Just like last year, the Redskins meet the Eagles coming out of a bye week, which means they essentially had an extra week to rest, study and prepare. They’re hoping for a different result this time. Last November, the Eagles came to FedEx Field and dismembered the Redskins, 59-28, in one of the worst losses in Washington history.

But on Wednesday morning, with players filling most of the seats in the team’s auditorium, Shanahan wanted them to know that the group of players embarrassed on “Monday Night Football” last November is no more.

“We’ve got a totally different football team,” linebacker London Fletcher said. “It’s just not the same team.”

Twenty-two players on this year’s 53-man roster were not a part of the roster during last year’s loss. The Redskins enter Sunday’s game with five new starters on defense and three new starters on offense. Shanahan says it’s easy to move past the pain of last year’s defeat when so many in the locker room have no recollection of it.

“That’s a huge amount,” Shanahan said. “Take a look at free agency, take a look at the draft, you think about half the people weren’t even associated with that game a year ago.”

Those who were around won’t soon forget, though, what happened when Michael Vick and the Eagles last came to town.

“When we think of the Eagles, we think of that game,” linebacker Brian Orakpo said.

In retrospect, the game was marred before the coin flip. Worse than the pregame skirmish between Redskins safety LaRon Landry and Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson: The Redskins announced a contract extension for quarterback Donovan McNabb before kickoff. After that night, he would appear in only four more games for Washington.

Philadelphia scored on its first play from scrimmage — an 88-yard touchdown strike from Vick to Jackson. It got worse from there. At the end of the first quarter, the Eagles were up 28-0 — the biggest first-quarter lead by any NFL road team in at least a half-century. By that point, the Redskins hadn’t even managed a first down.

“Philly did anything they wanted. . . . They could have scored 100 on us in that game,” Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said. 

Philadelphia scored touchdowns on each of its first five possessions and kept pounding. Before it was over, the Eagles had set team records for the most yards (592) and first-half points (45).  It marked the second-most points allowed in Redskins franchise history. No NFL team had allowed more points, in fact, since 1989. The 45 first-half points allowed by the Redskins tied a franchise record, and Philadelphia’s 59 points scored were the most ever allowed by a Shanahan-coached team.

“I’m trying to get that out of my mind,” Shanahan said.

To that end, after mentioning the drubbing in the Wednesday morning meeting, the Redskins have spent no time dwelling on it. Teams often rely on film of past games to help prepare for an opponent. This week the Redskins studied the Eagles’ first five games of this season. There was no point in going back to the 59-28 game.

While the Redskins feature different personnel this season, so do the Eagles. Six defensive starters are new, as are three offensive starters — all along the offensive line.

The pieces that return are still dangerous, though they’ve had their struggles this season. Last year at FedEx Field, Vick became the first player in NFL history with at least 300 yards passing, 50 yards rushing, four passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in a single game. This season Vick has already thrown a league-worst nine interceptions while he and his teammates have combined for six lost fumbles — also an NFL high.

Philadelphia brings a 1-4 record into Sunday’s game and the division-leading Redskins need only consult the standings to know that, 11 months later, they’re dealing with a different Eagles team. More importantly to them, the Eagles will have a different Redskins squad on their hands, as well.

“No one likes to be embarrassed like we were last year,” tight end Chris Cooley said. “Half our team, half the locker room right now, wasn’t a part of that game. So you can definitely talk about it, but we’re both two different teams.”

Redskins notes: Cornerback DeAngelo Hall was listed as questionable for Sunday’s game because of a knee injury that limited him in practice on Friday.

Also listed as questionable were running back Tim Hightower (shoulder), Cooley (knee), wide receiver Anthony Armstrong (hamstring) and cornerback Phillip Buchanon (neck).

On the Eagles’ injury report, defensive end Trent Cole (calf) and tackle Jason Peters (hamstring) both have been ruled out.

So… here we are in 2011 and Jason Campbell is an Oakland Raider, while Donovan McNabb is a Viking. 

Isn’t it sort of strange? Campbell was at one point, the guy every fan wanted to point the finger at for the team failures, while McNabb was getting some love in the place of brotherly love for helping carry their team to the playoffs.   

Campbell is an Oakland Raider and he is getting praise for helping his team win games. McNabb is now a Viking, but because of his struggles, a lot of Viking fans want to see the young quarterback (Christian Ponder) play because they feel that their season is over anyway.  

Campbell was a first round pick for the Redskins in the 2005 draft coming out of Auburn.    

He sat on the bench in his first year, didn’t see action until the 10th game of his second season. Campbell performed well and he was a full time starter for the Redskins. Year by year Campbell kept improving, but he wasn’t quite in that elite status.    

The team wasn’t winning, and Redskins got (more than a little) frustrated with the team and the young quarterback.  Campbell posted a career high in interceptions with 15, but he also posted a career high in touchdowns with 20, and a career high completion percentage of 64.5.  

But Redskin fans ignored those stats and said that those stats lied, and didn’t tell you how bad he really was.

The fans wanted a new quarterback, and wanted Campbell gone, as always the fans begged, and the fan received. On April 4, 2010, The Redskins traded for McNabb.  

On August 11, 2010, The Redskins traded Campbell to the Raiders.                  

Campbell didn’t have great numbers for the Raiders, but you can definitely say that he probably did better than McNabb did. Campbell had 2,387 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight picks. McNabb had 3,337 yards, 14 touchdowns and 15 picks.    

Campbell had under 3,000 yards, but he was less turnover prone than McNabb was. People thought the Redskins could make the playoffs with McNabb, while the Raiders were going to be a bunch of no talent scrubs.  

