TSO

The problem is they were doing this during the 2006 campaign, when they were historically bad on defense.

Lol, the vaunted Raiders defense! This is really cute. You'd think they were shutting offense's down or something. They rank in the bottom third of the league in the vast majority of defensive categories.

It sucks, and it's unfair, but it looks like Josh Norman is going to have to deal with this now for the rest of his career. When he said what he said about Goodell this offseason, it was over. Goodell is a petty little man.

From Hap in BRBN: http://www.csnmidatlantic.com/washington-redskins/two-bengals-fined-shawn-williams-jamison-crowder-dre-kirkpatrick-penalties-vs-redskins TWO BENGALS FINED MORE THAN $50,000 COMBINED FOR PENALTIES VS. REDSKINS The bolded above (emphasis mine) is what really pisses me off about the game. I don't usually come on here and complain about the refs, but this one was just ridiculous. Like I said a few posts above, I believe the refs often allow their perceptions of teams/players to color their calls, which causes them to sometimes lose the objectivity necessary for their profession. I understand that, however, as just simply human behavior, not a conspiracy against us or any particular team. What I'm so pissed off about after this game was that the refs had EVERY REASON to perceive the Bengals as a dirty team... yet they managed to get away with so much extra-curricular crap. Often RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFS. How did that happen?

I was specifically talking about the Bengals game, myself. I was not attempting to provide evidence of any grand conspiracy. I don't believe anyone is out to get us, but I do believe there is confirmation bias and perception based subjectivity on the part of refs since, you know, they're human. We've mostly sucked as an organization while most of these refs have been in the league. To think that has no effect or to think refs are perfectly objective at all times and aren't allowing their own perceptions to factor into their calls is pretty dang naive. I think a good example of this was the Norman-Green matchup. It makes perfect sense they'd be intensely focused on Norman and call him anytime he came near Green's face mask, even though we see DBs get away with those type of hand swiping interactions all the time, never mind Adam Jones' doing it himself to Garçon on that infamous offensive PI call. I find it hard to believe it was just honest objectivity that lead to Norman getting called every time on it, and that their perception of either him or his matchup with Green didn't play a major role. To elaborate, it could easily have been just that the refs were paying closer attention to the matchup since it was a high profile one. It only takes one ref to have the perception of Green winning more often than not, or that he should be winning, in his mind to start calling Norman tighter than he'd otherwise would. I don't think this is exclusive to the Redskins, though. I do think great teams get away with more and bad teams get called on more. Great players get away with more, and bad ones get called on more. Great/Bad can all be perception-based. Interestingly and fittingly, as we've improved talent-wise I feel like so has the way the refs call our games. For instance, one of Djax's generated pass interference calls against the Ravens this season was more confirmation bias from the ref than an obvious, objective call.

No, but in this case it was actually smart of Kelley to flop since refs weren't calling Bengal players as easily as they were calling our stuff. That should've been a penalty, Kelley flop or not, that idiot Dlineman even grabs back on to Kelley's other foot as he's getting up. Jamison Crowder had to turn around and scream on his fair catch where he got hit for the refs to throw it. Bengals players were launching, grabbing our player's face masks and helmets in general, and using their own helmets to hit all game. Everyone in that stadium, players and coaches included, saw that the refs were "letting the Bengals play", often through the whistle, but nitpicking anything we did. The penalties they called on us were mostly correct, but that's not the issue though, the issue is why they weren't calling as many ticky tacky penalties on the Bengals - and there were many potential ones - as consistently as they were on us. So, yeah, Kelley basically had to do that to get the right call. If anything, we should be pissed off that it took silliness like that from our guys to get the right calls from the refs.

This was amazing. Absolute must read for any Skins fan, I went into it assuming it'd be just another basic player blog entry talking with cliches and instead got an awesome level of detail about the recent game and what he did this offseason. Again, I hope no one misses this. Thanks for sharing.

Look good, smell good, ES coverage good?

Good, lol... man they were messed up today. What the heck! I was only getting dropped off and they still were giving me a hard time, but poor Andrew got screwed, had to park and pay. :/

