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How did Rex Grossman do starting at quarterback for the Washington Redskins? Surprisingly well. Shockingly well. Astoundingly well. Not that he was perfect.

When head coach Mike Shanahan promoted Grossman to starter, Redskins Hog Heaven asked what we must see from Grossman to buy into the idea. Here's the list along with Grossman's performance.

Complete 70 percent of his passes. Grossman completed 25 of 43 pass attempts, for a completion ratio of 58 percent. He needed seven more completion to hit the mark. Seventy percent completion ratio is a high standard, perhaps impossibly so. It is premised on the idea that Grossman must perform 20 percent better than Donovan McNabb to keep McNabb's job. McNabb completed 58 percent of his passes this season.. It's not fair, but Grossman comes with a lot of baggage. Grade - C

Pass for 911 yards over the remaining games. Grossman threw for 322 yards and is on a pace to meet this standard. One of the TV announcers said it was Grossman's first 300-yard day in his career. I'll have to check that. But we award extra credit to Grossman on the assumption that it's true. Grade - A

Throw at least four touchdowns with no more than three interceptions. Talk about a sign of the low standard set by McNabb and the low expectation for Grossman. Four touchdowns was the combined benchmark for all of the remaining games. Grossman threw four touchdowns today to power Washington's biggest offensive output of the season. After this, we'll reset the bar to two touchdowns per game. Grade - A+

Beat the Cowboys. You can't pin the loss to the Cowboys solely on Grossman. He kept the Redskins in the game, especially the third-quarter comeback from a 27-7 deficit. Two dropped passes by Santana Moss on critical plays would have helped immensely. But I digress. Grossman's play kept the Redskins in the game. He would have become legendary in these parts if Washington won. Grade - B+

Overall Grade - B+

I didn't think Grossman had it in him. It remains to be seen if he can sustain it over the next two games. There's no reason to think he cannot after what we saw today.

No one is happier for Rex than Kyle Shanahan.

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Rex Grossman is not the only man whose reputation is on the line. Kyle Shanahan has as much at stake as Sexy Rexy. Young Kyle's judgment as a talent evaluator is on the line for believing that he can get more in his offense from Grossman than Donovan McNabb or Jason Campbell. He is the offensive coordinator. He gets to find out, though that call should have been made in training camp. Poor play by Grossman against Dallas will do great damage to Kyle's reputation.

However the Dallas game turns out, everybody expects a loss, my mind is made up about Kyle. I never want to see that guy as head coach of the Washington Redskins.

Mike Shanahan is the best Washington Redskins coaching hire, on paper, of the Dan Snyder era. "On paper" is my new qualifier to a statement that has become hard to defend.  Rick Snider put it succinctly in today's Washington Examiner where he wrote:

"Shanahan will be most remembered in his first season for installing an ill-fated 3-4 defense, trading quarterback Jason Campbell to Oakland as its starter for a bag of balls, mishandling defensive diva Albert Haynesworth and double-talking over McNabb's benching against Detroit. The fourth-smallest crowd in FedEx Field history on Dec. 12 proved fans are losing faith in Shanahan."

On this site, Greg Trippiedi concludes that the 2010 Redskins compare, unfavorably, to Steve Spurrier's 2003 squad as the worst team of Snyder's reign. Redskins Hog Heaven is not given to rants. Greg builds the case and reaches the only logical conclusion.

Shanahan, on paper, is as firm a disciplinarian as Marty Schottenheimer who believed that the Redskins had become soft under Norv Turner. Schotty insisted on player conditioning his way. That offended Larry Centers, which incensed the owner who enjoyed hanging out with the guys.

Can you see the parallels between Centers - Schottenheimer and Albert Haynesworth - Shanahan?  Centers was another team's star. He was not been with the team long, but made no negative impact with fans. Fans were generally sympathetic to Centers in his conflict with the coach.

