DeAngelo Hall = Perfect Signing

Signing DeAngelo Hall is a great move. Shawn Springs and Fred Smoot have been hurt all season. He adds superior depth in a troublesome spot. I had been disappointed that the Redskins hadn't drafted Aqib Talib in the first round but Hall is a considerable upgrade. Best of all, he comes at low risk and minimal cost. Chances are that he will play well, the Skins will part ways (unfortunately) with Springs, and the team will reward Hall with a multi-year contract.

Hall had trouble in Oakland because they play a lot of man-press coverage whereas Hall was a successful zone corner in Atlanta. He will be re-energized by playing for his boyhood favorite team. Plus, anyone would be re-energized by leaving the black hole that is the Oakland Raiders. The Skins' locker room has enough leaders that any issues he'd otherwise bring will not be any kind of distraction. Kudos to the Danny and the Vinny for signing DeAngelo Hall.

Weak Nine

Obama wins! Tough sacrifice for diehard Redskins fans but one that almost anybody would be willing to make.

All comedy aside, though, the Skins were in for a rough night when they could only scrounge 6 points in the first quarter. Dick LeBeau showed exactly how to handle Jim Zorn's offense. As the Washington Post noted, quarterback Jason Campbell was the one who paid the price, suffering seven sacks and his first two interceptions. Portis was bottled up and the Redskins couldn't sustain any drives. Now every team will have a blueprint of how to frustrate the Midwest Coast Offense. In the humble opinion of a fan who's never played or coached football at any level, Zorn needs more rollouts, bootlegs, and backside runs to keep the defense guessing. Adding in more misdirection plays will be key.

Dallas will come in with a major chip on their shoulder after being embarrassed at home. Will Zorn and company be able to adjust their gameplan after their weaknesses were exposed? I believe so.

Week Eight

Again Washington played down to their level of competition. This game proved that the Skins were not an elite team. Even though they dominated, their errors and inability to close the game kept the game in doubt. An elite team would have destroyed the Lions with its no-name quarterback. It's nice to have the luxury of Santana Moss as a secret weapon on punt returns. It's also unfortunate that the punt return was the necessary difference in putting the game away.

The extremely slow development and minimal contribution of the top three draft picks is ridiculously frustrating. Nine catches for 69 yards between the three players with Malcolm Kelly on the verge of IR.

Week Seven

The Skins played down to their level of competition, the feisty but error-prone Cleveland Browns. They even recognized it. The team really needs to spread the running burden around. Cartwright and Alexander accounted for six runs but should have accounted for 10 carries. Portis has been outstanding but it will catch up with him in the second half of the season. Let's hope that Betts is ready to come in with fresh legs!

Weak Six

Of course. Classic trap game and the Skins fall right into the trap.

Everything pointed to the Rams pulling off the upset. The 0-4 Rams were in a desperate funk, most importantly, had two weeks to prepare, had re-installed Marc Bulger as starting QB, and were determined to make a strong first impression with Haslett at the helm. In addition, the potential has been there all along - they just hadn't pulled it all together. The record obviously belied the talent. In addition, the Skins were huge favorites and all the pundits had finally jumped on the bandwagon.

In some ways, it's good that the team deals with this adversity now so that after they get past the next few games, they don't suddenly spiral downwards when encountering stiff competition. That would be the Norv Turner team that started 6-2 but finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

The Skins ran the ball well. On the other hand, the Rams obviously found something to exploit in the Redskins offense that led to stalls, breakdowns and the first offensive turnovers of the season. The 4-1 start had many fans irrationally exhuberant, including yours truly.

However, it's reasonable to assume that the second half of the season will be much tougher than the first half. Coordinators will have much more film on both Zorn's and Blache's plays and tendencies and will better able to game-plan Washington on both sides of the ball. A 10-6 season and playoff appearance would definitely make for a successful season.

Just as I feared the inevitable trap loss to the Rams, I believe the team will solidly bounce back with a nice victory in Week 7.