I suppose I always knew fans in other countries followed American football. But, I didn't expect to see a Japanese Tweet about the Washington Redskins.

【NFL】2013スケジュールが公開され、Redskins、開幕戦(9/9現地)からマンデーナイト（＝USA全国中継、例年通りならNHK BSでも放送)で相手はEagles。第6週のサンデーナイト(Dallas)も中継ありそう goo.gl/wb7SO

— NFL Redskins Fans (@NFL_RedskinsFan) April 20, 2013

The translation is:

[NFL] 2013 schedule is published and Monday Night (= USA nationwide network, broadcasting NHK BS even if as usual) opponent in the Eagles Redskins, opener (9/9 local). Likely relaying (Dallas) Sunday night of the sixth week

That's courtesy of Google Translator. I am decidedly unfluent in Japanese. Yeah, "unfluent" is a made-up word. Perhaps I'm not so fluent in English either.

@NFL_RedskinsFan could well be an outreach by the 'Skins or by the NFL. It's fascinating to see, perhaps only to me.  

5 primetime games.  Take that, Dallas.

Okay, so the Redskins have had somewhat mixed results with primetime games, and to be honest, we can learn a lot more from the schedule than simply how we'll need to plan our weeks to watch the Redskins.  Here are some critical observations as the NFL kicks off the most important week of the offseason.

Balanced Schedule

Of course the schedule is "balanced" overall.  Division rivals play 12 of the same 14 opponents regardless of other factors.  The Redskins play at the Falcons and home against the 49ers: tough draws to be sure, but the Giants have to play the Seahawks in the regular season, and that's just as tough.

With that said, the NFL does make a certain effort to promote parity by giving division champions more obsticles to overcome.  These are typically small obsticles, but the goal is to consistent turnover the teams that win divisions (and host playoff games).  The Patriots, obviously, are not that impressed by such passive aggression.

The Redskins didn't really get a bad draw in the schedule.  It starts off pretty easy, then goes to an early week five bye.  The post-bye schedule is about as hard as it gets: a sustained tough stretch that never really lets up starting at Dallas, then home against Chicago, at Denver, home against San Diego, at Minnesota, at Philadelphia, and home against San Francisco.  That's not a horrible seven game stretch, but it's a long one.

It doesn't really get easier from there, but they play a majority of their December schedule at home, play in the division three times, and when they play outside of the division (vs KC, at ATL) they don't play teams they have typically had trouble handling.

It's not asking much of the Redskins to win 2/3rds of their games at the start (pre-bye) and end (last five games) of the season, but the tricky part in trying to match last seasons record will be trying to pull over .500 in the middle of the schedule.

Long home/road stretches

The NFL tries to ensure that no team has to play road games in three consecutive weeks, but the Redskins do have a stretch of three straight home games.  This is probably not that great, because every team has just eight home games and if three games are strung together (weeks 12-14), it puts a lot of added pressure on the team to win in that stretch because outside of that stretch, there will be a disproportinate amount of road games.  That's the stretch where I covered above.

Tough in November...again

Home vs. Chargers, at Vikings (Thurs), at Eagles, vs 49ers (Monday)

Two rather long weeks in November throw a wrench into the second-hardest three game stretch on the Redskins schedule: a ten day week followed by an eight day week.

If you want evidence that the schedule makers helped the Redskins, you can look at the amount of time they get to prepare for Chip Kelly's offense, they get five months, and then ten days at a time when the Eagles are coming off a road game in Green Bay.  It takes a lot of time for a defense to prepare for Kelly's offense, a sizable advantage since Kelly can get his team ready for any defense in a realtively short amount of time.  A season sweep of the Eagles would set the Redskins up a lot better for the regular season than a sweep of any other team.

