Q: What will the Redskins do at right tackle?
A: I thought they should start Stephon Heyer and that’s what happened. But they still rotated Jammal Brown in the game. Looked like Heyer played more than Brown, but neither was very good. My take: if Brown is not healthy enough to start, then why play him?

Q: Is Detroit’s D-line dangerous?
A: Before the game, I thought it was. After the game, it was even more so than I thought. Ndamukong Suh was that good and his presence alone set up big plays for others as several times guys got caught devoting so much attention to him on double teams that blitzers came free. The Lions capitalized on inexperience on the Redskins left side, as well as in blitz protection. They made young guys think a little too much and that was wise. Corey Williams’ play surprised me a little bit. He was good for a couple years in Green Bay then disappeared in Cleveland in a 3-4 (hmmm). But he was excellent yesterday. Cliff Avril was a surprise, but a lot of what he did, especially late, came as a result of Suh’s presence.

Q: How will the Redskins handle Ndamukong Suh?
A: He moved around a decent amount, lining up against Artis Hicks quite a bit. That helped free Avril to do his work and the Lions must have figured they could get pressure with anyone lining up at the other tackle spot. Uh, correct. The Redskins doubled him quite a bit, but, once more, they did so at the expense of other areas. One time, Keiland Williams went to double Suh and ignored the blitz – and that’s what led to major pressure. A couple times the Redskins handled Suh. But he definitely was in control. He’s what the Redskins hoped Albert Haynesworth would be. I think Jim Schwartz is a happy guy knowing the front he has.

Q: Where can the Redskins hurt Detroit’s D?
A: I thought it would be by going at the back seven, the secondary in particular. But it’s sort of hard to do that when, on your fifth step, you have to tuck the ball and go. The Redskins, when they had time they tried to go downfield – Anthony Armstrong caught a 50-yarder. But that was the only completion longer than 19 yards. The lack of time prevented Washington from taking advantage of Detroit’s weakness.

Q: What is the impact of Matthew Stafford’s layoff?
A: Hard to say how much rust Stafford had; he’s never been the most accurate passer (53.3 percent last year and it was a knock on him in college). But there were a couple times when perhaps the layoff hurt, usually on touch passes to Calvin Johnson. But it’s not as if he looked bad.  

Q: Can they stop Calvin Johnson?
A: They didn’t. Johnson caught nine passes for 101 yards and, really, whenever the Lions wanted to throw to him they could. DeAngelo Hall covered him quite a bit and intercepted a pass in the end zone. He had excellent position, but Stafford threw too low. In the red zone, Johnson is hard to stop and he ended up catching three touchdown passes – for 13, 7 and 10 yards, respectively. That was the major concern going into the game; even Jim Haslett talked about it last Thursday. His size was a factor; it was hard for Hall to tackle him on the first score, but Johnson has a major edge in terms of size. Also, Rocky McIntosh and LaRon Landry missed him as well. Johnson’s last score came off a good throw from Stafford, when he threw to his outside shoulder when Carlos Rogers had him inside. But, really, the Lions could have gone to him much more than they did (15 pass attempts).

Q: Can the other weapons hurt Washington?
A: It’s not as if Johnson was the only player Detroit attempted to find. The two others I worried about were tight end Brandon Pettigrew and running back Jahvid Best. The Redskins defended Pettigrew well; holding him to two catches for eight yards. But on his touchdown catch, he simply walled off McIntosh with his size. Best was a minor factor with 48 yards rushing and another 31 receiving. But he had a long of 20 yards rushing so on his other 11 carries he gained 28 yards.

Q: Will Albert Haynesworth dominate again?
A: Thought he could but I was a little disappointed. He had some excellent plays, but he was definitely not the force that, say, Suh was. Haynesworth, when playing the 3-technique and in certain situations, will get penetration all the time. I don’t like when he rushes from a stand-up position. One time, he was nearly four yards off the ball when it was snapped. Then he bumped into McIntosh as he started to run. Another time he and Vonnie Holliday ran a stunt and they weren’t in sync at all as Holliday had to sort of dance back to avoid colliding with Haynesworth. So he had some good plays and some others that weren’t so hot.

Q: Who will win?
A: Before the Bears game, my hunch was that they would win that game and then lose to Detroit. So what happens? They win the game, I start to look harder at the Lions and figure they’re still learning how to win while the Redskins have figured it out a little more. And I change my mind. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But I figured the Lions would find a way to lose like by allowing a lot of return yards or by committing a lot of penalties. Oh, both happened? But the Lions controlled the game with their line and the Redskins didn’t match it with their defensive front. Brian Orakpo was a non-factor most of the game. And then there was the curious decision by Mike Shanahan to bench Donovan McNabb. My thoughts on that are in this blog posting. But the Lions won and deservedly so.

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