Rich Tandler’s five thoughts possibly related to the Washington Redskins and other matters:
5. Santana Moss did not have one of his better seasons in 2011. True, he missed four games with a broken hand. But if you project his totals of 46 receptions for 584 yards in 12 games out over a full 16-game season, you have 57 catches for 730 yards. That would be his worst season since 2002, his second year in the NFL when he was primarily a punt returner. Recently, Pro Football Focus posted drop numbers for wide receivers and revealed that Moss dropped over 13 percent of catchable passes thrown his way. That ranked 73rd in the NFL. He will be 33 before training camp starts and you have to wonder if he can rebound.
4. Check out this letter by a Saints fan who attended the playoff game in San Francisco on Saturday. It’s pretty disturbing stuff. Good-natured ribbing of visiting teams’ fans is one thing, screaming obscenities in the faces of teenage girls is quite another.
3. I’ll have my picks for the conference championship games up at some point over the weekend but I just want to say that I don’t get people who are already putting the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Ravens went 12-4 against a tougher schedule. Tim Tebow and company were unable to exploit a very soft New England defense in Saturday’s rout. While Baltimore is not an offensive juggernaut, they will be able to move the ball and stay in the game. The Ravens can’t win a shootout but their defense will prevent Brady and Gronkowski from going wild.
2. Peter King of Sports Illustrated tweeted out some words for the wise on Tuesday: “For all the questions about the draft and who's picking whom and who's trading up for whom: I don't know. Teams don't know. Honest.” The key part of that is “teams don’t know.” Anyone who tells you that a team has decided that it “has to have” a particular player is just speculating. It is very early in the process. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to talk about the draft in the comments here or on Twitter (@Rich_Tandler). But between here and the draft there is a lot of film study to be done, the combine and free agency have to take place, and there are workouts and visits. Nothing is even close to being etched in stone.
1. I’m already getting a lot of push back on an article I posted wondering if Rex Grossman could turn around his career in Washington like Alex Smith did in San Francisco. Some are confusing me presenting facts with me advocating a point of view. If I’m giving my opinion, you will know it. But part of my job is to throw things out there for discussion and consideration. I did some research, found that Smith and Grossman had remarkably similar career statistics, and wrote the article even though my view is that the Redskins should not even re-sign Grossman, much less give him a key role in 2012. Unlike some others, I’m not afraid to post information that might run counter to my point of view. Just thought you should know.
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.
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