What About Hixon?

As we said, Domenik Hixon wound up with a sprained right knee and sat out the rest of the game. At first, Sinorice Moss looked like a likely replacement to go into the three and four-wide sets as Mario Manningham moved into Hixon's starting spot. But in the end, Derek Hagan got most of the snaps there, with Moss relegated to special teams.

Hagan actually wound up catching a pass for 12 yards. Moss didn't get a sniff. Kind of tells you something about what the hierarchy thinks of Moss as a receiver, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, Steve Smith is tied with Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes for the league lead in receiving yards with 214 over the first two weeks, while Manningham sits in third just six yards behind. This from at least one second-year player -- Manningham -- that nobody figured would produce to any great extent before the season started.

"That is why we worked so hard in the offseason," Smith said. "That is why everybody was here in the offseason workouts in the spring and we had some good days and some tough days in training camp and the preseason. We're just glad it's coming together now."

Now, if they would just send the two of them into the end zone consistently on those Red Zone situations -- instead of two yards in front of the goal line -- maybe they'd have a partial solution to their problems in that area.

EP