The bottom line

Based on how the schedule falls, the Redskins need to pace above .500 for most of the year.  It's less important in the first three weeks: any team can get off to a slow start, just looking at the 2012 Patriots would confirm this.  But starting after the bye, the Redskins just need to trend on the right side of .500 between weeks 6 and 15.  They can win the NFC East division in the final two weeks sitting at a worst-case 7-7, merely treading water for the first 87% of the season.

If they get stuck at the 3-6 mark they found themselves at last year, the back seven or eight games don't shape up quite as nicely with regards to making a run.  It's nice that they play the Giants twice in the final five weeks as those games are going to be big in determining the division champion, but it also means that there's little value into running away with the divison early, because the Giants and Cowboys can get right back into it in the second half of the season if the Redskins aren't playing their best ball at that time.

Overall, the schedule is pretty supportive of the overall goal if the design of the season is the Redskins to pace the season, bring RG3 back slowly, play fundamentally sound football, cut down on the penalties, and win some defensive games late.  It doesn't set up well for the Redskins to start 7-0 or 8-0, it's possible, but was never likely, and there are a lot of tough games thrown in sporadically in the first three months of the season.  

The Redskins will likely find themselves at an end of season situation similar to last year, they just likely won't take the 3-6, "fire everybody" route to get there this time.

We saw something unusual in the 2012 Redskins. The offense carried the defense that was missing Brian Orakpo, Adam Carriker and Brandon Meriweather for most of the season. Tanard Jackson was suspended for the entire season. London Fletcher's lingering ankle injury left him gimpy most of the year.

Meriwether and Jackson's absence opened the door for Madieu Williams who, I suspect, the Redskins never expected to make the roster. They signed him as camp competition for Reed Doughty.

Orakpo and Carriker were the players most missed on defense. The subpar pass rush stressed aging London Fletcher and it demanded more of Washington's secondary than it could give. It's a new year and Rak says he's ready to do damage.

“I'm 100 percent, my body is feeling even better than what it was before as far as conditioning and strength-wise,” Orakpo told CSN Washington. “When you get hurt, you get to work on all the little muscles that you have a tendency to (overlook). It was a freak accident; it's nothing you can control.”

Except, it wasn't a freak. Orakpo tore the same muscle in 2011 Week 17 against the Eagles. Two tears requiring two 2012 surgeries on the same muscle should give one pause.

We see elite athletes recover fast. Sometimes, a speedy recovery kills too. (Not that we should apply that thinking to any other injured player on the roster. cough)

Orakpo is in the last year of his contract and anxious to prove he deserves a new one with Washington, or elsewhere. The Redskins would be glad to do it if assured that Orakpo will be a front line contributor through 2020. They cannot afford to sign a player who might be lost for a third time to the same injury. In that event, they might consider franchising Orakpo in 2014, then watch how things turn out.

Or they could simultaneously hedge against another injury to Orakpo and fix the secondary by drafting a defensive end or outside linebacker in the second round.

Why on Earth would the Redskins do that? Because GMs do not think like Mel Kiper and other Draft experts. Here is why they don't.

1. "Experts" talk of drafting to team needs. The more I see of perennial contenders like the Ravens, Giants and Patriots especially, the more obvious it is that they draft the best available player.

If Orakpo is a risk, and he is, of reinjuring his pec, why not hedge the risk by finding a potential replacement in the second round of the NFL Draft instead of a safety? Hog Heaven won't call it a "need." "Open to the idea" is a better description.

2. Who says you have to draft a DB to fix the secondary? Carlos Rogers became a much better cornerback when he joined a team with a much better pass rush. Rogers made eight interceptions in six seasons with Washington. He snagged seven in two seasons with San Francisco. Rogers did not change his hands in 'Frisco. He just changed his jersey.

By the way, we don't see INTs as the only measure of cornerbacks. It's not even the best because it doesn't measure coverage skills. Yes, Washington needs better players in the secondary, but they can get better play with a more effective pass rush. Call it the flip side of getting better O-line performance with a dual-threat quarterback. 

