On Sunday the Washington Redskins will be on the road again to take on a third NFC North team as they play the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Kickoff is 1 P.M. It’s the final indoor game on the Washington Redskins 2010 schedule the Rams game was also played indoors. The Lions are 0-2 against the NFC East this season, with losses to the Philadelphia Eagles in week 2 and the New York Giants in week 6, while the Redskins are 2-0 against NFC North teams this season with victories over the Green Bay Packers in week 5 and the Chicago Bears last week. This will be the 41st meeting against the Lions and Redskins lead the series, 27-11 and the Redskins have won all three post season meetings, including the only playoff game ever played at FedEx Field. The last time the Redskins and Lions faced each other was last season when Detroit ended a 19 game losing streak by beating Washington 19-14
The Detroit Lions are coming off of their bye week and the Redskins are coming off a 17- 14 win over the Chicago Bears that was fueled by four Jay Cutler interceptions. Redskins CB DeAngelo Hall was on the receiving end of all four errant passes, one was returned 92 yards for a touchdown.
By the Numbers:
– Mike Shanahan said that third running back Chad Simpson, who was sidelined last week with a hamstring injury, went full speed in practice this week and is expected to be able to play on Sunday along with both ailing right tackles, Jammal Brown and Stephon Heyer although they were limited in practice this week.
– Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre holds the NFL record with 293 consecutive games played while Redskins inside linebacker London Fletcher is second on the list with 199 straight games. Favre is nursing a bad ankle (two fractures in his left ankle) and his streak may come to a end this weekend, putting Fletcher at the top of the list among active players. Fletcher who has made 158 consecutive starts believes Favre will play Sunday … “I think Brett’s gonna play, I think that’s a little bit of gamesmanship on Minnesota’s side, a little posturing. But he’ll be out there.”
– 23 year old kicker Graham Gano has missed three of his past six field-goal tries (from 37, 48 and 51 yards). Gano has (.722 ) one of the worst field-goal percentage in the league ranked behind the New Orleans Saints Garrett Hartley and Lawrence Tynes of the New York Giants.Gano came into the season with four games of NFL experience
– Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall who leads the NFL with five interceptions said via twitter that the Pro Football Hall of Fame has picked up his No. 23 jersey after he intercepted four passes in Sunday’s win over Chicago, Hall went on to say that he was “Definitely humbled and honored by that. … Thanks again to best fans and organization in the National Football League for all the support!”
Quotes and Notes:
*** “There are no guarantees in life, man, I think what I need to do is go out and be able to help this team however I can. I think that’s a decision for them to make. And when they make the decision, I still got to come to work and I still got to get the job done. (Ryan)’s a hard runner, downhill and that’s gonna provide a lot for us. With the Giants, you sit and watch the combination of (Ahmad) Bradshaw and (Brandon) Jacobs and I’m sure me and Ryan can work at the same time.” Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis
*** Albert Haynesworth was fined $7,500 by the NFL for unnecessary roughness stemming from his blindside block on Bears offensive lineman J’Marcus Webb during DeAngelo Hall’s 92-yard interception return. The block was made about 11 yards behind Hall. Coach Mike Shanahan said Thursday that he would lobby on behalf of defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth…. “If a guy’s 25 yards back, and a guy kills somebody, they say, ‘Hey, that’s a cheap shot.’ If he’s got a chance to catch ’em, if he’s within 10 yards, maybe it’s 12 yards, league officials determine if he had a legitimate chance to make a play.” Webb was penalized 15 yards for a late hit on Haynesworth after the block.
*** The folks over at HogHeaven named Oakland Raiders Quarterback Jason Campbell “Ex-Redskin Of The Week” for the second week in a row. Campbell had a 43 yard scoring strike to TE Zack Miller to get things started in the Raiders 59-14 win but Raiders RB Darren McFadden did most of the heavy lifting with four touchdowns (3 rushing and one on after reception). Oddly Campbell finished the game with a QB Rating of 127.9 which happened to be the sum of the QB ratings for Bears QB Jay Cutler (54.3) and Denver’s Kyle Orton (73.6). Neither Denver nor Chicago would consider Campbell in trade talks when Washington tried to bring in Cutler last year, the Broncos accepted Kyle Orton and multiple draft picks from the Bears for Cutler. The Broncos are 0-2 against Jason Campbell.
*** On Monday head coach Mike Shanahan revealed that the Washington Redskins planned to rotate Stephon Heyer and Jammal Brown at right tackle against the Chicago Bears last Sunday, but Heyer sustained an ankle injury on the Redskins first series and couldn’t continue after starting the teams second possession … “We were going to rotate a little bit more, we’re going to rotate series, give both guys a chance to show what they can do, We thought Stephon played well enough when he did play to give him some more playing time. ”
*** It was obvious that defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth wasn’t helping the Redskins’ defense by playing him at a position he didn’t want to play, defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said Thursday he will continue to use Haynesworth as more of a 4-3 defensive tackle than a 3-4 nose tackle. This is another move to “tweak” a defensive scheme that doesn’t have all the pieces needed to run it. Andre Carter started the season at outside linebacker but has since been used almost exclusively as a defensive end on passing downs.
*** “It was like opening a present on Christmas Day and getting the gift that you’ve always wanted so to speak, and that’s why they brought Albert in here, because of how dominant he can be in a football game, Albert was very disruptive from the beginning of the game to the end, just with his ability to put pressure on the quarterback, sack the quarterback, make some tackles for a loss, and obviously, he had that big goal-line play where he leapt over the line and held up Cutler before he could get into the end zone. … He played with a lot of passion, just inspired football.” —– Defensive captain London Fletcher on the play of Haynesworth
*** “Just going out there and playing football, you always feel like you’ve got a chance to make plays, We knew from watching game film of Jay Culter all week that we were going to get some opportunities. I didn’t think they would come in bunches like that, but we’ll take them… “It was more so the play calling we were getting and the front, The front was out there getting after guys. It started with Albert, Brian Orakpo came out there to play football. Everybody was out there playing football… “It was a total team effort. I might have come out with the picks, but those guys up front were definitely putting pressure and making Cutler throw that ball.” — CB DeAngelo Hall on his four interception outing last week
Injury Report:
Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has made frequent use of the “questionable” tag all year.
The Washington Redskins listed 23 percent of their 53-man roster as questionable for the Lions game on Sunday on the team’s injury report. On Friday head coach Mike Shanahan stated that key players who’ve been limited in practice this week were all expected to play Sunday at Detroit, barring any unexpected setbacks. tackle Jammal Brown (hip), tight end Chris Cooley (foot), cornerback DeAngelo Hall (back), tackle Stephon Heyer (ankle), safety LaRon Landry (Achilles), guard Kory Lichtensteiger (back), safety Kareem Moore (knee), linebacker Brian Orakpo (ankle), center Casey Rabach (foot), fullback Mike Sellers (foot) and running back Chad Simpson (hamstring) were all listed as questionable. Running back Clinton Portis (groin) is the only player that appeared on this week’s injury report that isn’t expected to play this weekend.
Injured Reserves:
The following players are done for the 2010 season:
WR Malcolm Kelly (Hamstring)
WR Mike Furrey (Concussion)
OL Mike Williams (Non-Football Injury)
LB Robert Henson (Knee)
OL Clint Oldenburg (Ankle)
P Josh Bidwell (Hip)
Edit: This blog was archived in May of 2016 from our original articles database.It was originally posted by Bernie Marshall