Haynesworth's impact is all-negative. He is the personification of Dan Snyder's incompetent approach over a decade to build the roster. His presence was a continuing embarrassment to the front office. No one felt sorry for Big Al when Shanahan messed with him as Schotteneheimer did with Centers.

Donovan McNabb is another matter

McNabb has stature. We knew he was old when he arrived. Hog Heaven was not the only Redskins blog to write that quarterback play is not the most pressing need on the team, then or now. You could build around McNabb. That was the presumed plan for the man the Redskins surrendered two draft picks to get.

That made sense. McNabb was the one-man band-aid who gave the front office the two or three seasons needed to reconstruct the offense with a better line, stronger receivers and younger running backs as the defense jelled to its new concepts. Only then, would we draft and start a quarterback and have a reasonable chance at success. It worked in Baltimore with Joe Flacco and in Atlanta with Matt Ryan.

There was widespread buy-in to that plan, though Shanahan avoided the word "rebuild." It's unsettling to see McNabb pulled and benched now. It calls the plan into question. It suggests that the Redskins will, yet again, go for the big reach of a first round quarterback pick instead of the nuts and bolts rebuild.

To see Rex Grossman at quarterback instead of Jason Campbell is a step back. Grossman over his career completed 54 percent of his passes, has thrown 33 touchdowns against 36 interceptions and sports a QB rating of 69.6. You can look it up. Campbell is better in every category and he has maintained his consistent play in Oakland whose only improvement over Washington is at running back.

McNabb was sold to us as the bridge to the future. Now he is now the bridge to nowhere. Shanahan as much as told him that he is the last resort as starting quarterback next season, if Grossman or John Beck don't work out, if the team can't draft Auburn's Cam Newton or Stanford's Andrew Luck, or trade for Vince Young or sign Michael Vick, or Brett Favre, or re-sign Grossman. Or something.

What a mess.

Point after: What on Earth is going on in DC area major sports? Gilbert Arenas was traded to the Orlando Magic. The University of Maryland fired Terrapins football coach Ralph Friedgen, who is an alumnus of the school, in favor of former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach. The Washington Capitals are in an eight-game losing streak.     

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Xtra Point Football

I really think that Mike Shanahan has lost his marbles. He says that he wants to bench Donovan McNabb to see if Rex Grossman can play. This just in--he's NOT GOOD. Also, McNabb has been moved to 3rd string because John Beck needs to get a look and has been great in practice. Hey Mike, why don't you call the Dolphins and ask them about Beck? You know what they would say? He's NOT GOOD. All Shanahan has done with this move is to alienate the locker room and confuse all the fans in Washington. It's a shame, as the fans in DC deserve much more....

The Cowboys Nation

If Dallas is looking for revenge on McNabb for beating them in Week 1, that might have to wait. According to a slew of reports, starting with Jay Glazer of Fox on Sunday, and now ESPN's Chris Mortensen and Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com, Rex Grossman could be the starting quarterback when Washington crawls into town on Sunday.

This game doesn't mean much outside of the Dallas and Washington rivalry. Both teams are headed back to the drawing board when the season wraps up in a few weeks. The Cowboys have looked much better under Garrett so I am hopeful that the Cowboys find a way to win this game.

Matt Mosley, ESPN NFC East Blog

Will the Cowboys be able to slow down Rex Grossman? The stunning news came down Friday morning that a healthy Donovan McNabb would once again be benched. The Cowboys have prepared for McNabb, but I don't think the prospect of facing Grossman is all that intimidating. At this point, it almost seems like the Shanahans get a kick out of shaking things up. I believe that Redskins offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan has always been more comfortable with Grossman than McNabb. There have been reports that Kyle wanted to make this move about 13 weeks ago. Now his father will finally give him the chance. So much for that lucrative contract extension for McNabb. At this rate, it's hard to imagine his starting for the Redskins again. And while the Eagles respect McNabb too much to laugh about this, they certainly have to feel good about their decision. I sat down and watched a few plays from that loss to the Bucs. McNabb did have some awful throws that short-hopped receivers. He can normally play through those bad stretches, but the Shanahans are tired of waiting for him.

