receiver position, the one that stretches the field and keeps the defense honest. And we haven't even seen the serious gadget plays yet, you know Joe Gibbs loves those. Rock on Antwaan and go torch some Lion butt.



* Whereas I am pleased Antwaan is leading the league in per catch average which was the central point of the WaPo piece at the top, I did not cite the stat in this piece because without catching that deflected hail mary he would have one less catch and 54 less yards and be tied for eighth overall average, with a running back no less (rookie Adrian Peterson). It's not that I think the catch should not count, it's football and all manner of crazy things happen, it's just that that one catch padded his stats up three yards per.

Antwaan Randle El in the Miami Dolphins game from here.