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A lifelong Skins fan and second-year season ticket holder; Mark Newgent brings a passionate fan perspective to Examining the Burgundy and Gold.


 
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Heyer in, Jansen out; Thoughts on the Mike Wise column

September 1, 11:04 PM
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Credit: Washington Post

It's official.  Stephon Heyer has supplanted Jon Jansen at right tackle. This is obviously tough for Jansen, the longest-tenured Redskin the last decade. However, Jansen’s level of play has deteriorated over the last three years. He missed all of the 2004 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon and most of 2007 with a broken leg. 

While I feel for Jansen, I am glad to see an elderly offensive line get a bit younger with Heyer. Heyer impressed last year as an undrafted free agent. In the near future he can be the anchor of a younger stronger offensive line with Chad Rhinehart and Justin Geisinger. 
 
The demotion of Jansen is of a piece with the youth movement I see taking place. The secondary is full of relative toddlers when you consider Reed Doughty has the most experience of the safeties. The backup defensive lineman: Rob Jackson, Erasmus James, Chris Wilson, Kedric Golston, Lorenzo Alexander, and Anthony Montgomery have an average of two years’ experience. Throw in Malcolm Kelly, Devin Thomas and Fred Davis you get the picture of a coach building for the future. I say coach because building for the future has never been this front office’s forte.
 
As for the here and now, I think Rich Tandler sums it up best: 
Zorn, the offensive-minded head coach, the ex-quarterback, is being practical. Instead of collecting extra weapons for his side of the ball, he opted to give Greg Blache and Danny Smith a couple more tools with which to do their jobs.
 
It seems that Zorn knows that he has his work cut out for him in crafting this offense into a well-oiled machine. He knows that in order to stay in games while the offense is in on the job training mode he'll need a defense that can constantly rotate in fresh linemen to keep pressure on the other team's quarterback and that he'll need plenty of hands in the backfield to cover multiple-receiver sets.
I think we clearly see where the team stands on the eve of the season. While I don’t foresee the offense performing like it did against Carolina and Jacksonville, it will struggle to score points at the start of the season. Look for a low-scoring game Thursday night.
 

Photo credit: Agent Steinz

In the matter of the Mike Wise column, I’d like to associate myself with Rich and Mr. Irrelevant. Rich makes the best counterargument to Wise. However, coming from the political blogosphere, I can reinforce Jamie Mottram’s argument that mainstream media’s disdain for bloggers is all too real, and that some in the traditional media just don't get it.

I will admit, I lauded Wise for advising Redskins fans to wake up from the past. However, I now know better than to trust the instincts of a guy who wears a “stop bitching and start a revolution” t shirt. 

Author: Mark Newgent
Mark Newgent is an Examiner from Washington DC. You can see Mark's articles on Mark's Home Page.
Find out more about Mark:
A lifelong Skins fan and second-year season ticket holder; Mark Newgent brings a passionate fan perspective to Examining the Burgundy and Gold.
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