Smoot Lays the Smack Down (Redskins vs. Ravens)

Overall, very pleased with today's performance so I'll be brief

Jarvis Jenkins' Injury Let's just hope it's not too serious. Aside from not wanting to see any of our players injured, and pulling for a key rookie to have a big year, I'm worried about the depth we have. Right now it looks like Darion Scott will slide into that role behind Carriker. But I'm not 100% comfortable with that.

Kellen Clemens No need to keep him on the roster and take up a roster spot. Should we ever need him, I'm sure he won't be hard to pick up on a monent's notice.

Our SecondaryIt's late and I'm tired, so I won't really elaborate. But I'm concerned about who will line up opposite D. Hall. I absolute love that Hall is a playmaker for us. But, because he likes to take risks, that only can truly work if we're comfortable that the CB on the other side of him is steady and reliable. Yet with Wilson healthy and Barnes playing better against the run than the pass...that steady/reliable CB hasn't quite stepped up yet

Barnes did look ok ... I really hope for his sake that Jenkins is back in about 4 weeks or so ... fully healthy ... so much potential .. of could turn into a monster ... really feel bad for.him of he's out ... with Landry in the line up the secondary will be more comfortable ... OJ will get more acclimated ... Wilson needs to get back on the field.. but it is an area of concern IMO ... secondary looked shaky .. pass rush was good, run d was good... d looked really fresh and a complete 180 from last year ... I'm encouraged and amped for the season

I agree with everything you said Smoot, and would like to add a few things.

1. Wilson took half the year to get into a grove for the Ravens, so he seems to me like a hot/cold kinda guy. Hopefully he pans out and stays healthy enough to be our #2 guy. Banres is starting to show leeps from last year, and it might of come from all the playtime he's received in preseason/training camp. I'm hoping our secondary is solid enough to help our front 7 do what they can do.

2. Kerrigan was the right choice for our 1st round pick. A lot of people doubted our pick because he would yet again be making the transition from a hand in the dirt pass rusher into another 3/4 OLB. Well, in tonight game he got my game ball. He had 6 tackles, 1 TFL, and a sack. He showed his skills and mass improvement tonight.

3. Biggest issue at hand this season is not Donovan Mcnabb, and it's not Albert Haynesworth. It's the close challenge that we've been having between two QB's who wont let the other seperate himself from the pack. As I do believe Beck will win this job because he's the better fit, and has the most upside to him. I do think both guys are not making it easy on Shanahan

3 games so far:
Grossman 34/53 64.2 407yards 2/1 92.3 QB RTG
Beck 20-27 74.1 253 1/1 99.0 QB RTG

Beck didn't play the first game, but they both have seen their share of 1st/2nd team defenses.

4. Hightower has to be the starter after tonight. The guy is a perfect fit in this system. The question remains though.. What is going to happen to Torain? I guess we will all have to wait till game 4 where I think Hightower will not play at all as the other 3 RB's get a handful of carries.

5. Offensive Line is still struggling on some drop back pass plays. Seems sometimes the blitz was actually shown to them, and they couldn't stop it or Rex didn't get rid of it fast enough or check off in the 1st Q. Beck's one sack could of been because of the hold on the DB called on the play, but I didn't get to see the whole thing.

Overall it was a great game, and I can't help but feel like winners walking away from it.

One more thing I wanted to add was Penalties. We did a good job in the first 2 games with not doing dumb mistakes, but this game we cost ourselves basically 14 points because of penalties.

Both of the Ravens first half scoring drives were because of penalties that we had them stopped, and they ended up getting a first down. Score could of easily been 21-0 or more in the first half.

Oh yeah. Great point. I completely forgot to add penalties

Yeah, besides Jenkins getting hurt, the penalties upset me the most. We seemed to be doing pretty well with those before tonight. Of course a couple of those were on Kerrigan which I think were do to aggressive play which I like to see in a rookie. The penalties hurt us tonight.

Orakpo looks ready to go & Kerrigan looked good minus the penalties. I think our d-line will be solid come the start of the season as well as our defense in general. i am worried about that other corner spot like everyone else. OJ, Landry & Hall will be pretty damn good though.

Austin looked really good to me tonight, i think he deserves a roster spot. Hightower looked like a stud, hopefully we keep Torain around because they can be an effective duo. I think having a tandem backfield can also keep some of the injuries away from torain. O-line looked ok, at times they looked very good like on a few of those stretches but at other times the protection was iffy at best. 1st O looked good against a pretty good D tonight.

As for Beck vs. Rexy... the jury is still out as far as i'm concerned. I'd let them both get a good amount of reps next week. Tonight really didn't help much, they both played well. They look equally good, neither have done anything drastic to win or lose the job. I honestly can't pick one over the other right now.

All of you guys made great points tonight. I did not see the 1st QRT. I was driving to work but did see the rest of the game. I think we have 2 QB's who can manage the offense for us. It's hard to say who should start but I would go with Rex out of the gate based on his game experience. They both threw the ball well and seem to have command of the offense. Shanny sees these guys everyday in practice and during the games so I think when the times comes he will make the best choice for the team to winn games. The 1st team defense made a few key penalties that kept the Ravens drives alive but I was impressed with our blitz pressure. Man our LB's have to cover better or TE's like Witten will have big games against us. Austin has to make the 53 man roster he is a playmaker like Moss. Gomes is always around the ball he to should make the team. HB Blades I will not make the roster, he looked slow and out of position at times. I think Darrian Scott makes the Roster he shows he can get pressure on the QB.

Hall is a ball hawk but gives up plays same as always but I love em.. D played well and our guy Hightower is the real deal!! Beck and Rex both did good IMO overall very pleased just hope JJ is ok

One more thing I wanted to add was Penalties. We did a good job in the first 2 games with not doing dumb mistakes, but this game we cost ourselves basically 14 points because of penalties.

Both of the Ravens first half scoring drives were because of penalties that we had them stopped, and they ended up getting a first down. Score could of easily been 21-0 or more in the first half.Great point, but how ironic is it that one of our penalties actually lead to us getting a TD? Still, that was just dumb luck and we really need to focus on eliminating those stupid mistakes.