3. Draft to strength instead of need. Mock drafts are fun to read. They represent the wisdom of the crowds. (50 million monkeys can't be wrong. Right?) But, they invariably play to team need. Why not draft draft to strength. Linebackers are a Redskins strength. A team's personality develops on its strengths.

Hog Heaven expects Orakpo to return healthy and for the Redskins to re-sign him in 2014. I gotta get more use out of that jersey.    
 

Last week produced a few guffaw moments right around April Fool's Day. The Redskins signed former Miami Dolphins quarterback Pat White to a one-year deal. That news sparked a good deal more blogger stupidity than Washington's signing of Kellen Clemens as a camp arm in 2011.  

Some national media types put the right spin on the move. Others trolled for eyeballs along three lines of thought ... I use the word "thought" loosely.

1 - Kirk Cousins is available to trade.

2 - Pat White would allow the Redskins read-option offense to proceed seamlessly if Robert Griffin III is lost to injury again.

3 - Pat White and RGIII in the same backfield open immense options for the Wildcat formation.

Um, hold your horses, cowboy.

Why let last week's news go to waste when it can be used to make some points about Griffin, the Redskins and the Double-Duel-Threat-QB Wildcat? Besides, Hog Heaven is not above trolling for readers, either. Kidding aside, these points are worth making.

1. Robert Griffin III puts the magic in the read-option offense.
Robert Griffin III cannot be duplicated. Pro teams take college concepts like the shotgun spread and make it their own, usually by adding precision an order of magnitude greater than the NCAA level. Then, opposing coordinators catch up with the concept and break it down. Since only elite college athletes start for pro teams, those raw schoolboy concepts do not stand on their own. Opposing players have seen it before and simply run it down.

The read option works so well for the RG3skins because Griffin III is a deadly passer and world-class hurdler. That kind of talent is not duplicated, certainly not by Pat White.

Read option will influence coaching careers more than player careers. NFL coaches who grew up in play-action are not that familiar with it, but their teams are looking for players who can run it, thanks to the play of Griffin, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick. The trend might boost the prospects for Greg Schiano, Chip Kelly and especially for Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh.

Nick Saban: NFL coaches are coming to Alabama for advice on stopping the read-option wp.me/p14QSB-89tw

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 10, 2013

Carroll and Harbaugh have the best shot at success with option concepts. Carroll cycled through the NCAA and the NFL before landing in Seattle. He has NFL experience most college head coaches lack when jumped from USC to Seattle.  

Harbaugh earned his NFL chops immediately upon joining San Francisco, a rarity for college coaches. Here's the thing, Harbaugh and Carroll have quarterbacks in Kaepernick and Wilson who rival RG3 in the read option.        

2. Kirk Cousins isn't going anywhere ... this year.
Rex Grossman is Kirk Cousins' back-up. He is not RGIII's back-up. Cousins most successful accomplishment last season was to keep Grossman on the inactive roster on game day. What's so complicated about that?

The notion that the Redskins would trade Cousins before knowing RGIII's condition with certainty is just ludicrous. White's similarity to Griffin's play style (with less talent) would supposedly drive the 'Skins to hop him over Rex Grossman on the depth chart so that Kyle Shanahan would not have to change the game plan with White as he should (have done) with Cousins.

#Redskins backup QB Kirk Cousins is happy to have new QB Pat White with the team. #RedskinsTalk pub.vitrue.com/luC8

— CSN Washington (@CSNwashington) April 4, 2013

Is that a concussion joke? "@tarikcsn: #Redskins QB Kirk Cousins says signing Pat White is a "no brainer": bit.ly/14Q8Zbe"

— Homer McFanboy (@HomerMcFanboy) April 4, 2013

Cousins developed as a play-action passer in Michigan State's pro style offense. He has acknowledged that he must get better at running the read option offense that the Shanahans want to call. And, he said in January that he would work on his speed in the offseason. Lets begin there.

