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(photo by Brian Murphy)

There’s a lot to like coming out of the Washington Redskins 34-13 domination of the Oakland Raiders this past weekend.

The offense continued to show progress across the board, with tight end Fred Davis and newly-promoted running back Quinton Ganther providing the bulk of the firepower.

The defense, led by a menacing pass rush, finally closed out an opponent after three weeks of failed fourth quarter efforts by sacking Raiders quarterbacks eight times on the day.

Special teams, minus one inept punt returner, stayed out of the way and did a more than adequate job – especially considering Graham Gano earned the kicking job one week prior.

And yet, with so many positives to choose from, we can’t help but turn our attention to something else. That’s because, for the life of us, we simply cannot get the image of defensive end Andre Carter attempting a scoop-and-score situation out of our head.

Here we are, days after the best win of the Jim Zorn era, and all we can see when we think back is Carter, at 6-4, 254 lbs., fumbling around on the ground in a “greased-pig” situation.

As a quick refresher, the Redskins were leading 31-13 with less than eight minutes to go in the game. The Raiders had the ball first-and-10 on the 20, and had no chance of driving 80 yards because JaMarcus Russell was their quarterback.

Redskins rookie defensive end/linebacker Brian Orakpo came flying in from Russell’s blind side and drilled the oversized quarterback from behind – causing the ball to fly out of his hand. Carter saw the loose football sitting on the turf just a few short feet away from the endzone and raced in to score the first touchdown of his nine-year career.

What happened next was the cause of much post-game locker room debate. The cliffnotes version goes something like this – Carter failed to reel in the loose ball and it was eventually recovered by Raiders offensive lineman Mario Henderson.

“I had the perfect view,” said defensive lineman Phillip Daniels. “I was on the sidelines and saw [Orakpo] fly around and strip the ball. I saw the ball laying there, with nobody around. No nothing. And then, I saw Dre come and I said, ‘This is an easy touchdown.’ And then I watched Dre pass the ball. I was like, ‘What the hell did he just do?’ We were just looking at each other on the sidelines, shaking our heads.”

Daniels wasn’t alone in shaking his head.

“I’m disappointed in Andre,” said receiver Devin Thomas. “He really prides himself on his flexibility because he’s so big and muscular. I just knew he was going to get low and scoop that. I know he’s mad, he’s salty about it because he wanted a touchdown. He definitely should have had that one.”

Orakpo left little doubt when asked if he planned on giving Carter grief for not reeling in the would-be touchdown after the rookie caused the fumble on his fourth sack of the day.

“Oh yeah,” he said with a laugh. “I’m gonna because he had an easy touchdown and I don’t think we have a defensive touchdown this whole year. He could have been the first, and he blew it.”

Do you think he just got too excited seeing that ball sitting there just waiting for him?

“I think he did,” Orakpo said. “He normally knows how to pick up a ball, but he got too excited. It was so easy that it made it harder.”

Because the play ultimately didn’t come back to haunt the team, most of the locker room was laughing the play off. Like Orakpo, they all seemed content to have a little fun at Carter’s expense.

“I think we just need to work on that more in practice,” Daniels said. “We need to do some more scoop and score. We ain’t worked on it in a while, but I’m pretty sure it’s coming this week because that was one of those ‘C’mon Man’ moments you’re going to see on Monday Night Football for sure.”

In the post-game locker room one player had already made up his mind on how to help Carter avoid future embarrassment, should the situation arise again down the road.

“I just know I have to buy him some stuffed animals for Christmas,” said linebacker Rocky McIntosh. “So he can have something to grab and be soft with. That’s what I’m going to do. Yeah man, he’s just too ripped. He was on a high already from getting a lot of sacks and he just got too excited. He just needs to think of it as him picking up his son.”

Carter watched us as we bounced around the locker room getting different perspectives on the play that could have been. He knew it was coming, and by the time we headed to his stall, he was already cracking up.

Rocky says he’s buying you a stuffed animal so you can learn to have softer hands. What say you?

(Laughs). “I know, I know,” he said. “I’ve got to kiss the baby, man. I’ve got to kiss the baby.”

So what happened?

“I got excited, man,” Carter said. “I was like a little kid thinking I was gonna get a touchdown. I was like, ‘I’m gonna score a touchdown!’ And then … awwwww. I guess it happens to the very few of us who have no hands. The good thing is we won, so I’ll take the win … but I really wanted that touchdown so bad.”

Carter is easily one of the most likable guys in the locker room. Regardless of whether the team wins or loses, he’s the first player to stand up and answer whatever questions the media has for him. While the fumble recovery for a touchdown got away from him, Carter still finished the game with seven tackles and two sacks.

For the season, Carter now has 11 sacks, which ties him with Orakpo for fourth in the league. He had a great game and has had a very solid season, and yet, we get the sneaking suspicion that, much like us, the only thought on his mind after Oakland is the scoop and score that got away.

[Update: Today is a good day because we’ve been able to track down the “C’mon Man!” segment featuring Mr. Carter. Here’s the link. Skip ahead to the one-minute mark and enjoy the show.]

