Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Gibbs ' Redskins Take It Easy

We may lose and we may win though
We will never be here again
So open up, I’m climbin’ in,
So take it easy

--The Eagles

As we approach mid August, NFL training camps are in full swing. Across the country from Flowery Branch, Georgia to Albany, New York to Oxnard, California, and many points in between two-a-days in full pads are the order of the day. The sights, smells, and sounds of grass drills, Oklahoma drills, and full-contact 11-on-11 drills are abundant all across the landscape.

That is, except in Ashburn, Virginia. The Redskins finished their last two-a-day practice on Tuesday. They were given a day off on Sunday, a luxury that very few of their counterparts on other teams have enjoyed. Just a handful of practices have been conducted in more than half pads. The starters participated in some activities prior to a scrimmage against the Ravens last weekend but most of them, including every starter on the offensive side of the ball, sat out the full 11 on 11 action. By comparison to, say, the Atlanta Falcons, who have gone for 14 days without a day off with two-a-days every other day, the experience in Ashburn has been more like Club Gibbs.

According to Joe Gibbs, the Redskins earned their relatively light camp schedule with an attendance rate of 98% at OTA’s and other voluntary offseason activities. Certainly, the players, with very few exceptions, seem to be in excellent condition. Six-pack abs are much more prevalent than the hog bellies around Redskins Park.

Still, most players are in shape around the NFL and they’re doing gassers while the Redskins are in an air-conditioned meeting room. Is Gibbs taking a chance in going with a much lighter physical workload?

The evidence says that Gibbs knows what he’s doing. Here is his record month by month, including playoffs:

September: 31-20 (.607)
October: 33-21 (.611)
November: 36-23 (.610)
December: 39-14 (.735)
January: 19-5 (.791)

Gibbs’ teams start off pretty well, a 60% winning percentage being about a 10-win pace over the course of 16 games. After the falling leaves give way to falling snow, however, the winning percentage shoots up to the point where his teams are winning three out of every four games. His theory is that the team will be fresher towards the end of the year if they don’t take too much of a physical toll in August. It’s clear that the Redskins have their legs under them in December and January.

In contrast, the tough camp that Jim Mora ran for the Falcons in 2005, which was similar to the one he’s running this year, had Atlanta set up in good shape up until the middle of the season. A 6-2 start, however, was turned around as the Falcons went 2-6 the second half of the season and missed the playoffs.

To be sure, this is just a snapshot and the link between the tough camp and the late collapse is a hypothesis, not a proven fact. But the human body can only take so much hard physical activity before it begins to break down. It’s too much to ask the players to hit the weight room hard starting in March, conduct OTA’s through May and June, hold a minicamp, pound them in training camp in August before going through the grind of the 16-game NFL schedule. Something has to give somewhere.

It’s a marathon and Gibbs has decided that the strategy will be to take it easy in the middle of it. They jump out strong at the start, getting a lead on the pack with hard work in the spring and early summer. In the middle, they conserve their energy, keeping a steady pace while others are sprinting by them. The Redskins save up for the finishing kick, the last quarter of the race when they are able to keep in cruising while the rest of the field is gasping for air.

The danger is that you just may let one or two of the other race participants get too far ahead of you to catch up. You can’t rely on pulling out a 5-0 finish to the season every year in order to make the last Wild Card playoff spot as the Redskins did last year if you want to make it to the Super Bowl.

The Redskins have upgraded their talent this year in an effort to stay close enough to the leaders so that their annual December run will put them over the top instead of just barely nudging them into the postseason. We will see if that talent improvement will have them poised to make their run when Thanksgiving comes around. We know from history that the finishing kick will be there.

Collins, Campbell Duke It Out

We don’t often see training camp battles on display this clearly. With Mark Brunell sitting out practice (actually he was there standing with the offense and a very interested spectator), veteran Todd Collins and second-year player Jason Campbell took turns running the offense in Tuesday afternoon’s practice. The two are fighting it out to see which of them will be the #2 quarterback, active on game days, and which will have the role of the third string, emergency QB.

Collins took the reigns of the starting offense first. Joe Gibbs cautioned everyone not to read anything into that. He said that Collins and Campbell alternate who is in the #2 quarterback slot and that it was Collins’ turn.

They started out with a spirited “walk through” which really was more like a spirited sprint as the offense hustled up and down the field, running plays against no defenders. A good chunk of Al Saunders’ 700-page playbook was on display. There were option passes by Antwaan Randle El, who is not in the quarterback sweepstakes, end arounds, fake left, throw right screens, delay draws, and other tools in the offensive’s massive bag.

This being the last day of two-a-days, the coaches decided that they’d had enough of drills and the like and they went straight to 11 on 11 play. Campbell threw a nice, deep out on a rope to Jimmy Farris and then made a good decision to throw the ball into the dirt when the defense sniffed out a screen.