Kirk Cousins preparing for Redskins' read-option style - NFL.com nfl.com/news/story/0ap…

— Anthony Brown (@SkinsHogHeaven) April 4, 2013

In hindsight, White acknowledged that he did not put in the work while with the Dolphins to be anything more than a gimmick Wildcat quarterback. I'm not attributing that to character. You shouldn't either. But Cousins recognizes his need to break his comfort zone in ways that White did not as a rookie. After two years away from football, White is determined to make the most of his second chance in the NFL, slim as it is.

Head Coach Mike Shanahan said that Cousins would take all the first team snaps in the offseason and training camp. If traded, Cousins would have to be replaced by someone not named Rex Grossman or Vince Young. The "Skins would have to get that person at the same salary cap cost as Cousins, who is on the new rookie wage scale as a fourth rounder.

Trading Cousins right now would be a downgrade in the position even with RGIII on the roster. We call that a self-inflicted wound.

3. Pat White – wild card in the Wildcat?
This notion is superficial thinking at its best. White was not successful running the Wildcat in Miami. Why would he be successful in Washington?

The Jets signed Tim Tebow to run the Wildcat package. The result is a continuing source of laughter. Tebow completed six passes of eight attempts for the highest passer rating of his career (84.9). He rushed for 102 yards in 12 games for the lowest yards-per-attempt in his career (3.2). Tebow is better by far than White.

Both the Wildcat and the read option force defenders to stay home as they figure out what the offense is doing. Both are surprise attacks in their way, but the NFL is less surprised by the Wildcat than read option. To repeat the point we made above, it's Griffin, not the scheme, that makes all this work.

So you are a defensive coordinator calling the play to stop Griffin and White who are lined up in a Wildcat from the pistol formation. Who is your point of focus? White?

Focus on Griffin and then White beats you with a great play, which would be a career first for him. The coach would want to talk to you about it. It might not be pleasant. But focus on White and get beat by Griffin who makes another electrifying play and you are toast. White adds no value.

The 'Skins have other ways to surprise defenses. Roy Helu is a decent receiver out of the backfield. Can he pass? The Dolphins' Wildcat worked best when Ronnie Brown took the direct snap and either ran, handed off or passed the ball. A direct snap to a back, or a player in motion, is more likely to work. Even if alert to it, defenders would not expect it.

Clinton Portis has a lifetime 116.0 passer rating (three TD passes on three completions). Portis never ran the Wildcat. Just sayin'.

White and Griffin in the same backfield is a gimmick that would shout "Wildcat." Even then, you would give White the Tebow treatment – defense his running until he proves he can beat you by passing. 

What's in this for Pat White?

This post is a knock on superficial online football thinking, not on Mr. White. He is as aware of this litany of failure as Hog Heaven readers are. His career went horribly wrong in 2009 because he was on a horrible 1-15 team. He did not have the chops to change it. Neither did the coach nor any other player.

He will not make the Redskins. If Mike Shanahan is an honest man, he made that clear to White while offering another bite at the apple. White gets to another training camp, this time with a division winner. He can get verbal recommendations from NFL coaches that his agent might parlay into a shot with another team. White worked out for the Giants and 49ers before signing with Washington. He might even get video footage of game action for his souvenir collection.

There is a reason to keep him around in September, although I'm not sure of the rules for the practice squad. Colin Kaepernick and the 'Niners are on the schedule. Somebody has to run the scout team, the "no brainer" idea Cousins alluded to.

A slim chance is still a chance. Don't begrudge a man a second shot at his dream. 

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The Washington Redskins re-signed cornerback DeAngelo Hall last week to a 1-year, $1.25 million contract with $1 million available in NLTBE (not likely to be earned) incentives based on "pro bowl appearance and playing time."  This is a really good value contract for the Redskins if they can get something out of Hall this year, and for sake of comparison, the Redskins gave Cedric Griffin a $3 million contract last year.