Adam Schefter, ESPN Football Analyst

Many of the teams that had needs, or have needs at the quarterback had needs last offseason and they did not make a move for Donovan McNabb at that time. The teams that were interested at varying levels were Washington, Oakland and Buffalo. Oakland has gone out and traded for Washington's former quarterback Jason Campbell and tacked another year onto his contract. Buffalo has found Ryan Fitzpatrick who's done very well for them this year. Washington went with Donovan McNabb and the move did not work out well for either side.

Jason LaCanfora, NFL Network

Players told me they feel like McNabb is a scapegoat for some of the shortcomings of young offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan (Mike's son). Moreover, Kyle's stock is being questioned within the organization and beyond, according to team and league sources. Players believe Kyle Shanahan favors Grossman from their time together in Houston, and rather than spend the offseason adjusting some of the system to fit McNabb, he views Grossman as a better fit for the offense as is.

Two NFL coaches I contacted said they also believe the coaching staff has been too regimented with McNabb and not adapted its offense to match the potential Hall of Famer's skills.

"This is Kyle Shanahan only knowing one way to do things and not being willing to make adjustments for the player," one coach said. "Look at (Philadelphia Eagles coach) Andy Reid. He had one version of his offense for McNabb, and then tweaked it for Kevin Kolb, and then for (Michael) Vick. That's coaching. I can't believe they benched McNabb for Rex Grossman."

(Note: You can drop that "Future Hall of Famer stuff. The media voters only go with Super Bowl heroes now. They would have considered McNabb in his second or third year of eligibility. It's doubtful they will do so after this.)

Peter King, SI.com

So now it's eight months after the McNabb trade to Washington, and a second highly respected quarterback guy, Mike Shanahan, has spurned McNabb. Whether you like the move or hate it (and I find the timing questionable, certainly, with McNabb having played better than average Sunday in the 17-16 loss to Tampa Bay), the one thing you have to admit is this: Two smart quarterback men have turned thumbs-down on McNabb in the span of nine months. You can defend McNabb all you want, and Lord knows he has his legions of defenders out there, but Reid and Shanahan are in the business of winning football games. Both have been to Super Bowls. Shanahan's won two of them. And both said they thought they could do better than McNabb.

Michael Wilbon, as quoted by DC Sports Bog's Dan Steinberg

Wilbon was asked during an interview by NBC Washington if McNabb should stay in Washington. "Stay here for what?" he said, when asked about McNabb's future. "I mean, I hope they cut him. I hope they cut him, so he can go somewhere else where there's an atmosphere that's not Days of Our Lives. Donovaon's my boy. Do I want to see him in that? No. I don't. And I was excited when he came. I thought it might be different. But it's not different."

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Wow!. Just wow! The Washington Redskins are no longer in on the Donovan McNabb campaign. Pull all those posters from the Metro buses.

Just yesterday, we noted the rumors that Washington Redskins back-up quarterback Rex Grossman might see action at some point of the year. Redskins Hog Heaven even put forth the thought that Washington needed to see how Kyle Shanahan's offense worked when run by a quarterback more familiar with it than McNabb. Today's news that Mike Shanahan is doing just that still hit like a punch in the face.

Are the Shanahans reading our stuff?

We are not going to rail against Rex. If Michael Vick can get a second chance, Grossman should have one. We just don't expect much.

Grossman cannot deliver the same game-by-game performance as McNabb and expect to keep the starter position. I want to see a 20 percent improvement over McNabb's per game numbers. That means that over the next three games, or however many he plays, Grossman must complete 70 percent of his passes, for 911 yards, throw at least four touchdowns with no more than three interceptions. It would help if the Redskins beat the Cowboys.

A loss to Dallas with Grossman as starter would be an epic marketing disaster for the Redskins. 

