Team Notes week 2 2016

By Bob Harris
Bob Harris<

NEWS, NOTES, RUMORS AND OTHER GOOD STUFF

Directly from the desk of FlashUpdate Editor Bob Harris. The good; the bad; and yes. ... Even the Bears. There is no better way to jump start your weekend than browsing these always educational -- often irreverent -- team-by-team, Fantasy-specific offerings. ...
Access specific teams by clicking on a team name in the schedule appearing directly to your left or by clicking on a helmet below; return to the helmets by hitting the link labeled "Menu" following each teams notes. ...

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Arizona Cardinals

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Kyler Murray, Clayton Tune
RBs: James Conner, Michael Carter, Emari Demercado
WRs: Marquise Brown, Michael Wilson, Rondale Moore, Greg Dortch, Zach Pascal
TEs: Trey McBride, Geoff Swaim

Atlanta Falcons

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Taylor Heinicke, Desmond Ridder, Logan Woodside
RBs: Bijan Robinson, Tyler Allgeier, Cordarrelle Patterson
WRs: Drake London, Mack Hollins, KhaDarel Hodge, Van Jefferson, Scott Miller, Jared Bernhardt, Josh Ali
TEs: Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith, MyCole Pruitt, John FitzPatrick

Baltimore Ravens

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley, Josh Johnson
RBs: Gus Edwards, Justice Hill, Melvin Gordon, J.K. Dobbins, Keaton Mitchell
WRs: Zay Flowers, Odell Beckham, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace
TEs: Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar, Mark Andrews

Buffalo Bills

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Josh Allen
RBs: James Cook, Latavius Murray, Ty Johnson
WRs: Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis, Khalil Shakir, Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty
TEs: Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Quintin Morris

Carolina Panthers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Bryce Young, Andy Dalton
RBs: Chuba Hubbard, Miles Sanders, Raheem Blackshear
WRs: Adam Thielen, Jonathan Mingo, D.J. Chark, Terrace Marshall Jr., Laviska Shenault, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, Mike Strachan
TEs: Tommy Tremble, Stephen Sullivan, Ian Thomas, Hayden Hurst

Chicago Bears

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Justin Fields, Tyson Bagent, Nathan Peterman
RBs: Khalil Herbert, D'Onta Foreman, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer, Khari Blasingame
WRs: D.J. Moore, Darnell Mooney, Tyler Scott, Velus Jones Jr., Trent Taylor, Equanimeous St. Brown
TEs: Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan, Marcedes Lewis, Jake Tonges

Cincinnati Bengals

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jake Browning, Joe Burrow
RBs: Joe Mixon, Chase Brown, Chris Evans, Trayveon Williams
WRs: Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Trenton Irwin, Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones
TEs: Irv Smith Jr., Tanner Hudson, Drew Sample, Mitchell Wilcox

Cleveland Browns

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Joe Flacco, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Deshaun Watson
RBs: Jerome Ford, Kareem Hunt, Pierre Strong Jr., Nick Chubb
WRs: Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Cedric Tillman, Marquise Goodwin, David Bell
TEs: David Njoku, Jordan Akins, Harrison Bryant

Dallas Cowboys

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Dak Prescott, Cooper Rush, Trey Lance
RBs: Tony Pollard, Rico Dowdle, Deuce Vaughn, Hunter Luepke
WRs: CeeDee Lamb, Brandin Cooks, Michael Gallup, Jalen Tolbert, KaVontae Turpin, Jalen Brooks
TEs: Jake Ferguson, Luke Schoonmaker, Peyton Hendershot

Denver Broncos

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Russell Wilson, Jarrett Stidham
RBs: Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, Samaje Perine
WRs: Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Marvin Mims Jr., Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Brandon Johnson
TEs: Adam Trautman, Chris Manhertz, Greg Dulcich

