Quick Hitters: Falcons 31 Redskins 17

Despite all the criticism he has received, it was another solid game for QB Jason Campbell, who braved a heavy rush to complete 15 of 22 passes for 196 yards [8.9 yards per attempt] and 1 TD. The interception had nothing to do with Campbell, who put the ball right into TE Fred Davis‘ hands. Davis just let the ball get away from him and it was picked out of the air by a Falcons defender. Campbell so rushed for 40 yards on 5 carries and a bad ankle. I thought it was a solid and courageous performance from Campbell and, for all the hype about Matt Ryan, Campbell was clearly the better quarterback today.

Can we stop hearing about what a great player Clinton Portis is — and how he’s the leader of the offense? Clinton Portis is the leader of the offense only in the sense that his paycheck is bigger than the GDP of Guatemala. I’ve been saying for a while now that the offense wouldn’t miss Portis a bit if he wasn’t in the lineup and we saw it in action today. Portis finished with 4 yards on 4 carries before going out with a mild concussion. Ladell Betts finished with 70 yards and a TD on 15 carries [4.7 ypc] and a 23-yard pass reception. Betts appeared have more explosion into the line of scrimmage than Portis. Of course, Portis has to run behind a poor offensive line, but it is the same line Betts has, too. It’s unclear if Portis will miss more time, but if he does, Redskins fans shouldn’t worry. Clinton Portis, despite the enormity of his salary and cap number, doesn’t make the Redskins better at all.

Kudos to WR Marko Mitchell, who, though long overdue, finally got on the field in limited action. He caught two passes for 22 yards. A quick glance at the stats reveals that Devin Thomas caught nothing and Malcolm Kelly had 1 catch for a whopping 4 yards. Now that team management has gotten over the mental hurdle of having Marko Mitchell in the game on Sunday, let’s move to the next step: Start Marko Mitchell. Thomas and Kelly have had their chances to earn the starting spots that were simply given to both of them and they each failed. It’s time to let Mitchell have a chance. He might do better and he couldn’t possibly do worse.

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