Smoke Signals: Metallica and Jay-Z now at Redskins practices

Jim Zorn & Co. are playing down the revenge factor this week, in preparation to play the St. Louis Rams, an awful team that came into town last year winless and yet somehow escaped with a 19-17 win over the Redskins. Read it.Rick Snider thinks this week 2 game is a must-win situation. I agree. The Redskins must, as former Wizards coach Eddie Jordan once said, "harvest their nuts" when they can. Meaning, they must win all the "easy" games on the schedule and if the St. Louis game isn't easy, we know this team hasn't improved much, if at all. The loss to St. Louis last year, fluky as it might have been in some ways, was a real warning sign to fans that the Redskins were not a good team despite recent wins over the Eagles and Cowboys. Read it.John Keim gives us a solid early look at the Rams, who are, as I wrote above, quite awful. Watch out for Oshiomogho Atogwe, the safety who returned a Pete Kendall fumble 75 yards for a TD against the Redskins last season. Atogwe is the real deal, causing 33 turnovers since he became a full time starter in 2006. Read it.The invaluable John Keim explains why the Redskins play their cornerbacks off the opposing wide receivers.For starters, it enables them to provide a false look, as if they're playing man only to drop into zone and vice versa. (However, in watching the Giants game, there were times, based on body language, it was clear they were in zone)."We're just trying to give [the quarterback] different looks," said secondary coach Jerry Gray.The problem comes in the execution. In the preseason the Redskins at times played too soft in the secondary with their coverages. It wasn't always the starters, however. And in the 23-17 loss to the Giants even coach Jim Zorn said there was too much cushion at times.Gray disagrees with that assessment. Regardless, all agree that they must play it better.Not everyone prefers playing off-man. Fred Smoot is better in press coverage, as is Justin Tryon. Rogers is probably the most adaptable. Against New York, though, it didn't matter. There might have been two or three times any of the corners played press; Hall did it once (failing to get the jam on Steve Smith).When in off-man, the defensive backs must read the quarterback first. It will provide clues to what route is coming. But once the quarterback hits his third step, if he's not setting to throw, then the corner must lock onto the receiver."That's where the weakness is," Gray said. "Can you not focus on the QB and concentrate on the receiver? You can't get mesmerized watching the quarterback all the time."If you see all the drops that means you're watching the QB and you're gonna see the receiver catching the football."The corners line up typically seven yards off the line and one yard inside the receiver; that's the by-the-book alignment in off-man coverage. However, against New York, there were times they lined up nine yards deep - depending on down and distance. Occasionally it was eight yards.Read it.The Redskins are 21-5 when Clinton Portis rushes for 100 yards or more. One would think that would suggest a certain urgency on the coaching staff to getting Portis running early and often on Sunday and from now on. Read it.The Redskins appear to know that a good running game with Clinton Portis is the key to their success, but Portis isn't lobbying for more carries. Read it.In fact, Portis is ready to share more carries with his fellow running backs if it keeps him fresh during the game and the season. Read it.The Skins have signed FB Mike Sellers to a contract extension that should please the big fullback, who skipped voluntary workouts this offseason due to displeasure with his contract situation. If you read DC Pro Sports Report, you learned about this yesterday afternoon. Read it.Sellers says he feels blessed by the new contract. I'll bet he does. Most guys who just got richer feel blessed. Read it.Tom Boswell writes that decision time has come for Jim Zorn. [I'd suggest that decision time was a while ago, but never mind.]Will he finally let Campbell do a lot more of what he does best: throw intermediate to deep passes? Will he ignite the careers of young wide receivers Malcolm Kelly or Devin Thomas with an aerial attack? After 17 games in which the Redskins have failed to score 30 points and have averaged just 16.6, will Zorn at last show that his version of the West Coast offense is a potent attack, not a dud?Or will he adhere to a fundamental rule of NFL survival: Don't lose games you know you should win. Will he continue to impose a play-not-to-lose game plan on Campbell and his offense, just as he has, for the most part, since he arrived?Read it.CBS previews the Rams-Redskins game:Rams first-year coach Steve Spagnuolo, who served as the Giants' defensive coordinator the past two seasons, wasn't pleased with his team's play on either side of the ball last week.St. Louis scored 232 points, fewest in the NFC and the franchise's lowest mark since 1993, last season and continued to struggle offensively against the Seahawks, amassing 247 yards.Marc Bulger was 17 of 36 for 191 yards and got sacked three times, while Steven Jackson rushed 16 times for 67 yards."We'd drive the ball and then shoot ourselves in the foot," Bulger said. "We have to find a way to get past that 30 and start handing the ball to Jack. He's too good of a player to not be able to use, and that's on all of us."The Rams committed 10 penalties for 85 yards and gave up 446 yards in losing their 11th straight and falling to 5-28 since the beginning of the 2007 season."The 2009 Rams stand on their own," Spagnuolo said. "They have nothing to do with teams coming forward or any teams going backward. It's all just about the 2009 Rams and we lost a football game, we lost one football game."Spagnuolo may want to look at the effort last year's team put forth in a 19-17 victory at Washington in Week 6, when Josh Brown kicked a 49-yard field goal as time expired. That was the Rams' last road win.Read it.Jim Zorn has finally decided to allow music before practice. Now, what's his plan for dealing with an offense that hasn't scored 30 points in a game since he got here? Read it.Finally, a whole lot of people watched the Giants spank the Redskins last Sunday.The Sunday afternoon doubleheader game between the Washington Redskins and New York Giants was the most-watched opening game on record.According to Niselsen Media Research, the Fox broadcast drew 25.1 million viewers. Nielsen records date back to 1987.New York's 23-17 victory outdrew two prime-time NBC games: the season opener Thursday between Tennessee and Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh (21.1 million viewers), and the Sunday evening game between Green Bay and Chicago (20.9 millionRead it.Follow DC Pro Sports Report on Twitter!Discuss this at the Warpath!