Thanks, as usual, for the questions.
John: Fans kept hearing all offseason about how impressive Kareem Moore was performing in and that he was the star of training camp—a real “ball hawk”. The Colts game was not the first in which he played a major role in some huge gains against us—especially those where he fails to make a tackle (as opposed to coverage). These tackles don’t look like they are overwhelmingly difficult to us couch potatoes. It’s extremely frustrating to watch. What do you think is happening with him? Is he a poor instinctual tackler or is he just knocking the rust off from his injury layoff? Is he making a big difference in the passing game in ways we may not appreciate by serving as a threat? You want to root for the kid but he really seems to be hurting us and it’s causing me to question his longevity as our free safety solution.
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Sean Cook
Atlanta
Sean: Moore did look good this summer, but it’s often hard to get a read on guys in the secondary during training camp, especially if they’re facing players in the first year of a new scheme. Maybe some of it is rust with him, but he’s been back for four games now and he only missed a month. Some of it is being a first-time starter. Makes you wonder if that’s why he takes poor angles and gets a little sloppy with his technique. Will experience solve that? It can. He seems to be fairly disciplined in the pass game, which they need. And he has good speed, which they need. But he gives up a lot of extra yardage with his misses and bad angles. The question is, will he learn from his mistakes? The coaches like his mental toughness so he has a chance. Let’s see where he is at the end of the year.
JK
John: I’m curious to know why the Redskins don’t think they need a big possession receiver. They have 4 receivers that are under 5’10” they are all speed guys. Besides Cooley, who is a TE, they have no big receivers to work the middle or that have the ability to go up and get the ball in traffic, like a Brandon Marshall. This seems to be a huge problem on 3rd down. Also, why did Devin Thomas get released?
Thanks,
Ricardo Green
Ricardo: They also have another small guy on the practice squad in Terrence Austin. Roydell Williams is the only receiver with size and he’s a non-factor. But I think that’s why they kept Devin Thomas around for a while as well as Malcolm Kelly. I would imagine they’d look for a bigger receiver in the offseason. It would diversify the attack, no doubt. As for Devin’s release, it’s simple: They didn’t think he’d ever become the sort of professional they wanted. One thought was that Devin was more caught up in the benefits of being a player rather than wanting to devote himself to becoming a good one. That’s also what a teammate in February told me. I think Devin got the message so we’ll see how he responds this offseason, albeit in Carolina (or somewhere else).
JK
John: I have followed your commentary about how Trent Williams feels about the great pass rushers he’s faced. How about getting us something on how the great pass rushers felt about Williams post game? Same for Jammal Brown. I think Skins fans would really like to here about that.
Semper Fi, Bob Claypool
Bob: First, guessing by your signature that you’re military. Thanks for the service. …I would love to do that after a game. Problem is, my job is to get as many quotes and as much information from the Redskins locker room as possible. And if they win, the players have Monday off which makes it imperative that I stay in there as long as possible. If I leave, I run the risk of missing something. Very rarely is it possible to go to both locker rooms. Keep in mind that two of the games where he’s faced elite rushers have been night games, which makes it impossible for one person to visit both locker rooms because of the tight deadlines. But I’m in complete agreement that it would be great to hear what these players have to say about Williams or Brown. So…I will try to find out what others say about them when I see the opportunity. Good suggestion. Heck, the guy I’d like to hear from is Julius Peppers; he faced Russell Okung last week.
JK
John: I’m not a Neanderthal that wants to see players carried off on stretchers every play or anything but I do have an issue with the suspensions for helmet to helmet hits and the personal foul rule in general. Part of playing defense is intimidation, if a receiver goes over the middle he needs to know there is a price for it, it’s part of the game and its very difficult to balance hard hitting and worrying about how to make that hit. Obviously, if there is intent (Meriwether or the Cincy hit on Jordan Shipley a couple of weeks ago) to be dirty/excessive, ok then suspension earned, but just a big time shot (Dunta/DJax) that’s part of the game. Defenders are so handcuffed as it is and making them worry about how they hit a guy on a bang bang play is one more hindrance on the defense/help to the offense. Additionally, how long is it until coaches start telling offensive players that as soon as they see a tackler coming they should drop and lead with their head, to draw penalties and suspensions? In my opinion if they are going to keep this helmet to helmet rule and include suspensions for them along with the can’t hit high or low on QBs like they installed last year and the horse collar rule , then they should change offensive pass interference to a 15 yard penalty, false starts and delay of games to 7 yards, and get rid of the automatic first down on illegal contact unless the foul occurs beyond the first down marker. They need to do something to make it more fair for defenders, otherwise, why not just get rid of the pads altogether and play 7 on 7 flag football. Your thoughts?
Thanks!
Jack Rash
Jack: As a former high school safety, I’m all for anything that helps the defense. I’m all for eliminating helmet-to-helmet hits. Don’t want to see young kids emulating those sorts of hits. But here’s my problem: Some of these hits seem a bit too subjective and I’m not sure how a guy in a bang-bang situation is able to alter his body to avoid certain collisions. What if the offensive guy baits a player into a certain hit? This game will remain violent, but I have some questions about how this will be legislated. By the way, I like the idea of changing the pass interference penalty to 15 yards. Or maybe even 25 if they want to be more punitive. I didn’t like what happened at the end of the Jets-Broncos game. A dubious call turned out to be a monstrous penalty.
JK
John: What did you think of the Redskins defense playing so much dime against the Colts? How much would Albert Haynesworth have helped in that game?
William Arch
William: It was necessary for the Redskins to use so much dime and nickel against the Colts. If they had used more of their traditional D-linemen, then Peyton Manning would have hurt them even more through the air. But I think the Redskins tried so hard to fool him at times with guys walking around that it hurt them vs. the run. Manning would check to a run and it would hit for good yardage. The other problem was that Jeremy Jarmon could not play over the nose. He couldn’t do it this summer and he can’t do it now, even with his leg getting stronger. If the nose can’t hold his ground in that situation then a big run is possible. That’s where Haynesworth would have helped. Yes, the no-huddle would have tired him out. Heck, games where there’s a lot of huddling tire him out. But his speed and power are necessary when using only one true down lineman.
JK