VICTORY!!! Welcome everyone to your week 6 ExtremeSkins coverage, I'm TSO here in the pressbox with my man Spaceman Spiff (who will be covering the team on the sidelines) ready to provide you the best damn coverage on the planet! This isn't your one year old baby brother's NFC Least now, is it? At 3-2, the Redskins find themselves holding third place in the division, looking up at the Eagles and Cowboys. The Cowboys have won 4 straight, starting with their win against the Skins in week 2. The Eagles had won 3 straight, only to fall to Detroit last week after coming off of their bye in a tight game. The Giants started off strong at 2-0, but have lost 3 straight starting with a Skins loss in week 3. Suffice to say, the first month and a half of the regular season has seen a division heavily lauded as the worst in the NFL last year suddenly look like the finest. Going into the year, the Eagles looked to be rebuilding as they got rid of many players from the Chip Kelly era. They traded Bradford away, the safer bet at QB, and decided to get their rookie QB reps right away. And while many recognized they had a lot of solid pieces on defense, few expected them to play well in all three phases of the game. They've been disciplined, balanced and seemingly well-coached. And while it seemed like they were riding an easy schedule to start the season, they've got a big win against a dominant team in the Steelers showing this might not just be a fluke. Meanwhile the Skins are winning games they shouldn't be winning. After a terrible start to the season that saw them humiliated against the Steelers and then dropping a game that included too many missed opportunities to the Cowboys, they've reeled off three straight wins to claw their way back into the picture. The wins have come in all shapes and sizes, with the only consistency between them being the resiliency of the team. Today, they're going to need that. Many expected a loss in New York, as has been so often the case in recent history. The Skins just don't win there. But, they did. And while many thought it should be an easy win against the lowly Browns at home, there were equally as many saying it'd be "so Redskins" to lose that game. For almost the entire 2nd and 3rd quarters, it seemed that way, too. You could hear the collective "here we go, again" coming out of Redskin fan's mouths. But, again, they showed their resiliency and came out with the win. Going against the Ravens in Baltimore? Ahh, forget it! The Skins never win there! They'll run all over our porous defense and they'll be able to stifle our offense with their number one ranked defense. But... yup, the Skins pulled out yet another scrappy win, this time doing it unlike any other game this year; defensively. So, three straight wins and yet it feels like they're supposed to lose this game. Why? We fans have been so battered we simply expect the worse at this point. When other teams win close games against us, it's because "...that's what winners do, they just find a way". When we do the same, welp, it's just luck. This team has continuously shown us that they're fighters. They won't lay down. Penalties? Missed Opportunities? Injuries? They overcome. Now, they need to overcome the Eagles. Offensively, Carson Wentz is playing as well as anyone can expect a rookie QB to play. What's worse, he seems to favor attacking the intermediate middle of the field, which is arguably the area with our greatest deficiency personnel-wise. But that's not all... they're also an excellent rushing offense, which we all know has been our biggest weakness thus far. We're going to need great games from our ILB and Safety corps. In particular; Will Compton, Mason Foster, Blackmon and Ihenacho. With Su'a Cravens out, look for Terrence Garvin to play a significant role. Let's hope we see more of this: Defensively, the Eagles are playing extremely well under their new coordinator Jim Schwartz. In reality, it all starts up front with the Eagles, specifically right in the middle with their DTs Fletcher Cox and Bennie Logan. Their outstanding play has made it easy on everyone else, furthermore, now that Chip Kelly's gone and their defense is playing a normal amount of snaps per game, everyone has benefited. If our Oline, particularly Long, Sherff and Lauvao can handle Cox and Logan, it'll go a long way in allowing our offense to excel. Matt Jones/Kelley/Thompson and Kirk Cousins having good games will be the key, but our WR corps should have more of a chance to shine now, as well. Losing Reed is big, but the depth at TE has been said to be excellent with Vernon Davis and Niles Paul backing him up, so we'll learn quite a bit regarding just how accurate that claim is today. The Lions have put out some good stuff on tape to emulate against their defense, so hopefully we see things like this: Suffice to say, this is a huge game. It's got season-long implications. Though fans should be satisfied with the three game-winning streak, as it's not often Redskin fans have been treated to such delights, the wins have been generally ugly and have allowed the doubts to remain. A win today will give fans something to really celebrate, will put the Redskins right up top of the division with the Cowboys, and everything in their hands moving forward. A loss? Well, this is a Redskin fan blog, I'd rather not