(photo by Brian Murphy)

When it comes to the 2009 Washington Redskins, we’ve been operating under two truths – the offense stinks and the defense dominates.

During the first half of the season, when the Redskins faced four of the five worst teams in the league, the Washington offense was nearly nonexistent. Through the first six games, the Redskins averaged an anemic 13 points per game and were held without a touchdown against St. Louis and Kansas City (who are a combined 4-20).

Meanwhile, the Redskins still had a chance to wins these games because the defense was playing at such a high level. The Redskins’ defense, as usual, was ranked in the top 10 while allowing only 16 points per contest. As an added bonus, they also boasted the top-ranked passing defense.

But a funny thing has happened over the last three weeks – against playoff-caliber opponents in Dallas, Philadelphia and New Orleans, no less – the offense has started to come into its own, and now it’s the defense that is costing the team victories.

Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell, who half the fanbase simply cannot wait to run out of town, has completed 76 of 116 passes for 854 yards with five touchdowns and four interceptions and a QB rating of 87.3. He also ran for a touchdown against the Eagles.

With Campbell performing at a higher level, youngsters such as wide out Devin Thomas and tight end Fred Davis have also seen a spike in their production. Thomas has posted 14 catches for 179 and two touchdowns the last three weeks. Davis has 11 catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a combined 25 catches for 299 yards and four scores over the last three weeks from two young players who “experts” had already rushed to label as busts.

Due to injuries to Clinton Portis and Ladell Betts, the Redskins have been forced to go running back by committee, so we’ll combine the production of Quinton Ganther and Rock Cartwright. Some quick math shows that the “Q-Rock” combo has 56 carries for 228 yards over the last three games, which is more than four yards per carry.

And most importantly, the offensive line, which was dreadful earlier this season seems to have finally found a rhythm. The run blocking has improved drastically, which is why lesser backs like Ganther and Cartwright have, at times, looked better than established guys like Portis and Betts. But the biggest surprise has been the team’s improved pass blocking. Over the last three games, Campbell has been sacked just twice. This from an offensive line that allowed Campbell to be sacked 28 times the first nine games.

So, over the last three weeks, the Redskins offense has scored an average of 20 points per game and racked up 1,082 total net yards (which equals 360 yards per game). That’s an improvement of a touchdown more per game and enough total yards to rank 10th, if they were able to maintain that pace over the course of the entire season.

It’s safe to say they’re getting it done these days.

If the defense resembled anything remotely close to a top 10 unit, the Redskins would be on a three-game winning streak, or at worst, 2-1 in their last three games. And yet, the Skins have lost three straight, by a combined seven points.

All three games share one maddening trait – with the game on the line, the Redskins defense simply could not get off the field.

Leading by six with roughly seven minutes left in Dallas, the Redskins defense allowed quarterback Tony Romo to heat up and drive down the field on a nine-play, 60-yard drive that took four minutes and 25 seconds. The Cowboys didn’t call a single running play on the drive and Romo lit up the Skins secondary, completing seven of eight passes for 66 yards (a false start call on the Cowboys explains the difference in yards).

One week later, the Redskins led the Eagles 24-16 with just under 12 minutes left in the game. Philadelphia took over at their own 10-yard line and promptly marched 90 yards in 10 plays to tie the game at 24-24. The Eagles got the ball back with 5:35 to play and put together a 10-play, 66-yard drive in under four minutes to steal the win.

In those two deciding drives, Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb went five of eight for 115 yards and the Philly ground game picked up an additional 42 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

This past weekend was quite possibly the worst of the bunch. Yes, they were playing against the best offense in football against a Saints squad that scores 37 points per game. But to allow any opponent to drive 80 yards in 33 seconds in inexcusable. The fact that they did so in without any timeouts is downright embarrassing.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees completed four of five passes for 80 yards and a touchdown on the pivotal drive.

That means, with the game on the line, those three quarterbacks went a combined 16 of 21 for 261 yards and two touchdowns against a supposedly top-tier defense. Spin it any way you’d like and you still have to come to the same conclusion – the defense is nowhere near as good as their ninth-place ranking suggests.

The defensive line, which has been infinitely better at pressuring quarterbacks this season, cannot make a play in the clutch. Linebackers other than London Fletcher are nowhere to be found in the deciding moments and the secondary is flat-out failing to stop anyone.

Honestly, it’s so bad that we’re convinced if Carlos Rogers and LaRon Landry had us trapped in a dark alley, all we’d have to do is a double move and we’d get out of there free from harm. Both players are top 10 picks, and yet, neither seems to have any clue what to do if a receiver does more than one move on a route. Can someone at Redskins Park please chip in for the Sunday Ticket so these guys can watch what modern-day offenses are all about?

The moments in which either of these two guys actually makes a play are so few and far between that Landry, in particular, feels compelled to celebrate each time he does bring down an opposing player as if he’d just won the Super Bowl. It’s as if even he’s surprised he made the play.

Defensive coordinator Greg Blache would be wise to sit down his defense and go over the basics one more time. If you’re on the line, you simply have to do a better job of getting pressure in the backfield and if you’re in the secondary, there’s no excuse for letting your man get behind you in coverage. None of this is earth shattering. It’s Football 101.

