1. Strong safety LaRon Landry (hamstring), linebacker Brian Orakpo (ankle) and linebacker Keyaron Fox (back) all were limited in practice Thursday. It’s likely that Landry will be a game-time decision Sunday. Orakpo sprained his ankle during the first quarter of Sunday’s game and only missed a handful of snaps before returning. The official injury report will be released Friday.
2. Arizona has a new quarterback, who for a week at least ignited the offense. But it’s the Cardinals longtime receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, who provides the biggest headaches.
“It’ll take a team effort to contain him,” Redskins safety Oshiomogho Atogwe said.
Fitzgerald entered the season with 613 career receptions in his first seven years. In a 28-21 win over Carolina last week, he caught three passes for 62 yards. Fitzgerald can make plays few receivers if any can make.
“He probably prepares as well as any player can,” Redskins corner DeAngelo Hall said.
“He’s fast and he runs great routes,” Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said. “I don’t want to play against him, but he’s fun to watch on film.”
Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had a similar player in Houston with Andre Johnson.
“It makes you not have to always call the perfect play,” Shanahan said. “He has as good a hands as anyone I’ve ever seen. You could have the perfect call, the perfect coverage and have three guys on him and he still has a 50 percent chance of coming down with that ball.”
3. Kyle Shanahan said he thought LT Trent Williams “took a step forward from last year.” Shanahan said Williams was more consistent and, yes, he had a couple bad plays in the second half but that was not indicative of his outing. Not sure I would agree, but this is what the coaches are saying. And even Williams said “Week one went well for me.”
“He’s not where we want him to be,” Shanahan said. “He could be as good as anyone. He can still get better, but it was a step in the right direction.”
Williams said of New York end Jason Pierre-Paul, who battled him most of the day: “He’s a pretty good player,” Williams said. “I mean, he didn’t wow me. … He was a great player. He came in and did his job.”
As for the sack/fumble, Williams said “it was more a protection issue than him beating me.” He said he was expecting help inside from LG Kory Lichtensteiger, but he was blocking inside already.
“It was just a misunderstanding,” Williams said. “I expected him to be there and he was there for someone else.”
Shanahan, though, said it was not about a communication breakdown.
“I’ll have to ask him about that,” he said.
4. Shanahan said he’s not about to start monitoring Tim Hightower’s carries, just to prevent a high total by season’s end. Hightower carried a career-best 25 times Sunday.
“Most coaches, you’re never thinking he has too many carries and it’s halfway through the game and I don’t want him to be tired a month from now,” Shanahan said. “You’ll do whatever you can do win the game.”
5. Shanahan wasn’t too worried about center Will Montgomery’s shotgun snaps, though one was bad and another was a little off target.
6. Running back Ryan Torain did not get any carries Sunday – Roy Helu had one – because they couldn’t work him into the game. Torain is healthy, but they wanted Hightower in the game as much as possible. And they gave Helu two snaps late in the game. Helu, a rookie, did not fumble at Nebraska.
7. Jim Haslett on Ryan Kerrigan’s debut: “The big play was number one. He’s a work in progress. We have to work on his pass rush, we have to keep emphasizing that. I thought he did a good job on the run game. He did a good job over the tight ends. We have to get him more polished on pass rushing, but everything else was excellent.”
8. Haslett strongly defended safety Reed Doughty. Haslett’s main point on the 68-yard completion: quarterback Eli Manning had way too much time to throw.
“Was it good coverage in the back end? No. We had guys with bad eyes,” Haslett said. “But the main problem started up front. We let the guy step up and have the ability to throw. That was a five-second play to get it off.”
Haslett liked Doughty’s performance against the run. He did have a miss on Ahmad Bradshaw’s touchdown run, but Doughty also made two key stops on the series after Rex Grossman’s fumble.
9. Kyle Shanahan on Fred Davis’ game: “I was excited for him. He put in the work when he was away from us [in the offseason]. He came back in very good shape. You could tell he worked on his routes. Mentally he had a much better understanding and was more confident in what we were asking him to do. You knew it was a matter of time. I was glad the coverages got in the ball and he was able to show everyone else.”
10. Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb had a terrific debut, throwing two touchdowns and for 309 yards. Kolb’s ability to make plays with his legs is a worry.
“Kolb is a quarterback on the rise,” Atogwe said. “He allows them to do the things they want to do and that’s to be explosive. He makes great reads.”
“He’s very fast,” Redskins end Stephen Bowen said. “He can get out of the pocket quickly. He likes to sit in the pocket and he wants to make the throws. He can make all the throws in this scheme. We have to do a good job keeping him in there and making him feel antsy.”
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