Detroit Lions

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jared Goff, Teddy Bridgewater
RBs: David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs, Craig Reynolds, Zonovan Knight
WRs: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond, Jameson Williams, Donovan Peoples-Jones, Antoine Green
TEs: Sam LaPorta, Brock Wright, James Mitchell

Green Bay Packers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jordan Love, Sean Clifford
RBs: Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, Patrick Taylor
WRs: Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, Samori Toure, Malik Heath
TEs: Tucker Kraft, Ben Sims, Josiah Deguara, Luke Musgrave

Houston Texans

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: C.J. Stroud, Case Keenum, Davis Mills
RBs: Devin Singletary, Dameon Pierce, Mike Boone, Dare Ogunbowale
WRs: Nico Collins, Noah Brown, Robert Woods, John Metchie III, Xavier Hutchinson, Tank Dell
TEs: Dalton Schultz, Brevin Jordan

Indianapolis Colts

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Gardner Minshew, Sam Ehlinger, Kellen Mond, Anthony Richardson
RBs: Zack Moss, Jonathan Taylor, Trey Sermon, Evan Hull
WRs: Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, Isaiah McKenzie, D.J. Montgomery
TEs: Mo Alie-Cox, Kylen Granson, Will Mallory, Andrew Ogletree, Jelani Woods

Jacksonville Jaguars

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Beathard, Nathan Rourke
RBs: Travis Etienne Jr., Tank Bigsby, D'Ernest Johnson
WRs: Calvin Ridley, Zay Jones, Parker Washington, Tim Jones, Jamal Agnew, Christian Kirk
TEs: Evan Engram, Brenton Strange, Luke Farrell, Elijah Cooks

Kansas City Chiefs

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Patrick Mahomes, Blaine Gabbert
RBs: Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon, Clyde Edwards-Helaire
WRs: Rashee Rice, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Justin Watson, Kadarius Toney, Richie James, Justyn Ross, Skyy Moore, Mecole Hardman
TEs: Travis Kelce, Noah Gray, Blake Bell, Jody Fortson

Los Angeles Rams

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Matthew Stafford, Carson Wentz, Stetson Bennett
RBs: Kyren Williams, Royce Freeman, Zach Evans, Ronnie Rivers
WRs: Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Tutu Atwell, Ben Skowronek, Demarcus Robinson
TEs: Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins, Hunter Long, Davis Allen

Miami Dolphins

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Tua Tagovailoa, Mike White, Skylar Thompson
RBs: Raheem Mostert, De'Von Achane, Jeff Wilson, Salvon Ahmed, Christopher Brooks
WRs: Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Braxton Berrios, Cedrick Wilson, Chase Claypool, River Cracraft
TEs: Durham Smythe, Julian Hill, Tyler Kroft

Minnesota Vikings

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall, Josh Dobbs, Kirk Cousins
RBs: Alexander Mattison, Ty Chandler, C.J. Ham, Kene Nwangwu, Cam Akers
WRs: Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell, Jalen Nailor
TEs: Josh Oliver, Johnny Mundt, Nick Muse, T.J. Hockenson

New England Patriots

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Bailey Zappe, Mac Jones
RBs: Rhamondre Stevenson, Ezekiel Elliott, JaMycal Hasty
WRs: DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Matt Slater, Kendrick Bourne
TEs: Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki, Pharaoh Brown

New Orleans Saints

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Derek Carr, Jameis Winston, Jake Haener
RBs: Alvin Kamara, Jamaal Williams, Kendre Miller
WRs: Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, A.T. Perry, Keith Kirkwood, Lynn Bowden, Michael Thomas
TEs: Juwan Johnson, Taysom Hill, Foster Moreau, Jimmy Graham

New York Giants

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Tommy DeVito, Tyrod Taylor, Daniel Jones
RBs: Saquon Barkley, Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell, Eric Gray
WRs: Darius Slayton, Wan'Dale Robinson, Jalin Hyatt, Parris Campbell, Isaiah Hodgins, Sterling Shepard
TEs: Darren Waller, Daniel Bellinger, Lawrence Cager, Chris Myarick