The Redskins went 6-10, while the Raiders went 8-8.  The Raiders didn’t make the playoffs, but they showed significant improvement under Campbell, and The Raiders found the first good quarterback they can actually believe in since Rich Gannon.   

The Redskins were tied for the worst division record with Cowboys. Donovan McNabb was demoted to third string for the final three games of the season. The Redskins didn’t show any improvement, they might of even gotten worse. McNabb was not the quarterback they could believe in for the short term future, and they shipped him off to Minnesota.  

Campbell has played in different offensive systems for almost his entire career, while McNabb in the NFL, had played in the same system for 10 years. And Redskin fans thought that McNabb was just going to take over and make the whole crappy team good?  

What’s funny is the fact that you Redskin fans got pissed off at Mike Shannahan for benching McNabb, but if he did the same thing to Campbell, you probably want to give Shannahan a raise.      

Campbell is playing well with Raiders and they look like a legitimate playoff contender at 3-2, the Redskins are 3-1 with Rex Grossman at the helm. Grossman is playing decently, but Redskin fans have to look at the stats and wonder, would we be 4-0 with Campbell?      

When I think of the arrival of Donovan McNabb and the departure of Jason Campbell, I can’t help but think, what would happen if Campbell had stayed in Washington with Mike Shannahan as coach? Would he have been unsuccessful? Or would he have been the next John Elway? 

That we will never know.

The Washington Redskins get back to work following their bye week, hitting the practice field at 1 p.m. Monday as they prepare for the 1-4 Eagles, who come to town Sunday.

The Redskins are in first place in the NFC East with their 3-1 record and would like to pick up another divisional win on Sunday.

Quarterback Rex Grossman (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)Here are five questions facing the Redskins going forward:

1.) Can Shanahan & Co. pick up where they left off?

Coach Mike Shanahan owns a 10-5 record coming off bye weeks. For a second straight year, they face the Eagles in their first game back on the field. Last season, Philadelphia embarrassed Washington on Monday Night Football on the day that the Redskins were trying to put Donovan McNabb’s benching for poor cardiovascular conditioning behind them and gave the quarterback a contract extension that ended up being nothing more than a charade. There’s much less drama this time around. The Redskins’ defense paved the way for a victory over St. Louis, and the offense chipped in, but has yet to play a complete game. What kind of Redskins team takes the field this Sunday?

2.) How long can they get by with Rex Grossman at QB?

Turnovers have kept Rex Grossman from being a consistent starter and winner for his whole career. So far, aside from the Dallas game, the Redskins have managed to win despite their quarterback’s inability to take care of the ball. Some of the turnovers haven’t been his fault, but he definitely needs to play smarter and see the field better. Eventually, one of those inopportune interceptions or fumbles will end up costing the Redskins. But for now, the defense has bailed them out. Grossman and the Redskins are facing a 12-game stretch. Can he cure his ills and help lead Washington on an unexpected run?

3.) What happens at running back?

Ryan Torain is coming off of an impressive outing after going the first three games without so much as a carry. Tim Hightower had been the workhorse, and Roy Helu the change of pace back. Shanahan wouldn’t say last week whether there would be a shakeup in the depth chart, but he said he’d go with the hot hand. Will Hightower continue to start with Torain taking over if he struggles? Or, does Torain claim that starting job with Hightower reduced to third down back?

4.) How will LaRon Landry hold up?

As he entered the bye week, safety LaRon Landry said his body felt beat up after playing two games and working his way back into the flow of things after 10 months of inactivity. The strong safety has yet to play a complete game. He missed portions of the third quarter in his first game back because he was receiving IV fluids. The next week he was out for a couple of series because of what Shanahan said was a bathroom break, but Landry refused to confirm one way or another. “Dirty 30” was looking forward to getting back to Arizona to work with his trainer and get his body some rest and recovery last week. Can he bounce back this week? Will his health hold up the rest of the way?

5.) Where does Phillip Buchanon fit?

The veteran cornerback returned from his four-game suspension last Monday, and the Redskins obviously believe he can help them because they cut rookie Brandyn Thompson, and activated Buchanon. What does that mean for Kevin Barnes, who had held down that third cornerback spot the first four weeks of the season? Shanahan wouldn’t say other than that Buchanon “can help us right away,” but cornerback DeAngelo Hall said it will force Barnes and Byron Westbrook to scramble and that their jobs could be in jeopardy. Obviously, that’s a player talking, but he’s in practice and sees how reps are divided. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Buchanon on the field for a good bit Sunday. Will he alternate with Barnes? Will he be used to spell Josh Wilson? We’ll see.

Other areas to monitor:

> Cooley’s involvement: We’re still waiting for the real return of Captain Chaos. First he was hobbled and played second fiddle to Fred Davis, then he was used as a fullback. When will he reclaim a key role as a playmaker?

> Anthony Armstrong’s health: Does he return this week from the hamstring injury that forced him out of the last game?

> Darrel Young’s health: He missed the last two games with a hamstring injury, but you’d think he would be ready to go this week.

> Philly’s funk: Once favorites to win the division, the Eagles are reeling, having lost four straight, and are hobbled by injuries on both sides of the ball. A desperate opponent likely will roll into Washington on Sunday, but are they healthy enough to rebound this week?

Last weekend, Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan held a news conference at an unusual day and time: Saturday at 9 a.m.

It was an exercise in fulfilling a technicality, virtually useless from a news standpoint. Any and all updates for the next day’s game against the St. Louis Rams had been given the previous afternoon when the coach addressed reporters after practice.

Shanahan was holding court solely because the NFL requires coaches to speak a certain number of times per week. He declined to do so on Tuesday following the Monday night loss at Dallas a few days earlier. Never mind that the NFL’s media rules explicitly suggest that he do so. Never mind that every Redskins coach in recent decades — including Hall of Fame inductee Joe Gibbs — never had trouble finding a few minutes after a Monday night road game to help feed the public’s insatiable appetite for the latest up-to-date word on the nation’s most popular sport.

