Smoot Lays The Smack Down-Redskins vs. Ravens (Preseason Special)

[SmootSmack]

Well most of what we ran was pretty vanilla yesterday, both on offense and defense so I'm not going to worry so much about the score really. Obviously would have preferred that we had the 23 though. For me, the player of the game was probably Laron Landry. I was really impressed with the way he played yesterday, and Keiland Williams looked strong on the kickoff returns.

Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players "on the bubble" perform in games, so with that said I think Anthony Armstrong did a lot to solidify his chances of being on the 53-man roster come September 12.


Ok, let's get to the smack downs:

The Running Game Everything about it was poor. Blocking from the OL was matador-esque. Sellers, like he's done so many times before, whiffed on a block. LJ struggled to hit the hole hard enough on multiple occassions; and looked lost on a couple of blocking assignments. Based on his training camp and OTA performances, LJ is penciled in as 1A to CPs' 1. As I said above, Shanahan puts a lot of emphasis on how players play in games so guys like Parker, Torain, and even Williams had a chance to make a case for themselves last night to move up the RB depth chart. None of them really did. As to LJ's comments about wanting to play in the 4th quarter, I didn't take them to be a shot at anyone. He just wanted to play is all

Rex Grossman Just putting this out there so I can point out that Chase Daniel was 15/21 yesterday with 3 TDs

Kareem Moore's Knee Right now they're saying he could miss the first two weeks of the season, maybe more (maybe less if we're lucky). Yet another injury setback for a career that has been slow to get going. Sad

Devin Thomas Can't confirm this yet, but I heard that he's had more drops than any other WR in the league this pre-season. And his poor hands are what have frustrated the coaching staff all spring and summer.

LeRon McLain What's with all the trash talking afterward "Yeah we own the Beltway. This one's for Zorn!" And a Gatorade shower for Zorn? Really?

and finally...

Albert Haynesworth If it was more than just "headaches" why don't you just say what it was? Sorry, but AH doesn't get the benefit of the doubt in my mind. Yes, he's a dominant DT but he's not more important than the team. And if he put more effort in, he'd probably be a first-team Hall of Famer. If he keeps it up, he'll be out of the league sooner than later because teams won't want to put up with him. Think that's impossible? Look at Jeff George. Arguably, with little argument, the best passer the league has seen in 20 years but his attitude ruined what could have been a great career. Big Al need only look around him in the locker room and see guys like Phillip Daniels and London Fletcher to know how he should act.