Game 11: Redskins (5-5) at Buccaneers (6-4)

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The Washington Redskins travel to Tampa Bay for a 1pm game against the NFC South leading Buccaneers. This game amounts to a must win, the Redskins are playing .500 ball and need to win, badly.

The Redskins came out of the Cowboys game last week banged up and the secondary got torched for four touchdown passes. Safeties Reed Doughty and LaRon Landry were tested and failed but since Sean Taylor is still out with a twisted knee they will have to go again.

The good news is that the Buccaneers are not lighting it up like Dallas but Jeff Garcia has them with a two game lead in first place of the NFC South division and when Carnell Williams went down Michael Pittman stepped in and when he went down Earnest Graham stepped in and looks good. Tampa Bay's offense will challenge the Redskins.

And if the Tampa Bay offense will challenge the injury depleted Redskins defense then the Redskins offense will have some problems with the Tampa Bay defense. The Buccaneers are disciples of the true faith, the Tampa-2 variation of the Cover-2 (formerly known as the 2 deep zone) and rarely do the Buccaneers have the same kind of defensive breakdowns typical of Gregg Williams' defense. Last season when these two teams played it was Jason Campbell's first game as an NFL starter, now it is a year later and Jason Campbell is growing into the position, it will be on him to recognize what the Buccaneers defense is showing.

Curly R aside: [channeling Jim Mora] PLAYOFFS? PLAYOFFS!? How can you be talking Redskins playoffs. I don't care if they have tiebreakers on Arizona and Detroit, they have to win some games before we can start talking about playoffs.

Comings and goings: it's a new day so there must be a new receiver in the Redskins locker room. To go along with the other six receivers on the squad the Redskins signed Jason Campbell's old Auburn teammate Anthony Mix who is listed as a wide receiver but at 6-5 235 pounds seems a lot more like a tight end. Reserve offensive guard Rick DeMulling was released to make room for Anthony. Also receiver Burl Ives Toler who was a 2007 cut day victim, was re-signed to the practice squad then released from the practice squad then re-signed to the practice squad, was released from the practice squad. Also Jimmy Farris who was a 2006 cut day victim then brought back after the contract hit on Brandon Lloyd was released. Full Redskins transaction list here.

Hospital squad: right tackle Todd Wade may not go with his sprained left knee (op. cit.) so it may be undrafted rookie Stephon Heyer's first NFL start (op. cit.). Randy Thomas, who tore his right triceps in game two against the Eagles is back at practice but will not be playing for a few more weeks. Mike Sellers is hurt and may not go so the Redskins signed 37 year old former Redskin Brian Kozlowski (op. cit.) to go along with Anthony Mix to play at the fullback/H-back position. James Thrash (high ankle sprain) also probably will not play (op. cit.).

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My take in 60 words or less: it's great to talk about progress and how there are positives even in a loss. But now it's win now or start thinking about next season. A loss put the Redskins at 5-6 and at least one if not two games out of the wild card. Also read this profile piece on Demetric Evans, he's turning into a good player and it has not been an easy road for him. And look out for the Pat Fischer and Ken Houston references here.

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Washington Post preview, Redskins Gameday (PDF). Campbell's Corner is predictably worthless. The best thing this week about Jason Campbell was finding out that the cannon the Buccaneers fire from the pirate ship before the game freaked out an already on edge Jason last season before his first start (op. cit.).

Redskins roster, Buccaneers roster. Redskins projected starters, Buccaneers projected starters. Redskins injury report, Buccaneers injury report. Coverage map, this is a regional game, most of the nation will be watching the Vikings and Giants.

Other previews: Anthony Brown at Hog Heaven, Bram Weinstein at Covering the Redskins, Rich Tandler at Tandler's Redskins Blog, David J. Warner at Redskins AOL Fanhouse, dwagner at Riggo's Rag with bonus Riggo's Rag preview material.


Happy Birthday to head coach Joe Gibbs. He turns 67 today (op. cit.).


This is a gameday open thread.