So, after 5 weeks, the Redskins have dropped to last in total defense.  They are 30th in passing defense.  That's nice to know.

If you're reading this you already know that total defense is terribly misleading completely worthless as a defensive measure.  The Redskins give up 18.4 points per game, which is 8th best in the NFL.  That's also meaningless, but it's no more or less valuable than "ranking dead last" in something, which sounds way cooler if you: 1) despise the 3-4 defensive alignment, and 2) want everyone to know how much your life sucks when you have to watch your team play the 3-4 defensive alignment.

The Redskins rank in the top quartile in scoring defense because the offense has turned the ball over less frequently than anyone but the Jets and the Eagles' offenses this year.  The Redskins aren't actually the 8th best defense in the league.  Brian Burke's Efficiency Ratings has the Redskins at 15th on the year.  Football Outsiders' DVOA has them at 23rd overall.  Which system is more correct?  I couldn't possibly tell you.  What I can say is: that it's a pretty accurate range to assume when watching the Redskins defense play.

If you defined defense specifically as "preventing touchdowns by the opponent", there's nothing not to like about this defense.  The Redskins are giving up fewer TDs/drive than either of the last two seasons.  In fact, you'd have to go all the way back to 2004 to find a defense that was better at preventing TDs by the opponent.  The quality of offense faced this year has been well above the average: consensus top ten offenses in four out of five weeks.  That doesn't change this next week with Indianapolis visiting.

Of course, "preventing touchdowns by the opponent" could be rephrased as that dreaded term "bend but don't break," which would make everyone cringe.  The turnovers are up, at least: we're now into the middle third of the NFL!  But whenever yards against are at odds with points against, a defense is going to get the reputation of bend but don't break.

One thing I will say through 5 weeks is that what the Redskins put on film is usually out of line (in a good way) with the statistics.  It's hard to believe that a defense that looks this good actually ranks solidly in the bottom half, though clearly, all methodologies are in agreement that this is the case.

One reason for a discrepancy is that the Redskins really struggle to get drive-killing sacks, despite the fact that the film shows three or four rushers with multiple dynamic pass rushing moves.  The Redskins have 12 sacks through 5 games, which is tied with the Jets for 7th in the NFL.  However, the Redskins have faced more passing attempts than any defense in football, and given the circumstance, 12 sacks really isn't all that much.  Brian Orakpo has 4 sacks, and that puts him on pace to get a career-high 13 by seasons end.  No other Redskins player even has two sacks (though regarding the sack on Aaron Rodgers in the 4th quarter: either Alexander or Fletcher would have gotten their second sack had they not split it with each other).  This even though, again, the Redskins have faced more passing attempts by quarterbacks than any other team in football.

A big problem in this sack issue is in the scheme, specifically, that no one outside of Orakpo is rushing the quarterback enough to make a significant impact.  That's now starting to change with Lorenzo Alexander, but a big concept against Green Bay was the three man rush.  The three man rush can be a great defensive tool (especially if you're playing our offense), but it's a major bend-but-don't-break concept used primarily when the defense feels the offense has a talent advantage.  Not so coincidentally, Haslett began this game calling a lot of 3 and 4 man rushes, but then as Green Bay started to lose weaponry to injury, the fourth quarter and overtime were laden with pressure schemes.

Both strategies worked to their intended degree.  Green Bay ran up a ton of yards on us in the first quarter, but got in the end zone just once, needing a 71 yard run from Brandon Jackson to get in striking range of the end zone.  That specific play wasn't even well blocked by Green Bay -- no blockers reached the second level on that play -- but they were able to double team and drive Golston out of the hole, and when Fletcher stepped up to fill the front side gap, it left McIntosh one on one with Jackson in the hole to prevent a first down.  McIntosh took a timid angle, then chased.  Then Kareem Moore took aim at Jackson's shadow.  Then DeAngelo Hall ran past him.  Twice.  And then it was a foot race.

