The Redskins Blog

VIDEO: Griffin III Consoles Romo On Field

There weren’t many people at FedExField last Sunday who felt bad for Tony Romo.

But after Romo threw three interceptions in the 28-18 loss to the Redskins — including a pick late in the fourth quarter to outside linebacker Rob Jackson that led to Washington’s final touchdown — the Dallas Cowboys quarterback had at least one supporter wearing burgundy and gold.

Read more »

The Myth Of The Snap Count Violation

AP Image

Of the many storylines that came out of the Monday night loss to the Cowboys, perhaps the strangest was the explanation for the botched shotgun exchanges between Cowboys center Phil Costa and Tony Romo.

ESPNDallas.com picked up the story, as proclaimed by Costa and Romo after the game, and suggested that former Cowboys defensive end Stephen Bowen was responsible for the early snaps.

“We’ve got to get the snap thing worked out,” Romo told the media after the game. “Costa said the D-line kept calling out the snap count. We’ll tell the league and see if that’s something that can be fixed because you’re not supposed to be able to do that.”

The next day on a radio show on ESPN 103.3 in Dallas, Costa backed down from the Bowen accusation, but attributed it to a nameless defensive players “barking out the snap count,” on the line.

“[Bowen] wasn’t really doing it, but whoever was doing the snap count or whatever,” he said.  ”And y’know, we’re hearing the D-line barking a little bit, and either way, it’s on me.”

So was it an issue that “we’ll tell the league” about, or is it “either way, it’s on me?”  I’ve heard Bowen, and I’ve heard Romo, and they don’t sound anything alike.

Must be those pesky barking spiders on the field.

Sitting in the press box at a game, I’m about as far removed from the action as you are at home, so I can’t say for sure what happened on the field.  But given that these violations are something that officials are trained to look for, and assigned to look for, I had to approach these accusations with a degree of journalistic skepticism.

So I turned to Redskins defensive end Kedric Golston for clarity. Read more »

Casserly On ‘Skins-’Boys QB Matchup

I recently had the opportunity, along with Gary Fitzgerald of Redskins.com, to catch up with former Redskins general manager and CBS/NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly.

Casserly has made a name for himself as a keen evaluator of NFL talent for the last 24 years, and seemed like the perfect person to ask about the upcoming quarterback matchup in the Redskins-Cowboys game.

First he broke down the success that Grossman is having so far this season as the Redskins starter:

Films report – Grossman – Best thing he is doing is reading def and throwing to right guy. Reads thru progression well.—
Charley Casserly (@CasserlyCBS) September 22, 2011

“I think the thing about Rex is it’s consistency, and he’s running the offense,” he explained. “What I mean by that, is he is going through the progressions on the reads. He’s getting to the second receiver and he gets to the third receiver.”

Casserly explained how consistency this season has allowed him to unlock his true potential.

“He always had enough throwing talent but he had too many lows along with too many highs,” he said.  ”In other words there wasn’t as much consistency in there, so I see a more calmness about him. He understands the offense so he understands where the receivers are. He’s been accurate and I think he’s executing the offense without the negative plays he’s had at times in his career by forcing things and trying to do more than he needs to do.”

He also tweeted an explanation of Grossman’s rough start in last week’s game against the Cardinals:

NFL Films report – Def Pass Int and Ill contact is being missed too often. ERxample is Grossman's 2 INT.—
Charley Casserly (@CasserlyCBS) September 22, 2011

Additionally, Casserly described where he thought Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo fit into the quarterback rankings, going into his ninth season in the league:

“Well I think he’s about in the middle, but I think he’s a winning quarterback,” he explained.  ”I think he can take a team to the playoffs. I think he’s got the throwing talent as far as quickness of release, arm strength, that he can move around well, he can be an accurate passer.”

But Casserly also attributed Romo’s knack for bad-luck-mistakes to his struggles so far: Read more »