Shanahan said in his announcement press conference that third-string quarterback John Beck could start a game so that the team could evaluate his performance. Beck joined the team in the discredited Cerrato-Zorn regime. No offense to Mr. Beck, but nobody sees him as the answer to the 'Skins quarterback needs, which Redskins Hog Heaven has consistently said is not the most pressing for this team (See Line, Offense, and Receivers, Wide). 

So I'm going to go ahead and just declare any game that Beck starts as an exhibition game.

I'm also going to go ahead and give Shanahan credit for for decisiveness and for the clarity of his position. It's an improvement over the Detroit fiasco. That's a plus. It shows that he learns from mistakes. The minus is that the high profile Super Bowl quarterback we expected to build a team around, and gave up two draft picks to get, might not be with the team next year. Shanahan told McNabb that his place with the Redskins was not guaranteed next season.

We need those draft picks, dammit. Shanahan, who snookered Dan Snyder out of extra draft picks in the Clinton Portis for Champ Baily trade, was himself taken by Andy Reid on McNabb.

McNabb comes in for a share of the venom that's sure to be heaped on the Redskins. He was on a pace for a personal best for yards completed, but he hasn't been as low as one touchdown per game since 2003. That's less than Jason Campbell last year or this year. In an up and down season, Campbell's QB rating is consistent (84.4) with his performance in his last two seasons with Washington.

Who's deciding things on this team?

Point after: So, Kyle won the argument with Dad about McNabb. What happens if Kyle is wrong and Grossman sucks? Does that mean that Kyle is fired for an OC more in line with the coach?    

Every player on the Redskins roster better understand that they, too, are on notice. 

 

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Jay Glazer, Chris Mortensen and other media types are reporting that the Washington Redskins might start back-up quarterback Rex Grossman against the Dallas Cowboys. The team denies it, but it's the talk of the town. On first blush, you would think that Grossman for Donovan McNabb is a bad idea. Well, hold your horses, cowboy.

Joe Gibbs taught me a lesson about starting quarterbacks, although he didn't intend to at the time.  Turn on the WABAC Machine to December 2007. The 5-7 Washington Redskins, still reeling from the shock of Sean Taylor's death, loses starting quarterback Jason Campbell in the first half of the game against the Chicago Bears.

Gibbs bypassed Mark Brunell and went with Todd Collins to replace Campbell. After a shaky start, Collins passed for 224 yards and two touchdowns for the 24-16 decision over Da Bears. The win ignited a four-game streak that ended with a playoff appearance.

Brunell was Gibbs' handpicked choice as quarterback for the return to glory. Campbell won the starter spot in the winter of 2006 when Washington's prospects fell with the temperature.

That was a disappointment to Collins, who followed offensive coordinator Al Saunders to Washington in a last gasp hope of winning a starting job. Saunders was an offensive thought leader from the Don Coryell coaching tree. His notorious playbook was so complex that it was said to take three years to learn it.

To Gibbs, that was Collins's role, to mentor Brunell and Campbell through the learning curve. Nobody had a clear picture of how that offense was supposed to work until Collins ran it in the Bears game and thereafter.

It was a tactical error on Gibbs part not to have given Collins a shot to start in that offense. Brunell had a marvelous career, in Jacksonville, but was an aged 37. Campbell was the team's hot prospect as a first round draft choice. It would have been extraordinary if Gibbs did not to go with either of them over Collins who only had 27 attempts in five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. But Collins was the ticket in 2007.

If that was true of Collins, who had scant playing time in the five seasons before 2007, then what does that mean for Grossman, who led a team to a Super Bowl? 

Pro football is more about precision than athleticism. Every pro is an elite athlete. That's why just "throwing a player out there to see what you've got" rarely works with the pros, unless you jump the precision factor.  The lesson for Gibbs and me and you too, brother, is that a quarterback's knowledge of the scheme can trump talent. That's can, not will.

