Game Thoughts: Bears

I absolutely hate preseason – I tweeted as much during the game – it’s like watching four Injury Bowls in a row. Unfortunately for the Redskins, their 33-31 loss to the Bears was no exception – Brian Orakpo and Brandon Meriweather left the game with first half injuries. MRIs for both players will likely tell a better story this week. Other than that, it was a typical preseason game – filled with highlights and lowlights. Here are some observations:

A lot of people were excited by Brandon Banks 91-yard punt return for a touchdown, and rightfully so, it was an exciting play. But many people in Redskins Nation seemed to believe that him doing so, guaranteed himself a roster spot. I don’t think so. Obviously, the return won’t hurt his claim any, but the Redskins already know that Banks can be a great return man – after all, it’s his third consecutive preseason with a return TD. The Redskins coaching staff told Banks he would have to take a wide receiver spot if he was going to make this team – returning a punt doesn’t do that. Banks definitely flashes brilliant play-making abilities at times, but will it be enough to make this team in 2012?

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Twitter Contest: Redskins Rides

Well Redskins fans, it’s that time of year again – time for Redskins Rides! What an uber-cool thing for Redskins fans to do!

We wanted to make sure that everybody knew about the event this Sunday at Redskins Park from 12pm-5pm, so we’re having a contest!!

Redskins Rides were kind enough to give us two tickets to give away for the event, where you will meet up with THN’s own Jake Russell, and pick up your tickets!! (Would it be too much to ask that we take a picture when that happens please!)

So what do you have to do to enter the contest?

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Neild Lost For Season

Mike Shanahan announced today, that Washington Redskins defensive tackle Chris Neild, has a torn ACL and will be done for the season.

After a Cinderella rookie campaign that saw the West Virginia product get drafted with the next-to-last pick in the NFL Draft, only to not only make the Redskins final 53-man roster, but make a considerable and valuable contribution in his first year. He appeared in 15 games (162 plays), registering 10 tackles, and two sacks.

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Who Popped, Who Dropped?

The Washington Redskins kicked off their 2012 season last night, with a 7-6 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. Pre-season games are usually littered with vanilla play-calling, and vanilla packages, but that doesn’t mean that players can’t help or hurt their chances of making a football team. Here are some guys that may have tipped the scale in one direction or another last night.

Popped

Robert Griffin III

Hard to believe that a guy riding the top of a see saw could actually raise his value even more, but the kid from Baylor just continues to prove that he truly has what it takes to not only play in this league, but perhaps one day be special. It isn’t that he did anything physically that blew the doors off or anything, but he most certainly did not look like some rookie tossed into the fire either. It’s hard to peg whether his poise, or his leadership was more impressive, but there is absolutely nothing about the number 10 to suggest that this is his first year in the league – other than public record of course.

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Tonight’s Top 5 Watch List

Everybody likes to watch different elements in the preseason. Here are the top 5 guys that I’ll have my eye on tonight:

RGIII

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He won’t play much… it might be vanilla… he might hand the ball off half the time or more. Does any of that really matter?

Absolutely not. A new era begins for Washington tonight. Regardless of the lack of importance of the performance or the results, don’t try to tell me that Robert Griffin III isn’t the numero uno thing to watch tonight.

I’ll be watching him even when he’s done playing and just standing on the sidelines. So will you.

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Training Camp Pics

Earlier in the week, we asked our fellow THNers to please send us in some of their photos if they went to training camp this week.

Here are some great photos that we received from Mozelle Meyers, @Sportsgal5_2000 on Twitter, and a die hard Washington Redskins fan:

RGIII
RGIII

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UFL Turning Corner?

Yesterday, the United Football League released their full 2012 football schedule. The press release comes fresh on the heels of the league’s announcement that CBS Sports has picked up the TV rights for the entire season. Don’t look now, but things might be starting to turn the corner for the still-new football league. After a tumultuous 2011 season that saw the schedule re-written several times and then ultimately shortened to save money, the league has some work to do to re-gain the confidence of their fans.

Entering its fourth season, the league will gain a big boost both in familiarity and that confidence, from the new television deal.

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UFL Schedule Announced

The United Football League released their official schedule today.

As per their press release last week, CBS Sports will be televising the games.

“We’re pleased to partner with the UFL and bring more live football to CBS Sports Network,” said Dan Weinberg, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS Sports Network.  “Fans have an appetite for football at all levels and we’re excited to showcase the UFL.”

Here is the full regular season schedule (All times Eastern) :

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Going To Training Camp?

Well Redskins fans, after following along at all of last week’s practices last week thanks to some great Training Camp tweet updates from our own Jake Russell, I have to admit that I am a little down about missing out on practices this week. So can Redskins Nation help me out?

I want Redskins fans to send me their photos from camp. Send me some action shots, or your favorite players on the sidelines drinking water, or players signing autographs after practice, or even of you and your friends huddled together doing crazy things at Redskins Park – whatever you want really.

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