Instead, Shanahan called the league office and begged off.

“I’ve got to do the best thing for the organization,” Shanahan said. “And the best thing for the organization for me to do when you get back at 5 o’clock in the morning when we have no sleep is to get ready for the next day. So I think I owe it to our football team, our organization, to spend the whole day, 24 hours, getting the game plan ready for that Wednesday.”

Shanahan’s different in lots of ways. A week earlier, just before a game against the despised Dallas Cowboys, a television reporter asked the coach if he had a special message for the fans. It’s a standard question before a rivalry game, and Redskins coaches usually take that softball and hit it out of the park.

Shanahan was almost speechless.

“To who? What fans?” he said, before being asked again if he had a message to convey to the team’s supporters. “No, hopefully they’ll enjoy it. And hopefully we can make our fans happy.”

Actually, that’s one of the few times this season Shanahan has been caught off guard. Everyone expected life at Redskins Park to be take a sharp turn when he arrived a year ago, but it’s taken him a year to get his hands firmly on the steering wheel. There were episodes that spiraled beyond even his controlling grasp during his first season, most having to do with Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb.

This year, he is in control beyond any doubt. He’s got the roster pretty much the way he wants it. He’s got the coaching staff on the same page. He’s visibly much more relaxed. And, of course, it helps that his team is defying expectations with a 3-1 start headed into this weekend’s bye.

“I think you’re always more relaxed in your second year,” Shanahan said. “I think, first year, you have so many things going on — with evaluating personnel, and you’re evaluating coaches, you’re evaluating your support staff, and you’re getting ready for a football season.”

It shows in the way Shanahan banters with reporters. His answers about players’ injuries have become notoriously repetitive and uninformative, to the point that when someone asked for an injury update a few days ago, he laughed and said: “Aw, you guys know — I never tell you the truth anyhow.”

Like any good politician, he skirts around questions he doesn’t like and sticks to his message. Ask him about a particular interception, and he’ll talk about another one instead. And don’t dare challenge him with a premise or an assertion without the facts to back it up. You know how golfers can amazingly recite the exact yardage and club for every shot over 18 holes? That’s Shanahan with a play-by-play.

“First run we had a plus-6. Second run we had a plus-5. We had first-and-goal from the 1; we put it in the end zone,” he said, rattling off a sequence from the Cowboys game as if it were his ABCs.

He offhandedly said earlier this season that he could remember all of the plays from the loss to Houston a year ago. Can that really be so?

“Usually the games you lose, you can remember most of them — if not all of them,” he said.

Shanahan also went into detail about a replay review that caused the time to be changed from 1:23 to 1:39 when the Redskins were about to about to close out a one-point win over Arizona in Week 2. Those 16 seconds were key: Given the number of timeouts the Cardinals had remaining, the coach immediately knew he couldn’t run out the clock with kneel-downs.

“Those are scenarios you go through 100 times in your mind,” he said.

But those final seconds of a game can get frantic. Does he have an assistant coach in the booth upstairs assigned to help with clock management?

Shanahan chuckled. Of course he doesn’t. He runs the game himself.

“If I can’t do that,” he said, “then I’m really in trouble.”

It’s a curious note that Shanahan’s record (9-11) is worse than predecessor Jim Zorn’s (10-10) at the 20-game mark of his Redskins tenure. But Zorn’s time in Washington was marred by confusion and disorder, although much of it had to do with the front office structure at the time.

Shanahan is not into confusion. He’s won two Super Bowls, so he knows what he’s doing. And things will be done his way, even if means holding a news conference that competes with Saturday morning cartoons.

That’s no guarantee of success, but it certainly makes things more orderly, and it helps push the recent troubled Redskins seasons appear more distant in the rearview mirror.

“What’s happened in the past really doesn’t relate to what you are right now,” Shanahan said. “If you think you’re in the past, you are in the past. This is a new team; we’ve got a lot of new football players. We do have some players that were here before, but the players that are here are obviously hand-picked for this type of offense, defense and special teams and the type of people that they are. Hopefully, we can create our own identity, and hopefully it will be positive.”

___

Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

ASHBURN, Va. – Last weekend, Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan held a news conference at an unusual day and time: Saturday at 9 a.m.

It was an exercise in fulfilling a technicality, virtually useless from a news standpoint. Any and all updates for the next day’s game against the St. Louis Rams had been given the previous afternoon when the coach addressed reporters after practice.

Shanahan was holding court solely because the NFL requires coaches to speak a certain number of times per week. He declined to do so on Tuesday following the Monday night loss at Dallas a few days earlier. Never mind the NFL’s media rules explicitly suggest that he do so. Never mind that every Redskins coach in recent decades — including Hall of Fame inductee Joe Gibbs — never had trouble finding a few minutes after a Monday night road game to help feed the public’s insatiable appetite for the latest up-to-date word on the country’s most popular sport.

Instead, Shanahan called the league office and begged off.

“I’ve got to do the best thing for the organization,” Shanahan said. “And the best thing for the organization for me to do when you get back at 5 o’clock in the morning when we have no sleep is to get ready for the next day.

“So I think I owe it to our football team, our organization, to spend the whole day, 24 hours, getting the game plan ready for that Wednesday.”

Shanahan’s different in a lot of ways. A week earlier, just before a game against the despised Dallas Cowboys, a television reporter asked the coach if he had a special message for the fans. It’s a standard question before a rivalry game, and Redskins coaches usually take that softball and hit it out of the park.

Shanahan was almost speechless.

