It was different; the Redskins finally had live hitting thanks to their intrasquad scrimmage. But some things were the same, like the performance of certain players as you’ll soon read.
Studs
WR Marko Mitchell. Caught a few balls during the scrimmage and showed some deep speed, drawing pass interference on Justin Tryon on one play. Looked good on slants. However, he needs to become much more physical to be anything other than a practice squad player. He showed that on a fade route when he let the DB easily knock away a pass. He’s too one-dimensional at this point, but at least he showed something.
P Hunter Smith. He punted six times (not in a game setting) and every punt traveled at least 49 yards; two went for 60 and 64 yards, respectively. Because it wasn’t live it gets an asterisk. However, even in those settings last year the other punters would struggle, sending one punt 30 yards and the next 50. Smith did not always get the hangtime they wanted (at least 4.3 seconds in the air), but it was good enough.
DE Brian Orakpo. He proved that he could rush as an end, getting wide on a couple occasions. Once, LT Devin Clark ended up holding him with one hand on his chest and the other on his back. He proved that Clark is not ready to be a solid backup.
DE Lorenzo Alexander. By his estimation, he would have had three sacks. But we have to qualify that some came against Chad Rinehart, who was forced to play tackle. Scott Burley allowed one of the sacks.
LB Cody Glenn. A nice pop on Anthony Alrdige caused a fumble that Kareem Moore recovered. Glenn actually overran the play initially, but did a nice job getting back in to make the hit.
CB Justin Tryon. Did a nice job with his technique while intercepting Jason Campbell along the sidelines. Tryon read Antwaan Randle El well and his spin back to the ball was nice, allowing him to make the pick. Randle El fell on the play. But Tryon did get beat on a couple other passes. That has to change, but at least he made a good play.
DE Andre Carter. Had a nice tackle when the ball went to the other side. Also got off the tackle and made a play. This came against Devin Clark.
DE Rob Jackson. See Alexander. Some of his pressures came with Rinehart at tackle. But he showed his spin move and on another rush displayed strength as he shoved the Rhino back. Goodness sakes, the Rhino was involved in a lot of pressures. Renaldo Wynn also got thim later.
DE Jeremy Jarmon. Had a couple pressures. Guess who he went through? OK, that was an easy one. But he also got Scott Burley, too. Jarmon has shown more ability to rush the passer than I expected at this point. Against some of the backups he’s shown versatility, using speed to the outside as well as bull rushes.
WR Trent Shelton. Caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jason Campbell in a red zone sequence.
TE Todd Yoder. Caught a 15-yard pass from Todd Collins in the red zone.
Duds
QB Colt Brennan. I can see the Hawaii message boards lighting up now — how can you criticize Colt! Well, he didn’t look good. He fumbled the ball coming up in the pocket under pressure and he was inconsistent with his throws. He’s looked better.
RB Anthony Alridge. Son, ya can’t fumble the ball. Check that; you can’t keep fumbling it every day. The sad thing is, his fumble came at the end of a 15-yard catch and run where he showed his ability to squirt through openings, juking one linebacker on the play.
RB Dominique Dorsey. Lost the ball on a run, but recovered it. Still on film and because he’s shown a tendency to fumble, it’s never good to lose the ball even if he still ends up with it.
RT Chad Rinehart. Allowed multiple pressures, to Alexander and Rob Jackson. But in fairness to him he’s not going to play tackle and was doing so because of injuries to others. So what this reaffirms is that he is a guard and can’t play tackle, even though he played it in college. He was better at guard than tackle.
LB Brian Orakpo. OK, he wasn’t bad, but he did get fooled. That’s good; we know the kid is human. Orakpo got caught looking at the quarterback on one pass to tight end Robbie Agnone, which allowed the completion. Orakpo also was fooled on a bootleg. But he looked pretty good vs. the run.
OT Devin Clark. The Redskins need to slow down touting this guy as a legitimate backup. Clark has a ways to go. He has a body shape more suited for guard and he was exposed by Brian Orakpo as a rush end on a few times. The first time he faced Orakpo Clark was called for a false start. On the next play Orakpo went around Clark. Later, Clark completely tipped off the play by the way he set his hand. His fingers were barely touching the ground as he was trying to get an edge; but what he did was reveal that a pass was coming. Can’t play this way.
PR Marques Hagans. Fumbled a punt return. Can’t do that.
Duds. The passing game. Jason Campbell had one of his top four receivers available and was missing two starting linemen on the right side. That helps explain why they could not do much downfield.
RT Jeremy Bridges. Did a decent job until he sprained his ankle. Lost a chance to show more of what he could do.
WR Malcolm Kelly. Did not play. He needs to get on the field.