discuss that. Stay tuned here for more updates and exclusive content, only on the ES Coverage Blog! Announcement of Inactives The Redskins declared the following players as inactive: o No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld o No. 18 WR Josh Doctson o No. 35 CB Dashaun Phillips o No. 36 S Su’a Cravens o No. 60 OL Vinston Painter o No. 72 DE Anthony Lanier II o No. 86 TE Jordan Reed No. 85 Vernon Davis is expected to start in place of Reed at tight end. The Eagles declared the following players as inactive: o No. 16 WR Bryce Treggs o No. 21 CB Leodis McKelvin o No. 37 CB C.J. Smith o No. 51 DE Steven Means o No. 68 C/G Josh Andrews o No. 69 G Dillon Gordon o No. 73 G Isaac Seumalo Pregame Tweets BATTLE OF THE TRENCHES Decided to focus on the trenches since I know most of you will be watching the ball. Here's what I saw: Oline 1st Half 1st drive for the O. First snap, Logan (or Cox?) does a good job pushing Long back into Cousins forcing incompletion. Second snap, not much push from the Oline on the left side, Eagles stop Thompson for one yard gain. 3rd down, Oline does a great job pass blocking all around, Long getting pushed back a little bit but holds up enough to give Cousins space to complete pass for first down. 2nd snap after that, Nsekhe (we seem to be using him as a 3rd TE initially) does a good job holding the edge at first, but then loses his block, costing Matt Jones only a two yard gain. 2nd drive. Morgan Moses holds on first snap, lost his block either way. Second snap, Oline does a good job pass blocking, Cousins probably could've held onto it longer. 3rd snap, Sherff loses his block against Cox, stopping a Thompson draw play. 3rd drive. Excellent pass protection off of Play Action, big play to DJax. 2nd snap, Lauvao does an excellent job getting to 2nd level and shielding off LBer, 16 yard gain for Matt Jones. Great pass protection all around on ensuing snap, though Long and Lauvao got pushed back a little, TD to Crowder! 4th drive. Eagles Dline does an excellent job moving inside right before the snap and stuffing Matt Jones. Next two plays, Oline does a great job pass blocking in general. Again, a little push on the inside with Lauvao, but still good. Excellent run blocking on the ensuing snap, huge gain for Ryan Kelley. Next snap, Long does a great job getting to the 2nd level, allowing Kelley another good gain. Next snap, Trent Williams with an absolute sick block pulling on the left edge for Thompson to get a big gain. Snap after the next one, Eagles overload and stop the run, not necessarily the Oline's fault, though Long and Lauvao got pushed back. Next snap, Morgan Moses almost pushed back right into Cousins, but he got rid of it quickly for a TD to Vernon Davis! 5th drive. 2nd snap, Lauvao does a great job one on one with Cox, holds his ground. 3rd down, Oline does a great job all around pass blocking. After the loss on the end around that shouldn't have been, Oline does another great job pass blocking, allows Kirk to extend the play for a first to Crowder. 6th Drive. Left side of Trent and Lauvao do a good job run blocking, Matt Jones for a gain of 3. Next snap, another good job on the left side, especially Lauvao, helping Matt Jones to a gain of 22. Ensuing snap, Eagles are able to penetrate this time on the left side, but Kelley does a great job flipping the field and gains 5. Next play after 2 min warning, left side getting pushed back a little now, Thompson does a good job anyway for gain of 5. 3rd down, left side (Trent and Lauvao) both get shoved back into Cousins, who completes to Garcon for big conversion. Ensuing play, Oline does a good job pass blocking, Moses eventually loses his block. Final play of this drive, Oline (left side, once again, including Niles Paul) does a great job sealing the edge, Matt Jones walks in for a TD. Oline 2nd Half 1st Drive. Long gets pushed back into Matt Jones, 4 yard loss. Ensuing snap, Oline does a good job pass blocking, Trent eventually gives up a pressure but Cousins throws it away. 3rd down, Sherff does a great job riding out his guy, Cousins steps up for big conversion to Garcon. Next play, Long does a great job getting out on screen, but doesn't finish well. Play after that, Long does a great job pulling on a toss to Thompson and holds his block long enough to allow Thompson to get outside. Play after the next snap, Oline does a good job run blocking again, Eagles have no answer except to cheat with LBers., Crowder gets an illegal block in the back. Ensuing play, Fletcher Cox beats Long (I think?) coming off a stunt, gets pressure on Cousins who completes to Garcon. Next snap, Long snaps it high, Sherff pulls and gets no push, ending in a no gainer. Play after the next, Sherff loses on a nice spin move, gives up a pressure, forcing us to settle for FG. 2nd drive. 3rd snap, nice job run blocking on the right side by Long, Sherff and Moses. Ensuing play, Oline does a good job overall pass blocking, but Moses gets slightly beat by the edge rush, still, Cousins gets it off on time for a nice gain to Thompson. 3rd drive. 