Tuesday Take: Booing, Thomas, play calling

[caption id="attachment_1269" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Randy Thomas may have played his last down for the Redskins."][/caption] 1. Booing—Here's the bottom line on booing: Paying fans have the right to boo the team for whatever reason they choose, whether the team wins or loses. But, by the same token, players like Chris Cooley have every right to say that the expressions of displeasure are unwarranted. Now, Robert Henson did go too far is disparaging peoples' professions and he was justifiably blasted for that. But don't get all up in arms if you boo and the target of your dissatisfaction comes back at you. Freedom of expression goes both ways. If you can dish it out, you have to be able to take it. 2. Randy Thomas—Happy trails, perhaps forever, to a warrior on the field and a good guy to talk to off the field. He probably could have gone to a couple of Pro Bowls in the prime of his career but the team's lack of success held him back. If, as expected, there is no salary cap in 2010 he could well be released as his contract runs through 2013 with cap numbers in the $5 to $6 million range. The word is that they are confident that Chad Reinhart can get the job done, although his performance in the preseason belies that confidence. Will Montgomery, who has started six NFL games, played fairly well after Thomas went out on Sunday and he's a decent Plan B. In either case, a Redskins line that had five players well north of 30 last year will have just two thirtysomething starters this Sunday. 3. Play calling—Jim Zorn is taking some heat for his play calling against the Rams and it's justified. In particular, the Portis option pass and the stretch play on fourth and less than one appeared to be less than inspired calls. The heat turned up yesterday when he defended the calls, saying that they were good calls but the execution was lacking. On the option pass he said they didn't sell the run. Well, it was third and goal at the five. From 120 yards away, when I saw two tight ends, a fullback, and one wide receiver in the lineup I knew something was up. The Rams aren't very good but they're not stupid. If I can recognize that something's up then they can, too. They also overloaded the left side on the fourth-down play, so they knew that was coming, too. But Zorn also did the right thing in defending the calls. There's no point in tipping off the Lions that he's going to do anything different in the same situation this Sunday. That is, assuming that he does adjust and figure out plays that have a better chance of success even given a margin of error for missed execution.