Green Bay had some long drives early in this game which led to point opportunities, but those opportunities died in the second half.  The Redskins had given Rodgers time to throw most of the first half, but in the second half, he started to get pressured on most every passing attempt.  On the series to begin the fourth quarter, Lorenzo Alexander recorded a pressure on every play of the series.  The next series, Orakpo began the drive with two pressures on Rodgers.  The first pass attempt on the series after that, Fletcher and Alexander came unblocked to meet at Rodgers, setting up a meaningless 3rd an 23.  In overtime, Orakpo ran right around Chad Clifton to drill Rodgers to end the first series.  The final passing attempt from Rodgers resulted in the cumulative effect of all that pressure: Rodgers threw well behind an open Greg Jennings with Jeremy Jarmon in his face, was picked off by Landry, and the Packers would later report that Aaron Rodgers sustained a concussion on that hit.

On Rodgers' last 15 dropbacks spanning the fourth quarter and overtime, he absorbed a hit or was pressured into a decision on 10 of those plays.

Word Diagramming a Key Defensive Play

I want to go back to the three man rush for a second, because the Redskins have used the unique talents of their players in very creative ways to create mistakes by the quarterbacks they have played.  This was a 3rd & 10 play in the first quarter.  As they often do in that situation, Green Bay spread the field with four wide receivers.  The Redskins went with three down lineman, which declared a three man rush at the snap.  That's not the creative part.  The creative part was in the defensive look that they gave the offense versus the coverage they played.  They were in dime personnel, with Lorenzo Alexander head up on Greg Jennings, Rogers on the slot receiver to the opposite side, and Hall and Buchanon on the outside.  With one defensive lineman on the interior (Holliday), McIntosh and Orakpo were the outside rushers.  The Redskins like this because they know that even with a three man rush, Orakpo's presence causes Rodgers to decide which side (and what receiver) he is going to go with the ball pre-snap.  They'll be able to give him a clean pocket, but if he wastes time, Orakpo is going to flush him from that pocket relatively quickly.

For Rodgers, this isn't hard to diagnose.  You have Greg Jennings in the slot, and with Lorenzo Alexander on him, that's zone coverage.  Alexander isn't going to cover Jennings down the field with no help.  The beauty of the defensive call: Rodgers is right enough to trust what he's seeing, and wrong enough where he has almost no chance to execute it.

The defensive coverage is "Tampa 2", but with one caveat: it only takes 7 coverage defenders to run Tampa 2, and we have 8 in coverage, which means we have a movable piece.  That's Alexander.  He's going to be in man coverage on their best receiver, Jennings.  But the trick is this: not only does he have help, the Redskins are in a normal zone defense.

Because of Orakpo's presence, Rodgers is going to start with Jennings and stick with Jennings throughout the play, even though he has three other receivers in the route.  This is exactly what the Redskins want: this defensive call is trying to force a mistake by the quarterback.  At the snap, Rodgers expects Alexander to drop and read him, but this doesn't happen.  He runs with Jennings, who goes over the middle on an over route, settling in between Rogers and Doughty (who have middle underneath responsibility).  After being fooled, Rodgers flushes to his right, away from Orakpo's rush.  He finds the window between Alexander (in trail position) and Rogers, and floats a pass off the wrong foot with little velocity.  Fletcher reads this the whole way, drives on the route, and drills Jennings when he reaches up for a high throw.  Rodgers didn't take a sack or throw an interception, but in this case, the Redskins defense forced a bad decision.

DeAngelo Hall's Day

While Carlos Rogers had a big day (at least aided a little bit by Donald Driver drops), DeAngelo Hall had a horrific day that regressed his season coverage numbers to right around his career expectation.  He got off to a good start this season, pitching a great day against Dallas, a good half against Houston, and he was competitive in the Philadelphia game.  Still, five games into the season, Hall has already had two terrible games, and while I still believe that an aggressive Hall is a useful player, I think the sample size is great enough where we know that we're never going to get 16 games (or 10 games) of aggressive DeAngelo Hall.  I loved his work against Dallas in the opener when he was sound fundamentally and made multiple game changing plays, but in the span of the last three weeks, we've endured enough of "bad" DHall to last a career.

Hall's coverage numbers (all DB coverage numbers for all five weeks coming in a separate post) for the Green Bay game: 8 targets, 7 completions, 6 successful completions, 63 passing yards against for about 8 yards per target.  Hall's one consistent pass coverage skill is that he hardly ever gets a pass completed behind him, and has yet to this year, but he was pitch and catch this game.

