The Setup
Preseason game #4's aren't important; except they are. A "W" is nicer than an "L", but the where the game really takes on importance has to do with injuries, roster battles and how each unit is looking in general.

The 800 lb gorilla in all this was one Matthew Leinart - the subject of media prognostication "that he wouldn't be a Cardinal by the end of the weekend. Would he play (and if he did, how well)? Would Leinart be traded (& if so, for who)? Or would he be released outright? And if he were released, would the Cards bring in a veteran FA backup? Or would they take a calculated risk and elevate Hall or Skelton to #2? Or - Could the Cards conceivably keep Leinart on the roster - either as backup or as a co-starter with Anderson.

This made the hours leading up to kickoff exceptionally nerve-wracking. I watched the Giants play the Pats (The Gints were the only team out of three rumored to have had trade talks with the Cards for Leinart who "didn't deny" the rumors. (Oakland and Buffalo were the other two). How well their backup QB (Bomar) played might influence whether they'd want to pull the trigger on a trade (Bomar had his good moments and his bad - so much for that bit of reconnaissance).

Living in the NYC television market, I watched the Giant game on our local NBC affiliate (It was blacked out in NYC by NFL Network). The game ran over into the Cardinal game by a couple of extra minutes, but even after that, the NFL Network of the Cardinal - Redskin game remained blacked out. (It took 10-15 minutes of belly-aching to the DirecTV customer service woman before the game finally popped onto my TV screen near the end of Anderson's only scoring drive). It seems appropriate here to lodge another public beef at  NFL Network - they had this annnoying habit of cutting into Cardinal coverage with"live" updates of other games (Guys - If you're going to screw us out of the first 5 minutes of playing time, at least don't leave our game from time to time without warning).

The Bottom Line:

• We won 20 - 10 (holding them to 3 points til well inside the 2H).

• Anderson appeared for one possession and led the team to the red zone, but couldn't punch it in - we settled for a FG.

• Leinart came in for 2 series and in both instances did very little - On the first series, he threw one incompetion, a completion for one yard and then got sacked. On the next series, he moved the Cards from our own 20 to the Redskin 42; picking up a couple of first downs, but  the combination of conservative play calling and dropsy by a receiver or two ended the drive. Play calling was pretty conservative; but Matt's outing "was what it was.".

• Surprise hero was backup QB Max Hall who played from midway thru the 2nd quarter to the end of the 3rd quarter. All he did was complete 7 of 9 passes for 126 yards and led the offense to two touchdowns (one on a 6-yard scramble) and a Feely field goal. I realize he's a rookie - playing with backups against Redskin backups, but in absolute terms, he: (a) looked more accurate than Leinart, (b) displayed a better pocket presence than Leinart, (c) was more mobile than Leinart and (d) made better decisions than Leinart. I came into the game visualizing a QB depth chart that looked either like Anderson - Leinart - Hall or Anderson - Veteran FA - Hall. I think we now have to consider the distinct possibility that it may turn out to be Anderson - Hall - Skelton.

• Our 1st defensive unit continued to play lights-out. (Actually maybe a little too lights-out. They seemed a bit geeked-out beginning the game and took a couple of penalties - including an encroachment call on Calais that negated a drive-ending 3rd down play and allowed the Skins to eventually kick a FG. But aside from that, our starters and their backups continued to play tough, smart, hard-charging defensive football.

• Daryl Washington looks more like a high 1st-round draft pick than a second rounder.

• Beanie was injured (a Redskin grabbed his ankle to trip him up just as he was making a cut). He stayed in for a couple more plays but we then saw him on the sideline with an ice-back wrapped around his upper ankle.

• Roster battles seemed to carry fewer-than-expected surpises (I'll cover in more detail later). One notable one was the play of #17 (Onrea Jones). Til now, it seemed as though he was being outplayed by Max Komar. Last night both looked good. (I Don't see how Roberts or Gant makes the Final 53).

Game Recap

• 1st Quarter
  Cards received kickoff and started from their own 22. On the second play from scrimmage, Anderson hit S. Williams for +20. Two plays later, he hit early Doucet for +27 to reach the Redskin 26. But we couldn't gain anything on two short runs by THT and an incomplete pass to Spach so we settled for a 42-yard Feely FG. Cards 3 - Washington 0.

• The Cards stifled the Redskins on the first 3 plays of the Washington possession, but a fumble recovery by Branch (caused by a sack by Haggans) was negated by an encroachment call on Calais Campbell. They made it to the Cardinal 14 (on runs by Willie Parker and short passes) but an offensive penalty followed by a stuff of a shotgun-draw in the backfield by Adrian Wilson forced Gano to follow up a penalty-nullified 40-yard FG with one for 50. Cards 3 - Washington 3.

• Leinart in for Anderson. Incompletion followed by a 1-yard completion followed by a sack. 3 & out. After a 13-yard completion (Beck to Paulsen) the Redskins went nowhere and were forced to punt. Leinart still in. Two straight runs by Beanie and a defensive penalty took the Cards into the next quarter.

