Washington Redskins Preseaon: Two Down, Two To Go

Well it's Monday morning and the Redskins lost over the weekend so I can expect to hear it from the Dallas fans in my office.  Even though the Cowboys lost as well and these so-called "Dallas fans" have never stepped foot in the state of Texas, and I'm pretty sure they couldn't pick it out on a map either.

However, I'm not down about the Redskins' 23-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.  I'm not down because the starters played damn well and it seemed that quarterback Donovan McNabb was finding a groove with wide receivers Santana Moss and Anthony Armstrong, along with tight end Chris Cooley.

Also the starting defense provided constant pressure (despite several missed holding calls) on Ravens' quarterback Joe Flacco and their constant pursuit of the ball carrier resulting in another turnover.

The starting defense looked good and didn't give up the big play.  Sure the Ravens had the big fake punt but that was the special teams' fault. 

Also, as the announcers said, you don't really run fake punts in the preseason, so I'm going to wash that out since the team probably wasn't even looking for it to happen.  However, Rocky McIntosh should have made that tackle at the line of scrimmage.

The only thing that really bothered me was the running game.  I'm not sure how to rank what I saw. 

Was Baltimore's defensive line that good?  Was the Redskins' offensive line that bad?  Was it Larry Johnson?  Or a combination of all three?

To answer the first question, not only is Baltimore's defensive line good, but their whole defense is good, so they are capable of shutting down anyone's run game.

Is the Skins' line really that bad?  I doubt it, but until I see them play a full game it will be hard to tell.  A running game needs momentum to really build up, especially for the offensive line.  If they don't play a whole game and don't run it that often, then they won't build that momentum to start tearing off huge chunks of yardage.

Also the line opened larger holes against Buffalo.  Yes, the Bills aren't the Ravens, but a bad offensive line won't open up holes against anyone.  Just check out last year's games against Detroit and Kansas City.

Now to the third question, is Larry Johnson that bad? 

I don't know if I'd call him bad, but he didn't look like the LJ of the past.  He looked lost.

He didn't hit the holes (when there were some) with much force.  He just kind of took the ball and ran straight ahead.

There were a couple of times where he had cut-back lanes but never cut back to take advantage of them.

I don't know if this is mere rust or if his wheels have finally fallen off. 

I'm wondering where the whole "LJ will challenge Portis for the starting spot" came from.  I've heard so many people say this but Saturday's game didn't give me any indication that this would happen.

In fact LJ better pray that Willie Parker has a worse game against the New York Jets (an even better defense than the Ravens) if he wants to even make this team.

Personally I think Ryan Torain did more than enough against the Bills to earn a spot on the roster.  He showed excellent speed and vision, and he has something neither Parker nor Johnson has anymore, and that's youth.

I'd much rather see one of these veterans gone (which will probably be the case) and keep Torain and develop him as opposed to keeping Parker and Johnson whom one or both won't be here (or in the league at all) next season.

All in all I didn't get too excited about the big win over Buffalo, and I'm not down on the loss to the Ravens. 

Both games showed a lot of positives for the starters and some things that I'm sure the coaching staff will pull from the tape for the team to learn from.

All this game did for me was get me even more excited for the opener against Dallas.  This may sound crazy, but I'm sticking with my preseason prediction of the Skins going 12-4. 

Until next time loyal reader.  Go Skins, and follow me on twitter, @jomac006.