Against a schedule of quality quarterbacks, Hall has been less successful at intercepting passes than at stripping runners.  That strip on Tashard Choice probably won the Redskins a game they otherwise had no business winning, but had Mason Crosby been able to squeak the ball inside the upright the way Graham Gano was able to in the same clock minute, Hall would have already given that victory back.  On that 21 yard reception in crunch time by Andrew Quarless, Hall had outside leverage on a slant pattern, but needs to know to lock up on a receiver when the quarterback leaves the pocket (and Rodgers had to, because other Rogers was unblocked).  Rodgers made this throw across his body against an inexcusable cushion to a third string rookie TE.  If we're going to be afraid to get too close to a rookie tight end for fear of getting beat deep, we're going to need someone new in that role.

There was also the tackle "attempt" on Jackson's long run.

Tackling concerns

A big problem with this team is that they are not a sound tackling unit despite having many players held over from last season when they were a great tackling unit.  Too many missed tackles on running backs, on receivers, and on tight ends.  LaRon Landry has actually significantly improved his tackling, but Kareem Moore, London Fletcher, Rocky McIntosh, and Andre Carter all look very bad in their form.  If I have a criticism of the way this unit is being coached compared to last year, this is it.

Facing Manning

What works on Aaron Rodgers won't always work on Peyton Manning, though the strategy of hitting the QB early and often would seem to be the best bet.  That means we'll probably need to use fewer three man rushes and try to take advantage of mistakes made by Manning's injury replacements at receiver rather than more three man rushes and unique coverage concepts on slot receivers, such as Dallas Clark.

Of course, you'd need to be a modern day Thomas Edison to invent a strategy to befuddle Peyton Manning, and that point will be front and center in next week's defensive breakdown.

The Minnesota Vikings play the Redskins at FedEx Field on November 28. The Washington Redskins never beat Brett Favre when he was with the Green Bay Packers. Should they be worried now that he is with the Vikings?

They may not need to. The NFL may sack Favre before he gets here.

In what may be another case of jocks behaving badly, sports-comedy web site Deadspin.com broke the story that good ol' boy Brett may have sexted hottie Jenn Sterger when both were employed by the New York Jets, Favre as the team's savior-quarterback and Sterger as the team's "GAMEDAY Host."

Favre supposedly texted suggestive invitations to Sterger that might have included revealing images of Favre's masculinity. Deadspin makes clear that Sterger was not the source of the stories, or of the voice recordings and images in their possession.

Typical twenty-something male readers of sports blogs will laugh at all this. We at Redskins Hog Heaven sometimes focus on the business of sports. From that angle, this story is more serious than you might guess.

Lawsuit serious.

We turned to Roslyn Brown, president of EEO Workplace Strategies for background information. Ms. Brown found the alleged circumstances offensive. Beyond the bad press for Favre, Brown pointed out that the employee-to-employee nature of the activity exposed the Jets and the NFL to liability for sexual harassment in the workplace under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"Employers are not expected to monitor every employee behavior," says Brown, "but they are expected to act once they become aware" of a hostile workplace. The unwelcome receipt of sexually suggestive messages would be considered hostile, if the target of such messages feels threatened."

Ms. Sterger did not divulge the messages to Deadspin and may not have felt intimidated. She referred to the story in a statement issued by her manager as an "alleged incident that happened two years ago." (Interesting choice of words.)

The law expects employers to act when something likes this comes to their attention, even if someone other than the alleged victim raises the matter. Employers can be held liable if the behavior occurs in the presence of a company official and the company takes no action.

This story hints that someone in the Jets public relations department may have interceded with Ms. Sterger on Favre's behalf. Oops.

For Ms. Sterger to make a federal case of it, she had to file a complaint within 180 days of the incident says Brown. The timeline for State laws may vary. Sterger did not complain. The story may die.

Or the story may take the Jets, the NFL and even Ms. Sterger to a place they do not want to go. Favre was an employee of the New York Jets but he signed a NFL contract. The league is aware that something may have happened in New York that involves an employee now in Minnesota. There is the inconvenience of a third party who may have been on the Jets management team.

