Sporting News Football '08: Redskins (Magazine)

I recently bought a football preview magazine and given that there hasn't been a lot to talk about lately I figured that I'd post a few points of interest from the Redskins part of the magazine. Note I copied these by.....hand so theres probably going to be a few spelling errors. This Thread is brought to you by the state of Georgia, for suspending my licence for the next 6 months all because I had a seizure.

Breakout Canidate: Anthony Montgomery DT
Montgomery has all the tools to be an elite-level player. He has long arms, a powerful upper body, a good base, and is quick off the ball. Montgomery made enormous imporovemnt from rookie year to his second season. Now that he has had a taste of success, and with the teams desire to get more of a pass rush out of its tackles, montgomery is in perfect position to have a breakout season

SN PICK 4th NFC East (4-12) [Bastards]

QB's - Jason Campbell new offense blah blah blah, 7,000th new offense since the birth of christ. hard worker, tall, strong arm, plays his guts out. Todd Collins came in did some things, been around the league long enough to grasp a system like Zorns that relys on decision making. Grade C

RB's - Two RB's awesome..blah blah blah. Clinton Portis tough and fast. Needs to work on catching. Betts tough inside runner.

"Mike Sellers has been frustrated that the fullback hasn't gotten many opportunites to carry the ball in the offense over the last two years. That could change this year. Sellers is massive physicall\y and has exceptional speed and agility for a man his size. He is also a devastating blocker."

Some guy named Rock is on the team. Marcus Mason will have a great preseason...oh wait. Grade A

Recievers - Moss is fast, adjust to the ball, durability concerns.

"Antwaan Randel EL showed marked improvement during his second season with the Redskins. A continuation of that improvement could wind up with Randle El catching 70-80 passes this season. The West Coast Offense should be a good fit for the seventh-year pro, espeically if the team can find a big reciver to line up outside, permitting Reanle El to move into the slot on third downs. Thomas and Kelly will compete for the job as the No 3 Reciever."

Cooley is 1337. Davis is talented but lazy. Grade - B

Offensive Line - "Is this group experienced or old?"

"However Casey Rabach is reaching the prime of his career. He has improved in each of the past three season, is strong at the point of attack, does a good job of making adjustments before the snap and is equally adept at run and pass blocking."

"Chris Samuels, 30, is the one lineman who has been able to avoid serious injuries and get better with age. Help could be coming down the pipeline. Stephon Heyer showed potential as a rookie last year. He was overmatched in the playoff game against Seattle defensive end Patrick Kerney, but if Heyer progresses normally in his second year he will eventually become a starter."

Grade - B

Redskins' Best-Ever LB's
1. Chris Hanburger (1965-78)
2. Sam Huff
3.......Lavar Arrington? (I shit you not. Number 3 is Lavar Arrington).

Draft Report - Grade - C

Thomas-Kelly are tall blah blah blah.

"Tight End Fred Davis has the athletiscism, hands, and receiving skills, but is not a competitive blocker and doesn't consistently play with passion. The talent is there for Davis to be a solid backcp to Chris Cooley, but he'll need to step up his competitiveness to do so. Third Round Pick Chad Rinehart showed at the Senior Bowl that he has what it takes to become a starter at RT or G. Cornerback Justin Tryon is a tough and highly aggressive player with the speed and explosivness to become a quality starter if he can overcome his lack of height. Kareem Moore is a safety with size, he must improve his technique in order to turn his athleticism into on field production."

Defense

Defensive Line - They're old but good. Nothing new here except the grade Grade B

Linebackers - Fletcher is a...veteran who, "excells at getting the players around him lined up correctly and demands accoutability from himself and his teamates. Fletcher improved the defense last year, and will continue to do so in 2008."

McIntosh is awesome but injury prone. Grade B

Secondary -Springs is old and and the teams best CB when healthy. We here at SN didn't read the KC Joyner article and so we say here that Smoot isn't playing like a starter anymore.

"The Safety spot is this even with one of the best defensive players in the league. Laron Landry came in as a rookie last year and was everything the Redskins hoped he would be. Landry became even more then Washington could have hoped for after the death of Sean Taylor. Landry's strong play earned him thre starting free safety spot in 2008 with Reed Doughty handling Strong Safety. Eventually they will need to find a playmaking FS so Landry can move back to strong, his best position.

Grade B-

Special Teams - Brooks is a punter. Frost started off strong ended not strong.

"Shaun Shuisam had several game winning kicks early in the year, but he ened the season by missing a crucial 30 yard field goal in the first round
playoff game against Seattle." Red Snapper is 1337.

Grade B-

Bottom Line Final Grade - 72 [Stock Report <<>> Steady]

kinda worthless article :/ thanks for posting though.

I feel like it was a solid assessment. The skins have a lot of question marks going into the season, the basement of the NFC east isn't an outrageous prediction. I could see us going anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the division. Either way, I don't think I see playoffs happening at this point. Who knows, maybe the team plays amazing and with a (gasp) aggressive offense we're able to really put things together, but in June I don't see it.

