First and 10
1. Jason Taylor is too small to play left end full-time in the NFC East. He’s barely 250 pounds, 40 pounds lighter than Phillip Daniels. It’ll be a season-long issue.
2. Rock Cartwright remains a productive returner. He’ll never get the chance to carry the ball from scrimmage, but he can impact a game.
3. Are Redskins fans overreacting to one loss? Or are people just bracing themselves for the inevitable? Jim Zorn deserves more than, oh, one game to prove his worth. But the clock is ticking faster on Jason Campbell, who needs to show more growth even if he is learning a new offense.
4. It’s too early to proclaim the NFC superior to the AFC, but with Tom Brady out and the NFC East now the power division, that could change real soon.
5. Before the draft, the Redskins (along with other teams) were concerned with receiver Eddie Royal’s durability. So they ended up with Devin Thomas and Malcolm Kelly. One hasn’t yet shown anything worth noting; the other has been hurt.
6. If the Giants’ line controlled Washington’s defensive line, what will Dallas’ line do? The Cowboys are considered to have one of the NFL’s best lines. New York laid the blueprint for others to follow.
7. Anyone else have flashbacks to the mid- to late-90s after watching Norv Turner’s Chargers collapse on Sunday? Classic Norv loss.
8. This from Yahoo’s Michael Silver: “If Jim Zorn’s headset were on fire, how many minutes would it take for him to consider removing it?” Ouch.
9. Repeat after me: Chris Cooley is a pass catcher; Chris Cooley is a pass catcher.
10. London Fletcher takes a lot of punishment, thanks to a line that doesn’t occupy blockers enough. Heaven help the D if he wears down.
Tough times are ahead for Skins
The Redskins expected their first five games to be tough. After Sunday’s results, it looks even tougher — and they know it.
The next four teams on their schedule all won their openers (followed by three teams who lost handily). Of the next four, two are at home against conference opponents New Orleans and Arizona and the other two are divisional road games.
It’s a perilous stretch.
“We need to win,” said corner Carlos Rogers. “We have to step up and win and turn this thing around. It can get out of hand early and it’ll be ugly.”
Some pundits already are speculating that the top three teams in the NFC are in the East; the Redskins aren’t one of them. The Giants beat Washington while Dallas and Philadelphia won by a combined 53 points.
“We’re sitting in a poor position to say the least,” center Casey Rabach said.
Outside the Beltway
» Now I think we can all say the Redskins lack premiere talent. New coach, average quarterback in that division — gonna be a long season. But they may go on a roll, face some injured teams, win three or four in a row — but the Redskins are not going to win that division. I think that’s fairly clear talent-wise Dallas, New York, Philly are much better. I think, I think we can play the “Taps” for the Redskins, they are absolutely toast for the season. OK, it’s over. I can definitively say it’s over. They’re boring, they’re not elite, new coach learning on the job. … I will get out the shovels for the Redskins.
— ESPN’s Colin Cowherd, Monday on his radio show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd
» Here’s how you know Jason Taylor was not fit Thursday night: The first time he touched a Giant with the ball was on the 30th play of the game, 22 minutes in, when he tackled Brandon Jacobs. … I’ll just say this: If Jason Taylor was anywhere near healthy, he’s going to have a bad season. Maybe very bad. I watched him through the binoculars on 30 or so snaps Thursday night. No burst whatsoever.”
— Peter King, CNNSI.com
