Grant Paulsen

A few nuggets:

- Ladell Betts has started 11 games since the 2004 season, and in those game's he's run for 1,082 yards. That's an average of 98 yards-per-start. He carried the ball 26 times for 114 yards and scored a touchdown in Sunday's win over Denver. "He steps up every time he gets a chance," Santana Moss said about the former Iowa Hawkeye. "That's what Ladell does."

-  Left tackle Levi Jones was thoroughly impressive in his first start as a Redskin. The former Cincinnati Bengals 1st-round pick did a nice job protecting Jason Campbell's blindside, and he also became a reliable lead blocker in Washington's running game. "He's only been here a few weeks," said Rock Cartwright who rushed for 41 yards. "But he seemed like he's been here all season. He was a beast."

- With his 1.5 sack performance, Brian Orakpo set a new franchise record for sacks in a rookie-season. His seven on the year move him past Andre Collins for the most sacks by a first-year player in franchise history. Orakpo made six tackles, one of which knocked Denver quarterback Kyle Orton out of the game late in the second quarter. Orton didn't return and his replacement, Chris Simms, was 3-for-13 in the second half.

- The Redskins posted three sacks as a team in Sunday's win (Andre Carter had the other 1.5), which gives the club 24 on the season. That's the same number of sacks that Washington mustered all of last year, and they still have seven games to play.

- After the game Josh McDaniels accidentally called the Redskins the Chargers. The rookie head coach, clearly thinking about his team's next opponent commended "The Chargers and Coach Zorn" for their effort. I mean, I know the Redskins played too well to be considered the Redskins today but the Chargers? Okay. I'll take it.

-Devin Thomas made a key reception on a screen pass that he turned into a tackle-breaking, 27 yard third-down conversion on a big drive in the second half. The Redskins took the lead a few plays after his athletic play. Earlier in the drive Malcolm Kelly ran an in-route and picked up 18-yards on a catch-and-run. Fred Davis, who like Thomas and Kelly was drafted in the second round last year, caught a team-high four passes for 50-yards. "We're getting more involved," Kelly said about Washington's trio of developing young pass catchers. "We'll keep producing as we get more and more chances."

-Hunter Smith has now thrown a touchdown pass and run for a touchdown this season. That wouldn't be too interesting if he wasn't a punter. Smith, who was a quarterback in high school, joked that he now has to catch a pass for his season to be complete. "We'll be putting that one in next" he said about a potential new trick play. He also pointed out that he once threw for 250 yards as a high school quarterback. 

Line of the day:

Ladell Betts, who hasn't started  a game since 2006, said that it had been so long since he'd been asked to participate in a press conference in the Redskins media room, he'd forgotten how to get there.