D8
EZ RE
KLMNO REDSKINS VS. RAMS
Political football Gephardt holds team from the heartland close to his heart
This Sunday presents us all with an
opportunity to shift our focus outside the Beltway, when the Redskins travel to St. Louis to face my hometown Rams. Red- skins fans can breathe a sigh of relief that swaggering Texas teams won’t appear on the Washington schedule until the De- cember 19th rematch with the Cowboys. The devotion and passion of Redskins
fans has always impressed me. This has been true through both good and chal- lenging seasons, wins and losses. In theMidwestern heartland, expecta-
tions for our football team are better grounded. I guess years of St. Louis football mediocrity (and an unfortunate lone victory in 2009) will do that to you. As far asNFCrivalries go, I’ll admit, St. Louis vs. Washington hasn’t been much
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES Reagan, Rigginomics made the 1980s a tough time for this St. Louis Democrat.
of a contest. We’ve always thought of ourselves as more of a baseball town. The’70sand’80s provided a fewbright
spots, but I remember vividly watching your Joe Gibbs-coached Hogs dominate our Cardinals year after year. Reagan and Riggins combined to
make the ’80s a tough time to be a St. Louis Democrat. “Rigginomics” sure ran wild throughout the country. Then things went from bad to worse,
whenthe Cardinalsmovedto the sunnier confines of Arizona and we were left without a team to keep us warm through the coldMidwestern winters. But then, newhope!TheRamsrelocat-
ed to St. Louis, and what’s more, they were good.KurtWarner’s “GreatestShow on Turf” lit up the league and presented
our town with its very own Super Bowl championship. We were doormats no longer! This Sunday there are a couple of
points I’d like everyone to remember. First, to Redskins fans: make sure to give your new coach a chance. After all, every administration must deal with adversity at times, but what matters most is the overall record. Second, and perhaps more important-
ly, the winning team will be the team that plays best together. I’ve always thought that you can disagree with someone and still deeply respect them and like them. On Sunday, I’m hoping my Rams will show us all a lesson about respect, decen- cy and teamwork. A win would be nice too.
Former St. Louis representative Richard A. Gephardt was majority leader of the House from 1989 to 1995. He is now president and chief executive officer of Gephardt Government Affairs.
Hard Hits
LAVAR ARRINGTON’S KEYMATCHUPS
Excerpts from voices.
washingtonpost.com/hard-hits
Create running lanes I believe theRedskins can
winwithout aheavy running attack, but theymust be able to runthe ballmore effectively.The St.Louis
Ramshave decent linebackers and an average defensive line.This is the perfect week forWashingtonto try to establish the rungame.TheRedskins’ passing game is predicated onplay-actionfakes. If the running game continues to benon- existent, the passing game is sure to struggle.But that’s further downthe line. Another related key is the play of the
offensive line.This unitmust regroup, withorwithout left tackleTrent Williams.The linehas struggled to create running lanes for the backs. Ithas to get more pushup front onrunning plays. QuarterbackDonovanMcNabbmust
continue to developmultiple receivers. Hemust getAnthonyArmstrong, Fred Davis and others involved inthe passing attack.TheRams’ defense isnot deep withtalent. So it’s likely thatmultiple lookswill force themintomistakes and result inbig plays for the offense.
Stop Jackson, get toBradford First and foremost, theRedskinsmust
stop StevenJacksoninthe running game. Jacksonis a dangerous player, and if giventhe opportunity to find a groove he canbe virtually unstoppable.
TheRedskins’ pass rushfailed inthe
secondhalf of last Sunday’s game, allowing theHoustonTexans to come back andwin.That can’t be the case this week; the defensemustmake it toRams quarterback SamBradford.Brian Orakpo andAndreCarterhad relatively quiet games againstHouston; theymust find away to get to the quarterback this week. As a rookie,Bradfordmaynot know
howto identify coverages orwhere pass rushesmay be coming from, so defensive coordinator JimHaslettwillneed to disguisehis blitzes asmuchas possible. TheRedskins forced only one
turnover lastweek; that totalneeds to increase thisweek.Against a young quarterback, the defenseneeds to take advantage.
Have things covered
Danny Smithis a very talented special teams coach.His challenge is to get a complete game out ofhis players. InWeek 1 againstDallas, the punting was inconsistent; thenlast
Sunday, the kickingwas inconsistent. Thisweek, theRedskinsneed tomake
sure there areno letups incoverage, get better yardage onkick and punt returns, make good decisions (don’t catcha ball at the 5-yard line,no fumbled punts) and connect ontheir field goals. If the special teamswinthe field
positionbattlewithcoverage and returns and do the little things likenot taking a block for granted or commit aholding penalty, I believe theywill be fine inthis game.
