1. The NFC has a lot of mediocre football teams » So the fact that Washington has a 4-1 record in the conference looms large, assuming the Redskins can stay in playoff contention. Eleven NFC teams have at least three wins and none have more than five. Only Atlanta had five wins in the NFC (the Giants had four entering Monday’s game vs. Dallas) while five AFC teams had that many victories. And none of the expected NFC heavyweights — New Orleans, Dallas and Minnesota — are playing well.
2. Punter Hunter Smith has no ego » Or, at the least, he shelved it. The strategy Sunday of kicking the ball out of bounds rather than to Devin Hester destroyed his average, but it was effective. The Bears started one drive after a punt beyond their own 30-yard line. The Redskins helped by at least moving the ball enough to punt from a good position, so a short kick would not hurt. But there have been other punters that would not have angled their punts so much, trying to get every last yard possible. Smith did not and it helped.
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3. The Redskins’ offensive line is only mediocre in run blocking » But the run game has worked because of the scheme and the fact that Ryan Torain is able to break tackles. In the past two games, the bulk of his 225 combined yards have come after contact. That’s a hard way to live. But Sunday, the scheme helped open the edges. They used more offset-I formations, allowing fullback Mike Sellers to get around the edge quicker, taking out a linebacker. They also had tight end Chris Cooley motion to that side and that allowed him to seal the end or get outside cleanly and take out a defender.
4. Joey Galloway is not exactly proving that he still has anything left as a player » In seven games, the 16-year vet has caught eight passes, which wouldn’t be bad but he was the No. 2 receiver for the first six games and now is No. 3. The problem is, he’s a limited route runner at this stage of his career, which is why teams know he wants to go deep and most likely down the middle on a post. He’s rarely open.