“To who? What fans?” he said, before being asked again if he had a message to convey to the team’s supporters. “No, hopefully they’ll enjoy it. And hopefully we can make our fans happy.”

Actually, that’s one of the few times this season Shanahan has been caught off guard. Everyone expected life at Redskins Park to be take a sharp turn when he arrived a year ago, but it’s taken him a year to get his hands firmly on the steering wheel. There were episodes that spiraled beyond even his controlling grasp during his first season, most having to do with Albert Haynesworth and Donovan McNabb.

This year, he is in control beyond any doubt. He’s got the roster pretty much the way he wants it. He’s got the coaching staff on the same page. He’s visibly much more relaxed. And, of course, it helps that his team is defying expectations with a 3-1 start headed into this weekend’s bye.

“I think you’re always more relaxed in your second year,” Shanahan said. “I think, first year, you have so many things going on — with evaluating personnel, and you’re evaluating coaches, you’re evaluating your support staff, and you’re getting ready for a football season.”

It shows in the way Shanahan banters with reporters. His answers about players’ injuries have become notoriously repetitive and uninformative, to the point that when someone asked for an injury update a few days ago, he laughed and said: “Aw, you guys know — I never tell you the truth anyhow.”

Like any good politician, he skirts around questions he doesn’t like and sticks to his message. Ask him about a particular interception, and he’ll talk about another one instead. And don’t dare challenge him with a premise or an assertion without the facts to back it up. You know how golfers can amazingly recite the exact yardage and club for every shot over 18 holes? That’s Shanahan with a play-by-play.

“First run we had a plus-6. Second run we had a plus-5. We had first-and-goal from the 1; we put it in the end zone,” he said, rattling off a sequence from the Cowboys game as if it were his ABCs.

He offhandedly said earlier this season that he could remember all of the plays from the loss to Houston a year ago. Can that really be so?

“Usually the games you lose, you can remember most of them — if not all of them,” he said.

Shanahan also went into detail about a replay review that caused the time to be changed from 1:23 to 1:39 when the Redskins were about to about to close out a one-point win over Arizona in Week 2. Those 16 seconds were key: Given the number of timeouts the Cardinals had remaining, the coach immediately knew he couldn’t run out the clock with kneel-downs.

“Those are scenarios you go through 100 times in your mind,” he said.

But those final seconds of a game can get frantic. Does he have an assistant coach in the booth upstairs assigned to help with clock management?

Shanahan chuckled. Of course he doesn’t. He runs the game himself.

“If I can’t do that,” he said, “then I’m really in trouble.”

It’s a curious note that Shanahan’s record (9-11) is worse than predecessor Jim Zorn’s (10-10) at the 20-game mark of his Redskins tenure. But Zorn’s time in Washington was marred by confusion and disorder, although much of it had to do with the front office structure at the time.

Shanahan is not into confusion. He’s won two Super Bowls, so he knows what he’s doing. And things will be done his way, even if means holding a news conference that competes with Saturday morning cartoons.

That’s no guarantee of success, but it certainly makes things more orderly, and it helps push the recent troubled Redskins seasons appear more distant in the rearview mirror.

“What’s happened in the past really doesn’t relate to what you are right now,” Shanahan said. “If you think you’re in the past, you are in the past.

“This is a new team; we’ve got a lot of new football players. We do have some players that were here before, but the players that are here are obviously hand-picked for this type of offence, defence and special teams and the type of people that they are. Hopefully, we can create our own identity, and hopefully it will be positive.”

Players know. That’s the bottom line. They know when a corner is cut or when a principle is violated and turns into lip service. They know who doesn’t work quite as hard, and who is chronically late, and they know how those little things turn into big things on the field, compromising performance and corrupting the locker room. Players know — and what the Washington Redskins know is that they finally have good habits, and they no longer have false hope.

Sure it’s early, and they are just 2-0. But for once, we don’t have to temper expectations about this team. Here’s why: There is a statistic that no one is talking about, but which might be the single most important number in their winning start, more important even than Rex Grossman’s quarterback rating. Through two games they are the most disciplined team in the NFL. They have committed fewer penalties, for fewer yards, than anyone in the league. They have been flagged just six times for 40 yards. Their opponents over the same two games? Try 18 penalties for 140 yards.

What that means is their performance is built on bedrock consistency — guys aren’t screwing up, they aren’t false-starting or committing illegal procedure, or taking a delay of game because they don’t know their assignments or who’s supposed to be on the field. They are playing reliably and accountably on virtually every play.

“We have guys who want to do things right every single day,” says Tim Hightower.

The guys who don’t want to do things right every single day are gone. Coach Mike Shanahan has turned over literally half the roster in his second year, 26 players in all. Ten of those aren’t even in the league any more — and I can think of a couple more who may not be around by next year, either, and the list starts with Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth.

Are there any more questions about Shanahan’s methods, or his judgment, his eye for hungry have-nots instead of complacent veterans, and his preference for the underrated to the overpaid? Shanahan may have made a couple of early mistakes in trying remake a losing outfit . But the reasoning behind his more controversial dealings is now clear.

“This is the way the good teams do it,” Shanahan says.

Ask any player at Redskins Park what the difference is between the inflated hopes of the last few years, and the real confidence this season, and they will tell you it’s the uncompromising, day-in-and-day-out standards established by Shanahan. There is no more Clinton Portis-like shirking practice only to show up on Sundays. If a player is late to a meeting, he gets fined, and it doesn’t matter whether he’s a first-round draft pick or an undrafted free agent. “Players are smart,” Shanahan says. “They know when people try to get away with things, and you want to make sure the respect level is there, that you’re going to do the right thing with the team.”

