CB Shawn Springs is feeling much better after a week off to rest his aching calf: "I'll be rocking this weekend," he said. "I feel good. I'm playing."

SLB Marcus Washington also expects to play at or near full speed against the Rams on Sunday.

The biggest news, besides the Capitals are just 3 days away from the start of 2008/09 season, is the Washington Capitals roster is set. Some out there seemed surprised by the final roster reduction, I wasn't.

Here are the DCPSR Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down for the Redskins, Week three. Each week we provide 2 Thumbs Up and 2 Thumbs Down to the players we felt deserved a shout out or shout down from something they did in the game. This isn't necessarily the star of the game, but more so, a recognition of something we feel was critical or extra efforts.

THUMBS UP:

Offensive Line. Why? The Philadelphia Eagles have an absolutely brutal pass rush.

The Washington Redskins dropped behind Philadelphia 14-0 early in the first quarter. But, the Jim Zorn run Redskins fought back to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Philadelphia 23-17.

NFL Mock Draft Database was updated today. There are 5 mock drafts updated so far in October, and a total if 15 updated since September 25. We have a total of 63 total mocks for 2009 thus far.

Quarterback

Jason Campbell has completed 65% of his passes for 6 TD, zero INT [the only QB in the NFL with at least 20 pass attempts to have zero INT] and a 102.2 passer rating. This is the best 3-game stretch of Campbell's career, as he has posted a passer rating of over 100 in each of Washington's 3 victories. He's shown an ability to throw the short pass to every receiver on the team and hit the long bomb to Santana Moss, Washington's sole deep threat. Campbell has moved around in the pocket well, gained yards with his feet when necessary, and given his receivers more time to get open. There are probably only 2 or 3 passers in the NFL playing better than Campbell right now. Grade: A

This is the Weekly Redskins Youth Report. However, since we are at the quarter point of the season, time to give our quarterly assessment and grades to the Redskins rookies and 2nd year players. These grades are based on play and impact. We will start out with the rookies.

THE ROOKIES

QB Colt Brennan

Let's get straight to the injuries. Don't expect DE Jason Taylor or LT Stephon Heyer to play Sunday in Philadelphia. They're both almost certainly out of the game. The only other question mark is CB Shawn Springs.

You have probably caught the news on Sergei Fedorov practicing on the blue line with the Caps, we mentioned it yesterday in our Caps report. Listening to NHL Home Ice this morning on my way to work, those guys made the inference that maybe the Capitals defense is not as strong as they anticipated. That's crap.

The NFL may not wish to acknowledge it, but The World's Most Prestigious Power Poll is now ready to make it official: The game of football now belongs to the NFC East.

01. Tennessee Titans [4-0]: Raise your hand if you saw this coming. [Nobody raise your hand.]

o repeat the rules: Pick the winner of the Redskins game, CORRECTLY AND the final score of the game. If you pick the CORRECT winner and are CLOSEST to the total points of the game, you get 3 points. Second closest gets 2 points. Third closest gets 1 point.

Shawn Springs says he will play on Sunday against the Eagles, but DE Jason Taylor, though increasingly confident, is less likely to play. LT Stephon Heyer also seems likely to sit for a second week, with Jon Jansen getting another start. WR Malcolm Kelly actually practiced yesterday,

The Caps fell 2-1 to Philadelphia last night, losing their first pre-season game. Goalie Brent Johnson played whole game, stopping 24 of 26 shots, but the offensive fire power was lacking.

Obviously the marriage between Nats President Stan Kasten and the Lerner family is not very good right now. The Lerner's are giving signs of being tightwads, which really makes you wonder

The Capitals were out shot for the 4 straight game in the first period, 13-8, but Goalie Brent Johnson yielding nothing as the first period came to a close scoreless.

D Mike Green scored his first goal of the pre-season, 3 minutes and 9 seconds in the second period to put the Capitals up 1-0.