New York Jets

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian, Aaron Rodgers
RBs: Breece Hall, Dalvin Cook, Israel Abanikanda
WRs: Garrett Wilson, Xavier Gipson, Jason Brownlee, Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb, Charles Irvin
TEs: Tyler Conklin, Jeremy Ruckert, C.J. Uzomah, Kenny Yeboah

Oakland Raiders

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Aidan O'Connell, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer
RBs: Josh Jacobs, Zamir White, Ameer Abdullah, Brandon Bolden
WRs: Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, Tre Tucker, Hunter Renfrow, DeAndre Carter, Kristian Wilkerson
TEs: Michael Mayer, Austin Hooper, Jesper Horsted

Philadelphia Eagles

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Jalen Hurts, Marcus Mariota, Tanner McKee
RBs: D'Andre Swift, Kenneth Gainwell, Boston Scott, Rashaad Penny
WRs: A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Julio Jones, Olamide Zaccheaus, Quez Watkins
TEs: Dallas Goedert, Jack Stoll, Grant Calcaterra, Albert Okwuegbunam

Pittsburgh Steelers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Mason Rudolph, Mitchell Trubisky, Kenny Pickett
RBs: Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, Anthony McFarland Jr.
WRs: George Pickens, Diontae Johnson, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin III, Miles Boykin
TEs: Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington

San Diego Chargers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Easton Stick, Justin Herbert
RBs: Austin Ekeler, Joshua Kelley, Isaiah Spiller, Elijah Dotson
WRs: Keenan Allen, Josh Palmer, Quentin Johnston, Jalen Guyton, Derius Davis, Mike Williams
TEs: Gerald Everett, Donald Parham, Stone Smartt

San Francisco 49ers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold, Brandon Allen
RBs: Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, Jordan Mason, Kyle Juszczyk
WRs: Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, Ray-Ray McCloud, Ronnie Bell, Danny Gray
TEs: George Kittle, Charlie Woerner, Brayden Willis, Ross Dwelley, Cameron Latu

Seattle Seahawks

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Geno Smith, Drew Lock
RBs: Kenneth Walker III, Zach Charbonnet, DeeJay Dallas, Kenny McIntosh
WRs: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo, Cody Thompson, Dareke Young
TEs: Noah Fant, Will Dissly, Colby Parkinson

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Baker Mayfield, Kyle Trask
RBs: Rachaad White, Chase Edmonds, Sean Tucker, Ke'Shawn Vaughn
WRs: Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Trey Palmer, Kaylon Geiger, Deven Thompkins, Rakim Jarrett, Russell Gage
TEs: Cade Otton, Ko Kieft, Payne Durham

Tennessee Titans

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Will Levis, Ryan Tannehill, Malik Willis
RBs: Derrick Henry, Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut
WRs: DeAndre Hopkins, Treylon Burks, Nick Westbrook_Ikhine, Kyle Philips, Colton Dowell, Chris Moore
TEs: Chigoziem Okonkwo, Josh Whyle, Trevon Wesco

Washington Redskins

Compiled by FootballDiehards Editor Bob Harris | Updated 14 September 2016

As Associated Press sports writer Howard Fendrich suggested, from Kirk Cousins' zero-TD, two-pick performance and a total of nine penalties to the admittedly misguided coaching decisions and the out-of-its-depth defense, the Redskins did not look ready to open the regular season.

So now the question becomes: Can they get their act together in time to host the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday and avoid an 0-2 start?

"I think we were ready to play," Redskins coach Jay Gruden said Tuesday. "We just didn't make the necessary plays to win."

Not even close.

After winning the NFC East last season despite never beating a team with a winning record, the Redskins opened this season with a dismal 38-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night.

There were all sorts of problems for Washington (0-1).