Here’s what you see now in the Redskins locker room when the clock nears 11:30 a.m.: players with their eyes on the minute hand, grabbing their playbooks and literally sprinting for the hall. Another of the things you notice is that the first guys in the meeting room are highest-paid and the most prominent.

“As I told our team: I’ve got a lot of belief in our football team,” Shanahan said afterward. “But that’s one win. . . . It’s a long season, but you’ve got to believe in yourself. I think our players will believe in themselves.”

For one day, at least, that belief didn’t seem misplaced, even for a franchise that has but two playoff appearances since 1999. Quarterback Rex Grossman, taking over as a full-time starter for the first time in four years, threw for 305 yards. Ryan Kerrigan, the rookie linebacker who’s projected to be a mainstay in Washington for years, broke a 14-14 tie by delicately tipping an Eli Manning pass to himself, then brutishly lumbering home for the touchdown. Brian Orakpo, perhaps the Redskins’ best player, blocked a New York field goal attempt. And the Redskins — who hadn’t beaten the Giants since 2007, and had lost nine of their last 10 meetings against New York — looked, for once, like the superior team.

“We can still be better,” said Redskins tight end Fred Davis, who set a career high with 105 yards receiving. “That’s the funny thing.”

Thus, a summer of uncertainty — one that began with the NFL’s lockout of its players and a slew of questions about how the Redskins might improve — is officially over, and Shanahan’s second season is off to a promising start.

A year ago, Shanahan debuted with a prime-time victory over the Dallas Cowboys. But the season then spun nearly out of control, with two of the team’s most prominent players — defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth and quarterback Donovan McNabb — developing into enormous distractions. Haynesworth was suspended for the final four games of the season, McNabb benched for the final three, and the Redskins won just six of 16 games.

McNabb and Haynesworth were traded in the days leading up to preseason workouts, and a more professional, businesslike feel overtook the Redskins’ Ashburn training facility. The one place widespread predictions of another brutal season were roundly ignored was Redskins Park.

“It’s just a feeling that we’re going to be a very good football team,” veteran tight end Chris Cooley said.

Still, on Sunday, Grossman opened his season by failing to complete any of his first four passes. The Giants jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and that confidence seemed misplaced. The crowd — which had chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” during pregame ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks — seemed to recoil. So many seasons had started in such a fashion. Why would this be different?

“This is a different team,” Cooley said.

So Grossman, and the Redskins, recovered. By the second quarter, when Grossman found wide receiver Anthony Armstrong near the goal line — and he briefly thought Armstrong had scored — he was so excited he ran to the end zone and leapt over the 5-foot-11 Armstrong, spreading his legs to clear his helmet.

“Some situations are more emotional than others,” Grossman said, and he went on to complete 21 of 34 passes. Kerrigan’s third-quarter touchdown, as he said, “turned the momentum.” As his teammates piled on him in the end zone, the stadium thumped with, of all things, optimism.

And when Grossman found wide receiver Jabar Gaffney on a short touchdown pass with just more than five minutes remaining in the game — and the Redskins essentially clinched victory — the crowd did what it does after every score at FedEx Field. Prompted by the massive video monitors over each end zone and the team’s marching band, it burst into a version of “Hail to the Redskins.”

But just before 7 p.m. on this September Sunday evening, the words thundered through the stadium, unlike in recent years. More people seemed to be singing, and singing louder. The season is but one week old, and the despair of years’ past, the dire predictions for this season, have already been replaced by something strange: hope. It is, as Shanahan said, one win. But this team clearly believes it will be one of many.

“I feel like for the years that we’ve been here, we’ve been itching,” veteran wide receiver Santana Moss said. “We’ve been itching and scratching and haven’t got to that point. But I feel like right now, we have one of the best teams — as far as the Redskins — have ever had. . . . What better time to do it than now?”

Mike Shanahan handed down his long-awaited quarterback decision this week and, by the width of a chinstrap, Whatshisname (Rex Grossman) won out over That Other Fella (John Beck).

This might be the single biggest cause for alarm in Shanahan’s second year as the Washington Redskins‘ overlord: He’s still getting the QB situation sorted out. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but is the 2012 starter even on the roster, or are Grossman and Beck merely passers pro tempore (as they say in the halls of Congress)?

After all, last anyone checked, quarterback was the most important position on the field — exponentially more important than most others (which will remain nameless because, well, we don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, especially the long snapper’s). Yet the Redskins might be spending less on QBs than any team in the NFL. They’re certainly spending less than any team in their division. Combined, Grossman and Beck reportedly will make a little over $2 million this season, about 2 percent of the cap. When was the last time a club won much of anything by devoting 2 percent of its cap to the most important position in the game?

Shanahan will be left open to all kinds of uncomfortable questions if Grossman and Beck fail to measure up, the first one being: Uh, Mike, don’t you tend to get what you pay for in this league? But again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because we still have a season to play — beginning in three days against the New York Giants — and it’s always possible Shanny’s bargain-basement approach will prove a master stroke. There’s a first time for everything.

We all know Shanahan’s track record with Steve Young and John Elway — and even Brian Griese, Jake Plummer and Jay Cutler. He’s a coach who gets the most out of his quarterbacks, provided they’re willing to give themselves over to his system. Donovan McNabb wasn’t last year, and that’s why he’s in Minnesota. But Grossman and Beck seem much more pliable, perhaps because they’ve hit the Big Three-O and may be out of options. If it doesn’t work out here for them, it may never work out.

But as a wise man once said: You can’t put in what God left out. Shanahan may be a schematic Einstein — and his son, Kyle, the Stephen Hawking of play callers — but every quarterback has his ceiling. Griese, Plummer and Cutler may have put up some nice numbers in Denver, but what, ultimately, did it amount to? One playoff victory in his last decade? Heck, even the Redskins have had one playoff victory in the last decade.

