Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato have made an unforeseen move by bringing in offensive consultant Sherman Lewis to provide another set of eyes. Running back Clinton Portis and fullback Mike Sellers had to be separated and restrained, although no punches were thrown. The argument stemmed from Portis’ request to have blocking tight end Todd Yoder replace Sellers in the backfield against the Buccaneers last week. This is how the (2-2) Washington Redskins, prepared to travel to Bank of America Stadium to take on the (0-3) Carolina Panthers this Sunday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. The Panthers are coming off a bye week, and have had almost two weeks to try and get there first victory of the season.
After being sacked on the second play from scrimmage last Sunday, Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell suffered a sack and a lost fumble on the third play and the Buccaneers took over at the Redskins 10. Tampa Bay took a 10-0 lead into the locker room at half time. After halftime the Redskins came out and scored 16 points in the third quarter and shutout Tampa Bay in the second half, to produce an ugly 16-10 victory.
There were a few bright spot in the game like:
* Rookie DE Jeremy Jarmon forced Buccaneers RB Clifton Smith to fumble with 48 seconds to play and safety Chris Horton recovered the ball at the Tampa Bay 29-yard line. With only two timeouts remaining, the Bucs were unable to get the ball back.
* Place Kicker Shaun Suisham took over punting duties after regular punter Hunter Smith was injured, and averaged 26.7 yards, and only 25.3 net yards, on three punts.
* Wide receiver Santana Moss had a 59-yard touchdown catch against the Buccaneers, topping his 57-yard touchdown grab in the previous week’s game against the Lions. The last time a Redskin receiver caught 50-yard touchdown passes in back-to-back games, it was wide receiver Gary Clark in December 1987.
* Tight End Chris Cooley displayed his sure hands and ability to break tackles throughout the game and caught a 7-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.
Roster Moves:
— Punter Hunter Smith will be inactive Sunday against the Carolina Panthers because of a groin injury he suffered in the Redskins’ previous game, and left-footed punter Glenn Pakulak will be signed off the practice squad. 35 year old defensive end Renaldo Wynn was released by the team today to make room for Pakulak on the 53-man roster.
–.The Redskins worked out former Maryland running back Keon Lattimore Redskins on Friday, Lattimore is Baltimore Raven’s linebacker Ray Lewis’s brother. Washington also worked out former Tennessee Titans running back Chris Henry earlier this week. Neither RB was signed, but the Texans are expected to sign Henry.
— NFL rules mandate that teams make coordinators available to the media at least once a week. The Redskins received permission from the league to have secondary coach Jerry Gray, who has served as a coordinator in his career, take over for defensive coordinator Greg Blache, after Blache informed team officials he will no longer be speaking with the media this season.
Quotes of Note:
— “During the week sometimes when the ball hits it, it kind of feels a certain way – actually it feels pretty bad., It’s not like I can’t go out and play a practice or anything like that. They just try to tape it up as good as they can. And then, come game time, you get that little candy shot in there, hopefully helps it out a little bit.” ……..Wide Receiver Malcolm Kelly revealed that he suffered ligament damage in his right thumb on the first pass play of the game against the Rams
— “I was just happy he didn’t overthrow me, He’s one of those guys, man, that he don’t know his own arm strength. He put it out there. I was just able to go get it. It might rank up there with one of the best ones he threw. I think he’s getting the feel of me now. I give him those looks every day in practice when he overthrows me like, ‘Man, c’mon.’ Like five years, you should know me now. But you can’t really judge practice all the time. Just the way you play in the game, I mean, it’s a difference. Sometimes in practice, you’re not going to fully and go get those balls. When I run that route so well, too, that I think he’s got a feel of it now.” …….. Wide Receiver Santana Moss on performance of Jason Campbell.
— “The Redskins contacted me and told me they wanted a fresh set of eyes, and I intend to provide just that, I am grateful to join this offensive team and an organization with such a great tradition. I am looking forward to working with Jim Zorn, Sherman Smith, Joe Bugel and the rest of the coaching staff.” …….. New offensive consultant Sherman Lewis, on his return to the NFL after five years.
— “Whenever you can get a good receiver out there, you want to try to go out there and dominate, you want to let everybody know, ‘I’m still good at what I do as well,’ That’s going to be my mindset, that’s going to be his mindset. Am I going to be trying to jump on him? Damn right. And he’s going to be trying to jump on me, too.” ….. Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall on a conference call with Washington media.
