The Good, the Bad and the Ugly vs. Denver
Gary Cope, SkinsGridiron.com, Aug. 10, 2004

Canton, Ohio - OK, now what? Jon Jansen is gone for the season and there's no sugar-coating it, that's just how things are. The Skins lost one of their team captains, and most reliable players for the season last night when he ruptured an Achilles tendon in the first quarter. I'm sure I can speak for all Redskins fans, players and coaches when I say it felt like someone kicked us all in the stomach…then ruptured our Achilles tendon.

"I have to tell you we had a big downer there," said Redskins coach Joe Gibbs following last night's game. "It took a lot out of us there for a while. I told (Jansen) the main thing now is to get this fixed and get back here so he can work with Buges [offensive line coach Joe Bugel] for the rest of the year. He means a lot to the team as a leader."

With the worst news out of the way, let's get back to the regularly scheduled column: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The Good
Last night's preseason games between the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins was ugly from the beginning. Yet, there were still some positives surrounding Joe Gibbs' boys and we begin with Sean Taylor, Washington's top draft pick this year.

Taylor, who did not start with the first team, made the most of his time with the second team by pulling down a pair of interceptions and running one back for a touchdown. He's a safety with world class speed, trapped in a linebacker's body. He looked like a monster out there roaming the secondary, but it was good to see him make some smart moves on the field for a change.

"He played great. He had a real good week of practice, too," Gibbs said. "He's very athletic and from where I was standing-obviously we'll have to study the film for a better evaluation-I'll tell you he was very impressive. He made some big plays."

Staying with the defense, cornerback Shawn Springs intercepted Denver quarterback Jake Plummer in the first quarter, giving Redskins fans a sense that he may indeed be able to adequately fill the void left by Champ Bailey.

Switching over to the offense, third-string quarterback Tim Hasselbeck looked good with the third team, throwing for 118 yards on 7 of 10 passing, including the 33-yard touchdown pass to WR Gari Scott in the fourth quarter. Hasselbeck, the younger brother of Seattle Seahawks starter Matt Hasselbeck, appears to have solidified his spot on the team as the third-stringer. However, right now, he's looking better than Ramsey and Brunell.

"I think Tim got us going there-he hit a fade pass which we hadn't been able to get," Gibbs said. "We'll take a hard look at all of the things going on there. But Tim did a real good job there. I've been bragging on him all the way. He's a guy who every now and then in practice I'll see someone do something impressive, and it's Tim."

Sultan McCullough, the second-year running back out of USC, continued to impress the coaches, just as he did last season, rushing eight times for 37 yards, or 4.6 yards per carry.

At wide receiver, Darnerien McCants led the starters with three catches for 36 yards. Scott, a reserve wideout, had a pair of catches for 45 yards, included the 33-yarder for a score. Jafar Williams, an undrafted free agent out of Maryland, had one catch for 35 yards. Both Scott and Williams are long shots to make the team.

Finally, the kicking game was strong. John Hall kicked a 39-yarder in the first quarter to give Washington a 3-0 lead. Then, with four seconds left in the fourth quarter and the game tied at 17, Ola Kimrin kicked a 39-yard field goal that hugged the inside of the right goal post to give the Redskins a 20-17 win. While Kimrin, a 32-year-old rookie from Sweden, likely won't make the team, he showed other teams that he has the ability to make a clutch kick under pressure.

The Bad
The starting quarterbacks. Mark Brunell looked awful as the starter, misfiring badly on several attempts. He looked confused, hurried and out of sync. Patrick Ramsey looked frantic, dancing around in the pocket, pumping his arm, his head on a swivel trying desperately to work his progression, only to throw too far, too soon or not at all. Brunell went 4-of-8 for 18 yards, while Ramsey was 3-of-8 for 12 yards.

"The offense for the first few quarters, we just couldn't get stuff going," Gibbs said. "I was real disappointed because I thought we had some things going receiver-wise."

The offensive line is to blame for much of the quarterbacks' struggles. They didn't appear to provide any more protection than they did last year. Brunell and Ramsey were constantly feeling the pressure and having to release the ball under extreme duress. Then, they lost Jansen, which is a crushing blow to an O-line that was looking to make amends for last season's debacle.

Even before the injury, the Dirtbags couldn't open any holes for the running game, which meant Clinton Portis only rushed for 11 yards on four carries. Again, I know it's the preseason, but so far, the offense isn't showing us much. I'm not being a naysayer, but I feel I should reference my column from Feb. 26, 2004, in which I discussed the difficulty Portis would have switching to a new offense:

"Sure, on the surface, it appears to be a great trade for both teams, especially Denver. They get an all pro cover cornerback and a second round draft pick. The Skins get a running back that had a pair of good seasons. Whoa! Wait a minute!? They (Broncos) get a veteran corner in the prime of his career and a second round pick. We (Redskins) get a running back that has had a couple good seasons behind an offensive line/scheme that could probably open enough holes for this writer to gain 1,000 yards. No, seriously!

Look at the running backs that have experienced success behind that brilliant blocking scheme: Terrell Davis, Mike Anderson and now Clinton Portis. Anderson is a former Marine for crying out loud! How good would they be if they played for other teams? We don't know, because those guys weren't dumb enough to try and play somewhere else. Why? They know!

I understand that a running back is vital to the success of an offense in the NFL, however, Portis hasn't proven anything to me and I'm surprised the Skins' front office is so intent on getting him. Our offensive line isn't half as good at Denver's and until it gets better, you can forget about a thousand-yard rusher in the nation's capital."

Last night, Portis had trouble finding the gaps, not because he's not a great runner, but because he was playing with a lesser offensive line in a scheme designed to protect the quarterback and cater to power running backs, like Riggo. I'm not saying Portis can't be a 1,500-yard back, but it's definitely not going to be as easy as it was in Denver.

Also out of the backfield, Rock Cartwright fumbled the ball and that could end up costing him. Gibbs simply will not tolerate turnovers and in an already crowded backfield, Cartwright better find some "stick'em' and invest in it.

More bad - SkinsFanLB said it best when he posted the following:

"Anyone trying to make the team on special teams hurt themselves. Both the coverage and return teams looked bad."

Couldn't have said it better myself. The punt and kickoff coverage was terrible. The Broncos returned three punts and four kickoffs for a total of 156 yards, or 22.3 yards per return. Meanwhile, the Skins return teams fielded two punts and five kickoffs for only 93 yards, or 13.3 yards per return. Sickening, just sickening.

The Ugly
Obviously losing Jansen for the season is a catastrophic setback for the Redskins. Several candidates are already being considered to replace the right tackle, but regardless of who they plug in there, it just won't be the same.

Already, sports talking heads are condemning the preseason schedule, citing Jansen's injury last night, Michael Vick's broken leg last season, and Chad Pennington's broken arm, also last season, as reasons to shorten the exhibition season and make the regular season longer.

Football is a contact sport and injuries can and will happen, it's inevitable. Injuries can happen in practice, in a game, at home tripping over the cat, there's no getting around it. Even if there were only two preseason games this year, Jansen still would have played last night and still would've ruptured his tendon. End of story.