I feel like it was a solid assessment. The skins have a lot of question marks going into the season, the basement of the NFC east isn't an outrageous prediction. I could see us going anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the division. Either way, I don't think I see playoffs happening at this point. Who knows, maybe the team plays amazing and with a (gasp) aggressive offense we're able to really put things together, but in June I don't see it.

As a team that lost four heartbreakers in a row only to rebound and make the playoffs, other than head coach what question marks do we have? I see no reason our offense won't be vastly improved (young QB continuing to grow, offensive line that can't possibly more injured than last season, significant upgrades at the skill positions, and, let's face it, a more modern NFL offensive philosophy). While we do have some threatening injuries on defense, I think it's reasonable to expect a level of performance at least close to last year's. If anything we under achieved this previous season. What do you see that I don't that makes a 4-12 prediction seem anything other than outrageous?

If Zorn turns out to be a hack than yeah, maybe we'll be bad, but I am at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

4-12?

That's a bit of a worse case scenario isn't it?

Nemo:

Here are my questions. Jason Campbell. I love the guy, but it's got to be a big year for him. Granted, all these new systems isn't fair for him -- but as he goes, we go -- and I'm not sure hes ready yet. Especially since we're switching offenses this year. Secondly, where do you see huge upgrades at skill positions. We have more or less three rookie receivers (Davis isn't exactly an inline blocking type of TE), rookie receivers typically have little to no impact. RBs will be the same, as will QB -- so skill positions are the same.

However, my concern comes on the defense. From what I understand, Blache is a Dline rush coverage type guy -- which I don't think works for this team. That and I'm not sold he's a quarter of what GWill was. Also -- Rocky and Carlos probably not being there on opening day is huge, along with the question mark that is Marcus Washington. I think our defense falls off rather significantly, and our offense improves some.

Granted, it's June. Maybe I'll feel better when I see a few practices in training camp, or when I hear the injured guys are working out.

Please don't take this as a knock on Zorn. I actually think he's a great candidate. But lets be realistic, he was a quarterbacks coach less than a year ago. The adjustment might be more steep than he was expecting and it takes a while to implement an offense.

Now, 4-12 is ridiculous. I expect us to be at worse 6-10. at best 10-6. But I think in our division -- even 9-7 may not land us the 2nd spot.

As a team that lost four heartbreakers in a row only to rebound and make the playoffs, other than head coach what question marks do we have? I see no reason our offense won't be vastly improved (young QB continuing to grow, offensive line that can't possibly more injured than last season, significant upgrades at the skill positions, and, let's face it, a more modern NFL offensive philosophy). While we do have some threatening injuries on defense, I think it's reasonable to expect a level of performance at least close to last year's. If anything we under achieved this previous season. What do you see that I don't that makes a 4-12 prediction seem anything other than outrageous?

If Zorn turns out to be a hack than yeah, maybe we'll be bad, but I am at least willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Other than Zorn? Nothing.

But it's all about Zorn. Here's the thing, I'm a Redskin fan and traditionalist. To me, Joe Gibbs is one of the greatest coaches of all time. How do you go from him to Jim Zorn, with basically the same player personnel, without taking a step back?

If Zorn puts up a better record than Gibbs, which I admit is possible, it will pretty much turn everything I know about coaching upside down.

But if I'm a betting man, I'm with Daseal. No playoffs for us this year. I won't go so far as 4-12; but if we make 8-8 in this division with a new coach, you'd have to be pleased with Zorn's first season.

I might be in the minority on this but I'm pretty confident that JC is going to have a big year and will thrive in this offense. Remember last year vs. Detroit we used a quick hitting style of passing game and JC tore it up. I think he's at his best when he drops back and gets the ball out quick with the short to intermediate stuff. Overall I see the offense being much more wide open and aggressive. Of course there's going to be a learning curve, but if Zorn holds true to what he's said he won't overwhelm JC early on and we have a solid ground game to lean on in the meantime.

I'm not overly concerned about a drop off on the defensive side. Blache is an experienced DC in this league and guys will play hard for him. I'm a bit concerned about the DB's, specifically at the corners, but I think we have enough depth to get by until Rogers is closer to 100%.

If our OL stays healthy and our injured key defensive players (Rogers and McIntosh) come back to form quick I could see us in the playoffs and beyond. This team came so close last year and we are vastly improved in most areas, I don't think the change in the coaching philosophy will be as drastic as the experts make it to be. Our offensive line is very experienced and if free of injuries, they could dominate anyone.

Schneed -- I have to say, the change in offensive philosophy since Gibbs left will be one of the positives of the team this year. As I've said, I loved Gibbs every day but Sunday -- I felt like he held the offense back when he should have let it go a bit. I know we could argue forever on that point and I know many of you don't agree.