No, it’s all a bit puzzling. Shanahan is saying, “Trust me,” but fans are much more inclined to trust their own eyes. And what they’ve seen in Grossman over the years is a thoroughly ordinary quarterback whose highs don’t nearly compensate for his lows. As for Beck, the pro football world is just getting to know him; he’s been in mothballs the past three seasons. He moves well and conducts himself like the Eagle Scout he is, but there isn’t much else that stands out about him.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be a great story if either quarterback was the long-term solution in Washington. Grossman, remember, started in the Super Bowl for the Chicago Bears at the age of 26 — before getting lost in the NFL wilderness. Beck, on the other hand, has been a virtual invisible man since breaking into the league with Miami in 2007. So you have the redemption angle going for Rex, the late-bloomer angle going for John, all sorts of angles in play.

Doug Williams was a redemption story, once upon a time — and Joe Theismann was the classic late bloomer. In other words, it’s happened in Redskinsland before. But do Grossman and Beck really have that potential? Or is Rex just another nothing-special quarterback off the Steve Spurrier assembly line – and John just an alluringly athletic mediocrity better suited to backup duty?

What Shanahan seems to be forgetting is that Redskins Nation has waited an eternity for a franchise quarterback, one capable of being a fixture for five or 10 years and bringing some much-needed stability to the organization. The last one was Mark Rypien in the ‘90s, or maybe Theismann in the ‘80s, depending on how you define these things. For too long, the most important position on the field has been a merry-go-round — from Heath Shuler to Patrick Ramsey to Jason Campbell (and all the QBs in between).

There’s a craving for a quarterback in Washington, the kind who can cover up a club’s deficiencies and be the rising tide that lifts all teammates. It takes a real leap of faith, though, to believe that Grossman or Beck can be that QB. Which means there’s a good chance that, 16 games from now, we’ll be back in the same place, wondering once again who the Redskins‘ quarterback of the future is.

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ASHBURN, Va. — It’s Rex. By the proverbial nose of the football.

Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan ended the suspense Monday and announced Rex Grossman as the starting quarterback, giving the nine-year veteran the nod over John Beck going into Sunday’s season opener against the Giants.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in both of them. It was very competitive all the way through,” Shanahan said. “I thought Rex won by an edge.”

Grossman becomes the latest player to be given the chance to hold a position that has lacked stability essentially since the end of the glory days of the 1980s and early 1990s. The Redskins have used 20 starting quarterbacks over 18 seasons, with this year’s competition a fallout from last year’s Donovan McNabb debacle, when Shanahan traded two draft picks for a former Pro Bowl player who eventually got benched and then traded.

Shanahan decided to go with Beck vs. Grossman in 2011, even though Beck hasn’t played in a regular- season game since 2007 and Grossman hasn’t done much since losing his starting job with the Chicago Bears in 2007, the year after he led them to a Super Bowl. Grossman is a 40-40 player, but that’s not a compliment: He’s thrown 4o touchdowns and 40 interceptions in his NFL career.

Shanahan said he was staking his reputation on his belief both can play, and he maintained that confidence Monday.

“Any time you’ve got confidence in two quarterbacks, it’s pretty good in the National Football League, and that’s what I have right now,” the coach said. “I’m very pleased with it.”

One would assume that Grossman is pleased as well, but he’ll wait to fully express it to the world. After initially saying both quarterbacks would be made available to reporters, the team recanted and said they would instead speak on Wednesday.

“He came in here like he wanted to fight for a job, like he expected to win a job, and he did just that,” running back Tim Hightower said of Grossman. “But it’s preseason. Now the real work begins, so we’ll see what happens now.”

The race was genuinely a close one. There was little separating the two at practice or through the first three preseason games. Grossman ran the offense more efficiently, while Beck was more mobile. But Beck failed to seize an opportunity in last week’s game, when he got the start against Tampa Bay and played a so-so half against a second-string defense.

Grossman completed 64 percent of his passes during preseason with two touchdowns, one interception and a 92.3 rating. Beck completed 62 percent with one touchdown, two interceptions and a 74.7 rating.

“When you’re evaluating everything on a day-to-day basis, you kind of get a gut (feeling),” Shanahan said. “And someone makes a little jump, you go in that direction.”

Grossman also had the advantage of studying the Redskins’ current offense for one season as a backup with Houston under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who now holds the same position in Washington. Grossman came to the Redskins last year and started the final three games after McNabb was benched.

“He’s familiar with the system,” Mike Shanahan said. “I thought he was pretty automatic with a lot of his reads, and hopefully he plays accordingly.”

Shanahan said Grossman will be evaluated every week — as is every player — but the job is now Grossman’s to lose.

“Obviously you make a decision based for the season,” Shanahan said. “When you pick a guy out, you’re not going to say, ‘Hey, you think that guy’s going to fail.’ Obviously you hoping he’s going to be very successful.”

After trading Donovan McNabb, Mike Shanahan had a decision to make on who his starting quarterback would be for the 2011-12 season.

Shanahan still hasn’t made up his mind.

In Week 1 of the preseason, Shanahan gave former Bears starting quarterback Rex Grossman an opportunity.

Grossman completed 19 of 26 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown.

Kellen Clemens finished off the game 9-for-17 for 105 yards.

In Week 2, John Beck was given the starting nod from Shanahan, completing 14 of 17 passes for an impressive 140 yards.

Grossman had his opportunity to shine, but faltered with a 7-of-12 performance for 88 yards and one interception.

Clemens couldn’t complete his only attempt.

The Redskins will attempt to figure out their starting quarterback as the regular season draws closer, but one would assume whoever comes out looking the best against the stout Ravens defense will get the starting nod.