Cousins showed, according to Gruden, that he still has some growing up to do as an NFL starter.

There were the two interceptions and also other issues, such as miscommunication with DeSean Jackson on a run-pass option and several poor throws, including a trio early that were too low.

Indeed, ESPN.com's John Keim noted, Cousins missed too many important throws and did not have a good game. He missed Jordan Reed in the end zone (the ball was a bit late) and on the next play he missed Jamison Crowder on a third down in the red zone, leading to a field goal. Crowder might have gotten inside the 5-yard line. And there was one particularly bad interception in which Cousins got a little greedy.

"He's going to have some bumps along the way. That's what all quarterbacks go through," Gruden said. "How he responds to those downs will make or break him as a quarterback."

The running game, which was not really targeted for improvement in the offseason, flopped early and then was abandoned: Washington's 12 rushes were a league-low in Week 1. Gruden partially tried to explain that away by saying his team was behind in the second half, so wanted to accumulate chunks of yards via the pass.

"That's the approach we took for this week," he said. "Next week could be totally different."

Gruden acknowledged that there were "two bad decisions," in hindsight, on fourth downs in the first half. On fourth-and-1 at the Pittsburgh 40 during his team's opening possession, Gruden opted to punt.

Then, later, on fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 38, he chose to go for it -- and Cousins completed a pass to running back Chris Thompson short of the first-down marker.

"Wasn't good," Gruden said.

Those two words apply to Washington's defense, too.

The front seven did not generate much of an effective pass-rush, except Ryan Kerrigan's early sack-strip of Ben Roethlisberger, which went for naught when the Steelers wound up recovering the football.

The run defense was nonexistent, as DeAngelo Williams replaced the suspended Le'Veon Bell and gained 143 yards while scoring two touchdowns. And Antonio Brown was allowed to roam free for eight catches for 126 yards, including a 29-yard TD on a fourth-and-1 play.

Brown was mostly covered by Bashaud Breeland, while this offseason's big splash, $75 million signing Josh Norman, stayed on his side of the field.

"We have just got to go back and look and correct our mistakes and then study Dallas and figure out things that we might be able to do differently from a personnel standpoint, from a coaching standpoint and go from there," Gruden said, speaking generally about his team's defense. "But the game is done. We've got to learn from it and move on."

As Keim summed up: "The Redskins definitely have the firepower offensively, and early in the game they did a good job of using a variety of personnel packages and featuring different targets. But they never got the run game going; they were slowed too much by one penalty and when they had chances to get up early, they settled for two field goals and not touchdowns. It was a little bit like the Green Bay playoff loss last season; a good team comes roaring back after the Redskins don't capitalize on early chances.

"This game is not a death sentence for the Redskins. But it is a telling one. The Redskins still have enough to compete in the NFC East. They still can win nine games. But Monday is the sort of measuring-stick game the Redskins needed to have. The same is true of Cousins. They didn't live up to it; neither did he."

A few final notes. ... Jones was in the starting lineup after separating his left shoulder on Aug. 19, but he lost 4 yards on his first two carries and finished with 24 yards on seven carries. Washington totaled 55 yards rushing, including just 28 in the first half. Chris Thompson was more productive than Jones thanks to a touchdown run.

Reed caught three passes for 39 yards on the Redskins' opening drive and was a nonfactor with four catches for 25 yards the rest of the way.

Kicker Dustin Hopkins made all three of his field-goal attempts, connecting from 31, 40 and 34 yards. Hopkins was the Redskins' entire offensive production until Thompson's touchdown.


DEPTH CHART
QBs: Sam Howell, Jacoby Brissett
RBs: Brian Robinson Jr., Antonio Gibson, Chris Rodriguez
WRs: Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel, Dyami Brown, Jamison Crowder, Byron Pringle, Mitchell Tinsley
TEs: Logan Thomas, Cole Turner, John Bates