• 2nd Quarter
  Leinart hit Breaston for +10. Beanie was tripped up by the ankle on a sweep and came up gimpy (He stayed in for a couple of plays but then was sidelined). The sequence of the next 5 plays are quite telling because they show Leinart doing nothing wrong, but not getting much done either: Leinart scrambles (+4). Leinart to Breaston (+3 & a first down). Smith around LE (-3). Smith off LG (+3 - illegal-shift penalty declined). Incompletion intended for Williams. Punt. Three penalties and a sack kept Washington bottled up, and they punted from their own 17.

•  Hall in for Leinart - He leads a 1-play 7:13 minute TD drive. Key plays: Hits Spach for +17. Scrambles for +13. Hits O Jones for +16. Hits Jones again for +16. A, Smith circles RE for 3-yards and a TD. Cards 10 - Washington 3.

• BSkins start from their own 22 with 0:46 to get something done. Gado's 58-yard attempt on the final play of the half falls short.

• 3rd Quarter
  Redskins receive and go 3 & out aided by an aborted pitch and a sack. Cards get ball back on their own 48. Hall still in. This time he leads the Cards to the Redskin 4 (in 10 plays/5:21), where the Cards wound up settling for a 22-yard FG. Key plays on the drive were an 18-yard completion to O Jones and a nifty "break of your route & go deep" completion to Alfonso Smith for +21. This put the Cards on the Skins 10, but after Hall slightly overthrew S. Williams at the back of the end zone, they ran Smith twice, and he didn't get in. Cards 13 - Washington 3.

• A penalty on the next KO boxed the Skins in at their 8-yard line, and they went 3 & out. Komar's 9-yard return put the ball on the Washington 47. A 34-yard completion from Hall to Komar helped set up a 6-yards scramble by Hall for the 2nd Cardinal TD of the game. Cards 20 - Washington 3.

• Skins started their next drive from their own 27 (the one area they outplayed us was in returning KO's). They pecked away against a very vanilla-looking Cardinal defense and reached the Cardinal 23 at the end of the 3Q.

• 4th Quarter
  On the first play of the quarter, Bartel hit Austin on a short completion. Ford whiffed on an aggressive attempt to make the interception or a big hit, and Austin scampered away for a 21-yard TD. Cards 20 - Washington 10.

• Skelton in for Hall. The Cards ran Charles Scott up the middle for little or no gain. A penalty helped move the chains once but Skelton couldn't connect on two passes and also took a sack for minus-3. Starting from his 10, the Redskin trifecta of Beck, Torain and Austin managed to pick away at the Cardinal defense to march to the Cardinal 26, but on the next play, Beisel intercepted a pass into the left flat. Although he fumbled in the midst of his return, Ware (as he's done in the recent pass) was "Johnny on the Spot", recovering Monte's fumble.

• 8:37 left to play. Cards went 3 & out (Scott, Scott and an imcompletion). After Washington moved the chains on their next possession, A sacked by Walker was instrumental in ending the drive. 4:16 left. Scott: nada; incompletion; 1st down via penalty; Scott" nada; Scott nada; Skelton's pass (intended for J. (not S.) Williams was picked off in the end zone.

• 2:00 left. Skins held to 3 & out. Justin Miller muffs the ensuing punt (twice on the same play). Redskins take over with 0:49 left and get to the Cardinal 15 before running out of time. Final Score: Cards 20 - Washington 10.

Bright Spots

• Max Hall (leads team to 17 points; going 7 for 9 (no picks) and scrambling for a TD. (More impressive, he was accurate, displayed a competent field sense and made good decisions constantly).

• Alfonso Smith may not make the Final 53, but he played well enough to do so. (Only gaffe was allowing Henson to hurdle him in pass pro)

• Onrea Jones made plays when asked to. (Only exception was in downing a punt while standing in the end zone instead of moving up a yard). He and Komar have clearly outplayed Roberts, Gant and other contenders for WR spots behind Fitz, Breaston, Doucet and S Williams.

• The #2 offensive line unit (Hadnot, Lutui, Bridges, H Johnson) in some instances outshown the starting unit in the run game.

• The entire defensive starting unit was on fire. They not only played aggressive football, they played smart football.

• Daryl Washington has earned a starting spot. (Haggans, Lenon and Porter aren't too shabby either).

• AJ Jefferson came into this game having most observers wondering how we might sneak him past waivers and onto the PS. He showed last night that, in addition to his athletic measurables, he's willing to go out and lay the wood to opposing ball carriers. He also had a nice KO return late in the game. With Calvin traded and J Miller struggling, he remains an outside possibility to making the Final 53.

• Matt Ware should be nicknamed "The Cleaner" (because he always seems to be in the right position to clean up a mess created by a teammate and by doing so, prevent a TD, turnover or long gain).

• Graham' is awesome.

• It seems as though - based on our guy's play last night - Wiz and his coaches had accurately stacked every player into their appropriate spots on the depth chart (i.e. guys on the #1 unit looked better than the guys on the #2 unit. Guys on the #2 unit outplayed the guys on the #3 unit.. and so-on down to the very last player.

The Dark Side

• I truly believe that Matt Leinart was given a final shot at proving himself, during the 2 series he appeared in. Vanilla playcalling nothwithstanding, he did nothing to impress.

• Every unit still needs work on pass pro and blitz pickup.

• Beanie's ankle (plus thin depth with Wright also gimpy and (I'm assuming) LSH unable to go.

• I was hoping Skelton would look better.

• Our 2H defense appeared overly "passive."

80 Early Doucet  WR