Pro bowl related incentives aside, the real news from this contract is that at age 30, DeAngelo Hall is a year-by-year NFL player near the end of his career.  The Redskins got really good value on what they think is a starting corner, although it's worth pointing out that Hall is the third highest paid corner on the Redskins roster, because E.J. Biggers was able to turn a stronger market into a $1.5 million offer from the Redskins.  The fact that the Redskins were not willing to go that high combined with the fact that Hall accepted the Redskins offer shows that he wants to be a Redskin and that he also didn't have any other offers.

I would think that E.J. Biggers will have the first shot to win the job, but Hall is a stronger personality, which goes a long way in determining coaching decisions in terms of who plays, who sits.  That has long been the downside with Hall: none of his coaches have been willing to use the bench as a motivational tool for getting him to improve.  If the 2013 Redskins coaches were able to keep Hall off the field, they would be the first.  He's going to play a lot in 2013, which is the downside.

DeAngelo Hall is an interesting player in that I'm not sure we've seen an NFL player in a long time quite like him.  I think, to his credit, he's come this far after he spent a lot of time playing for circus acts, instead of competive NFL teams in Atlanta, Oakland, and Washington.  Of course, you can't necessarily completely separate cause and effect here, and the Redskins did strip Hall of captain duties last year before winning 9 games in a row.  Again, that's not to imply cause and effect of the two events, but its a bit curious given the rest of Hall's career.

I'm going to quickly recap what we know about Hall after nine seasons: he lacks even basic coverage nuance, and you don't have to have any pedigree in this league to beat him one on one.  There's a number of ways you can measure this, but maybe the most obvious is that Hall never gets called for defensive holding or pass interference because he is rarely a factor in a passing play at all.  While it's good that he doesn't ALSO add pass interference and holding to his repitore, you don't need to dig that much deeper to understand why the only flags he consistently draws are for facemasks and unnecessary roughless: he's late to the party every single play.

Hall is an asset in run and screen defense.  This wasn't always the case, but it has been the case for 3, perhaps 3 and a half years now since he joined the Redskins.  He's not a great tackler, but he sheds blocks very well for a player his size, and will throw his body around in order to make plays.  He's been a bit more injured in recent years because of his reckless playing style, but it gives significant value to having him on the edge of the defense because he is willing to do those things.

With the ball in his hand following an interception or fumble, Hall offers rare return ability and scores a fair amount of touchdowns.  This is where his reputation as a playmaker comes from.  Hall spends a lot of time trying to hunt for interceptions that do not always come, but when they do come, Hall very often makes the most of them.

The $1.25 million dollar question is whether you can get positive value from DeAngelo Hall, in other words, whether you're better off with him on the field than without him on the field.  That's not entirely clear today.  For the second half of 2012, there was more good than bad with Hall, and he was easily worth $1.25 million.  In 2011, he was hurt and probably not worth his roster spot.  He'll be 30 in 2013, so this is still a pretty good shot for the Redskins to take.  The Redskins have seen both the good and bad with Hall over the years, and this contract is simply not that much to bet on the former.  

When you consider that Hall is a year to year player in terms of his contract, the Redskins are going to bet on Hall raising his level of play for less money, which is pretty smart.

Mystery 1 - Why didn't any team make an aggressive offer for Fred Davis?
Answer - When you look stoned out of your mind whenever you speak, it doesn't work well for getting a job in the NFL, especially when you already have been suspended for pot smoking.

Mystery 2 - Why didn't Kyle Shanahan get a head coach job offer?
Answer - When you are partly responsible for the atrocious error of leaving RGIII in the playoff game against Seattle and you have no track record of Super Bowl wins, it looks really really bad.  It also doesn't help that every time the team is down by 14 points, you stop running Alfred Morris and you are guaranteed a loss.

