Redskins notes and analysis 9/30/10

1. Sounds like Josh Bidwell will punt Sunday, which is a bit stunning. After hurting his hip in warm-ups last week and being carried from the field, it was hard to imagine him punting a week later. Yet coach Mike Shanahan said he would be. Said he punted on the turf early Thursday and looked fine.

2.   Left tackle Trent Williams said he’s still uncertain about his status. He did participate in the Redskins’ walk-through (more on that in a minute) and said he expects to play. However, “I expected to play last week also, so that’s not saying too much,” he said.

3.   Williams said his toe still bothers him and because he puts more pressure on that than his knee when he sets, that’s the bigger issue. Don’t know if he was limping today, but he definitely was Wednesday. We’ll see if he can work in full Friday. If not, can’t imagine that he plays. But that’s just a guess.

4.   Defensive lineman Anthony Bryant still hasn’t been cleared from his concussion and it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be ready Sunday. Not that he would be active anyway.

5.   Corner DeAngelo Hall didn’t do a lot in the walk-through, but Shanahan said he’s fine. So that’s that.

6.   The Redskins had to rent a hangar at Dulles Airport to conduct their walk-through. With heavy rains today, the fields would have been a mess. Yes, the Redskins are in the minority with no indoor facility. Joe Gibbs never wanted one, but the other reality is that the fields they have now are built on a flood plain. But I wouldn’t be surprised if one gets built within a few years.

7.   Yes, Clinton Portis will start Sunday. Not sure that was ever really in doubt. But will Ryan Torain continue to get more carries? That will be interesting to watch. I wasn’t all that impressed with him this summer; thought he was OK, nothing special. His 36-yard run was nice, but the hole was huge. To get a good feel on the kid, you’d need to give him a lot more carries. Can he move the pile? How is his vision? How does he press the hole? This summer I thought he ran way too upright through the hole. But let’s see how he develops.

8.   Anyway, back to Portis. He said he doesn’t regret taking the intentional fall. “If I had the chance to do it again, I would do the same thing with five people around me,” he said. “Maybe I could have picked up four more yards. Four more yards I don’t’ think is going to determine the outcome of that game.”

9.   And he hasn’t lost confidence in himself. “I consider myself the feature back,” he said, “one of the best backs, and I’m gonna always feel that way. For myself, I don’t think anything has changed. Sunday just didn’t work.”

10.   I’d tell you what Torain said, but, really, he doesn’t say a whole lot. He’s polite, seems like a good guy. Says nothing. At all. Ever.

11.   Shanahan loves trotting out how the Redskins’ average gain on first down is 7.49 yards, tops in the NFL. Darn good number, no doubt. But it is no indicator of consistent success on first down and to be a good offense, that’s a necessity. Rather, that figure was built by a number of explosive plays. The Redskins have had seven pass plays of 20 yards or more on first down; and 20 of at least 10 yards. That shows how aggressive they’ve been trying to get downfield.

12.   Donovan McNabb has completed 31 of 43 passes on first down for 474 yards and two touchdowns. Clearly the passing game is clicking on this down (as opposed to third where it’s failing).

13.   However, the run game is way too inconsistent and it’s why drives aren’t sustained. Against Dallas, the Redskins rushed nine times for eight yards; vs. Houston, it was 13 for 49 yards (including one for 18 yards) and vs. St. Louis it was eight for 57. So in three games they’ve gained 114 yards on 30 first-down runs.

14.   Problem is, of those 114 yards, 54 have come on two runs. That means their other 28 carries have managed 60 yards. Which means the Redskins are in second and long way too often. Or, just as bad, third and long.