1st snap, great job all around run blocking from the Oline, especially Long and Lauvao to open a hole for Matt Jones, who gets the first and more. Play after the next, Morgan Moses does an awesome job pulling and getting an edge block to spring Thompson on a toss, showed great speed for a big guy. After a couple penalties, Oline does a great job run blocking but Matt Jones bounces outside unnecessarily. Play after the next snap, Long gives up immediate pressure, Cousins sees it and panics, throws early to Garcon on the outside, incomplete. 4th drive. Left side doesn't get any push, Kelley for only one yard behind Lauvao and Trent. Next play, Sherff and Long pushed back into Cousins, but hold their blocks enough. 3rd down, Cox pushes Long back into Cousins, who escapes the pocket but can't find anyone. Tough three plays at a bad time, 3 and out. 5th and final drive. Oline does a great job on 3rd down opening up a gaping hole for Matt, specifically Sherff and Moses. Way to finish a great game overall!! Dline 1st Half 1st drive against the D. RJF, Hood and Baker are the starting Dline. Hood at RDE. First snap, sack by Kerrigan and Blackmon! Second and third snaps, Eagles get to the edge too easily, Baker and Hood penetrate but straight up the field and give up gaps, been a problem in our one-gap defense for a long time, they need to recognize when Oline going horizontally. 4th snap right after that, RJF does a great job on the edge, forces RB to lose a yard. Another Kerrigan sack on the next snap! Nice start for the front. 2nd drive. Baker does a great job after play action with immediate pressure, forcing Wentz to throw inaccurately. Next snap, Hood does a great job, as does Kerrigan, beating his man immediately and getting a TFL. 3rd down, Baker and Kerrigan stunting, do a great job getting pressure on Wentz who does well to get the ball off, but incomplete out of bounds. 3rd Drive. Jenkins out there with Hood and RJF. First snap, RJF in the middle, lot of space there for Matthews, but Foster cleans up. Still, a 4 yard gain, Eagles won up front. 2nd snap, better penetration from the front, but they still gain 3 yards. Jenkins with the tackle. Trent Murphy with a terrible neutral zone infraction. Snap right after that, Kerrigan getting a ton of attention, both RG and RT went to block him. Snap after that, 4 yard run from Matthews... but Dline did a good job not getting pushed back. 3rd down, front gets very good pressure all around. 4th drive. Ioannidis in the middle, does a good job, but run goes to the right for 5 yards. After the 2nd snap that went to Matthews for the 1st, Kerrigan talking a lot to the Dline right now during TV timeout. Next snap, bootleg, entire front got fooled. Kerrigan with immediate pressure, another snack on the ensuing snap. Just destroying their RT. 3rd down, Kerrigan stunts to the middle, gets pressure again. We're very exotic in terms of blitzing today, a bit surprising considering Wentz came into the game having some of the best numbers against the blitz in the league. Dline 2nd Half 1st drive. Baker, Hood and RJF come out to start again. Murphy out there with Kerrigan. 1st snap, RJF up the field quick and forces Sproles to cut, but he gets past LOS anyway for a 7 yard gain. Play after the next one, Kerrigan once again with the quick pressure, but Wentz gets it off for a big gain. Next play, Eagles Oline handles our front and convert a third and short. Next play, Chris Baker does a great job shielding off his block, finding the RB and making a tackle for no gain. 3rd down, they get great pressure on Wentz again who makes an awesome play... but it gets called back for illegal block in the back. 2nd drive. Jenkins, Ioannidis and RJF out there to start. Preston Smith and Trent Murphy outside. Kerrigan getting a breather, hopefully the Eagles don't take advantage as he's been absolutely killing it. 1st snap, Dline does a decent job not getting pushed back, but no penetration either allowing a 5 yard gain. Next snap, Ioannidis gets double teamed and destroyed, Matthews gets the 1st. Next play, Ioannidis takes a bad angle to rush, gets washed out of the play easy. Not good back to back from Iaonnidis, who's had a good game thus far. Ensuing play, no one gets pressure, Wentz goes deep for huge play on 3rd and 20 to Matthews. Play after the next, Hood does a great job reading Wentz and deflecting the pass. 3rd drive. Only two linemen, Jenkins and RJF out there. And, of course, 22 yard gain for Matthews. Ensuing play, they do a great job and make me eat my words . Especially RJF, forcing Matthews back inside and Jenkins also generating a holding call. Next two plays, they're getting pressure but Wentz finding guys in the middle of defense. Next play, Dline does a good job penetrating but Sproles makes it to the edge for another first down. Ensuing play, not a good pass rush from Hood, Baker, Kerrigan and Smith, but Ertz drops the pass. Eagles settle for FG. 4th drive. On 3rd play, Murphy does an awesome job spinning and getting to Wentz, forcing an inaccurate pass. Next play, Hood and Kerrigan do a good job winning their matchups and stopping the run. Huge 3rd down, Baker does a great job and gets quick pressure, but Wentz makes him miss and hits Matthews for a huge conversion. Next play, RJF gets held so embarrassingly bad and STILL sacks Wentz. Huge play, but what the refs? No call!? Big 3rd down and 15. My man Preston Smith with the initial pressure and sack off an inside stunt! Murphy with the assist! Love to see our two young'ns finish the game that way! Post game Audio Photos (by Spaceman Spiff)