Mystery 3 - Will the Redskins make the playoffs this coming season?
Answer - If the following conditions are met, yes: 

1) Tom Compton convincingly wins the job at Right Tackle and is really outstanding.
2) The Redskins get a good safety that can be healthy all year with their 2nd round pick AND they get Merriweather and Tanard Jackson for the year. 
3) The wide receiver corp shows massive improvement and better consistency. 
4) Orakpo is back, healthy and he and Kerrigan learn some new rushing moves. 
5) Antoine Winfield signs with the Redskins. 
6) The Redskins realize they are middle of the road talent and that 110% effort is what brought them into the playoffs and will again. 
7) The condescending, dictator nutcases don't force the Redskins to change their name.
 

Mystery 4 - Why do the Redskins always get suspended for substance abuse?
Answer - Mara has paid for 24/7 surveillance in DC area drugstores.  A video showing Rob Jackson buying Orajel for a toothache sets in motion Mara adding Orajel to the banned substance list the next day and a subsequent urine test for Rob Jackson.

Mystery 5:  Why did the Redskins convert Niles Paul to a tight end and NOT to a safety?
JJ Wilcox in the upcoming draft was a wide receiver at Georgia Southern before converting to Safety in his senior season. Have you seen Niles Paul bury anyone on special teams as shown on YouTube here: 

and here:

Man, he would have made a killer safety.

Answer - no clue, bad choice.  But that mistake still pales in comparison to leaving RGIII in the Seattle playoff game after the first quarter.

Mystery 6:  Why do the fans like and see so much potential in Richard Crawford (and for that matter, fellow SMU alumni Aldrick Robinson) and the coaches never give the guy a break or significant playing time?
Answer - Perhaps to motivate him through tough love.  I think it's a big mistake.  This guy has incredible talent and what he needs is more confidence. He needs to gain more confidence in his decisions, he needs to learn how to play the inside slot and he needs to learn how to deal with Wide Receivers when they cheat with an extra shove, hold or push.

I don't know why the Redskins stopped trying to use Robinson on kickoff returns and why they only looked at him for long passes. He needs to learn a few juke moves and learn to how to respond to defender holds off the line.  But his bench press is the same as some of the offensive lineman so I have a hard time believing he is not strong enough to handle defenders off the line.  During the 2012 preseason, we saw the special chemistry between Kirk Cousins and Robinson, and we were all left wondering why the coaches didn't see it.

Conclusion - the Redskins have a chance.  They have a good coach who has made gigantic mistakes, but perhaps that is what we should expect.  The offensive line is not big or good enough for Kirk Cousins at QB, even though both he and Griffin are good in their own ways.  So let's hope he doesn't have to start or finish more than 3 games.  The Redskins desperately need a Bobby Turner-like Wide Receiver coach.

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Redskins Hog Heaven loves that plugin from Notice Software that pushes our content to those mobile handheld thingies. We don't quite understand the technomagic that makes it work.

Here's one thing you should know. We receive the comments you send us through your smartphone, but have no idea who you are. That capability is not written into the app, neither is the capability for our response to get back to you.

The app was placed on Hog Heaven's behalf by our network affiliate, Bloguin, wonderful people btw. That means we are hands-off for making this better. For that, I am truly sorry.

Here's what we are going to do. I will gather mobile messages to Hog Heaven and post them, with responses, on Wednesdays. Here's an example using a message that came to us yesterday.

The comment may have been a response to a Hog Heaven story wherein Robert Griffin III acknowledged his own role in his injuries. The comment could also have meant please protect us from Rex Grossman and Pat White.

Google Analytics tells us that about 20 percent of you access Hog heaven via mobile devices. The best way to comment to us is directly on the site through the "Comment" link. That's what we mean when we close our stories with, "Leave a comment down there, too." 

We post all our stories on Twitter and Facebook. Nearly all the feedback to Hog Heaven stories come through those channels these days. We appreciate that and are always grateful for your readership.

HAIL!

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