Recap:
Some things to watch for from the Redskins:
1) Al Saunders' offense - Gibbs likes to is paranoid as all hell about revealing nothing in the preseason and keeping his offense (and defense for that matter) as vanilla as possible. Still, the offense should demonstrate some level of success at pre-snap motion, spreading the offense and creating both running and passing lanes. Look to see how smoothly the offense is being run during the first series.
A couple things I noticed. First of all, Saunders used no pre-snap motion, which is always a hallmark of his offenses. This was a very vanilla offensive scheme. Despite that, there were multiple occasions on which a receiver (WR's only) had separation against Cinci's 1st team offense. Brunell completed two such passes, 1 to Moss and 1 on a circus catch to Lloyd. The early INT and Portis' injury and replacement with Kerry Carter in the lineup made the running game difficult to evaluate.
2) Offensive line - Every member of the o-line underwent surgery this last offseason with the exception being LG Derrick Dockery. All appear to be fully healed, including RG Randy Thomas from a broken leg, with the possible exception of C Casey Rabach who suffered a deep, severe leg laceration that required a skin graft. All should be playing. O-line depth is a concern at all positions, so also watch the backups to look for obvious problems.
The starting offensive line looked impressive against the 1st team defense. Brunell had lots of time to throw, and the run blocking almost always had at least a couple of d-linemen driven a few yards off the line of scrimmage. The backups looked like, well, backups, especially against the 1st team defense that they initially faced. Backup lines are hard to evaluate too, though, because they never have the cohesiveness of a line that's been together, so it's hard to tell how much their difficulty is lack of talent versus lack of cohesion.
3) Chris Cooley - multiple sources have said that the primary beneficiary from Saunders' offense should be Chris Cooley, who will be playing a full-fledged TE position in this offense as opposed to his H-back role from the last two years. With 3-WR sets being almost the base set, Cooley should almost always be (mis)matched against a LB or safety. He'll also have plays (though likely limited to none or only one that we'll see) designed for him specifically to catch passes 15-20 yards or more deep.
Cooley was not all that impressive, albeit in a vanilla offensive scheme. They tried to get the ball to him multiple times, but he rarely had separation, in part because it appeared Cincy always put a LB on him in man coverage on the short routes. There was no attempted play to him deeper than 10 yards or so.
4) Multiple WR sets - Last year, no WR not named "Steve Smith" was more of a monopoly on his own team's passing game than was Santana Moss. This year, Brandon Lloyd will play the flanker position opposite of Moss, with Randle El in the slot in 3 WR sets. Occasionally, Moss will switch with Randle El in the slot, or David Patten will join them in a 4 WR set. The point of this is to create mismatches on at least one WR (or for Cooley, or both). Look for big play opportunities for these receivers like you saw in KC and in St. Louis under Martz.
Moss and Lloyd were open multiple times downfield and the offense looked like it had some explosive, big play opportunities. While Randle El was virtually invisible, he was playing with Todd Collins and the 2nd team as the 1st team was always in a 2 WR set. Patten didn't play.
5) Clinton Portis - Saunders' offense relies solely on zone blocking with only relatively few set blocking schemes being held over from Gibbs' offense. Portis prefers to make his own reads and cut upfield at will, which is what zone blocking allows him to do. This, along with the multiple receiving options, should create running lanes for Portis.
Unfortunately, the biggest thing we got from the game was that Portis was injured. His one run was a nice, hard 8-yard run in traffic on a cut-back to the right side. His legs look healthy. The rest of the running game looked poor, but they were handing the ball off either to 4th string (or lower) HB's and FB's the rest of the night. Again, though, the starting line appeared to be blocking very well.
6) Todd Collins vs. Jason Campbell - Collins will be the second QB to play today, and is presently listed as the 2nd QB on the depth chart ahead of Campbell. So far, this is based solely upon the fact that Collins is a 5+-year veteran of Saunders' offense and is better equipped than the raw but talented Campbell to run it at this juncture. Campbell is scheduled to play the second half, but should play a little with the first team in the second preseason game.
Jason Campbell is clearly both the future of this franchise at QB, and is equally clearly still learning how to make reads and good game decisions. He throws as pretty of a deep ball as anyone. Collins looked extremely rusty, but got marginally better as he settled in with the 2nd team (mostly versus Cincy's 1st team defense).
7) Backup skill position players to watch.
- RB Jesse Lumsden: he ran decisively with surprising quickness and power in last Saturday's scrimmage with the Ravens, impressing lots of watchers. He's vying to be the 3rd (and last) HB on the roster behind Portis and Betts.
- TE Robert Johnson: he's massive and can run with great hands . . . at least in practice. He would be an interesting second receiving option at TE if his practice skills are not an illusion. Gibbs historically has been a big fan of the versatility of the 2 TE, 2WR, 1 RB set both to run from and to pass from.
- FB's Sellers, Cartwright, Manual Wright & Nehemiah Broughton: one of these guys won't make it through camp, and I've listed them in the order they are on the depth chart. Broughton may also get a few carries as his brute strength made him a project drafted last year that was more or less the Redskins version of the Giants' Brandon Jacobs, albeit lower rated. Broughton has an outside shot of supplanting Jesse Lumsden as the last HB if he impresses, but Lumsden has the advantage so far.
- WR Mike Espy: he's presently the 7th WR on the depth chart, but Taylor Jacobs will be cut (I'd bet my next paycheck on that) and Espy has been impressive in camp. Think Patrick Crayton circa 2004. He'll probably make the practice squad given Gibbs' love of James Thrash's uncomplaining and tough special teams and role playing, but if Espy was to make the roster it would be at Thrash's expense absent an injury to someone else.
Lumsdon didn't play, and Kerry Carter looked poor . . . before he suffered a knee injury. Robert Johnson had only one target, and that was on an ill-advised, safety valve dump-off when he was closely covered.
The FB's were an interesting story. Cartwright got a lot of carries, but that may have been because Lumsdon wasn't playing and they needed someone besides Carter to carry the ball. Sellers got both carries and multiple targets and catches, implying that he might be involved in the offense more than just blocking. Manual White had a couple of nice receptions and runs, including one in which he completely faked out Ahmad Brooks on a cut back. Broughton had a handful of carries and ran hard, but for not a lot of yardage.
Mike Espy continues to impress with his speed, his hands and his willingness to sacrifice his body to make plays. He's making a play to make the roster and, as his traits are those that has made Gibbs love the aging James Thrash, Espy might threaten Thrash's spot as the 5th WR after all.