I totally forgot about Norman trashing Goodell this offseason. Makes sense now.

@TK @London Kev That's very much appreciated LK. I have no idea what the issue is, I'm seeing it fine on my end. I wonder if anyone else is having the same problem?

Journey to Fed Ex through the eyes of the Press (Matt Jones and Jordan Reed sighting at the end of first video!): Welcome everyone to your week 4 of the regular season ExtremeSkins coverage, I'm TSO here in the pressbox with my man Murf (who will be covering the team on the sidelines) ready to provide you the best damn coverage we can! Oh, the entangled web the NFL can weave. When some random guy named RG3 who no one really knows that well moved on this offseason and signed with the Browns, many around the NFL, let alone Redskins Nation, had this game circled on their calendar. What excitement! What thrill! What adventure lays in wonder with such an intriguing matchup? Alas, it was not meant to be. As he is unfortunately wont to do, RG3 got hurt. The Browns are a total mess at the QB position and so that part of the game has lost quite its luster. But, fear not! The battle of the QBs wasn't the only intertwining aspect these two teams have for us today. How about Hue Jackson and Jay Gruden? Two Cincinnati Bengals ex-offensive coordinators wanting to strut their stuff against each other. After Gruden accepted the Redskins head coaching gig and left the Bengals, Hue Jackson was elevated to offensive coordinator from his running backs' coach position to replace him. There was plenty of talk during that offseason about how Hue was going to take their offense to the next level, some of it fairly interpreted as being critical of Gruden. Yet, in the end, the Bengals offense regressed under Hue, going from 6th in points scored under Gruden in 2013 to 15th overall under Hue in 2014 as well as going from 10th in total yards to 15th. Oh, and that's not even getting into the Hue Jackson/Redskins connection, where he was the team's RBs coach under both Schottenheimer and Spurrier in 2001-2002. Coaching histories not doing it for you? How about recent Redskin castoffs coming back for revenge? Both Stephen Paea and Austin Reiter were cut recently, the former before the season began, the latter after the first game of the year to make space for Cullen Jenkins. Both are starting for the Browns today and definitely looking to prove the team made a mistake in letting them go. If you've followed along here on the ES Coverage blog, you'd know Stephen Paea was a player we focused on during the preseason. The first game against Atlanta, he was subpar at best. But he seemed to improve as each game went on, albeit against lesser competition. It wasn't necessarily a surprise to see him released, but it was disappointing considering the offseason talk about him being fully healthy and ready to play at a high level. Were the improvements during the preseason enough, or was the team right to let him go? As for Reiter, that one particularly stings because of the need the Redskins ended up having at Center with Kory Lichtensteiger out for the year. Reiter would've been backing up Long, either way, but they wouldn't have been forced to sign John Sullivan off the streets. That's certainly a set back in the Scot McCloughan era of trying to build through the draft, generating legit angst among the fanbase by losing a draft pick who seemed to be developing. Still bored? Alright, alright. How about just plain old football talk? This matchup certainly entices, as the Browns come in with the league's 4th best rushing attack while the Redskins have the league's 9th worst rushing defense. Sounds horrifying, right? And it is, but then you factor in that the Redskins boast the league's second best passing attack and is going against the Browns' 9th worst passing defense. So, in the end, I believe this game boils down to the Redskins stopping Isaiah Crowell on the ground more than anything else. I know many are focusing on the threat of Terrelle Pryor, but I really think it's all about the Browns rushing attack today. An X factor coming out of the backfield, as well, could be Duke Johnson, as we've seen pass-catching backs like Vereen have success against us already. If they can't stop those guys out of the backfield, they're going to struggle enough to where any offensive advantage they have will be washed out and it could end up in a terrible loss against a desperate 0-3 Browns. Let's hope Ricky Jean-Francois, Chris Baker, Ziggy Hood, Cullen Jenkins, Will Compton, Mason Foster and even David Bruton, Jr. put on their big boy pants on today because we're going to need some interior run-stuffing more than ever. Cool little nugget: For the first time in forever, with Arie Kouandjio starting, the Redskins now boast an Offensive Line entirely comprised of their own draft picks! Stay tuned for more tweets, notes and general updates right here on the ES Coverage blog.... and let's go Skins, HTTR! Murf's Take What could have been? Months ago, when the NFL released the 2016 schedule, the Washington Redskins vs. Cleveland Browns match-up had so much potential. It wasn't viewed as two perennial doormats trying to claw their way towards respectability or even a .500 record. No, it was the return of Robert Griffin III. Had anyone with sense been calling the shots, this would have been the season opening matchup. Put two troubled franchises on primetime television and let the rest of the football loving world sit back and watch as the Heisman Trophy winner had a chance for redemption at the expense of the team who traded a bounty for him, watched him routinely get injured and, ultimately, allowed him to leave. America loves drama and that was as juicy of a storyline as either of these two teams is likely