Redskin’s football in Baltimore was quite an experience. The site of all that purple strewn around the stadium was hard on the eyes. It was nice to see quite a bit of burgundy and gold sprinkled through out the crowd. Yesterday however, was about more then just the rivalry between these two teams. It was the first chance of the season for fans, like myself, to see their team battle. Football has officially begun and despite the lack of anything that resembled a spark for the Skins yesterday, it is very exciting.
My first impression of the scrimmage was not a great one. It is very difficult to concentrate while multiple drills are being run all over the field. I found myself feeling a little frustrated that I could not manage, no matter how hard I tried, to catch every single play or drill that was taking place. I started to concentrate on the Offense specifically because it was definitely last year’s weakness.
During the O-line one on ones I saw Jansen throw a defender to the ground. What a huge relief to see the big guy back on top of his game. That relief was extremely short lived because seeing Ray Lewis pick off Ramsey’s pass during the 7 on 7 drills just broke my heart. Ramsey is, according to reports out of Redskin’s Park, our quarterback for the season, and if he is going to have success this year, he needs to play a bit smarter. Ray Lewis is always all over the field and it is hard for any quarterback, seasoned or otherwise to miss him on every play. The Skin’s fans just did not want to see this happen during our first glimpse of Redskin’s football. Our quarterbacks did not show much mobility. Out of the three, the most mobile was definitely Brunnell, which carried bad and good news with it. The good news is that he can move out of the pocket while under pressure. The bad news seems to be that he is only capable of moving backwards. The receivers did an ok job of trying to make themselves open. There is just no chemistry there yet between Ramsey and any one receiver. However, we did see that chemistry between

ey and Ramsey that we witnessed all season last year. Ramsey went 5 of 8 for 37 yards. Campbell showed an expected green performance in the beginning and did start to gather his confidence the longer he played. He does not in anyway look ready to lead a team but it is nice to see him benefit from the experience of almost live NFL football. He supplied the Redskin’s with their only touchdown during the 11 on 11 drills. After throwing an interception in the end zone, he came back and routed a short pass to Billy Baber to put 6 on the board. Rookie Nehemiah Broughton showed signs of being on the right track. Look for contributions from him during regular season play.
Special team drills brought a wonderful surprise. Punter Andy Groom is very interested in giving Tom Tupa a run for his money. His punts were right on the mark, and he was very consistent all day. If Groom does not wear burgundy and gold next year, you should fully expect to see him starting elsewhere if he continues to perform as he did on Saturday. John Hall gave his usual solid performance though Chandler was lacking just a bit with his missed field goal during the 11 on 11 drills. I do not see the contest between these two being nearly as intense as the aforementioned punter competition. On the other side of the ball, our coverage against punt returns bore an eerie resemblance to past year’s performances. There were too many gaping holes that would have allowed the Ravens to obtain great field position, had this been an actual game. The coaching staff likely recognized this as well and will be working on it in the weeks to come. Our own punt returning would not have yielded us quite the same advantage, but again I am sure this will be addressed in the weeks of practice and preseason games to come.
Our defense was lacking something as well. I fully expected to see the same intensity I saw on the field last year from this unit. In addition, with time we may see it again. It will involve having a few lesser knowns stepping up their game. Marcus Washington as always sparkled and had a sack on Boller that got the Redskin’s fan in the stadium fired up. It was nice to see that he has not lost his edge after his recent surgery. Sean Taylor showed his same aggressive play stopping tendencies we all came to love last year. The absence of Smoot and Pierce were definitely felt on the field. However, we should keep reminding ourselves that prior to their stepping up their game, we would have never known they could be such an integral part of a great defense. So, look for a few players to jump right into the roles that these two left. It is hard to determine just whom it will be at this point. That should become clear as we near regular season play.
The Ravens offense was actually quite impressive. Their back up quarterback may earn himself some playing time if he manages to produce in preseason as he did yesterday. Boller may have quite a competition on his hands should Billick notice what some of us did yesterday. Their defense as usual was on the mark. Ray Lewis seemed to be in on almost every play as usual. In addition, even Deion Sanders seemed to be able to get himself around our offensive line several times.
As a side note to the Redskin’s play on the field, I was sorely disappointed that our host team could not have properly prepared for this event. Not only were there long waits to buy tickets, pick up tickets, and to get into the stadium, but also there was obviously no research done on our roster before the game. During various plays, the announcer sited an incomplete pass to Rod Gardner and credited a tackle to Mike Barrow. I would hope if we hosted the Ravens at Fed Ex field we would have bothered to read the recent headlines regarding the team and prepared quite a bit better then they bothered to for our arrival.
On the injury front, McCants seemed to be nursing his right hand or perhaps a finger. He was seen, early in the day, jumping around on the sidelines in obvious pain while the staff tended to it. During regular play, Garnell Wilds was down on the field for an extended period of time. Ironically, they attempted a field goal, prior to getting him off of the field. I found this very disturbing for some reason. During one of the last sets of drills, Cory Raymer went down with an obvious strain on his leg. Once up, he was quick to shake it off and stand patiently on the sidelines waiting for another opportunity to get back in the action.
All in all the scrimmage was not a bad experience, keeping in mind that it is indeed nothing more then glorified practice. As a diehard fan, it was difficult to keep it lighthearted while I sat amongst a sea of nauseating purple, but it was nice to see some football regardless of the environment. But that's just one girl's opinion.
