Studs
RB Ryan Torain. Anyone who rushes for 172 yards deserves to be on the list, don’t you think? Torain had a special first half with 158 yards as the Redskins did an excellent job burning a defense that overpursued. The Bucs would overload a side, the Redskins would flow that way and with one cutback block, Torain would have a nice lane. Sometimes he didn’t need to cut back; they would just run to the side that was not overloaded. Tampa adjusted in the second half by blitzing the strong safety and the middle linebacker and the Redskins attempted to throw a little more. Listen, at some point they have to take advantage of the run by throwing. That’s the way it’s designed; they did so a couple times. So if there’s a series where they throw more, that’s part of the reason why. You set up a team for a couple quarters, you have to take advantage at some point. But, anyway, Torain was excellent; he broke more arm tackles at the line, pressed the hole well and broke tackles downfield. Have to give the play design some credit, too. The Redskins would motion TE Chris Cooley away from the stretch side and have him run a “route” on the other side; that often eliminated the linebacker on that side.
WR Santana Moss. We won’t bring up his blocking until later, but, well, OK I’ll start with it. Moss missed a few blocks downfield that would have helped garner longer runs. Some weak attempts by Moss. But he did manage 82 yards receiving and had some nice catch and runs. He also got inside Ronde Barber for the game-tying pass and that’s really why he’s on this list. Trust me, it wasn’t for his blocking.
RB Keiland Williams. I like his energy. Williams is limited, but he does play with some spunk. Call it the benefit of having a young guy in the lineup. But he also did a nice job with his blitz pickups, whether he had to get a linebacker inside or whether he had to pick up a corner off the edge. He caught three passes for 60 yards, including two for 24 on the final drive. And he rushed four times for 16 yards, including a third-down and five run for seven yards.
LG Kory Lichtensteiger. This might be a first; the ‘Steiger by his lonesome on the Studs list. All right, ‘Steigs! But he deserves it. The ‘Steiger, with Gerald McCoy out of the game, was able to reach the linebackers a little more. A couple times he was able to block two men, including on Torain 12-yard run in the fourth when he got blocked a lineman and then sealed a linebacker. He took care of the strong safety on the 54-yard run. The rest of the line did a pretty good job, which is the only way you rush for 172 yards. But it appeared that ‘Steiger was more consistent. Still wish he could play with more power, but that’ll never be his game. Sunday, it didn’t hurt him and in fact his footwork helped.
RG Will Montgomery. Like ‘Steiger, he had his moments where he’d get driven back. But for the most part he did a nice job doing what the Redskins wanted him to do. He was able to reach the linebacker on the 54-yard run; did a decent job when the Bucs overloaded his side a couple times. He wasn’t as good as the ‘Steiger, but when you rush for this many yards, it’s more than a couple guys.
SS Reed Doughty. Let’s measure this not by what LaRon Landry might have done, but by what the Redskins asked Doughty to do. And what they wanted him to do, he did well. Doughty finished with nine tackles and though the official stat sheet didn’t give him credit for a tackle for a loss, I am because he did have one on a backside blitz. He was solid. The one flaw was arriving a half-step late on a pass to Kellen Winslow. The pass was pretty nice and maybe Landry wouldn’t have gotten there. But it seems anytime Doughty just misses, the assumption is that it’s because he was a step slow. Not sure that’s fair, but regardless he did a good job.
Duds
LS Nick Sundberg. Yes, the weather was bad. It was bad for Tampa’s long snapper, too, and you didn’t see any issues. Nor did you always see issues with Sundberg’s other snaps. Nor was there much difference in his snaps Sunday than there were in other games.
PK Graham Gano. Two missed field goals under 35 yards will get you on this list every day. And even the one he made, in addition to the extra point he converted, were adventures. Uh, his kickoffs were good. It simply wasn’t his best game and he overcompensated for the weather. Seemed to get in his head. Lesson learned?
P/H Hunter Smith. OK, he was cut Tuesday and now everyone will think he’s a scapegoat for that loss. Don’t think that’s the case. Problem is, his punting wasn’t good and he’s been in the league since 1999. He’s not going to get better. Gano? Maybe he will. Anyway; Smith has been able to make that hold many times and he took the blame. Kudos to him for being a stand-up guy. If he wasn’t the last guy in the locker room, he was one of the last. The reason? He answered every question.
