Washington Redskins Hog Blog: Week 8 vs Detroit Lions

Detroit - Our beloved Redskins seemingly keep finding ways to win games this year. This week, they traveled to Detroit to face a Detroit Lions team that they should have beaten by a wide margin. However, the Lions must be given some credit because they played hard and looked better than an 0-7 team.

On offense, the Lions simply could not run the ball. The Redskins' defensive line stuffed RB's Rudi Johnson and Kevin Smith and allowed only 33 yards on 12 carries between so it was up to their QB to make something happen for them. In only his 4th NFL start, the 25 year old Orlovsky went a productive 21/35 for 223 yards with 1 touchdown pass to an improving Calvin Johnson.

Through most of the first half, the Lions defense played with a lot of energy and managed to hold the Redskins to only one field goal on their first drive. They caused a key turnover at mid field putting their offense in great position and they made the best of it driving the ball in for a touchdown. After taking the lead, the Lions defense again stepped up and held the Redskins to a 3 and out and gave their hot handed offense the ball right back again. The offense moved down the field on an 8 play 44 yard drive and capped it off with a field goal giving them a 10-3 and, worse than that, got them believing they could pull off the upset.

It wasn't until about midway through the 2nd quarter when the Redskins began to wake up on offense and they put together a 59 yard drive, which was ended by a face mask penalty on Jon Jansen and then Shaun Suisham missed a 50 yard field goal attempt. The Redskins did get the ball back one more time before the end of the half and they finally changed the momentum of the game in their favor. Facing a 3rd and 19 from their own 17 yard line, Jason Campbell completed a beautifully thrown ball to Mr. Everything (James Thrash) for 29 yards. Campbell mixed his targets hitting Chris Cooley and Santana Moss putting them in position for a last second field goal and, this time, Shaun Suisham delivered on a 47 yarder as time expired.

It would have been easy for Jim Zorn to play it conservatively and run the ball up the middle when the Redskins were backed up deep in their own end, but give the coach credit for mixing his play calls and airing it out before the end of the half. After an inconsistent, penalty and turnover filled first half, the Redskins needed something positive to happen. When Suisham connected on his last second field goal, it breathed new life into the Redskins the carried over to the second half of the game.

In the second half, the Redskins continued marching the ball down the field scoring 19 points, highlighted by a tremendous 50 yard pass play from Jason Campbell to Santana Moss. Campbell continues to show he is maturing into one of the better QB's in the league. Against an unblocked blitz, Campbell calmly stepped up in the pocket to avoid the initial rush and delivered the beautifully thrown ball to Moss without so much as a flinch with the defender breathing down his back. While on the receiving end, the perfectly placed ball landed right in Moss' hands in stride on the sideline where he turned on the jets and flew by two Lions defenders.

While a win is a win in and the Redskins have had a great first half of the season, there are two disturbing trends that Jim Zorn will have to find a way to correct if the Redskins are going to make a serious playoff run. Against a below average Detroit offensive line with a young and inexperienced QB, the Redskins could still only manage 1 sack for the game. They now have a meager 10 sacks through 8 games this season. If they are going to have success against the elite teams in the NFL, they will have to find a way to get to the QB. This simply MUST improve. Shawn Springs was out again against Detroit and simply cannot hold up over a full season. With the additional injuries to Reed Doughty and now Chris Horton, the Redskins' secondary is on very thin ice now. One more injury to the secondary could spell disaster for the Redskins' defense who completely rely on their outstanding coverage units.

The other trend is that while the Redskins have continued to move the ball on offense, they are having to settle for a lot of field goal attempts. With all of the yardage numbers they have been racking up, they need to find a way to convert some more of those field goals into touchdowns. They will have a very tough time keeping up with the NFL's elite teams kicking field goals at this rate.

Does anyone still have Dexter Manley's or Charles Mann's phone number?

Final Score: Washington 25, Detroit 17