That’s what Redskins people have been saying privately for months, insisting Coach Mike Shanahan and his son, Kyle, the team’s offensive coordinator, have already selected their guy. That for better or worse, the Shanahans are rolling with Beck.

Obviously, plans can change. Beck’s groin injury was an unexpected setback. An abysmal preseason performance from Beck could prompt a reevaluation. Ultimately, Mike and Kyle could still decide Grossman gives them the best chance to win this season.

Barring further unforeseen developments, however, the Beck period in Washington is already underway. All that’s left, apparently, is making the move official.

How long it lasts depends on whether the Shanahans are correct about their inexperienced protégé. But if they’re truly set on Beck as the starter, you’ve got to admire their conviction.

After failing spectacularly with Donovan McNabb, the father-son coaching tandem could have taken a safer route. They could have pursued an accomplished veteran to challenge Beck despite potential difficulties a newcomer may have experienced in their complex offensive system. They could have named Grossman the starter at the outset of training camp and given Beck, who has only one season in their offense, more time.

     Instead, they’re all in on Beck. The Redskins have added lower-tier quarterbacks who pose no threat to him. That leaves Grossman as the only obstacle between Beck and Washington’s top spot, and the judges who matter are rooting for Beck.

     By now, it’s widely known Mike and Kyle were enamored of Beck during his college days at Brigham Young University. They continued to admire him from afar throughout his first three nondescript NFL seasons, during which he played in only five regular season games — none since 2007.

      At Mike’s insistence, Washington traded for Beck before last season and rewarded him with a contract extension. The Shanahans’ plan was in motion before Beck’s nameplate was dry on his Redskins Park dressing stall.

       What’s not common knowledge is that Mike and Kyle and their coaching underlings regularly praise Beck in the team’s Ashburn training complex. That Beck quickly grasped the offense and usually shines in film review. And that Beck has done much in a short period of time to impress Mike, who doesn’t impress easily.

      Fact is, the Shanahans see something special in Beck. To them, he’s not simply the best option. They believe he’s someone who could lead a perennial winner.

      Mike and Kyle don’t care if Beck is viewed less favorably throughout the rest of the NFL. They’re confident they know what they have.

     All of this, though, begs the question: If the Shanahans are so sure about Beck, why not have named him the starter once the lockout ended?

      Because that’s not the way Mike works, Redskins employees say. In the Alpha male world of the NFL, Shanahan is second to none in his competitiveness. On Shanahan-coached teams, players earn their starting positions. Especially at quarterback, the position upon which Shanahan has built his professional reputation.

     Shanahan enjoys observing Beck perform with the added pressure of competition. He’s interested in how Beck leads. For Shanahan, the evaluation process never stops, and he’s hoping Beck continues to make the right moves.

    After McNabb was benched late last season, Grossman started and Beck, for the final two games, became the second-string quarterback. Wisely, the Shanahans kept Beck on the bench during the final stages of an awful 6-10 season, protecting him until they had time to improve Washington’s roster.

   Presumably, Beck should have a better chance to succeed this season because the Redskins have better parts.

   With Beck watching from the sidelines in 2010, Grossman didn’t do enough with his big opportunity. He mostly directed the offense well in his first start against Dallas, but had two interceptions in a loss.

  Although the Redskins defeated Jacksonville in Grossman’s second start, he played poorly, completing less than 50 percent of his passes. Grossman passed for a season-high 336 yards in a season-ending loss to the New York Giants.

  Statistics aren’t most important to the Shanahans. The offense Mike designed and Kyle began learning shortly after birth will produce big results, they believe, as long as players execute.

   The key is efficiency. The Shanahans expect quarterbacks to seize the scoring chances they’re confident their offense will present. The moment one is wasted, Mike and Kyle see it, even if it’s not apparent to anyone else.

    Grossman was strong statistically in Friday’s preseason victory over Pittsburgh, completing 19 of 26 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. He also has much more experience than Beck.

   Unfortunately for Grossman, his shortcomings have been repeatedly exposed over time. The Shanahans know what to expect from Grossman. His best rarely has been good enough.

   Mike and Kyle think Beck has a higher ceiling. The Shanahans are eager for a fresh start. They’ve already shaken up a lot. No need to stop now.

It’s two weeks into Redskins training camp and in the competitive furor over Rex vs. Becks one salient point has fallen through the cracks:

Because neither guy is headed to Canton any time soon, what might matter more than who starts at quarterback is who is in front of Rex Grossman and John Beck. What matters is whether or not the offensive line is pushed aside like rag dolls by defensive ogres such as Pittsburgh’s James Harrison, who is coming to town Friday night to lay a lick on someone behind center.

Jason Campbell, one of just two Redskins quarterbacks the past 12 seasons to remain upright for 16 games, said it best when I spoke to him last month. “So, you think they found out yet I wasn’t the source of all their problems?” said Campbell, whose 2009 line gave up the same number of sacks (46) as the 2010 line protecting first Donovan McNabb and then Grossman. “It really doesn’t matter who’s back there if you can’t protect him.”

The Redskins allowed their quarterback to be hit an inhumane 110 times last season, tied for the worst in the NFL with Jacksonville. Allowing 92 sacks in two seasons is beyond unacceptable. Transpose those numbers over the same period of time and you incredibly get the figure representing the times Peyton Manning was sacked — a scant 26 — in two years, including just 10 times in 2009.

It doesn’t just take future Hall of Famers to produce behind a good or great line, either; Mark Rypien was sacked just seven times the entire 1991 Super Bowl season in Washington.