News and Notes:
The Redskins did more than just move strong safety Chris Horton to a backup role in favor of Reed Doughty as they made changes to the secondary while preparing to face Tampa Bay last week. On Sunday Washington left starting cornerbacks DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers on the Buccaneers outside receivers and put 2nd year corner Justin Tryon on the slot receiver. DeAngelo Hall had been moving into the slot all season when the Redskins went into their nickle packages. The switch had more to do with nickel corner Fred Smoot’s ribs than anything else. Smoot has been slowed by the injury over the pass few weeks and Tryon’s reps at the nickel corner in practice increased. Against Tampa Bay he was credited with four tackles (including three solo), and a sack.
Going into the last Sunday’s game, the Redskins were ranked dead last in third-down defense in the NFL, but Tampa Bay only converted on two of their fifteen third-down opportunities.
During Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback Jason Campbell had three turnovers (two interceptions and a lost fumble) in the first half. A radio analyst for the Redskins’ radio network who happens to be in the NFL Hall of Fame was calling for Coach Jim Zorn to bench Campbell and replace him with backup Todd Collins during half time. A few weeks ago this Redskins great who knows a thing or two about how to play quarterback, told Zorn that he would have changed a play that had been called. Zorn replied that he would have pulled the legendary quarterback out of the game and benched him. Zorn’s comments shocked many Redskins’ fans. This week Jason Campbell provided the shock when he said, “I knew Coach Zorn wouldn’t give up on me… it’s good to know that there’s that trust there. But I’m not surprised if people wanted me out.”
Click here for Friday’s News and Notes.
Comparing the Team Leaders:
The Panthers are lead by QB Jake Delhomme with 601 passing yards and a QB rating of 54.3, he has 2 touchdowns and 7 interceptions compared to Redskins’ QB Jason Campbell who has 963 yards passing and a QB rating of 85.5, he has 5 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.
The Panthers leading rusher is RB DeAngelo Williams averaging 4.4 yards per carry with 180 yards on 41 carries and 2 touchdowns compared to Redskins RB Clinton Portis who is averaging 3.9 yards per carry with 281 yards on 72 carries and no touchdowns.
WR Steve Smith is the Carolina Panthers top pass catcher averaging 12.7 yards per catch with 15 receptions and 190 yards, he has no touchdowns. WR Santana Moss is the leading receiver for the Redskins averaging 17.2 yards per catch with 17 receptions for 293 yards, he has 2 touchdowns.
The Panthers defensive leader in tackles is Thomas Davis with 34. Four Panthers are tied with 1 sack each, are several are tied with 1 interception.
The Redskins defensive leaders are London Fletcher with 52 tackles. Brian Orakpo leads the team with 2 sacks and Deangelo Hall has 2 interceptions.
Complete Tale of the Tapes:
Total Points Offense: Washington is ranked 31st averaging 13.0 points per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 17th averaging 20.0 points per game
Total Offense: Washington is ranked 16th with 325.3 yards per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 25th with 293.3 ypg.
Rushing Offense: Washington is ranked 22nd with 100.0 yards per game
and The Carolina Panthers ranks 20th with 101.1 ypg.
Passing Offense: Washington is ranked 14th with 225.3 yards per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 23rd with 192.2 ypg.
Total Points Defense: Washington is ranked 7th giving up on average 15.0 points per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 32nd giving up on average 36.0 points per game
Total Defense: Washington is ranked 12th, giving up 301.5 yards per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 23rd with 362.3 ypg.
Rushing Defense: Washington is ranked 22nd giving up 128.0 yards per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 32nd with 182.7 ypg.
Passing Defense: Washington is ranked 4th, giving up 173.5 yards per game and The Carolina Panthers ranks 6th with 179.6 ypg.
Injury Report:
Out
P Hunter Smith Right Groin
Doubtful
DT Anthony Montgomery Knee
Questionable
DT Cornelius Griffin Elbow
Probable
T Chris Samuels Knee
Injured Reserves:
The following players are out for the 2009 season:
QB Colt Brennan (Hip)
OG Randy Thomas (Triceps)
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Bernie Marshall