But until these simple things start to happen, we might have to alter our two “truths.” Because these days, the Redskins’ offense is getting it done, while the defense continues to hold this team back.

(photo by Brian Murphy)

For three weeks now, the Washington Redskins have been good enough to win. And yet, for the third-consecutive week, we’re left searching for answers as another fourth-quarter lead vanished.

Had the Redskins knocked off the previously undefeated New Orleans Saints this past weekend, the post-game locker room would have been as festive as a kid’s first visit to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Unfortunately, the game unraveled in the end, the Redskins suffered a devastating 33-30 overtime loss and the locker room was about as enjoyable as a funeral parlor.

Searching for answers, we turned to tight end Fred Davis, who continues to be one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal season. What came next was quite possibly one of the most honest interviews we’ve ever been a part of.

That was a tough one, Fred. You guys just went toe-to-toe with the best team in the NFL and looked to be the better team all day long, and yet, here we are trying to figure out what went wrong. How should Redskins fans feel after this one?

“You probably feel robbed,” Davis said. “You should feel robbed, because that’s how I feel. I really feel like that game was supposed to be ours. Even past that bad call on the fumble – I thought the ball was dead – but I guess I’ve got to see it again. I think we should have finished them off when we could have. We had it. Again.

“We just didn’t finish,” he continued. “It’s on us. We should have scored another field goal or something. We should have made it. Every week it seems like something different – whether it’s the offense, the defense giving up a play at the end or special teams now. I don’t know … this really sucks.”

You’ve been involved in football most of your life. Have you ever been a part of something like this, where seemingly every week something unexpected happens and your team just cannot catch a break?

“I’ve never been a part of a situation like this and I hope I don’t ever have to again,” said Davis. “With everything that has happened, I really hope I don’t have to go through this again in the future. It needs to turn around somewhere. I know it is going to turn around; I just wanted it to turn around this week against this team. It would have been really great to have a win against a team like that.”

They shank a punt and somehow get the ball back because it bounces off of a Redskins player. A few plays later, they throw an interception and yet somehow score a touchdown on the play. Honestly, you couldn’t dream up a flukier way to have the game turn. How do you keep from becoming completely demoralized after this one?

“When I saw that happen I just thought ‘Okay, it’s football. Sometimes things like that happen,’” Davis said. “At the end of the day, I put it on us. As an offense, we have to score again. There’s gonna be a turnover. That stuff happens in a game. The other guys get paid too. There’s gonna be a play made against you or something bad happens that you don’t want. You’ve just got to come back out and make a play.

“I feel like we could have,” he continued. “We were ready. We wanted to. When we got down there, we played really conservative and tried to kick the field goal, and it didn’t work out.”

When the game first started, the Saints’ first two drives ended with punts. On the other hand, you guys were marching up and down the field, and you specifically were prominently involved. What does it say about the coaching staff’s trust in you to see the ball coming your way more and more?

“I feel like that’s how it was in the first half, but in the second half, we spread it out more and I like that,” Davis said. “I like when everybody’s involved and every receiver has a catch. It makes so many other people a threat to score. I feel like everything is on the right path.

“I feel like with Chris [Cooley], he’s one of the greats,” he continued. “I’m definitely not there yet, but I know I can make plays. Whatever plays they call for you, you’ve just got to make the best of it you can. That’s what I try to do, and I got lucky. I got into the endzone or was able to break a tackle. But all of that stuff doesn’t matter if you lose. I think of all of that as nothing now.”

We completely understand where you’re coming from, but at the same time, you, Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly were basically called a bust for more than a year. Now that you’re getting a chance, you’re all showing why this franchise invested in you …

“We knew that we could,” Davis said. “You know how the media is. We’re in D.C. If we’re not winning and we didn’t go to the playoffs last year, you’ve got to point the finger somewhere. I just think that’s how it is. This league is all about opportunities, and if you don’t get them, how are you going to show what you can do? If you’re only getting one or two plays, you might make one of them, but then again, you might mess up. It’s all about opportunity and what you do with it.”

With that in mind, we want you to talk good about Devin Thomas, who easily had his best day as a pro …

“Jason [Campbell] was putting the ball on point for him and he was making the catches that he needed to make,” he said. “That’s what he’s supposed to do. To me, I’m not surprised. He shouldn’t be either. That’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to get down field, catch the ball and make people miss. He’s that type of player, and I believe he can do it. So this game didn’t surprise me.”

While the strong showing by Thomas might not have surprised Davis, rest assured, the heartbreaking ending to the game sure did. Like we said earlier, this interview was one of those rare moments when a player forgets all the “athlete speak” and completely tells it how it is. Whether he’s talking about going conservative or simply saying “this sucks,” there’s no doubt what Davis was feeling in the painful moments after the Saints game.

We were already a fan of Davis before, but this only makes us like him that much more. In a league where, too often, players are only committed to the highest bidder, it was refreshing to see a young player who seemingly cares about the Redskins as much as the burgundy and gold faithful who’ve been tied to this team for generations.