RB RB
REDSKINSROSTER 2 Simpson, Chad
THESHANAHANPLAYBOOK Variety is the spice of play-calling
In his 1999 autobiography, “Think Like a Champion,”Mike Shanahan talked about specific multi-receiver sets, featuring running backs in unusual spots, that keyed defensive intent. “It’s no accident that the offensive formation we used three seasons ago,” he said then, “with our normal offensive personnel lining up in a five- wide receiver set — has shown up around the league. By lining up our wide receivers inside and our running backs outside, we were able to see, before the snap, whether the defense would be in man or zone coverage. The quarterback was able to get a pre-snap read, giving him a distinct advantage. Now, other teams look for that advantage. They have duplicated the formation.” This example calls for the lead back to motion into the backfield after the defense’s intent is deduced. While Jim Zorn’s version of the West Coast offense alternated between staid conservatism and ineffective trickery for its own sake, Shanahan’s experience with formation and personnel diversity allows him to bring a more varied palette to the game.
3 Beck, John 4 Gano, Graham
5 McNabb, Donovan 6 Bidwell, Josh 8 Grossman, Rex 11 Thomas, Devin
13 Armstrong, Anthony 22 Rogers, Carlos 23 Hall, DeAngelo 25 Barnes, Kevin 26 Portis, Clinton 30 Landry, LaRon 31 Buchanon, Phillip 34 Westbrook, Byron 35 Williams, Keiland 36 Young, Darrel 37 Doughty, Reed 41 Moore, Kareem 45 Sellers, Mike 46 Torain, Ryan 47 Cooley, Chris 48 Horton, Chris
52 McIntosh, Rocky 54 Blades, H.B. 56 Riley, Perry
57 Sundberg, Nick 59 Fletcher, London 61 Rabach, Casey 63 Montgomery,Will 64 Golston, Kedric 66 Dockery, Derrick 71 Williams, Trent 74 Heyer, Stephon 75 Hicks, Artis
76 Bryant, Anthony 77 Brown, Jammal
78 Lichtensteiger, Kory 82 Paulsen, Logan 84 Galloway, Joey 86 Davis, Fred
87 Williams, Roydell 89 Moss, Santana 90 Jarmon, Jeremy 91 Holliday, Vonnie
92 Haynesworth, Albert 93 Daniels, Phillip 94 Carriker, Adam 95 Wilson, Chris
96 Kemoeatu, Ma'ake 97 Alexander, Lorenzo 98 Orakpo, Brian 99 Carter, Andre
1
The offense lines up four-wide with the tight end in tight on the right side. Two of the receivers are actually running backs — the right inside receiver, and another split wide left. Before the snap, the quarterback directs the running back who is split wide left to motion to the backfield, which causes the
weak-side cornerback to move his coverage inside to the (now) outside receiver, and the safety to move back to a cover-two look. The middle linebacker moves to the line to call a different front based on the motion.
RAMSROSTER 3 Brown, Josh
4 Feeley, A.J.
5 Jones, Donnie 8 Bradford, Sam
11 Gibson, Brandon 15 Curry, Dominique 16 Amendola, Danny 19 Robinson, Laurent 20 Stewart, Darian
21 Atogwe, Oshiomogho 23 Murphy, Jerome 24 Bartell, Ron
25 Johnson, Marquis 31 King, Justin
32 Fletcher, Bradley 34 Darby, Kenneth 35 Dockery, Kevin 37 Butler, James 38 Toston, Keith
39 Jackson, Steven 43 Dahl, Craig 44 Karney, Mike 45 Massey, Chris 46 Fells, Daniel 47 Bajema, Billy 48 Onobun, Fendi 50 Kehl, Bryan 53 Diggs, Na-il
55 Laurinaitis, James 57 Chamberlain, Chris 58 Vobora, David 59 Grant, Larry 60 Brown, Jason 63 Bell, Jacob 65 Fraley, Hank 67 Selvie, George 70 Foster, Renardo 71 Gibson, Gary 72 Long, Chris
2 6
REDSKINS’SCHEDULEANDRESULTS SEPT. 12
SEPT. 19
Redskins 13, Cowboys 7
6.52 out of 10 Texans 30,
Redskins 27 6.14 out of 10
SUNDAY
at St. Louis 4:05 p.m. FOX
h FAN APPROVAL RATING: How do you think the team is doing? Cast your vote during and immediately after today’s game at
washingtonpost.com/redskins. OCT. 3
at Phila. 4:15 p.m. FOX
OCT. 10
Green Bay 1 p.m. FOX
The offense sets a wide lane for the running back with the tight end and the halfback on the right side blocking the linebackers inside, and the right outside receiver blocking the cornerback. The running back bounces outside to the second level for a decent gain.
