Week 2 vs. New Orleans Saints

Washington - After being dismantled in week 1 by the New York Giants, skeptics were already dropping the axe on Head Coach Jim Zorn ranting about his inexperience and the absurd hiring process employed by good old "Danny Boy". Only in week 2, the Redskins desperately needed a victory over an improved New Orleans team in order to avoid falling behind in their division as they have done the past several seasons. With the defending Super Bowl champion Giants and the favored Dallas Cowpokers in their division, they could ill-afford to fall behind early.

While going through the transition of a new coach, new offensive system and still a young quarterback, it also helped the team a great deal that the Saints were missing several key starters on both sides of the ball. The Redskins started strong on offense with 3 solid drives and got on the board first with a pair of field goals. The defense stuffed the New Orleans rushing game forcing several punts early in the game, but a key punt return fumble by Antwaan Randle El in Washington's own end put the Saints in excellent position to change the momentum and that is exactly what they as RB Pierre Thomas ran in for a touchdown from 1 yard out.

With 8:36 left in the half, the Redskins moved their way down the field yet again and came up empty once more missing a second field goal, this time from only 30 yards away. The defense held strong, though and the teams traded field goals before the end of the half giving the Saints a 10-9 lead.

In the third quarter, QB Drew Brees showed again that he is one of the NFL's best quarterbacks. With the rushing game stifled, Brees completed pass after pass to his mish mash receiving core with the likes of TE Mark Campbell, WR David Patten and WR Robert Meachem leading them to a touchdown. Then P Durant Brooks pooched up a wounded duck of a punt 38 yards to Reggie Bush that never gave Redskins defenders a chance to get down field and Reggie proceeded to fly down field 55 yards for a touchdown return. Of course, being the bonehead that he is, Reggie that it was in his team's best interest to get flagged for a 15 yard taunting penalty aftwards, which seems to be becoming his signature move after touchdowns.

In the 4th quarter, it was a different story. The Redskins were down by 9 points and the Saints drove to the Redskins 49 yard line before the defense stiffened and forced the Saints to punt. Then, QB Jason Campbell put the ball in flight and spread the ball around the field to TE Chris Cooley, Antwaan Randle El, TE Fred Davis and WR Santana Moss before RB Clinton Portis punched it in to the end zone from 9 yards out.

The defense held the Saints 3 and out before the play of the game happened. With only 3:38 left in the game, the offense took the field. Jason Campbell took the first snap, avoided a sack and aired it out connecting with Santana Moss on a 67 yard pass play for a touchdown leading the Redskins to a late comeback victory.

While it was great to get Jim Zorn his first victory as a head coach and it was also great to see the Redskins show the fortitude to come from behind and win, there sill are some very real concerns. On offense, Drew Brees was a sharp 22/33 passing with 1 touchdown and he connected with 9 different receivers, which speaks volumes about his vision on the field. Even with all of that success, though, he did not have his #1 target, WR Marques Colston, who did not play. I would have hoped the Redskins could have limited Brees to a lower percentage than they did.

On offense, the Redskins ran the ball well and Clinton Portis finished the day with 21 carriers for 96 yards. Ladell Betts also tacked on another 6 carries for 25 yards. Jason Campbell did have a productive day and finished 24/36 for 321 yards and 1 touchdown. While those are good numbers, you need to look a little more closely. Their last play of the game accounted for 67 yards leaving him with 254 yards for the rest of the game. In addition to their #1 WR, the Saints were also without starting SLB Scott Fujita as well as their 2 leading CB's Mike McKenzie and Randall Gay. To compound their problems, they also lost DB Aaron Glenn early in the third quarter to injury and it would have been nice to see the Redskins take at least a few more chances down the field before the end of the game to take advantage of the mismatches. We can only hope that this will serve as a valuable learning experience for the coaches and players.

Final Score: Washington 29, New Orleans 24

Highlights of the Redskins' Week 2 Win over the New Orleans Saints

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JacksGhost
Washington Redskins Hog Blog