Studs
WR Roydell Williams. He beat Kevin Barnes down the right side in a one-on-one drill and then later beat DeAngelo Hall. On the latter play, the pass was just off his fingertips; but he had Hall by a couple steps.
CB Carlos Rogers. He’s played tight coverage all of camp (of course, aside from Santana Moss, it’s not exactly a dangerous group) and today had his second pick of camp. One reason the Redskins like him covering inside is because he’s physical and perhaps it will give him a better chance to pick off tipped passes, etc. Today, though, he intercepted the pass as he ran to his left. He also seems to be reading receivers better; doesn’t mean he won’t get beat because they all do. But it’s a good start.
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WR Terrence Austin. I want to stress that he’s not a budding star. He has limitations and plenty to work on. And all I’ll say at this point is that he’s shown more than Marko Mitchell a year ago. But Austin does well in these situations because he runs good routes and has good hands. He also has a good release off the line and can turn quickly. On one catch he ran across the middle to his left, caught the ball and immediately reversed field. LaRon Landry, who was trailing, was caught off-guard by the move. Also, maybe my favorite move was when he ran down the left seam on a bootleg that way and, rather than cutting outside, he cut back to the middle. It was wide open; alas, Richard Bartel could not get him the ball. It wasn’t even close.
CB Kevin Barnes. OK, in the first one-on-one vs. Williams he looked like he did last year. Which wasn’t good. But he improved thereafter and in the seven-on-sevens he was solid. Showed good recovery speed on a deep out to Brandon Banks (helped by Rex Grossman’s lack of a strong arm) to deflect the pass. He played tight coverage on Bobby Wade and knocked that ball away too. Also covered Joey Galloway another time. He needs to show he can help on special teams and might still be a fifth corner, but he’s improved.
LB Brian Orakpo. Stunted inside and deflected a pass. Then, a couple plays later, Donovan McNabb ran a bootleg to the right. Orakpo blitzed on the play from the backside and hurried to the other side and deflected the pass. Just an athletic play. And on Rogers’ interception, Orakpo caused a hurried throw with an outside rush around Selvish Capers.
Duds
OT Selvish Capers. He wasn’t terrible, but he did show a few things that need correcting. Like giving away where he’s blocking. On many plays, all you had to do was see where his head would turn a moment or two before the snap and you knew his responsibility. He’d look down; he’d block down. He wouldn’t look anywhere; he’d block straight ahead. He’d be in a two-point stance looking forward and then gaze at the linebacker; you knew he’d be blocking the edge (on a straight dropback). It wasn’t hard to detect.
CB Byron Westbrook. In the one-on-ones, Westbrook got beaten by Brandon Banks. He was playing him inside; Banks gave him a stutter step and took off deep. He was wide open. Later, he played Anthony Armstrong straight up and the wideout got a quick release inside to get free.
QB Donovan McNabb. Just all over with his throws again. Today was the Bad Donovan. Was behind people on bootleg throws and missed on deep passes. I’d love to see film of him to see why he’s up one day and down the next. Sadly, they haven’t invited me in the room yet.
QB Rex Grossman. We saw the guy who was chased out of Chicago today. Grossman did not make good decisions under duress, which is how he threw the pick to Rogers. Eat the ball. Instead, under pressure, he threw off his back foot as he tumbled backwards. Had no chance of being completed. None.
WR Devin Thomas. Needs to take more advantage of matchups and opportunities. Justin Tryon covered him well on one play and Kevin Barnes had him on another in which he prevented Thomas from running a crossing pattern with his positioning. Thomas also had a drop. He clearly has more talent than all but a couple receivers, and maybe surpassed only by Santana Moss, but he’s getting few if any reps with the starters. Bad sign. He needs to win more one-on-one matchups.