If there is anything to the story, the league will cite the personal conduct language in the Favre's contract to sanction him. But it's the employee-to-employee nature of the scandal exposes the Jets and the league to added legal risk. New York, burned this summer by a story of player indiscretion, does not need this and the bad jokes sure to follow. (Favre puts the jest in Jets.)

The NFL hopes to conclude its investigation in "five or six days," then figure out if any action is warranted against Favre and other involved employees. If a suspension is warranted, I'm ok if it happens on November 28.

A young friend reminded me of good career advice that her mother gave her. Don't get your honey where your get your money.

Point after: Forbes - NFL developing workplace conduct program for teams

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For the second straight week, the Redskins knocked the opposing quarterback out of the following week's game. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion after a hit in overtime. Head coach Mike McCarthy would only say that Rodgers might miss the Miami Dolphins game.

Um, yeah. Andy Reid said Michael Vick might miss a few games after the 'Skins sandwiched Vick in the first quarter of game four. Kevin Kolb started for Vick against San Francisco Sunday. It appears Kolb will start for Philadelphia this Sunday. We can't be sure because, well, Reid dances around things he doesn't want to discuss as well as Mike Shanahan does. For evidence of that, see the Deadspin.com story Andy Reid Plans To Start Some Sort Of Super Quarterback This Weekend.

Coach-speak. You can always believe what a coach says about the status of his players.

Coaches obfuscate. Video does not lie. That's why what happened to Michael Vick and Aaron Rodgers when they played the Redskins should interest to Peyton Manning and his little bro' Eli. The Redskins play Peyton and the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday. Eli and the New York Giants are on the schedule December 5 and on January 2, 2011.

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I can honestly say I expected the Washington Redskins to be 3-2 at this point in the season, although the teams they beat are surprises. By outlasting the Green Bay Packers, the 'Skins beat the fourth-ranked team on the Bloguin NFL Week Four Power Poll.

Washington's win had a big impact on the media-types. ESPN's sports writers promoted Washington the 11th in their power poll. They had the 'Skins at No. 16 going into the weekend.

Those media types are easily swayed by the last game they see and by the luminaries on the team. ESPN's John Clayton is no exception. Everything about the Redskins is Mike Shanahan and Donovan McNabb. Clayton buys into this and rates the Redskins No. 7. In contrast, stat-masters follow the numbers.

Paul Bessire at Predictionmachine.com projected a 6.5-win season for the Redskins after simulating all NFL games 50,000 times. I checked with Bessire to see how his Redskins simulation changed after the team's performance in the first four games. Bessire's Predictilator now has the 'Skins winning 7.5 to 8.5 games now. He projects a fourth-place finish in the division with a mere 21.7 percent chance to make the playoffs.

What has changed it that the Predictilator shows the Redskins closer to winning now than in the preseason. In the Prediction Machine's game-by-game simulation, The Redskins won 44.4 percent of the simulated games against the Colts. Before the season, the Prediction Machine had the 'Skins winning 30 percent of the simulations.

Before the season, the Prediction Machine showed the Redskins winning 37 percent of the simulations against the Bears and 56.5 percent of the simulated games against the Lions. After four live-action games, Bessire's Prediction Machine changed to the 'Skins winning 55.1 percent of the simulations against the Bears and 47.2 percent of the simulations against the Lions.

Note the flip in the projected outcome for the Bears and the Lions. Oh my!

Redskins Hog Heaven is a member of the Bloguin network, so I participate in the Bloguin's NFL Power Poll. I'm guided by points scored, points allowed, offensive line rank and win-loss record in my ranking system. I have the Redskins ranked 18th in the power poll to be released late this week. By that formula, the Cowboys rate ahead of the 'Skins because of points allowed and a strong O-line. (I should have knocked them down a peg or two, but stayed faithful to the process.)

I have the New York Giants as the class of the division after two strong showings. It will be interesting to see if the rest of the Bloguin voters agree.

From what we've seen in the first five games, the last-place Redskins defense will carry the team until McNabb and Shanahan light a fire under this offense.

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The Washington Redskins were an irrelevancy on The NFL Network last season. They were invisible except for discussions about undermining Jim Zorn with Bingo-hall volunteers. How things change with Mike Shanahan, Donovan McNabb and unexpected wins over preseason favorites.

