The Washington Redskins had another dud game last Thursday Night against the Jaguars.  Jason Campbell did not play well in his brief appearance completing 1 of 4 passes for 3 yards with 1 interception.  Colt Brennan was better but not great completing 13 of 18 passes for 119 yards.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 11 yards (5.5 ypc).  Marcus Mason led the Redskins in rushing again in this game with 64 yards on 17 carries (3.8 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 27 yards (9.0 avg).  WRs Maurice Mann (39 yards) and Billy McMullen (30 yards) each caught 4 passes apiece in this game.  The Redskins finished up this game with 75 yards rushing on 20 carries (3.8 ypc) and they also completed 14 of 22 passes for 101 yards.  The Redskins only had possession of the football for 23:17 of this game and it’s hard to win that way.

Linebacker Alfred Fincher led a so-so effort by the Redskins’ defense with 8 tackles.  Safety Justin Hamilton (7 tackles) and CB Justin Tryon (6 tackles) each pitched in with a sack apiece.   The Jaguars finished up with 106 yards rushing on 29 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 21 of 31 passes for 233 yards.  The Redskins finished up the preseason with a 3-2 record.

The Washington Redskins are damn glad that last Saturday was only a preseason game as they got totally destroyed by the Panthers.  Jason Campbell had a night to forget completing 6 of 10 passes for 39 yards and losing a fumble.  Todd Collins was the most effective passer for the Redskins in this football game and that’s not saying much as he completed 9 of 15 passes for 79 yards.  Colt Brennan finished up the game completing 6 of 12 passes for 53 yards.  Clinton Portis led the Redskins in rushing in this game with 32 yards on 8 carries (4.0 ypc).  WR Billy McMullen kept his strong preseason rolling as he caught 6 passes for 55 yards (9.2 avg).  The Redskins only finished up with 79 yards rushing on 22 carries (3.6 ypc) and they also completed 21 of 37 passes for 129 yards.

The defense was absolutely pathetic for the Redskins in this game as the Panthers had two runners rush for over 100 yards each in this game.  Linebacker Khary Campball led the Redskins’ defense with 7 tackles.  Safety Reed Doughty also was busy with 5 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  The Panthers finished up with 228 yards rushing on 32 carries (7.1 ypc) and they also completed 13 of 24 passes for 174 yards.  Thank God this football game didn’t count.

The Washington Redskins improved to 3-0 with a win in New Jersey over the Jets last night.  Despite only scoring 13 points last night the Redskins were impressive on offense rolling up 359 total yards.  Jason Campbell had his first sub par performance of the preseason completing 4 of 10 passes for 28 yards.  Todd Collins was much more effective than Campbell was last night as he completed 11 of 15 passes for 72 yards.  Rookie QB Colt Brennan was the star of the show again as he completed 4 of 5 passes for 79 yards including the 33-yard game winning TD to TE Jason Goode with only 1:09 left in the game.  Derek Devine didn’t do much last night completing 2 of 4 passes for 22 yards with a INT.  Rock Cartwright led the Redskins in rushing last night with 90 yards on only 6 carries (15.0 ypc).  Marcus Mason continued his outstanding preseason with 55 yards rushing on 9 carries (6.1 ypc) last night.  LaDell Betts pitched in with 34 yards rushing on only 6 carries (5.7 ypc) last night.  WR Billy McMullen led all receivers last night for the Redskins with 53 yards on 3 grabs (17.7 avg).  TE Jason Goode pitched in with 39 yards receiving only 2 catches (19.5 avg) against the Jets.  The Redskins finished up last night with 181 yards rushing on 22 carries (8.2 ypc) and they completed 21 of 34 passes for 178 yards.

Linebacker Alfred Fincher, CB Matterral Richardson and S Chris Horton led the way for the Redskins’ defense last night with 6 tackles apiece.  The Redskins run defense was outstanding against the Jets last night holding them to only 69 yards rushing on 25 carries (2.8 ypc).  But the Redskins gave up 248 yards passing as the Jets completed 23 of 37 passes.  The Redskins did a great job of tightening up the defense whenever the Jets got close to scoring and that was impressive.  I know it’s just the preseason but it’s good to win often to get some momentum for September when the games count.

The Redskins traditionally don’t like to work the running backs too hard who are likely to make the final roster so Clinton Portis and LaDell Betts probably won’t play much in the preseason .  So Marcus Mason is making the most of his chance to make the Redskins this year.  He leads the Redskins with a very impressive 178 yards rushing on 34 carries (5.2 ypc) and he has also caught 3 passes for 21 yards (7.0 avg) with a TD grab.  Mason also has been working hard on special teams as he has returned 2 kickoffs for 54 yards (27.0 avg).  The Redskins should really consider carrying a 4th running back this season behind Clinton Portis, LaDell Betts and Rock Cartwright because they won’t be able to hide Mason on the practice squad with the way he has been playing this preseason.

It helps when QBs know that the head coach really knows what he’s talking about when showing them things and Jim Zorn certainly does.  After all, he was a starting QB in the NFL for a few seasons so he knows first hand about what his QBs are going through on the field.  Young Jason Campbell has been excellent so far this pre-season as he has completed 12 of 15 passes (80%) for 132 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 interceptions (125.6 QB Rating).  Veteran Todd Collins has also been very solid completing 13 of 17 passes (76.5%) for 109 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception (87.6 QB Rating).  Rookie Colt Brennan has also looked really good so far this preseason completing 13 of 18 passes (72.2%) for 160 yards with 2 TD passes and 0 interceptions (136.3 QB Rating).  The most impressive thing about the Redskins’ offense so far this preseason has been the balance as they have averaged 155.5 yards rushing per game and 192.5 yards passing per game. 