Three seasons later, Mike Shanahan faces the same choice as Gibbs. The offense is struggling to pick up a playbook that could take two or three years to learn. In a game where precision counts, maybe Rex Grossman can get better results. That's can, not will.

With contract decisions to be made about Grossman, who is on a one-year deal, and McNabb, who hasn't made the case to stay, we may have to throw Grossman out there to see if the offense is more precise with someone more familiar with the scheme.

I want you to know I clinched every bodily orifice as I wrote that.

Points after: Life can take you funny paths. Rex Grossman was the starting quarterback on the 2007 Bears. Now, Grossman is the back-up in Washington while Collins is the back-up in Chicago.

Interesting factoid from the Detroit Lions game--Donovan McNabb's QB rating - 75.7; Rex Grossman's QB rating - 75.9.

Grossman wears jersey No. 8, the name number as Mark Brunell. Players, not their jerseys, play. There is no reason to stress over Grossman's success while wearing Brunell's number unless you are superstitious. Which I am about football. Grossman starting can't end well.  

Failure at pro football precision is why Devin Thomas is no longer on the team. Thomas' and Malcolm Kelly's failure to develop as pro wide receivers is half the reason Washington's offense is ineffective, no matter who is at quarterback.

Thomas is a marvelous athlete who hasn't figured out how to make anyone's starting line-up. Kelly's body may not be rugged enough for the pros.

Oh yeah, it's DALLAS WEEK! 

In the Redskins first game post-Albert Haynesworth, it would have been an absolute travesty if this group had forgotten to show up for a second straight week.  Luckily, if only for this week, the Redskins defense solved these fears that I had, enjoying their best game all season as a run defense unit, and having their best game in terms of pressuring the quarterback since probably the Texans game, if not all year.  These guys in the front seven, and really, you can throw the safeties into that too when they were in the box, did the job without Big Albert, and they did it well.

It's so nice to know that this Redskins defense has character.  It may not be a good defense, but when guys like Vonnie Holliday and Phillip Daniels and Adam Carriker show up and put a game like this on film, and when Anthony Bryant stuffs the middle like a dominant nose tackle should, and London Fletcher can once again go sideline to sideline without a body on him, and Reed Doughty can come off the edge and get to the runners from behind because they aren't gashing our front, that qualifies as a statement game for the Redskins defense, I think.

6 of the Bucs 17 points were a direct result of mental errors by DeAngelo Hall, who also made a physical error when he dropped an INT that should have been an easy six points for the Redskins.  Hall redeemed himself with a forced fumble and recovery, though he needed to get run through by LeGarrette Blount for 11 yards to have the opportunity.  Hall's game would be roughly as responsible for the loss as was Graham Gano's missed FGs, but Hall did happen to defense passes on the Bucs two best touchdown opportunties of the day, which makes up for the dropped interception.  He was also more aggressive in run support than counterpart Phillip Buchanon.  Buchanon had another fantastic day in coverage, allowing just one completion on 3 targets, drawing the difficult assignment with Mike Williams.

The Redskins decided to go with the full extent of their defensive playbook in this game, apparently not scared of the Bucs offense.  The Redskins mixed man coverage with zone coverage and mixed blitzes with coverages and came from all angles.  They pressured Josh Freeman 12 times and hit him another 3 times, allowing him to complete just 15/25 of his passes, one of the better days the Redskins defense produced.  Unfortunately, he also threw for more than 10 yards per attempt in this one, exclusively because the Redskins allowed a 64 yard completion, a 43 yard completion, and a 41 yard completion.  Arrelious Benn had himself a career day (relax, he's a rookie), beating Hall deep once on what could only be pinned on Hall as poor coverage, and beating Moore deep on a double move on a play that was made mostly by the fearlessness of QB Josh Freeman, a budding star at the position.  Imagine how good this team will be when they actually give this guy a supporting cast!

