By John Pappas
Warpath Confidential Editor
Who has to play Sunday?
The Redskins have a lot of guys nicked up going into the Eagles game, and there are questions as to who will play. DeAngelo Hall has already been ruled out. Stephon Heyer, Mike Sellers, and Mike Williams have all been pretty much ruled in, Todd Yoder and H.B. Blades are definite maybes, and Albert Haynesworth is a game-time decision.
But of these, who has to play to give Washington a real chance to win?
Albert Haynesworth.
There is no-one who can do what Haynesworth does. No-one else commands double and triple-team coverage (excepting maybe Santana Moss on offense). With Hall out, there is still Carlos Rogers, and the team can give him safety help. If Heyer cannot go, then Williams probably can, and vice-versa. And there are a few bodies at guard, none great, but comparable.
Haynesworth played in the first nine games of the season, and the Redskins averaged 2.7 sacks per game. Without him last week, they got one. This with Dallas missing one of their best lineman in tackle Marc Columbo.
Facing a quarterback like Donovan McNabb, Washington needs to bring the heat with the front four to get him out of rhythm, while having as many people as possible in coverage. Without Haynesworth, this becomes a challenge.
Richard Bartel
Wednesday, the team signed quarterback Richard Bartel to the active roster from Jacksonville’s practice squad, and released practice swuad quarterback Andre Woodson.
Why?
As Washington placed guys like Chad Rinehart on injured reserve, and with Stephon Heyer and Mike Williams nursing injuries, some expected the Redskins would try to find more offensive linemen.
They did sign Paul Fanaika off of Philadelphia’s practice squad (probably for his knowledge of Philadelphia’s offense as much as anything), and re-signed Marcus Mason to take the place of Ladell Betts.
Bartel kicked around a few practice squads since coming into the league with Dallas as an unsigned free agent in 2007. We haven’t heard much about him one way or the other, other than he did ok in Dallas and Cleveland as a guy that was not expected to make the permanent roster.
Some have conjectured that with the state of the line, the Redskins needed another quarterback in the event Jason Campbell gets injured. This is probably the case. But the team picked Bartel over Andre Woodson, whom the Redskins had on the practice squad since the beginning of the year. Woodson had to know the playbook a lot better than Bartel.
The Redskins must not have liked what they saw in Woodson, and must really like what they see in Bartel.
Is the offense better with Sherman Lewis calling plays?
In a word, probably not much.
Over the last four games, the offense has ‘seemed’ to be better. But is it really? When Lewis took over play calling duties, Washington ranked 23rd in total offense and 29th in scoring. Today, the Redskins rank 24th in total offense, and 29th in scoring. They went from averaging 13.2 points per game to 14.6. Since Lewis took over, they are averaging 16.7 per game. Better, but not where the team needs to be to win many games.
And they haven’t. They have gone 1-3 since the switch.
In Lewis’ defense, injuries have played a role. Despite this, few can argue the offense is demonstrably better.
Paul Fanaika
Speaking of Fanaika, he is a guard who played at Arizona State in college, where he earned two All Pac 10 Honorable mentions and was named Arizona State’s Most Outstanding Lineman following his senior season. Fanaika was drafted by Philadelphia in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft.
Fanaika has good measurements at 6-foot-5, 327 pounds, with an arm-span of 35 inches. Projected by some to go as high as the fifth round, reports say Fanaika hurt himself at the combine by benching 225-pounds only 15 times.
Don’t expect to see him Sunday, unless someone gets hurt.
