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?

Read more

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

Cheap Seats: It’s getting closer…

It’s getting closer with every breath we take.  With every article we read, or interview we hear.  Every day it grows stronger in more than thirty locations around the nation.  It’s almost palpable.  Like a living breathing entity that needs time to grow and take shape, it has times of frustration and times of excitement, albeit in small amounts.  To some, it’s like the Loch Ness Monster in that it isn’t even a real thing.  To others, it’s as real as life itself.

Football season.

Read more

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

Read more

Redskins 2012 Schedule Wallpaper – RGIII Style!

Well with training camp opening next week, and rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III having just signed his rookie contract, it seemed appropriate to start putting together a schedule wallpaper for the 2012 season.

OBVIOUSLY, RGIII is the focus of just about everyone’s attention – both in and out of Washington, so I put together this optimistic spin on the Redskins upcoming season – their first with Griffin under center – and called it ‘Invitation to the Playoffs.’

Read more

RGIII Officially Signs

Perhaps the most long awaited contract signature in the last two decades for Redskins Nation, finally happened.

Robert Griffin III signed what has been reported as a 4-year, $21M+ guaranteed contract. Not bad for a 22-year old – it had to feel like winning the 6 million dollar jackpot at Party Casino. Now that the ink on his rookie contract has dried and Griffin is locked up, it’s time to start settling into his franchise quarterback role on the football field.

Read more

Griffin Just Has ‘It’

Did you catch the nice blog on NFL.com about Robert Griffin III shooting a Subway commercial in Texas?

I joke, but I’m just not really sure why the piece led with that tidbit, when the title and crux of an otherwise good piece, is that a bunch of Redskins are heading down to Texas for a friendly game of pass and catch with their rookie quarterback.

Read more

RGIII Wallpaper

When Robert Griffin III was drafted in April, I needed to come up with something different for my avatar/twitcon. I had been rocking the RGIII Composite Draft picture up until the draft, but obviously that wasn’t quite as cutting edge once there actually were photos of Griffin being drafted. So I came up with doing a Close Encounters of the Third Kind avi.

Many people asked me if I was going to be doing up a wallpaper in the same style, so it’s finally here!!

Read more