Kellen Winslow was blanketed most of the day by London Fletcher, so he wasn't a major factor in the first 55 minutes of this game.  The Bucs didn't have more valuable catches then the ones that Winslow made, beating Fletcher and Reed Doughty for a reception in an impossibly tight window with Freeman feeling pressure from his front side.  The other one did the Redskins in: Winslow got open down the seam against Rocky McIntosh, and Freeman threw him open.  While McIntosh is not really at fault for the fact that this happened, we'll just say that if Fletcher had covered Winslow down the field, that throw is never even attempted.  That was the only time in the entire game the Bucs got Winslow on McIntosh, a match-up the Redskins hoped to avoid, and the Bucs really, really wanted.  Rocky did a much better job in run gap discipline this game, but he still: is a terrible read & react linebacker, doesn't use his keys to anticipate where the ball will be, is a weak tackler for his position, is a hilariously useless pass rusher, and is unspeakably bad in coverage.  I think that covers everything.

And while Brian Orakpo was mugged once or twice in this game with no call (the officials need to at least be conscious that something might happen), I didn't like that Mike Shanahan used still frames to make his case to referee Pete Morrelli.  That, to me, says more about Shanahan than about the umpire who missed the hold.  Shanahan, who has already shown he will go for 2 down by a point after a late TD, had a chance to do something similar at the end of the game, and put a chance to go to OT in the hands of a PAT team.  Not only did it end up being the wrong call, but the only defense of the decision I can offer was that it was risk-averse.  I don't think the chance to win in regulation with a struggling FG unit should have been passed there.  No one plans to go to OT and score a TD before getting to a fourth down.  That would be called a advantage.

The Redskins lost this game, on defense, because of one-a-quarter coverage breakdowns.  Getting Carlos Rogers back at corner is going to help this unit, but the Redskins are going to have to solve a series of contractual issues at the position in the offseason: Rogers and Buchanon are unrestricted free agents, while DeAngelo Hall has a mutual contract option that will be expensive to buy out.  It's safe to say that Rogers and Buchanon have the superior performance, but the most costly option to the team would be to buy out Hall and then extend Rogers and Buchanon.  Kevin Barnes appears ready to step in as a third corner as soon as, well, immediately, but with Justin Tryon sent to Indianapolis for a carton of milk, Barnes is the only reserve who can see his role increased.  Contract issues are going to force the Redskins to be thinner at the position.

The safeties haven't been good enough.  The Redskins can live with LaRon Landry's hit 'em or miss coverage.  Landry concludes the year with a 43% rate of successful completion against (57% SR, if you prefer it that way), but 8.8 PaYd/target, which is among the worst at the position.  That's above average, but barely.  Pair that with a top cover safety, and you have a great tandem at the position.  That means the Redskins need to improve on Kareem Moore in the offseason.  Moore is a below average NFL safety.  Also, the Redskins' contractual obligation to pay its corners is going to force them to draft a corner or two in the later rounds to contribute on special teams and play in case of injury.

Linebacker is not a concern if Perry Riley is ready to jump into the starting lineup for McIntosh, a pending free agent who appears unlikely to receiver a contract offer.  If Riley is not ready, a FA shopping trip may be in order.  Extending HB Blades would be a good way to buffer against London Fletcher's advanced age, but if you realize how rare it is for a 35-year old to be playing at the level Fletcher currently is, I'm far more worried about an injury than a decline in on-field performance.

The Redskins may have more in-house options to solve their DL issues than they currently believe.  Anthony Bryant and Kedric Golston may both be able to handle the nose tackle better than Ma'ake Kemoeatu, who has been below average, but not nearly as terrible as Golston as been outside at defensive end.  For RDE, Jeremy Jarmon is built perfectly for the position in the 3-4, and offers more pass rush than the Redskins have gotten out of Golston.  I've never understood why the Redskins wouldn't use Vonnie Holliday in that role: he played it some in this game and was great.  If Holliday would do another one year contract, a Jarmon/Holliday rotation gives us good production at RDE, so long as Jarmon is up to the task.  Adam Carriker is an above average two-down LDE.  I have no idea if this is the end of the line for Phillip Daniels, but this last three game stretch has been his best production of the season.  It would be sad to see him go, but it's been a great career, and now might be the time.  I don't know if the Redskins have all the answers in house on the DL, but without Haynesworth to satisfy, we may very well know by the end of the season.  Only, however, if Jarmon gets healthy quickly.