to be involved in all season long. But alas, it was not meant to be. Griffin did what Griffin does (namely, put himself in harm's way when he didn't have to) and now he's on the shelf, so the 1-2 Redskins will host the 0-3 Browns in a game that no one outside of friends, loved ones and diehards will want to see a single snap from. Without the appeal of RGIII vs. the Redskins, we're left with some pretty basic subplots for this afternoon's contest. Can Kirk Cousins and the passing attack finally work through their red zone struggles? Can Matt Jones finally show he's capable of being a workhorse back (and will the coaching staff stick with the ground game long enough to get him going)? On defense, can anyone on the defensive line other than Chris Baker get to the quarterback? Can the linebackers -- specifically Ryan Kerrigan pass rushing and Will Compton in coverage -- become more involved (because neither did much to stand out last week in New York)? How will the secondary handle the rash of injuries? In short, there are plenty of questions in need of answers as Jay Gruen's squad looks to build off of last week's victory over the Giants. As always, I'll be down on the sidelines during the game -- capturing photos of all the action. Some of the names and faces I'll be paying attention to today include Jordan Reed (can he be the guy to help the Redskins score touchdowns, rather than settle for field goal attempts?), Kendall Fuller (does he make the most out of his opportunity) and Arie Kouandjio (or whoever steps into the offensive line). - murf PRE-GAME TWEETS ANNOUNCEMENT OF INACTIVES LANDOVER, Md. – The Washington Redskins have announced the following inactives and lineup changes for today’s game against the Cleveland Browns: The Redskins declared the following players as inactive: o No. 2 QB Nate Sudfeld o No. 18 WR Josh Doctson o No. 26 CB Bashaud Breeland o No. 35 CB Dashaun Phillips o No. 60 OL Vinston Painter o No. 72 DE Anthony Lanier II o No. 77 G Shawn Lauvao No. 47 Quinton Dunbar is expected to start in place of Breeland at cornerback. No. 74 Arie Kouandjio is expected to start in place of Lauvao at left guard. The Browns declared the following players as inactive: o No. 13 QB Josh McCown o No. 19 WR Corey Coleman o No. 22 DB Tramon Williams Sr. o No. 24 DB Ibraheim Campbell o No. 74 OL Cameron Erving o No. 87 TE Seth DeValve o No. 94 DL Carl Nassib No. 30 Derrick Kindred is expected to start in place of Campbell at strong safety. No. 77 John Greco is expected to start in place of No. 78 Alvin Bailey at right guard. No. 62 Austin Reiter is expected to start in place of Greco at center. On Saturday, the Browns signed No. 57 LB Cam Johnson to their active roster from Arizona’s practice squad and placed No. 44 LB Nate Orchard on their Reserve/Injured list. Johnson is 6-4, 268 pounds and in his third NFL season out of Virginia. 1st Half Analysis Spencer Long with a sick pull and block after the holding penalty by Vernon Davis on the first drive, springing Thompson for a big gain on 2nd and 15. Preston Smith with a great play setting the edge against Pryor on the Browns' first drive. Kirk Cousins sharp, decisive on the first drive of the game. 12 plays, 75 yards and took about 7 minutes. That's the offense we've been looking for. 2nd drive, same thing, just smooth sailing. 3rd drive with a terrible INT, didn't see the cover 2 guy on the outside flow towards the inside. Defense seems intent on stopping the run that first drive. After that, they got hurt with Browns going to heavy formations. 2nd drive for the Defense, starts with Blackmon and Ihenacho both in the lineup along with Bruton. Browns in heavy formation, 1 WR... allow huge gain to Crowell. David Bruton got absolutely leveled on one running play by an Olineman on the 2nd drive for the Browns. Ouch. I'm not a big Joe Barry basher, but the defense lining up offsides is ridiculous. Guys shouldn't be doing that under your watch this consistently, period. Pryor is killing Norman. He's got few huge 3rd down conversions as well as a TD against him in coverage, though the TD was a great throw by Kessler. :/ Trent Williams pancakes someone on the Skins 4th drive, then shows off his guns to the guy. Speaking of Trent's, Trent Murphy continues his solid play. Been in their backfield all day. At first glance, it looked like we were going to blow these guys out but, as many have said, the Browns are a scrappy bunch and managed to fight their way back with some great plays. Our offense came out real hot, but Kirk's INT really cost us as it gave the Browns great field position and they immediately tied the game. Browns get the ball first to come out of the half, let's hope the defense can can get a turnover or hold them on the first drive to allow our offense to take control of the game back. Wanted to focus on some new faces, so first Kouandjio: Kouandjio opens with a nice block on the 2nd play of the 1st drive. He gave up quick pressure on the next pass play, but Cousins got it out quick to Reed so it didn't matter. Kouandjio with a killer penalty, holding right after the Redskins got into the redzone on the first drive. Vernon Davis was also called for holding on the same play. 2nd drive, Kouandjio handling Shelton for the most part in pass pro. On rushing play in the red zone, Kouandjio pulls and does a decent job, but you can see his lack of athleticism. Matt Jones finished nicely, though. He then gets pushed back real badly on 1st and goal, costing a Matt Jones run. Great job pass blocking from Arie on the 3rd and goal, allowing Cousins to step up, extend the play, and find Reed for the TD! 4th drive, Kouandjio does a good job blocking for Matt Jones, who gets a 6 yard rush on 2nd down. After big play to Reed, Kouandjio loses initially to