So before the non-belief in either Grossman or Beck goes any further, shouldn’t we first ask whether Mike Shanahan’s 2011 offensive line is better than 2010’s cut-and-paste unit?

“We don’t know yet,” said Trevor Matich, the former NFL offensive lineman turned television analyst. “There are too many variables out there right now. I think they are three starters away, or two if Jammal Brown performs well and stays healthy, from being considered a good line.”

Given that Trent Williams has left tackle sewn up and right guard Chris Chester was brought in after starting through attrition for the Ravens in a power-running scheme, that doesn’t sound too good for Will Montgomery, who slid over to center after Casey Rabach was released, and Kory Lichtensteiger at left guard.

“Actually, Montgomery and Lichtensteiger were unfairly excoriated last season because of circumstances,” Matich said. “But at some point during the season they still have to prove they’re more than just a guy.”

The Redskins organization is selling cohesiveness and experience up front as to why this O-line won’t let the quarterback be creamed as often. As Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator, said, “These guys know each other much better and know the zone-blocking scheme much better.”

That’s optimistic, because virtually every position on the offensive side of the ball has a question mark except tight end (Chris Cooley backed up by Fred Davis) and the No. 1 and No. 2 wide receivers (Santana Moss and Jabar Gaffney).

The Washington Redskins have waved goodbye to troubled nose tackle Albert Haynesworth and underachieving quarterback Donovan McNabb, but now they enter the 2011 NFL season with arguably more question marks than any other team in the league.

Who will start under center?

How will the players respond in Mike Shanahan’s second season with the team?

Can Washington contend with the likes of Philadelphia in the NFC East?

The Redskins showed glimpses of what looked to be a playoff-caliber team in 2010, but unfortunately, those glimpses faded by October, the offensive line eventually crumbled on top of McNabb and Michael Vick annihilated and embarrassed the ‘Skins in front of millions on Monday Night Football.

But August marks the start of a new football year, and Washington, like everyone else, is undefeated.

Join Bleacher Report as we get you caught up on all the latest training camp news and notes, free agency signings, rumors and everything NFL.

By Daniel Shiferaw

– Redskins Editor

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Jul 29, 2011 – As we sit back and reflect on a busy day for the Washington Redskins on the second day of NFL free agency, we have to remember last season for a second. To put it plainly, the Washington Redskins had issues on both sides of the ball last season. Not only did they have headaches on each side in Donovan McNabb and Albert Haynesworth, but neither side wound up performing in year one of new systems. The offense under Kyle Shanahan could never stay on the field, while Jim Haslett’s defense could never seem to get off it. At season’s end, there were so many issues up and down the roster that most wondered where the Redskins would choose to upgrade their roster most once free agency started.

While the offense certainly struggled with quarterback that would eventually be shipped out of town, it was clear by the end of 2010 that the Redskins had to upgrade what wound up being the league’s 31st-ranked unit. Last year’s squad featured far more miscasts than fits, with a number of players asked to play positions they had never played before and finding themselves in positions that didn’t take advantage of their strengths. Pair that with the fact that the unit’s biggest weakness, nose tackle, just so happens to be the scheme’s most critical position, and the Redskins found themselves with a bit of a problem to rectify.

So going into the offseason, it was clear that defense would and should be a priority. That process started with the drafting of Purdue defensive lineman Ryan Kerrigan to play outside linebacker, and later with second-rounder Jarvis Jenkins to play defensive end in the scheme. But even with the players they selected in the draft, there were still plenty of holes left to address.

With the signing of Barry Cofield, the Redskins feel as though they have a player who’s athletic skill set is good enough to play him at the nose, a position he hasn’t played at the NFL level. Though Cofield may lack size (he only weighs in at just over 300 pounds), he appears to have the skill set that could eventually translate to success at the nose position. 

The Redskins then added former Cowboy Stephen Bowen for what some believed to be a rather bloated five-year, $27.5 million dollar deal. What’s interesting about this move is that it seems to be the opposite of how the team has historically dolled out contracts. Usually, they pay free agent veterans for the type of players they were, and simply hope they are able to maintain their level of play. With Bowen, a 27 year old 3-4 defensive end, they are paying him not for who he was in Dallas, but for what they believe he can be in Washington. Bowen played very well replacing Marcus Spears last season, and with a chance to be a starter, could prove to be a very prudent signing by the club.

Although the essence of the Redskins’ struggles took place in the defensive front seven last year, they still had issues in the secondary that needed to be resolved. The free safety position was one that saw injuries and poor tackling play lead to a number of big plays allowed in the passing game. The team addressed that prior to the lockout with the addition of Rams OJ Atogwe, a player who spent time with Haslett in St. Louis. Atogwe looks to be a major upgrade over incumbent Kareem Moore, and if true could be another big step towards shoring up the secondary.

The Redskins weren’t done there, with the team signing former Terps and Ravens cornerback Josh Wilson to be a potential replacement for the inconsistent Carlos Rogers. Wilson again fits the mold of the type of player the team is seeking in free agency: younger, ascending players who weren’t given the as much of a chance to shine at their previous spot. 

Free agency is not even a week old, and yet the Redskins defense will come into 2011 vastly improved in such a short amount of time, with more moves expected to be on the horizon. The Redskins may still have issues winning games this year, but they seem intent to make sure it won’t be because of their defense.

Read More: Donovan McNabb (QB – MIN), Carlos Rogers (CB – WAS), Barry Cofield (DT – WAS), Albert Haynesworth (DT – NEP), Stephen Bowen (DE – WAS), Marcus Spears (DE – DAL), Josh Wilson (CB – WAS), Kareem Moore (S – WAS), Jarvis Jenkins (DE – WAS), Ryan Kerrigan (LB – WAS), Baltimore Ravens, St. Louis Rams

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