Redskins vs. Giants Recap: The Great, the Good, and the Not-So-Good

Great...
- Contributions by the Rookies Kerrigan (INT returned for a TD) and Neild (1.5 sacks and a forced-fumble)
- Fred Davis has 5 receptions for 105 yards
- Santana Moss has 6 receptions for 76 yards and catches everything thrown to him
- Sav Rocca punts 4 inside the 20, and the other 2 punts were around 50 yards

Good...
- Rex Grossman runs the offense well, but fumbles in the 4th quarter for no reason

Redskins vs. Giants: 2nd Quarter

Several observations...

1) Grossman has been much more accurate this quarter, nice.

2) The Skins are getting little penetration from the Nose Tackle position, allowing the Giants to rush up the middle and allowing Eli time to find open receivers.

3) I like Reed Doughty, but he's having a rough game, giving up several completions, and on a blitz he got absolutely stuffed by Brandon Jacobs, which allowed Eli time to complete a 30-yard pass.

4) Hightower's having a solid game, good rushing, good pass-catching, good job picking up the blitz.

5) Redskins offense is over half-way to 400 yards, but so is the Giants offense.

Unpredictability

The NFL season is about to begin. This is the time of year to make predictions, which makes me realize how much about the Redskins is unpredictable. So much could be really really good or really really bad: QB, RB, defensive secondary, nose tackle, interior offensive line depth. Here are the reasons for uncertainty (with a prediction for the season at the end):

Tim Hightower: How excited should we be?

Tim Hightower has been explosive, dynamic, productive, and many other wonderful things this pre-season. He's averaging 6+ yards-per-carry, and maybe, just maybe, the combination of a) an explosive one-cut runner like Hightower and b) Shanahan's perennially successful zone-blocking scheme will result in a dominant Redskins rushing attack.

But I'm nervous. Hightower has always been an explosive runner, this is nothing new. Last year, among the 55 RBs with 60 or more carries, Hightower was ranked 8th in Yards Per Carry. The problem is that Hightower has been fumble-prone. And as many statistical analyses have shown, no single statistic predicts wins and losses better than turnovers.