Shelton but does a great job recovering. Kouandjio doing a good job run blocking this drive in general. Got to the second level on one run pretty well. 2nd Half: 1st drive, Kouandjio does a good job in pass protection on the first snap, allowing Cousins to extend play and find Vernon Davis for an 8 yard gain. On that strip sack Kouandjio also got pushed back pretty badly by Shelton, but it was Trent and Thompson who messed that one up. Kouandjio follows that up with a hold on 3rd down. He got beat by the Browns' DT, wasn't Shelton. Bad series for him. 2nd drive, Kouandjio got beat again and almost got Cousins hit in the end zone on the first play of the drive. Kouandjio doing a good job run blocking on the following series. On deep ball to DJax that generated pass interference, he does a good job pass blocking. Following play, big run for Matt Jones, does a good job clearing space. Same on the next play... Oline in general killing it here. Finishes with a good pass block on the Kirk TD throw to Thompson! 3rd drive, Kouandjio does a nice job pass blocking on the first 2nd down where Cousins took that terrible sack for no reason. 4th drive, Kouandjio getting pushed back a little bit on the first snap, costing Jones a one yard loss. Kouandjio with a good block on the Jones outside run that almost resulted in a TD. Now, Fuller: 1st drive, Fuller gives up first pass to Hawkins for a 7 yard gain. Fuller and Dunbar combine to make the tackle on Barnidge, short of the 1st on 3rd down and forcing a punt. 2nd drive against the D, Fuller does a good job on Hawkins in the slot on 2nd down, but defense gives up first to Pryor. On the 3rd down following that sequence, Fuller gives up a bit too much space to Hawkins who got slightly open... but Pryor gets the 1st anyway against Norman as Kessler wasn't looking that way. 4th drive against the D, Fuller does a good job against Hawkins on 1st down, but Kessler extends play and hits Barnidge for a 1st. Fuller is shutting Hawkins down this drive, but Kessler keeps finding others. 2nd Half 1st drive of 2nd half, Fuller continues to do a good job on Hawkins in the slot, though on the first 3rd down of the drive he let Hawkins get behind him. 2nd drive, mostly heavy formations from the Browns so no Fuller. On their second 3rd down of the drive they had Hawkins basically run a go route up the seam to clear out space for Barnidge. Fuller is step for step with him, but that's the 3rd or 4th time they've done that and it's worked every time. Frustrating. Anyway, back to Fuller. He's handling Hawkins. Final Drive of the game (Browns almost exclusively went jumbo/heavy formations after that 2nd drive, so Fuller wasn't on the field until now), he continues to shut down Hawkins. There were some times where Hawkins got slightly open, but nothing egregious. Kessler hardly looked his way this entire game. Other 2nd half notes: This defense is ridiculous. Only way they stop anyone is with a turnover in the redzone. Happened again on the 2nd Browns' drive of the 2nd half, with Compton forcing the fumble. Ziggy Hood then does it on the Browns' ensuing drive. I mean, better than not doing it, I guess. If only whatever we're doing, coaching-wise, in terms of teaching fumbles could be extended to everything else we'd be golden. Norman redeems himself with huge INT! AWESOME ES EXCLUSIVE AUDIO GAMEDAY PHOTOS BY MURF Final Analysis (TSO) Going into this game, the run defense was a major concern against the Browns excellent rushing attack and that ended up being the case, to say the least. Fortunately, the defense came through with three huge turnovers. At this point, it seems like we can consider this the defense's M.O. Give up crazy chunks of yardage on the ground, then force a fumble or nab an INT. Not sure that's what you want out of your D, but it could certainly worse. Offensive teams that are more disciplined are likely going to destroy this defense if it remains the same, as we've already seen with the Steelers. Offensively, can't ask for much more than that. Outside of one bad INT and a couple of unnecessary sacks, Cousins was sharp and decisive throughout the whole game, taking advantage of the weak Browns passing D like a good QB should. We finally got to see Reed have a big game, again, which was refreshing. He finishes with 73 yards and 2 TDs. Matt Jones kept getting better as the game wore on, showing us what so few of us still believed he can do. The Oline was excellent throughout, and it was good to see both Spencer Long and Kouandjio play well. It was nice to see the new guys, Arie Kouandjio and Kendall Fuller, play really well today. Seeing draft picks continue to contribute is simply awesome, and something us Redskin fans need to stop and appreciate. We've went for so long almost expecting nothing from our drafts. Don't forget that. Smile some. Oh, and how about Trent Murphy? He just looks real good out there, completely different now that he's going forward more often than not. All in all, the game went almost completely as expected. It initially had the makings of a blowout, but the Browns are better than that and have proven that thus far this season. They fought back and, for a moment, looked like they were going to win this game... but the defense saved themselves from total humiliation, forced some turnovers, and the offense capitalized at the end. We've got a tough matchup against the Ravens next week. The defense will need to perform better, and the offense is going to have a tougher time moving the ball against their defense... so if this same exact team shows up against the Ravens it will likely not end up favorably for our beloved Burgundy and Gold. Hopefully they have a great week in practice, and continue to improve as they have thus far this season.

