Redskins held mostly off the board, fall to the Ravens

Playing a much better team than in their first preseason game, the Washington Redskins knew they had their work cut out for them against the Baltimore Ravens. Playing at home for the second week, the Skins looked to recapture all the offensive firepower they had against the Bills in their previous game. That just didn't happen.

When the starters left the game by halftime, the scoreboard read 13-3 in favor of the Ravens. The only touchdown by either first-team offense came on a one yard dive by Willis McGahee that was set up by a 51 yard run off a fake punt. Looking at the touchdown from a positive angle, it was really the special teams that gave that one up, not the defense. The rest of the first half, the Skins defensive unit played very well in just their second game in Jim Haslett's 3-4 scheme. The linebackers were flying around the field, the corners were tackling well in open space, the line got decent pressure on Flacco (enough to keep him right around 50% for the night), and LaRon Landry got back to doing what he does best: hitting people.

Landry led the team in tackles with 8 total, 6 of those being solo. Back in the strong safety position which better suits him, Landry now has the opportunity to be up near the line of scrimmage, part of all the “bedlam” that the safeties coach Steve Jackson says Landry loves. Last year while he had to play free safety, he was getting burned by speedy receivers on double moves and jukes. At the strong safety position, he shouldn't have to be matched up against any of the guys on the outside, mostly having to worry about tight ends or running backs.

As for the offense, the first drive of the game was really the only bright spot. The Skins received the opening kickoff and drove 76 yards on 13 plays en route to a field goal by second year man Graham Gano. The most impressive part of the drive: 3-for-4 on third downs, the only one not converted was the one that led to the field goal. As stated by Mike Patrick and Joe Theismann during the telecast, the offensive line was just not good. The Ravens has Donovan McNabb scrambling around almost the entire time he was on the field. Had this been last year and that been Jason Campbell, a few of the great plays McNabb made likely would have been sacks. While faced with third and longs throughout the drive, McNabb found his targets while escaping pressure to pick up first downs to Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and Anthony Armstrong. Armstrong's reception went for 45 yards on a third and 14 down to the seven yard line. Watching it, it easily could have been a touchdown, but McNabb under threw him just a bit. Once down inside the red zone, the Skins had some opportunities to score, but like the rest of the half, were plagued by dropped passes. Including a dropped pass by Fred Davis in the end zone, the Skins dropped nine passes in the first half, which amounted to just over half of McNabb's incompletions, and all were very catchable balls.

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The Redskins got decent numbers through the air throughout the night, but the story on the ground was completely the opposite. Larry Johnson got the start, and carried the ball eight times for a grand total of four yards, averaging a half a yard per carry. Clinton Portis, who was used mostly as a third down back, carried twice for 14 yards, picking up most of that on a nine yard run late in the first quarter. Willie Parker carried once and went backwards, losing a yard on his play. Combined, the three backs totaled 11 rushes for 17 yards. Those aren't exactly the numbers the Skins were looking for when they went out and picked up Johnson and Parker to complement Portis.

Despite the loss (which doesn't really matter anyway), the Redskins can bring something out of this game: the offensive line needs some work. Rookie Trent Williams did a decent job at the left tackle position, but outside linebacker Terrell Suggs got around him quite a bit. If the Skins can iron out some of their line problems, McNabb is still talented enough to get the ball downfield and across the goal line.

News and notes:

Safety Kareem Moore and fullback Mike Sellers both went down with knee injuries in the first half. Sellers hurt his knee while blocking on one of the many failed running plays, and Moore hurt his trying to slow down the fake punt play by the Ravens.

Albert Haynesworth saw limited minutes after missing a few practices, but did manage to record one of the teams two sacks for the game.

By Matthew Dagen
ProFootball-fans.com Washington Redskins Correspondent