Week 2 Surprise

After the clunker in Week One against the Giants, I was sure that the Redskins were doomed to a woeful season of ineptitude, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Instead, the offense came up with plenty of huge plays on Sunday.

The Saints are a high-powered team with a standout quarterback in Brees and the most versatile player on the field in Reggie Bush. Shockey's no slouch, either. Fortunately, the Redskins didn't have to contend with Marques Colston. His big-play ability would definitely have changed the complexion of the game.

The big change was Jason Campbell. He was decisive in his throws and when the first option wasn't there, he went through his progressions. Amazing what a difference a week makes. All Skins fans hope that the progress continues against the scary Cardinals this Sunday.

The Cardinals offense is so explosive, it's scary. The Skins D will really need to pull it all together to contain their playmakers - Boldin, Fitzgerald, triggerman Kurt Warner, and Edgerrin James. The Skins were very lucky last year to escape with a win on a long missed field goal by Neil Rackers. They need more than luck to take on the 2-0 Cards.

Week (Sauce) One

The team looked awful.

On defense, Eli stood in the pocket, withstood the pressure, and picked the team apart alongside his partner-in-crime Plaxico Burress. Brandon Jacobs bowled over the defense figuratively and then literally with Laron Landry.

On offense, the Skins couldn't execute. Jason Campbell has severe deficiencies. It was obvious that he wasn't progressing in his reads to the second and third receivers. Worse, he is feeling the pressure too early. On the very first snap, he moved out of the pocket before he needed to. He had a few more moments to stand tall and wait for a receiver to get free but didn't. Portis was running hard but the team wasn't creating any holes. Why they didn't do more cutbacks or run to the outside on tosses is beyond me. It seems to me that against a suspect D-line with two new starters at DE, you would want to challenge how well they could contain perimeter runs.

This is going to be a long year. 4-12?

Giants in Trouble

The loss of Osi Umenyiora, coupled with the un-un-retirement of Michael Strahan leaves the Giants with a mediocre D-line at best. (In retrospect, the Skins were lucky to get Jason Taylor when they did.) In addition, several members of the Giants LB corps and secondary are gone as well.

Eli is a year more experienced. The running game was jelling in the playoffs. Ahmad Bradshaw will be better. Jeremy Shockey is gone but that benefits the team by eliminating his distractions. Therefore, the offense will be raring to go and the defense will have to desperately hope that they can keep it together to make a playoff run.

J Tay

I have to admit that I was ambivalent about the signing of Jason Taylor given that he's on the downside of his career. And the Skins gave up a second round pick (and sixth, but I consider those a dime a dozen) to get him.

However, now that it's been a few days, it's definitely a needed upgrade. Remarkably, the D-line gets younger with Taylor in the lineup. Even though he's 34, Philip Daniels is 35. As an aside, this almost assuredly means the end of Daniels' career, unfortunately. No one is going to bring in a 36 year old DE who just suffered a season-ending injury. Much cheaper and more upside with a young player that can grow with the team.

Back to Jason Taylor - he keeps himself in top physical shape, as evidenced by his physique in Dancing with the Stars clips. He demands respect that Daniels didn't get as a pass rusher. And as a newcomer with the Skins a far better team than Miami, Taylor has the motivation to prove something to the organization and to the rest of the league that it was a good move. Can't underestimate the power of motivation.

A real wild card will be Erasmus James in the DE mix. Would be wonderful to see the gamble on him pay off for the defense. Then he could spell Carter and Taylor and keep them fresh for later in the year.

Offseason So Far

Eagles - Fantastic addition with Asante Samuel. The Skins can only hope to minimize that addition by trusting their big young receivers to go up and get the ball. However, Campbell can only do that on the periphery. One tipped pass between the hashes and Samuel will take it back the other way for 6.

Chris Clemons, the former Skin, adds good depth as a situational pass rusher. His speed is a big advantage against the aged and medically reconstructed Skins O-Line.

DeSean Jackson will be a huge boost to Special Teams and pose a real challenge for Danny Smith to keep his troops disciplined to take him down.

Cowboys - TO is a year older and was put on "watch" a few days ago for missing his random drug test. He really feared Sean Taylor and now his biggest nemesis is gone. Look at his stats in the second game he played against the Redskins. He killed them.

Pacman Jones is a low risk, high reward player. Plus, with the draft, the Boys have stocked up at corner. The Skins can counter with 2 TE formations with Cooley and Davis.

Giants - Strahan finally retired. There will be a leadership void but Manning and some of the other veterans showed toughness last year. In addition, the G-Men's D-line features double digit sack guys in Umenyora and Jason Tuck anyway. Even without Strahan, they've got the talent and the moxie to contend, if not repeat.

Redskins - The Giants added less than the Redskins but they are the defending Super Bowl champs. The Eagles are considerably better with Samuel and DeSean Jackson. And the Cowboys only had the best record in the NFC last season in addition to grabbing Pacman Jones, assuming he plays. It's a tougher division and it doesn't appear the team stocked up sufficiently to keep pace.