The Redskins finished with a 9-7 record making the playoffs last season before losing to the Seahawks in Seattle 10-6.  After the loss, head coach Joe Gibbs decided to retire from the Redskins for a second time.  In steps Jim Zorn who has not been a head coach in the NFL until now.  Zorn was the QB coach of the Seattle Seahawks from 2001-07 and he held the same job with the Lions in 1998-2000.  The Redskins hope that Zorn will be able to help develop young QBs Jason Campbell and Colt Brennan while also putting a winning team on the field.  The Redskins added some firepower on offense in the draft so the team is confident heading into the 2008 season.

Jim Zorn also was a QB in the NFL so he knows what it’s like to face live bullets on the field.  He played in 140 games (126 starts) in his NFL career and he completed 1,669 of 3,149 passes (53%) for 21,115 yards with 111 TD passes and 141 interceptions (67.3 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 322 times for 1,504 yards (4.7 ypc) with 17 TD runs.  Hopefully, he teaches the Redskins’ QBs to be better than he was.

The Redskins gave a good overall effort last night to improve to 2-0 on the season.  Jason Campbell looked good again completing 7 of 10 passes for 71 yards.  Todd Collins also had another solid game completing 8 of 11 passes for 77 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 interception.  Colt Brennan was very average in his second NFL game completing 4 of 8 passes for 37 yards.  Derek Devine got in his first action of the season and he completed 1 of 3 passes for 10 yards.  Running back Marcus Mason was outstanding again for the Redskins rushing for 80 yards on 16 carries (5.0 ypc).  Ladell Betts was also very impressive rushing for 41 yards on 8 carries (5.1 ypc).  He also caught 3 passes for 41 yards (13.7 avg) with a 12-yard TD grab.  Clinton Portis rushed for 18 yards on 7 carries (2.6 ypc) with a 1-yard TD run.  Billy McMullen led the way for the Redskins’ receivers with 6 catches for 55 yards (9.2 avg).  The Redskins rushed for 155 yards on 31 carries (5.0 ypc) last night.  They also completed 20 of 32 passes for 186 yards last night.  The Redskins had possession of the football for 33:17 of the game as they have looked really good on offense so far this season.

Linebacker Matt Sinclair led the way for the Redskins on defense with 8 tackles.  The Bills only rushed for 67 yards on 21 carries (3.2 ypc) last night.  The Bills only threw for 173 yards last night completing 17 of 30 passes as the Redskins’ defense continued it’s solid play this preseason.

The Redskins have released safety Stuart Schweigert.  When Schweigert signed with the Redskins over the offseason he said he would be the starting strong safety for the Skins but he was wrong.  Reed Doughty apparently has looked good enough in training camp that the Redskins felt o.k. in letting Schweigert go.  Doughty played in all 16 games (6 starts) for the Redskins last season and he made 53 tackles, had 1/2 a sack and he defensed 2 passes.  Look for him to do a solid job for the Redskins in 2008 especially on run defense where he packs a wallop.

The Washington Redskins looked great earlier tonight at the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.  It all started when the Colts tried an onside kick on the first play of the game.  The Redskins recovered and Jason Campbell took the team right down the field as he completed a 20-yard TD pass to Antwaan Randle El.  Campbell completed all 5 of his pass attempts tonight for 61 yards with 1 TD pass.  After Campbell was Todd Collins and he played decent completing 5 of 6 passes for 32 yards.  But, it was Colt Brennan that stole the show as far as the QBs were concerned.  Brennan completed 9 of 10 passes for 123 yards with 2 TD passes (one to WR Maurice Mann and one to RB Marcus Mason).  Running backs Rock Cartwright and Marcus Mason carried the whole load in the running game.  Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts were just watching these guys run all over the Colts’ defense.  Marcus Mason carried the ball 18 times for 98 yards (5.4 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 11 yards (5.5 avg) including one of which was a TD.  Rock Cartwright carried the ball 13 times for 58 yards (4.5 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 15 yards (7.5 avg).  The Redskins finished up the game with 156 yards rushing on 31 carries (5.0 ypc).  They also completed 19 of 22 passes (86.4%) for 199 yards in the game.  The Redskins almost looked too good on offense if that’s even possible.

The Redskins gave up a lot of yards in this football game but they also got a good look at some young kids that played well in the 2nd half of the game.  Rookie CB Chris Horton had a monster game as he had 5 tackles and 2 sacks.  Fellow CB Matterral Richardson had 2 tackles tonight but his biggest play was a interception that he returned 38-yards for a TD.  Linebacker Khary Campbell led the Redskins in tackles with 8 tonight.  The Colts finished up with 113 yards rushing on 20 carries (5.7 ypc) and they also completed 29 of 50 passes (58%) for 297 yards.  The Redskins have some things they need to work on defensively but it was nice to see some of the kids really step up in the second half.  Overall, the Skins looked pretty good tonight.

26-year old Shaun Suisham came into last season with very little experience but he did a solid job for the Redskins.  Suisham played in all 16 games for the Redskins last year and he made 29 of 35 (82.9%) field goals.  He also made 29 of 30 extra points last year.  Look for him to build on a solid season and the Redskins need him to because they can’t afford to leave points on the field.  Suisham has now played in 27 games in his NFL career and he has connected on 41 of 50 (82%) field goal attempts.  Suisham also has made 51 of 52 extra points (98.1%) in his career.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  B