The Washington Post has an article up today about his hard work paying off — and it is. The Shanahan’s gave him a shot late in the year last season to prove what he can do and it’s scary. If you’ve been sleeping on him, promise me you’re now awake. Check it out – he’s the same size and quickness as DeSean Jackson, plays a similar role in the offense and return game, and has simply been overshadowed by Santana Moss and Brandon Banks. Trust me — this kid is good and he’ll light the Giants up way more than the other two Redskins weapons I just named if Big Blue fails to prepare for him. Listen to Shanny’s words on the kid heading into his second year:

“He’s a lot more mature after learning defenses in the National Football League, and I think he’ll keep on getting better,” Redskins Coach Mike Shanahan said. “The one thing you can’t teach a guy is to be fearless, especially at his size. Regardless if it’s special teams, returning punts or kickoffs, running routes or blocking, it doesn’t take long to see that he doesn’t have a lot of fear.”

Austin has had a great preseason campaign, and I most notably remember pointing him out to our gracious hosts at the Giants/Redskins game last year and commenting about his untapped potential — only to see him go in and light up the Giants and nearly achieve a comeback victory for the Skins. He won’t be on the practice squad this year, I can assure you. And if opposing defenses don’t plan for it — he can be extremely explosive when you least expect it.

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According to a report from Philly.com, the Eagles offensive line has a lot more work to do before Week 1 of the regular season. In fact, their performance at times is downright scary.

via the article:

The best news for the line, after the Eagles rolled over the not-very-good Cleveland Browns last night, 24-14, is that the Sept. 11 season opener is still more than 2 weeks away. The next-best news is that the right side of the line against the Browns – rookie center Jason Kelce, rookie right guard Danny Watkins and stopgap right tackle King Dunlap – did appear to play better as its time on the field wore on. But they were somewhere between pretty bad and godawful at the start, and that is the concern that will keep Andy Reid awake in the coming nights. Vick still holds the ball a little bit too long, and gets clobbered accordingly, and that will just add to the insomnia.

As much as I like Danny Watkins on a press conference level, he still needs reps. Lots of em. So does rookie C Jason Kelce, and RT King Dunlap.

I do wonder how much of this is an overreaction, I mean the Eagles had a 17-0 lead at the half. Although it wasn’t as crisp of a performance as you’d like, it wasn’t horrible looking at the scoreboard. But, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and help out the all-hype team with praise, they certainly have enough of that to go around.

Suffice it to say that the Giants offensive line issues aren’t nearly as bad as the Eagles right now.

The two pieces for the New York most in question are Will Beatty and David Baas — neither of whom are rookies, and who both looked decent enough over the first two weeks to show progress in their starting roles this season for the Giants. Eli Manning, like Vick did at times last night, looked like he was going to get killed on the first play of the game after a line miscue. But after that — it’s been progress. Against one of the best DE’s in the league last Monday night, Julius Peppers, he was decent. David Baas held his own and made some good blocks in screen pass situations, and the communication seemed to be a lot better. Much needed progress.

David Diehl is going to be the left side anchor reprising his role at LG, a move that many have suggested take place as far back as few seasons ago. Chris Snee and Kareem McKenzie are both fixtures on the right side, you only hope neither one of those guys goes out with an injury. Knock on whatever you have near you right now…

So the Eagle line may be scary bad right now — but they have more than 17 weeks to make up for it with reps and time together. But the Giants @ Eagles game week 3 will be something to watch though with Justin Tuck and JPP bearing down on Philly’s youngsters, ready or not.