Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Talking Points: One last round of roster churn

By Rich Tandler

Here is what we will be talking about at Redskins Park during the last week of 2011 season:

Fletcher snubbed, no Redskins in Pro Bowl—We’ll get reaction from players and coaches to the NFL’s leading tackler being omitted from the Pro Bowl. Fletcher possibly has a chance to make it as an alternate (unlike many other teams, the Redskins did not announce alternates, we will effort getting that information) but his failure to make it on the original vote is puzzling. Lorenzo Alexander was a deserving candidate as the special teams player; we’ll ask about him being left off the team and about the Redskins being one of just two NFC teams to get shut out of the Pro Bowl.

Torain cut, Robinson promoted—The Redskins had one last round of roster churn for the season on Tuesday as Ryan Torain, the team’s leading rusher in 2010, was released and rookie wide receiver Aldrick Robinson was moved from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. We’ll see what Mike and Kyle Shanahan have to say about the moves and get some player reaction, including that of Robinson.

Staying focused—The Redskins will start a long vacation as soon as the clock hits 0:00 at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. We’ll ask them how they stay focused and what they will be playing for when they take on the Eagles. 

 

NFL Draft: Proof that we know nothing

By Rich Tandler

We have already had some draft conversation here and we be having much, much more in the months to come. But here is a warning about how much we think we know right now, about four months before either the Colts or Rams (or another team that sold the farm for Andrew Luck) will be on the clock.

Someone on Twitter pulled up a quote from King. As you can see from the last sentence (emphasis added) that it came from a month prior to last year's draft. And King and Mike Mayock, two of the most wired-in insiders in the media, had no clue what to make of where Cam Newton would go:

RT @BRADonNFLNBA: Who wrote this? "But Mayock feels as I do: Someone in the top five is going to fall in love with Newton and take him. Carolina? Can't see it, not with arch-conservative Jerry Richardson having to sign off on it and GM Marty Hurney, who still likes Jimmy Clausen, having to bypass a more sure thing defensively in favor of a quarterback. I doubt Denver, at No. 2, will pull the trigger on a passer. Now Buffalo or Cincinnati -- either could go Newton. But I do not think it will be No. 5 Arizona; I hear the Cards don't like him. And Gabbert will not get past Arizona." ... I did, a month before the draft.

— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) December 26, 2011

So first possibility that Mayock and King dismissed out of hand was the team that ended up drafting Newton. The only thing we know is that we don't know anything. Keep this in mind as the draft chatter cranks into full gear next week. 

 

Only two compete games for 2011 Redskins

By Rich Tandler

One of the issues that the Redskins have had this year is in putting together complete games on both offense and defense. It’s seems that all too often when the offense if moving the ball, the defense is giving the points right back (think New England game) and when the defense is being stingy the offense has trouble denting the scoreboard (think the game at Dallas).

A quick way to quantify this is to look at the points scored and yielded and the yards gained and given up by the Redskins in each game and then comparing them to the league averages. We can then see how many times this year both the offense and the defense performed better than the NFL average in the same game.

On average, an NFL team scores 22 points per game (and, therefore, the average NFL team gives up 22 per game). This year, the Redskins have scored 22 points or more seven times and they have given up 22 or fewer nine times. However, in only four games—both times against the Giants and against the Cardinals and Seahawks—did they both score at least the league average and give up under the league average.

The average NFL team gains (and therefore gives up) 345 yards per game. The Redskins gained at least that many yards five times this year and they have given up 345 yards or fewer in seven games. In only two games, again against Arizona and Seattle, did they accomplish both.

So, only twice this season did the Redskins enjoy a complete game where they bettered the league average in points scored and allowed and yards gained and given up.

They lost five games where they gave up under the NFL average in points and they lost three times when scoring over the league average.

Rich Tandler blogs about the Redskins at www.RealRedskins.com. You can reach him by email at RTandlerCSN@comcast.net and follow him on Twitter @Rich_Tandler. 

 

 

 

Report: Torain released, Robinson promoted from practice squad

By Rich Tandler

According to media reports, the Redskins have released running back Ryan Torain and have promoted wide receiver Aldrick Robinson from the practice squad to the 53-man roster.

Torain was the team's leading rusher last year with 742 yards. This year he rushed for 200 yards on 59 carries.

He saw his first action of the season in the Redskins’ fourth game of the season against the Rams. Torain burst out of the gate with a 135-yard, 1 touchdown performance in that game.

But in the 11 games since then he gained just 65 yards on 40 carries. The handwriting seemed to be on the wall over the past several weeks, as he did not play in four straight games before getting four carries against the Vikings last Saturday.

Torain had a reputation for being injury prone. He missed time last year with a hamstring injury and he missed most of training camp and three preseason games with a broken hand. He was healthy for the regular season but he played in just 146 of the team’s 998 offensive snaps (14.6 percent). In seven games he was either inactive or didn’t play a single snap.

It seems that Robinson has confirmed his promotion by Twitter. On his account, he tweeted:

@AldrickRobinson: When you work on your patience, good things will work out for you

Robinson was a sixth-round pick (178 overall) of the Redskins in the 2011 draft. He was released in the final cuts in early September and he has been on the practice squad ever since.

Robinson has good speed but in training camp it appeared that he needed a lot of polish before he could contribute.

If Robinson has been moved up, a corresponding move needs to be made to remove a player from the 53-man roster.  

