Redskins on August roll as John Beck answers call

WASHINGTON — John Beck uttered words that seemed out of place in August.

Asked when he first knew he might be in for a good night in his first major audition for the Washington Redskins starting quarterback job, he had an interesting answer.

"Really, in pregame, I felt our team came ready to play," Beck said. "I felt like immediately I could tell from the offensive line and skill players that they were ready. And I think that when you're in warmups and you feel that, you just want to carry it over into the game. I feel like it started even before that first play."

OK, that's cliche stuff after a big victory, or maybe even after a routine regular-season win, but when was the last time something like that was said about an exhibition game?

It shows just how important the preseason is to Beck in particular and the Redskins in general. Their first two opponents, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, are accomplished teams with little to prove, and it could be easily claimed that they mailed it in — or at least failed to generate much of a "came ready to play" vibe.

Not Washington. A 16-7 win over the Steelers was followed by a 16-3 victory Friday night over the Colts. The Redskins have outgained the opposition by a staggering margin of 867-336. The way NFL fans tend to overreact, there are surely fans in the nation's capital already eyeing a second trip to Indianapolis in early February.

It's far too early for that, obviously, but there are reasons for optimism from the two games. The defense continues to look strong, even with five starters missing with various injuries. And while fans will surely settle for either Beck or Rex Grossman proving worthy of the starting job, it turns out they're both off to a good start.

Grossman completed 19 of 26 passes for 207 yards in the first half against the Steelers. Beck countered with a 14-for-17 performance for 140 yards in the first half against the Colts.

So where do things stand now? Stay tuned.

"I know they have confidence in him because they voiced that to me," Beck said. "So I know that they're confident in him. I hope they're confident in me. I don't know how it's going to play out."

It's hard to fault coach Mike Shanahan for wanting to see a strong preseason. There are so many new key players that need to get used to working together. Besides, the franchise needs any psychological boost it can get after three straight years in last place.