Yeah, I'm a big Preston Smith guy and have been disappointed with his start. That being said, Kerrigan has also started off real slow. My hope is this is all part of the growing process with Manusky coming in his new role. When you get a lot of new faces all at once, there's bound to be hiccups. Hopefully they'll start rolling eventually.

Great job, @NewCliche21, hope you enjoyed yourself!

I'm going to be perfectly honest, I'm freaking out inside. That hope and belief that we're seeing a turnaround for this franchise right before our eyes has lead to a ton of emotion being tied into this. I hate it. The end of 2013 through the 2014 season made me pretty numb and, in a sense, it was relaxing, lol. This is like Gibbs 2.0 all over for me. Just want them to win so badly.

@ConnSKINS26yeah, it certainly is intriguing what they're doing over there. That's a great read, btw, fluff or not, I'd advise anyone to read it if they get the chance to. Like you, I doubt it'll work long term, as interesting as it seems on the surface. For me, the biggest thing that separates the great GMs from the poor ones is the ability to view the roster as a singular puzzle that requires very specific pieces to be completed. Basically, the way players fit and complement each other. It sounds simple, but finding players who complement and accentuate, not only the skill sets, but personalities of others is pretty complicated and seems like such a "feel" thing to me, I don't know how you calculate that or put it into equations. It's like, those analytics may have helped them bring in the likeliest "boom" potential candidates while avoiding the likeliest busts, but then how do those guys fit in schematically? How about in the locker room? Does this or that guy not really add anything to the team due to the abundance of his particular skill set already there? Etc... But maybe they have got that down to numbers too, lol.

http://www.nfl.com/33weeks Yeah, I came across the above article and once I read that it changed my whole perception about what they're doing in Cleveland. Total fluff and you never know with that FO how fast things can go downhill, but it seems like they're all in on Hue over there.

1) To increase general activity around ES, promote thread creation and have everyone looking around more instead of focused in on one mega thread. 2) To foment discussion that doesn't get washed out by new tweets every few minutes, or even hours, and allow for a natural flow to said discussions to occur. 3) To help everyone with their ADD. We really want everyone, including Hap and SWFL if they have the time, to continue posting tweets as much as possible. It's not the tweets we're trying to end, it's having one thread dedicated to them where discussions automatically go off topic, there's no focus, and it's near impossible to go through if you're trying to find something in particular that you missed.

Maybe, but really, if it's a tweet with the aforementioned properties (not thread-worthy and no relevant thread for it to be put in), then that shouldn't be too many tweets. For instance, most recent tweets from everyone in the local media and fans in general have been regarding the roster and/or the Steelers game. We have a roster thread the former are perfect for and we have a "prediction thread" the latter would be just fine to be put in. See what I mean?

And if/when you find a tweet you'd like to post, don't think it's thread-worthy and there's no relevant thread to put it in... well, this thread right here is the perfect thread for it. Here, I'll start:

@bobandweave Bro, you need to calm down a little bit. Don't know if you meant it, but your post came off like you're raging. Of course we're all understandably concerned. That's what this entry was about, that the concerns or perceived weaknesses might be true, but not necessarily because they were making poor decisions or handling them incorrectly. When you have a BPA philosophy and are acting with organizational restraint (which is the right way to go about things) you WILL end up with areas of concern. Championship teams almost always have weak spots (not saying we are one). And, please, relax with the "I was right" stuff, brother. First off, you're basing everything off of preseason play when we've seen time and again that taking it at face value is foolish. Secondly, claiming Matt Jones didn't look good or was outplayed by two rookies is simply false. He looked good overall against the Jets (the only time he got more than a couple carries) and showed improvement in vision/decisiveness and keeping his pads low while falling forward. If you're going to focus on the handoff gaffe then go ahead, but that is on McCoy as much as it's on him. The only real negative is that he got hurt, but that's not what you focused on here. I would've given you that. Third, Keith Marshall was a seventh round pick. Claiming you were right for thinking he was a wasted pick is some real pretentious crap, to be blunt. I mean, great job calling a 7th rounder as likely to be cut, wow, who would've thunk such a thing!? Preposterous! Those are picks where you take fliers on guys. He's the perfect flier, and is still on the team. Let's give a 7th rounder a little more time before going off about it, or claiming you were on to something because some around here had high hopes for him. Come on, you're better than that. Finally, this is the right way to address the RB position in the modern day NFL. These guys take a pounding and have the shortest career-spans. Furthermore, it's usually the easiest position to learn on offense. So, by default, it's a plug and play spot where you need to rely on a constant influx of young talent there. After years of hearing Redskins fans complain about how the organization has spent way too much in the way of resources on that position while smart organizations (like the Pats) just plug and play young guys for the most part, I'm surprised at how many are flipping out about it now. Honestly thought we were smarter than that, I don't mean to sound like an ahole when I say that. I've been legitimately surprised by it. So, yeah, I refuse to look at this offseason and think anything but "good job, Scot and Jay, keep it going fellas". I agree with the philosophy and organizational principles these guys are using in their approach. I can see it for what it is and understand there's a method behind it, so while I acknowledge that we've got some weak spots and it's unfortunate, I'm not overly concerned because of that. Does that make more sense?

I am a Prince from Nigeria that just recently came into an estate worth $5 million...

Yeah, unfortunately it's the only way right now. We wanted to be able to embed the audio into the posts themselves so it can automatically play there but the board software doesn't allow for it. :/ All I can do is assure you, we've tested it a million times and everything downloads just fine. There's never been any issues with the files, they're just standard audio format.