Quick Hitters: Deja vu all over again in week 1

The Washington Redskins offense in week 1 looked pretty much like the Washington Redskins offense of the last two months of last season. The offense looked confused, discombobulated, and completely lacking in confidence. The team came out flat, completely unprepared to play an NFL game. That's very poor preparation. It would be shocking, but it happens so frequently that no Redskins fan could be shocked by it anymore. Jim Zorn was determined to rush the ball, but the Giants would not permit it. After a 34-yard run on their first offensive play from scrimmage, Clinton Portis and the rest of the running backs did nothing, gaining 51 yards on 20 carries. Jim Zorn can talk all he likes about his increased confidence in his quarterback and offensive line, but that's clearly a lot of nonsense. After the defense made a terrific stand to stop the Giants on 4th and 1 at the 2 yard line, the Redskins ran three meek running plays and punted, giving the Giants the ball at the 43 yard line and leading directly to a New York touchdown. In other words, the goal line stand by the defense made no difference. Why did Zorn run 3 obvious running plays when he clearly needed to pass his way out of the shadow of his own end zone. The only reasonable explanation is that he didn't trust his quarterback or he didn't trust his offensive line to pass block for his quarterback or, most likely, he didn't trust either his quarterback or his offensive line. No wonder the offense appears to lack confidence. It does lack confidence. The fumble caused by Giants DE Osi Umenyiora can be blamed on Jason Campbell, not on Chris Samuels, who was blocking Umenyiora without help. Samuels moved Umenyiora deep, well past where Campbell should have been. However, Campbell held on to the ball far too long and then showed no awareness of the pass rush, carelessly holding the ball low and behind his body. He should have stepped up into the pocket, taking advantage of the great protection the line gave him on that play. Or he should have thrown the ball away. Either way, the strip and fumble were entirely Campbell's fault. Redskins clock management was poor -- once again. Timeouts were called because the offense was confused, but that meant those timeouts were gone when they were needed late in the game. Zorn also elected to take a holding penalty against the Giants instead of a sack, meaning that the Giants went to 1st down and 20 instead of 2nd and 15. Taking the sack was the proper way to go since the Giants were just trying to run out the clock and kick a short field goal and moving them to 2nd down gave New York less time to kill the clock. And what about those two timeouts taken early in the second half? The result of the play after the first timeout was taken was a rushing loss of 3 yards. The result of the play after the second timeout was taken was a sack of Jason Campbell. Clearly, calling a timeout and talking things over on the sidelines did not work. That reflects very badly on the coaching staff of the Washington Redskins. The Redskins pass defense was shredded early by New York's undistinguished receiving corps and whenever the Giants needed a big play in the passing game, they got it from Kevin Boss or Steve Smith or someone else. The few times pressure was actually put on Giants QB Eli Manning, the defense got a good result, a fumble, an interception or a poorly thrown incompletion. But the pressure was rare and Manning had a lot of time to throw most of the time.The tackling by the Redskins defense was poor. On the Mario Manningham touchdown [the easiest TD pass Eli Manning will ever throw], Fred Smoot missed the initial tackle, then DE Andre Carter and CB DeAngelo Hall missed tackles. Hall barely even seemed to make an effort on the play. Manningham should have been stopped short of a first down, instead he went 30 yards for a touchdown.How Fred Smoot continues to be employed as a cornerback is a complete mystery. I've written about Smoot's poor tackling, 10-yard cushions and inability to cover even #3 wide receivers, but the defensive coaching staff likes something about him. What that something is, I honestly could not say. I'm still waiting for Laron Landry to justify his lofty selection in the first round. He got another stupid personal foul penalty early in the game and late in the game he missed a tackle on TE Kevin Boss. Landry went for the big hit -- perhaps hoping to make ESPN's SportsCenter and end memories of being used as a speed bump by Brandon Jacobs in last season's opener [a play re-run endlessly on highlight shows]. Unfortunately, Landry mis-aimed his hit and bounced harmlessly off Kevin Boss, allowing the tight end to gain about 7 extra yards. Simply tackling Boss would have been the smart thing to do.Albert Haynesworth played well, stuffing the run when the Giants went after him. On the whole, the rush defense was good, stuffing the Giants on two separate 3rd and 1 plays and a 4th and 1 play. The Giants running backs rushed for 106 yards on 28 carries, under 3.8 yards per carry. That's good defense against last year's top rushing attack. The problem was a very poor pass rush [again] and execrable tackling by the secondary.So who was most responsible for the Redskins' loss to the Giants? Take our poll in the upper left hand corner of the screen!Follow DC Pro Sports Report on Twitter!Discuss this at the Warpath!Photo: Mario Manningham eludes Redskins to score a touchdown. [Bill Kostroun/AP]