A good test is often the best way to gauge just how far along a football team is. In the case of the Washington Redskins, there is still much work to be done after their second preseason game against the Chicago Bears. I don’t much care for scoreboards in the preseason, but for the record, the Redskins lost 33-31.
That score is somewhat deceiving as the Redskins made a game of it in the fourth quarter behind Kirk Cousins catching fire against the Bears back-ups. Up to that point, the two glaring weaknesses that have me afraid this year shined their ugly faces, the offensive line and the secondary. The offensive line is dinged up a bit and has some backups playing, but you could just tell they were over-matched against the Bears defense. Words can’t even describe how the Redskins secondary looked at times in the game, let’s just say Raheem Morris’s job is far from complete when it comes to strengthening the unit.
Robert Griffin III had a somewhat bumpy game fumbling deep in Bears territory on a play he was under serious pressure on (not directly his fault), he finished 5-8 for 49 Yards and three rushes for 17 yards.
Rookie Alfred Morris looked REALLY good early on but somewhat leveled out once protection slacked up some, he finished with ten carries for 34 yards but also blew a blitz pickup read that lead to the RGIII sack/fumble.
Brandon Banks returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown, but I still think his chances of making the team are slim, especially since Aldrick Robinson had the night he did, he finished with six catches for 104 yards and a touchdown. Mike Shanahan has already been clear that Banks will have to be able to produce at BOTH positions and that receiver competition is pretty tight right now, Robinson may have made the team with his showing against the Bears. Dezmon Briscoe also looked good catching three balls for 51 yards and a touchdown; I believe Briscoe could be the red-zone receiver we desperately need.
Brian Orakpo injured his left shoulder (the same one he hurt last year), and Brandon Meriweather injured his left knee in the first quarter. Both will undergo MRI’s tomorrow, but Homer McFanboy tweeted this after the game in reference to Orakpo.
https://twitter.com/HomerMcFanboy/status/237041996076822529″ data-datetime=”2012-08-19T04:23:10+00:00
There is a quarterback controversy in DC, but it will never be one that involves Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, and Rex Grossman are battling for the number two spot in the lineup and Rex better watch himself as Cousins was 18-23 for 264 yards and three touchdowns in the second half of the Bears game. Rex didn’t take a snap in the game.
Ryan Kerrigan, Jarvis Jenkins, Perry Riley and Delvin Johnson each had a sack.
The main thing to take from all this is that it’s only preseason and these game don’t count. The love of having these games is the ability to be able to try new things/players out while not really giving the game-plan away to anyone. Of course, the injuries are the downside of preseason and the reason I believe they play too many exhibition games.
For highlights of the game CLICK HERE.
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