The NFL Network will re-broadcast Sunday's Redskins-Packers game at 8:00 a.m. ET tonight, Tuesday, October 12. That airing will be followed by a replay of the Titans-Cowboys game. The Titans scored 14 fourth-quarter points for the come-back win over the last place team in the Beast.

Check local listings and set your DVR.

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Ex-Redskin Of The Week: Jason Campbell, Quarterback, Oakland Raiders

Jason Campbell came off the bench in the second half to lead touchdown drives of 93 and 73 yards for the Raiders in the win against the San Diego Chargers. Campbell was benched in the second game of the season in favor of back-up Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski suffered a shoulder injury mid-way in the game. Campbell in relief competed 13 of 18 passes for 159 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. Oakland's win snapped a 13 game losing streak to the Chargers.

Ex-Redskin Of The Weak: Todd Collins, Quarterback, Chicago Bears

Todd Collins completed 10 of his 16 passes. Unfortunately, four of them were to the opposing Carolina Panthers defense. The Bears beat the Panthers anyway, 23-6, thanks to an opportunistic defense and Matt Forte's 166 rushing yards and two touchdown runs. Forte's rushing yards were five times greater than Collins' net 32 passing yards.

Collins beat out Norv Turner for ex-Redskins of the Weak honors. Turner's San Diego Chargers lost to the Oakland Raiders (see above) in another slow start to the season.

Woop! The Washington Redskins beat the Green Bay Packers. This is no time to nitpick. It's time to celebrate.

We'll have more of our Redskins Hog Heaven thoughtful analysis early this week. For now, here are a few first impressions.

There are real concerns about the offensive line once you get past the starters. You knew that already. The line held up, um, ok, in the few plays when both Trent Williams and Jammal Brown were out. It worked for today, but could have been worse. Please don't make me watch that again.

The Redskins offense looked a lot better with Packers linebacker Clay Matthews out of the game. One "gets" the 3-4 defense by watching the Packers. The Packers defensive linemen pushed the Redskins linemen around far too much, giving Matthews shots at McNabb and the backfield. The Redskins' 3-4 did pretty much the same to the Packers; four sacks.

Is there anything Lorenzo Alexander can't do? Next time I buy a Redskins jersey, it's going to be an Alexander.

Phillip Daniels got a sack. I follow Daniels on Twitter and on Facebook. He's become my favorite Redskins because he shares so much. No, I don't know him, but I know, and like, a lot about him. Excuse me while I go leave a message on his fb page.

We are witnessing the last ride of the Gibbs-Cerrato gang on offense. Think about the players who've left the team, as recently as Saturday, and who touched the ball today, especially the young guys: Armstrong, Torain, Williams. G Derrick Dockery was inactive this game. Defense is a different story. What would the defense be without LaRon Landry and Brian Orakpo. Do notice that they are both draft picks and both young.

I'm loving this. Shanahan puts the guys who practice best on the field on Sunday. Draft round and contracts be damned. Isn't it always like that? Um, no.

Now I get it. The Redskins were showcasing Devin Thomas as a return specialist to draw a trade. Guess there was no point  to keeping him when that didn't work.

Fans will be very patient with McNabb as long as he keeps throwing deep. Fans love the deep ball.

What would this coaching staff thought of Marcus Mason?

The defense may still be on a learning curve, but they hit hard. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion in overtime. Can opposing quarterbacks survive the 'Skins? The Manning brothers want to know.

I have the sense that the Beast team that takes the division will be the one with the best division record and the best record against the NFC North. The Packers beat the Eagles in Week One by exposing Philly's offensive line. The Pack dominated the 'Skins line at points, but not nearly so much.

The Giants had their way with the Bears who beat the Cowboys. The Lions did not lay down with the Rams today. They crushed them 44-6. Beating the Lions is no certainty. The 'Skins are a leg up by beating the Packers who were ranked No. 4 on the Bloguin NFL Power Poll. That's almost as good as being 2-0 against the Beast.

The 'Skins and the Pack have identical records at 3-2, but the Redskins hold the tie-breaker advantage for a wildcard spot.

Tomorrow, we'll think about what could have been better. Today, there's just one thing to say.

HAIL!