The biggest issue for the Redskins will be adding more pass rushers in 2011.  I don't care what position they play: the 3-4 is very flexible.  But the Redskins need to find some players with the pass rushing skill on the FA market or in the draft.  It's their biggest weakness as a defense.  In this game, they got really good pressure on Freeman with their pressure schemes.  But those schemes have not been there for the Redskins all season: not at least, since Week 7 in Chicago.  Even after this performance, it's still obvious that upgrades have to be made to the defensive personnel, even if special teams is what cost the Redskins this football game.

The Redskins are a dreadful first down team, and have been so the whole year.  They usually don't run the ball well enough to justify handing it off, and the Redskins have more incompletions on first down passing than any other team in football.  One of the biggest contributions made by Redskins running back Ryan Torain coming fresh off his injury wasn't that he gained more than 150 yards in the first half, and more than 115 of those in the first quarter.  That was big, but the bigger, more important part of it from the Redskins perspective is that he was able to move the chains for them on first down.  That was a Redskins weakness, and Torain was able to solve it.  For a half.

Torain wasn't successful because of a great offensive line in front of him, he was successful because of a terrible Bucs run defense which failed to adjust to the diverse running schemes of the Redskins.  Torain's biggest contribution on the day was consistently making the first defender miss in the backfield.  This is big.  Rarely was the Redskins' blocking strong enough to get the running back to the second level on their own.  But, even though Torain could have been wrapped up for a loss a number of times (and this has been Torain's M.O. on the season -- losses on backfield penetration) the Bucs contributed to the problems by being unable to finish the play there.  I can't say for sure that any of the Redskins' other runners would have broken long runs with the frequency that Torain did in this game, but this wasn't a spectacular performance by the Redskins' young RB or by their OL.  It was, mostly, poor run defense.

Which is exactly why Torain rushed 6 times for 14 yards in the second half.  By comparision, Torain's worst 6 carry stretch in the first half also gained 14 yards.  The Bucs improved their run defense in the second half.  The Redskins dominated the two interior DTs in the first half, but in the second half, those two players (especially Roy Miller) did a much better job against the run.

And the Redskins were completely unable to replicate Torain's first down performance.  They had 18 first down plays (14 of them runs) go for 209 yards in the first half (11.6 YPP).  In the second half, they had 12 first down plays go for 63 yards (5.25 YPP).  Just of those 2 were runs...but only 6 of the 12 came while the Redskins held the lead in a situation where the clock wasn't a factor.  The blocking wasn't any worse, but the run defense was better, and Torain, who was so hot in the first half, made some really horrible reads in the final three quarters, helping the Bucs run D out of their rut.

This is why Torain was a non-factor in the outcome of the game.  It's not his fault that the Redskins failed to score in their first three drives despite Torain chipping in 140 yards from scrimmage.  But Torain has been significantly less effective near the goal line for one thing, and when the Redskins drives stalled, they were going to get 6 points max even had Graham Gano not forgotten how to kick a football straight.  They actually did score 2 TDs and a FG in the rest of the game, when Torain contributed only 42 total yards on 11 touches.  Torain had the best offensive day of any Redskin, but that might be the problem.  He did all of his damage in a scoreless first quarter.  His success set up a couple of play action passes to Santana Moss and probably the short TD toss to Logan Paulsen as well.  On both of the Redskins TD drives, they had two passing plays go for 15 yards or longer.

