The folks in Washington must have decided that the city of Detroit needed another D.C. Bailout, as the Redskins provided the Lions with their first regular season win since Dec. 23, 2007. Because the team was on the road it appears they receive word of the bailout after the game had started. The Redskins’ defense held the Lions to less than 20 yards after the opening kickoff. The Redskins started their first possession at their own 24 yard line and moved to Lions one. Then came the bailout. Detroit stopped running back Clinton Portis on fourth and one. That led to a 12-play, 99-yard Lions scoring drive as Detroit shut out the Redskins in the first half and held a 13-0 lead at halftime. There may have been some that believed Washington has done enough for Detroit as Jason Campbell hit WR Santana Moss for a 57 yard touchdown pass four plays into the second half. The next time Campbell threw in the direction of Moss the pass was intercepted. The Redskins never led in this game — they didn’t even come within a field goal of the Detroit Lions.
The (1-2) Washington Redskins return to FedEx Field this Sunday to face the (0-3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 1 p.m. The Buccaneers have decided to bench starting quarterback Byron Leftwich and give second-year pro Josh Johnson his first NFL start. Tampa Bay is making the switch in the hopes the move will force opposing defenses to play more honest. Johnson can make plays with his feet and Leftwich is a pocket passer. With starting center Jeff Faine out indefinitely, Leftwich became a stationary target as teams stopped worrying about containing the QB and sent multiple defenders through the gaps on either side of Faine’s replacement Sean Mahan. Starting with the Washington Redskins, defenses will have to worry about the 23 year old Josh Johnson breaking containment and making some plays with his feet.
The Redskins and Buccaneers will meet for the 16th time. The Bucs lead the series 8-7 and have won four of five. The teams have met twice in the post season with each winning one. This will be the sixth meeting (including the playoffs) between these two teams since 2004, which was the last time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played in Washington.
New and Notes:
The Redskins will start Reed Doughty at strong safety on Sunday in place of Chris Horton who went from seventh-round draft pick to the All-Rookie team in 2008. Reed Doughty started three games in 2008 but missed most of the season with back problems and went on injured reserve for the final 12 games.
QB Jason Campbell completed 27-of-41 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns against the Lions last week. It was the fifth 300-yard passing game of his career. Campbell has completed the fourth most passes of any quarterback in the NFL, and the 10th most attempts after three games. His 793 passing yards is the ninth-best total.
Redskins Head Coach Jim Zorn said after the final practice before the Detroit game that Clinton Portis hadn’t worked that day and was questionable with bone spurs in both ankles that apparently had been an issue during preseason and training camp.
Quotes of Note:
— “I have a right to be disappointed because I’m a competitor, but it’s not going to change the way I prepare for the game. I’m still going to come and play. And when they do put me in those extra packages, I’ve got to make my plays. I’ve got to kind of do what I did last year and just keep showing that, hey, this guy can play and he makes plays for us.” — S Chris Horton on being benched and replaced in the starting lineup by Reed Doughty.
— “I ain’t a one-man wrecking show,” Moss said. “I’ve won games before, but we got to win games as a team. We’re in someone else’s house and it wasn’t going to be easy. Today was my day. They played a little off (me) and we capitalized off it, but we just didn’t do enough to win.” — WR Santana Moss, comments after producing a career-high 178 yards on 10 catches, including a 57-yard touchdown against the Lions.
— “I want to continue the physical presence of our run game. We’re not going to become ground chuck, ground Jim, but we are going to run the ball.” — Head Coach Jim Zorn, on the Redskins’ 24th ranked rushing attack.
— “I know what our identity is, For us defensively; we want to be a hard-nosed, tough, physical defense. One that doesn’t give up big plays, Run to the ball, gap responsible and just play sound, fundamental football. Now, we didn’t do it this last game. When you lose, it’s very easy to lose sight of that whole thing and say, ‘Now we’re not this.’ We looked at the film. We understand what we need to do to get back to being the way we need to be. If a call is made defensively, let’s go out and execute that call, You look at the film; we’re not executing our calls. It’s as simple as that. So I don’t know about identity. If the call is made and you ain’t executing, the identity is you ain’t executing the call. Let’s just get back to doing that.” — Middle Linebacker London Fletcher responding to comments by some players saying the team has lacked an identity.
Comparing the Team Leaders:
The Buccaneers will be lead by QB Josh Johnson with 36 passing yards and a QB rating of 50.4, he has 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions compared to Redskins’ QB Jason Campbell who has 793 yards passing and a QB rating of 92.5; he has 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
The Buccaneers leading rusher is RB Cadillac Williams averaging 5.2 yards per carry with 114 yards on 22 carries and 1 touchdown compared to Redskins RB Clinton Portis who is averaging 3.9 yards per carry with 183 yards on 47 carries and no touchdowns.
TE Kellen Winslow is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers top pass catcher averaging 8.9 yards per catch with 15 receptions and 134 yards, he has 2 touchdowns. WR Santana Moss is the leading receiver for the Redskins averaging 14.6 yards per catch with 15 receptions for 219 yards, he has 1 touchdown.
The Buccaneers defensive leader in tackles is Barrett Ruud with 32. Three Bucs are tied with 1 sack each and Sabby Piscatelli has 1 interception.
The Redskins defensive leaders are London Fletcher with 42 tackles. Andre Carter, Cornelius Griffin, Albert Haynesworth, and Brian Orakpo are tied with 1 sack each and Deangelo Hall has 1 interception.
Complete Tale of the Tapes:
Total Points Offense: Washington is ranked 28th averaging 13.3 points per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 27th averaging 13.7 points per game
Total Offense: Washington is ranked 13th with 341.3 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 25th with 296.3 ypg.
Rushing Offense: Washington is ranked 24th with 91.7 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 25th with 86.3 ypg.
Passing Offense: Washington is ranked 11th with 249.7 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 17th with 210.0 ypg.
Total Points Defense: Washington is ranked 6th giving up on average 16.3 points per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 31st giving up on average 30.3 points per game
Total Defense: Washington is ranked 15th, giving up 325.7 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 31st with 432.3 ypg.
Rushing Defense: Washington is ranked 22nd giving up 127.7 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 31st with 187.3 ypg.
Passing Defense: Washington is ranked 11th, giving up 198.0 yards per game and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranks 22nd with 245.0 ypg.
Injury Report:
The Weekly Injury Report can be found in the HogBlogs around mid-day the day before the Game
Injured Reserves:
The following players are out for the 2009 season:
QB Colt Brennan (Hip)
OG Randy Thomas (Triceps)
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Bernie Marshall