Four Downs: Alexander wants to spring Banks

By Ryan O’Halloran
CSNwashington.com

First Down
Amongst the blockers, the Redskins have had very little turnover on the kickoff return squad and the four-man second wave of Kedric Golston, Lorenzo Alexander, Mike Sellers and Logan Paulsen remains largely unchanged. But the Redskins rank 15th in that category … not good enough according to Alexander.

Brandon Banks averaged 20 yards per attempt last week against Dallas.

“I wish we could get Banks going a little more,” Alexander said. “Some of that stuff is on the back end missing blocks.”

Second Down
My personal rubs about the DeAngelo Hall stuff this week:

1. Being two feet from him Monday night in Dallas and listening and hearing what he was saying – this is one passionate player. Hall is an acquired taste and there is no middle ground. But he was speaking for the locker room (and so was Chris Cooley) when he expressed his displeasure about the missed opportunity against the Cowboys.

2. He executed the call. This wasn’t some act of defiance against Jim Haslett. At the snap, Hall was in perfect position for a quick Dallas comeback throw (which Haslett said he was told what the Cowboys wanted to do). His only mistake was costly – he peeked back at Romo while Dez Bryant cut across on a deep post.

3. Usually in circumstances like this, everybody tries to take the temperature of the locker room to see if Hall offended anybody. Not a peep. He wasn’t critical of a teammate and that was the big thing.

Third Down
Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo can’t get away from the NFC East and it has put his team in a hole. St. Louis opened with losses to Philadelphia and the Giants and now face the Redskins.

This is the third time in as many years as Rams coach he has faced the Redskins coming after all of his years on the staffs in Philadelphia and the Giants.

But that knowledge is no longer applicable since the Redskins have a new staff and almost an entirely new roster since he last called the Giants’ defensive signals three years ago. 

Fourth Down
Safety LaRon Landry’s return performance last week has everybody confident on the Redskins’ defense confident this week. Simply put, Landry far exceeded my expectations against Dallas in terms of playing time and production. Now the real No. 30 is about to be unleashed.

“He was a monster [against Dallas],” safety O.J. Atogwe said. “That’s what we were expecting coming back for this game. We know the type of player he is, the physicality he brings, the intensity he brings and he showed that in his debut after a 10-month layoff. He’s going to continue to build on the beginning stage of this season.”

Comments

[Allen]

Landry has made himself into the enforcer much like Sean Taylor was. (I still think of fact that we would have had the best safety duo on the field if....). Unfortunately, today's NFL is different than it was just 5 years ago. There is little tolerance for anything resembling a bone-crunching hit, which Landry is great at delivering. The penalty flags will be out in full force for every questionable hit he lays, and in the end, Landry will impotent, just like feminized NFL wants. Which leads me to the color pink - I know it's for a good cause, but there are lots of good causes, and they don't require the NFL players and staff to where pink for every game in October.

[dcdds]

banks didnt look too good and he got lots of attempts, i wonder if his knee is ok he might need to sit down a while, he looks nothin like the preseason or first game for that matter.

[william hebert]

hail! just wanted to nick name our # 30, lets call him "TRUCK". maybe it'll catch on! diehard,forever.