73 Goldberg, Adam 76 Saffold, Rodger 77 Smith, Jason 79 Greco, John 81 Gilyard, Mardy
MORE ONLINE: View an animated version of the breakdown, and check back for live updates during the game vs. the Rams.
www.washingtonpost.com/redskins
86 Hoomanawanui, Michael 87 Johnson, Darcy 89 Clayton, Mark 92 Sims, Eugene 95 Ryan, Clifton 96 Hall, James 97 Scott, Darell 98 Robbins, Fred 99 Ah You, C.J.
6
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2010
REDSKINS INSIDER: Follow the action all day long and chat with Cindy Boren after the game.
www.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider
Time: 4 p.m. Site: St. Louis. Records: Washington 1-1, St. Louis 0-2. TV: WTTG (Channel 5), WBFF (Channel 45). Radio: WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM), WTEM (980 AM). Line: Redskins by 4.
RB 5-9 QB 6-2 K 6-1
216 215 196
QB 6-2 240 P 6-3 228 QB 6-1 236 WR 6-2 223 WR 5-11 CB 6-0 CB 5-10 CB 6-1 RB 5-11 S 6-0
CB 5-11
182 189 192 185 219 217 186
CB 5-10 204 RB 5-11 223 FB 5-11 245 S 6-1 206 S 5-11
FB 6-3 268 RB 6-1
TE 6-3 250 S 6-1
217 218 221
LB 6-2 239 LB 5-10 242 LB 6-0 238 LS 6-0 246 LB 5-10 245 C 6-4 288 C/G 6-3 307 DE 6-4 300 G 6-6 325 OT 6-5
OT 6-6 332 G/T 6-4
NT 6-3 376 OT 6-6
315 314 313
G 6-3 290 TE 6-5 264 WR 5-11
TE 6-4 255 WR 6-0
197 178
WR 5-10 209 DE 6-3 286 DL 6-5 285 DT 6-6 335 DE 6-5 302 DE 6-6
311
LB 6-4 247 NT 6-5 364 LB 6-1
LB 6-4 255 LB 6-4
272 257
K 6-0 205 QB 6-3 220 P
6-2 225
QB 6-4 228 WR 6-0 210 WR 6-2 224 WR 5-11 186 WR 6-2 197 FS 5-11 215 FS 5-11 205 DB 6-0 200 CB
6-1 206
DB 5-11 206 CB 5-11 188 CB
6-0 198
RB 5-10 219 DB 5-8 188 SS
6-3 209
RB 5-11 214 RB 6-2 236 SS
FB 5-11 260 LS TE TE TE
6-1 209 6-0 237
OLB OLB
OLB OLB C
6-4 272 6-4 259 6-6 249 6-2 237 6-4 240
MLB 6-2 247 LB
6-1 230 6-1 239 6-1 251 6-3 328
G 6-4 300 C
DE 6-4 252 OT DT
6-3 310 6-7 333
6-3 300
DE 6-3 276 G 6-7 309 T
OT
6-5 323 6-5 307
G 6-4 329 WR 5-11 194 TE TE
6-4 264 6-5 252
WR 5-10 190 DE DT
6-6 250 6-3 324
DE 6-2 281 DT DT DT
6-3 315 6-4 325 6-4 270
OCT. 17
Indianapolis 8:20 p.m. NBC
OCT. 24
at Chicago 1 p.m. FOX
OCT. 31
at Detroit 1 p.m. FOX
NOV. 15
Philadelphia 8:30 p.m. ESPN
NOV. 21
at Tennessee 1 p.m. FOX
NOV. 28
Minnesota 1 p.m. FOX
DEC. 5
at N.Y. Giants 1 p.m. FOX
DEC. 12
Tampa Bay 1 p.m. FOX
DEC. 19
at Dallas 1 p.m. FOX
DEC. 26
at Jacksonville 1 p.m. FOX
JAN. 2
N.Y. Giants 1 p.m. FOX
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