On all other drives, the Redskins had just three passing plays go for over 15 yards, two of them screen passes.  It was THAT kind of offensive day for the Redskins.  Donovan McNabb made a number of poor, inaccurate throws and bad decisions.  It wasn't a banner day, but he was able to play his best football on the last two drives of the game, and being able to avoid a mistake until that point was pretty impressive given the way the Redskin receivers played.  Chris Cooley is frustrated with his role in the offense, but the Redskins need his pass protection a lot more than they need his receiving.  Santana Moss plays with inconsistent effort, Anthony Armstrong doesn't always realize when the quarterback needs to find him hot, Roydell Williams hasn't played well in relief of Joey Galloway, and Fred Davis -- the Redskins best receiver this year on a per target basis -- had a poor day.  To make matters worse, Donovan McNabb often knows on the snap when he's going to find Keiland Williams, but Williams doesn't always know where to be to get the ball, and gets McNabb killed or forced into desperation dumpoffs.  Finally, Donovan McNabb appears to be SO hurt over the last two weeks, that he's no longer stepping up in the pocket, opting instead to take his eyes off of downfield action and wait for his safety release, or worse, to throw off his back foot under pressure.

The way that Torain had been running, things were set up perfectly to run some run-action bootlegs and get McNabb space to throw the deep ball, but the Redskins never did this in the second half.  Poor pass protection by Torain and James Davis only made McNabb's job more difficult at the worst times.  The offensive line, Cooley, and Williams do a really good job protecting the quarterback, but if you play backs who can't block, you're still going to give up sacks.  McNabb is really playing as an immobile target right now which, 1) makes it more impressive that the Redskins protected him on 35 of his 37 dropbacks, and 2) explains why McNabb can play well for this team, but still not get the team in the end zone.  Such is the reality of trading for a 33 year old player.  The biggest difference in this game through the air was Josh Freeman's ability to extend plays and make aggressive throws down the field and smart throw aways vs. Donovan's desperation dump offs that were dead even if they were complete.

Kudos, in this one, to the offensive line.  Jammal Brown struggled in pass protection, and Will Montgomery was the leaky piece in the running game, but outside of a couple pressures credited to Trent Williams, this was a banner game for the OL in terms of protecting McNabb.  This group kept us on pace, but Torain ran with poor vision in the second half, Cooley wasn't used in the passing game even though he would have been able to break down the Bucs cover two had the Redskins let him.  Cooley in the passing patters was the big difference in the final drive vs. three consecutive three and outs to begin the second half.

McNabb's day likely would have been considered below average prior to the final offensive drive, but he came through and delivered in the clutch, finding his receivers on third downs and fourth downs (3/4 for 22 yards, with dropped TD pass by F. Davis).  Anthony Armstrong (18 yds), Keiland Williams (24 yards), Santana Moss (15 yards), and Chris Cooley (22 yards) all had multiple catches on that drive, backs against the wall.  That's a positive sign.  The nicest thing you can say about the Davis dropped TD is that the back shoulder throw had A LOT more velocity than Nick Sundberg's snap did two plays later.  Despite the rain, those were the ONLY two drops by the Redskins on the day.  McNabb's receivers may not have been in the game start to finish, but at least they caught the ball when thrown, enabling McNabb to go 22/35 (62.8%).

It could have been worse for this offensive unit.  Ryan Torain could have not enjoyed such as spectacular first quarter, and the Redskins could have not enjoyed an 11 play advantage.  They could have gone 3 and out on that final drive, punted, and never have gotten the ball back.  They converted, and went down the field and set up the extra point play this season will be remembered for.  Two touchdowns and 3 field goal attempts: thats a 20 point offensive day 80% of the time.  The offense didn't lose this game.  It also didn't do anything to put it away early, managed the clock with a degree of embarassment never seen before in the Zorn era, and four separate times they got inside the ten and failed to score on three consecutive plays (both passing TDs came on fourth down).  They may have produced adequate results, but I can't yet say that this unit isn't underachieving.

I guess there's always Dallas week to put everything together.