 

Reid: McCoy, other Eagles starters to play vs. Redskins

By Rich Tandler

Andy Reid shot down a report from yesterday that Eagles running back LeSean McCoy probably would sit out Philadelphia’s game against the Redskins. The game is the season finale and both teams have been eliminated from the playoffs.

The Eagles’ head coach said that McCoy and any other starters who were nursing minor injuries would be in the lineup for the Redskins game. "We're in this thing to play the best football we possibly can," Reid said on Monday.

Redskins’ running back Roy Helu missed last Saturday’s game with toe and knee injuries. He is expected to play if he is sufficiently healed. 

 

After Peterson injury, should the Redskins sit their starters?

By Rich Tandler

The Redskins saw the Vikings’ Adrian Peterson suffer a devastating injury in Saturday’s game between two teams that had been eliminated from the playoffs. It will be difficult for Peterson to recover in time to be able to line up at the start of next season. It may take quite a while after he does play for him to regain his old form.

After having witnessed this, should the Redskins risk injury to their key players in Sunday’s meaningless game in Philadelphia? Should Roy Helu, Evan Royster, Brian Orakpo, Ryan Kerrigan, Barry Cofield and others sit this one out? Or do the Redskins have an obligation to field their best team and try to win the game?

Also, would you feel any different if the Eagles could get into the playoffs with a win? Or is all that someone else’s problem? Let us know in the comments!

Bouncing balls continue to elude Redskins

By Rich Tandler

A few weeks ago here, we pointed out that the Redskins have had extraordinarily bad luck when it came to recovering opponents’ fumbles. We are back to report that their luck has gotten no better.

The Vikings fumbled twice in their win over the Redskins on Saturday. Both of the fumbles went out of bounds before one of a few Redskins defender who were near the ball could recover it.

Opponents have fumbled 25 times this season and the Redskins have been able to recover just seven of them. That is a recovery rate of 28 percent.

For a team struggling to find an edge anywhere it can find one, that is a lot of lost opportunity left bouncing on the turf.

 

Redskins' road gets tougher as NFC gets stronger

By Rich Tandler

For most of the 2000’s the Redskins played in the weaker of the NFL’s two conferences. The AFC’s Patriots, Colts, Steelers and Chargers were the perennial power teams while the NFC lagged behind in terms of both premiere teams and depth.

The Redskins were unable to take much advantage of their conference’s down status as they only appeared in the playoffs twice during that decade. The bad news now is that the worm has turned and the NFC has become the power conference.

Let’s just take Peter King’s Fine 15 from his Monday Morning Quarterback column. It’s not necessarily the definitive word but it has been updated for this morning and it’s as good a ranking as any. Four of King’s top five teams are from the NFC, as are seven of the top 10 and nine of the 15.

The road to the NFC playoffs is getting tougher. In 2007 the Redskins made it with a 9-7 record. Last year, the 10-win Bucs lost out of a playoff berth on tiebreakers and it seems likely that 10 wins will be needed to qualify for the NFC’s postseason party this year as well.

What this means for the Redskins is that they have a little bit further to go not only to make the playoffs but also to make a deep run when they get there.

 

McCoy would need 'miraculous recovery' to play vs. Redskins

By Rich Tandler

The Redskins’ season finale against the Eagles on Sunday will be taking on even more of a preseason game feel as on of Philly’s star payer will not be playing.

Eagles running back LeSean McCoy, who has rushed for 1309 yards and a league-high 17 touchdowns, has a sprained ankle and, according to one report, he would need a “miraculous recovery” to be able to play on Sunday.

McCoy rushed for 126 yards in the Eagles’ 20-13 win over the Redskins in October. If he can’t play, a combination of veteran Ronnie Brown and rookie Dion Lewis would take his place.

Two years in, sloppy play still plagues Shanahan's Redskins

By Rich Tandler

The Redskins lost to the Vikings on Sunday thanks in large part to sloppy play. There is no need to recap the turnovers and ill-timed penalties here. Here is what Mike Shanahan had to say about them.

It’s what wins you games and loses you games. There’s a 60, 70, 80-yard play turned back. You have a team stopped and you jump offsides, you give them seven points there. We turned the ball over on the 20-yard line, you give them a field goal there. That’s the difference between winning or losing. That’s what you’ve got to do, you can’t beat yourself.

The thing is, sloppy play has been a hallmark of Redskins football for many years now. I can’t think of an NFL team that has more penalties at bad time, more dropped passes, more time mismanagment issues, more costly turnovers, and other sins of commission and omission.

And you have to wonder why, 31 games into his stint as coach of the Redskins, Mike Shanahan has apparently made little if any progress towards cleaning up the team’s sloppiness.

It is understandable that he has not yet been able to assemble the talent needed to compete for the championship. The Redskins were suffering from years of Vinny Cerrato drafts and free agent signing and Shanahan has had two very unusual offseasons (different free agency rules in uncapped 2010, lockout in 2011) to try to rebuild the roster. You can say that perhaps things should be further along, especially at quarterback, but it’s safe to say that the talent level on the team is higher than it was when Shanahan got here two years ago.

However, the fact that the team is still committing dumb mistakes that lose ballgames is not at all understandable. When Shanahan came here the question marks were supposed to be in the area of personnel acquisition. He was supposed to be an excellent coach.

But it looks like the players are better while the Redskins still are losing games with physical and mental mistakes just like they did under Jim Zorn.

Shanahan needs to continue to improve the team’s personnel. But if he can’t get his players, new and old, to play smart football, it will amount to a colossal waste of time and money.