Chris Wilson. Love the guy, but even he knows he messed up on the opening kickoff of the second half. The No. 1 rule on returns? Secure the ball. He tried to scoop and run; then, when that failed, he tried to scoop again instead of just falling on the ball. Had he run the ball the Redskins would have started around the 40. Had he fallen on it, they would have started around the 33. For those seven yards, he fumbled.
NG Maake Kemoeatu. Notice Anthony Bryant playing more in the second half? He was not moved as easily as Kemoeatu was. Once again, too often the center was able to control him one on one. That’s not helpful for the linebackers at all. Bryant started playing more in the second quarter and that continued in the second half. He was better at holding his ground in the middle; Bryant only assisted on half a tackle, but he was more effective at doing his job than Kemoeatu.
CB DeAngelo Hall. He factored in three plays that were rather large. First: He had a chance for a pick-six in the first quarter, reading a hurried Josh Freeman and breaking on the ball, but he dropped it. Great read and reaction, but this team needed a huge play and he failed when he had that chance. Second: He admitted he played for the smoke route, and then a short one, in the third quarter when Arrelious Benn raced past him for a 64-yard pass that set up a field goal. Third: On a third and 11 early in the third quarter, Hall had a chance to stop Cadillac Williams for no gain on a screen pass, or even force an incompletion. But he thought the ball might be overthrown and raced to Williams’ outside shoulder. Alas, Williams caught it and gained nine yards. What might have been a 53-yard field goal turned into a 44-yard one. Hall’s plays accounted for a potential 13-point swing.
Suds (half-studs/half-duds)
QB Donovan McNabb. Would have made him a dud, but he came through in the final two minutes; that’s money time and it provided him bonus points. He did an excellent job of staying patient and working the Bucs underneath. And the throw on fourth down to Santana Moss was perfect. He also led a scoring drive right before halftime, even though there was some major clock mismanagement. McNabb, though, continues to miss on passes. Take the first drive; he missed Chris Cooley wide because he skipped another pass. Why? Because he opened his shoulders and his left foot was to his side. McNabb then leaned to his left on the throw; guess where the throw went? He was under duress, but he could have planted his foot. Instead of a first down inside the 10 – or maybe a touchdown – it was fourth down and Gano missed the field goal. McNabb should have been picked off at least twice, both times when he seemingly did not see the defender. And another time he threw low to Santana Moss, denying him a chance to run after the catch. And yet another time he was nearly picked in the flat, but wasn’t because the pass was too low. However, he can thank Torain for that. Torain actually interfered with his ability to step into this throw in the flat. McNabb did not seem to see the linebacker; had the pass been higher, an interception was likely. Add it up and it equals 16 points. Cripes, this was a reluctant sud. Really, his play wasn’t very good. Maybe the worst 100.7 passer rating day I’ve seen. But, had they won in overtime, I would have been saying how he came through when they needed him. So …
LB Rocky McIntosh. He did a better job with his run fits and was more active; it helped when Anthony Bryant was at nose guard there seemed to be less movement up front, enabling McIntosh to fill. Anyway, he did a nice job. But I also think part of it had to do with the LeGarrette Blount’s style; he’s a straight-ahead runner who rarely cuts. So McIntosh wasn’t caught out of position as he’s been at other times. But his coverage on Kellen Winslow was rather weak; got twisted around a couple times and that’s a weakness of this unit. It flared up again at the worst time.
NOTE
Have to say, though Trent Williams was inconsistent, there were a couple times when his athleticism was pretty good to watch. Both times came on the last drive. On one play, he blocked down as the end slanted inside, setting up a stunt. But Williams got caught too far inside. However, he was able to recover and lunge back to the outside to knock the tackle off stride and keep McNabb clean. A couple plays later, Ronde Barber blitzed from the slot, but he never got to the QB as Williams lunged out at him; it was a pretty good distance for him to get there and others might not have made it, but Williams could.
Follow me on Twitter @John_Keim
Submit questions for Redskins Mailbag.