Collins responded. As James Thrash broke away from Carlos Rogers Collins launched a picture-perfect, arching bomb that hit the streaking Thrash in stride about 40 yards downfield. Santana Moss broke off his pattern in the hook zone and had a little space between a trio of defenders. Collins smartly threw it low, where only Moss could make the catch. He did. The next play Moss went deeper and Collins displayed excellent touch in zinging the ball into his hands.

And so it went. Campbell to Cooley on a seam route. Collins to Moss again deep down the right sideline. Saunders was getting quite a workout running up to congratulate receivers for making catches.

To be sure, neither quarterback was perfect. A couple of times Campbell tried to finesse the ball in to a receiver when a pass with more mustard on it was called for and the passes were batted away. Collins misfired a time or two.

Overall, it was some pretty good quarterback play on the part of both Campbell and Collins. In the long run, it probably won’t mean a lot. The backup quarterback position won’t be decided in one day and play in preseason games will weigh heavily in the decision. However, we won’t have the opportunity there to watch the two of them duke it out, virtually blow for blow like we did on Tuesday.

O-line struggles vs. D-line

It was about in the middle of the proceedings during Monday afternoon’s practice. As the so-called skill players engaged in 7 on 7 passing drills, the grunts, the offensive and defensive linemen, went to the other end of the field to work on some one on one pass blocking.

The first to line up were the Redskins’ front-line players, right tackle Jon Jansen against left defensive end Philip Daniels. After momentary contact, Daniels put on a move and blew by Jansen straight to where the quarterback would have been. Chalk up a sack for the defense. The tone for the drill was set.

The drill continued with various matchups of ends vs. tackles and defensive tackles against guards and centers. They say that two out of three ain’t bad, but it’s terrible when it comes to pass blocking and that’s about how often the Redskins’ O-linemen were able to keep their defensive counterparts at bay during the course of the activity, which lasted for a good 20 minutes.

Of particular interest was a matchup between rookie defender Kedric Golston and four-year veteran offensive lineman Tyson Walter. Golston immediately got Walter back on his heels and blew right by him the first time they lined up. They immediately lined back up and Golston got by him in an instant again. The third time was a charm for Walter as he bested the Golston on that one rep, but it was clear who had won the mini war between the rookie and the veteran.

At bit later on in a matchup of inexperienced players Karon Riley put a power move on offensive tackle Jon Alston and blasted past him. It was moments like this that had Joe Bugel watching the drill with a concerned look on his face as seen in the photo at the top of this article. Greg Blache was looking on in a much more jovial mood as pictured below.

You don’t necessarily expect the offensive players to stonewall the defenders in a drill like this. Even a week in it’s still early. The job that the offense has in pass blocking is very much tied into technique, an intricate balance of footwork, hand and arm technique, and torso movement. To be sure there is plenty of technique involved in pass rushing, but at the root of it are speed and power. There is good reason for the defense to be ahead of the offense at this stage of the game.

But not that far ahead. The glass half full view is that the Redskins have some outstanding young talent on the line such as Golston. The empty half of that glass is that the Redskins have yet to make much progress on developing depth along the offensive line.

This is neither doom nor gloom. We have a day less than five weeks to go before the season starts and the picture could improve greatly in that time frame. Aside from Jansen’s whiff on Daniels, the starters did pretty well so perhaps their luck will hold and they will be in place all season. Very few teams have quality depth on their offensive lines.

That being said, you would rather the team had some offensive linemen who look better out there.

Brunell Right on Target

Mark Brunell was super sharp in Saturday’s scrimmage against the Ravens. He had zip on the ball, he had touch, and he appeared to know the offense as though he’d been playing in it for 10 years. Receivers were catching balls in perfect stride, having just to open their hands a bit to let the ball glide into their palms.

Insert the proper caveats here about they’re just seven on seven drills, it’s early, and so on. Just like there would be no rational reason to get suicidal had Brunell looked bad (although there are some who would have to be talked down from a ledge had he thrown three picks), there’s no grounds to get all giddy over a few well-thrown darts in early August.

That doesn’t mean, however, that such a performance is meaningless for one simple reason. It’s much easier to stay sharp than it is to get sharp. Since the importance of everything a quarterback does is magnified, the significance of him performing well from the get-go increases exponentially. If he’s throwing to the wrong spots and misfiring even when he goes to the right place, nobody else can get in the flow of things. Everyone’s progress stalls until the quarterback gets it together.

We’ve seen this pattern year after year as the Redskins have had either a change at the starting QB spot from the previous camp or a competition for the job every year since 2001. They haven’t had anyone who had started as many as 15 games the previous season return as the starter since Brad Johnson in 2000. Since that year they have started seven different quarterbacks with about a dozen different changes at the position involved. This lack of continuity has led to the offense always looking ragged in the preseason and, frequently, during the regular season.

Another reason why Brunell’s excellent play is a good sign is that it may allow him to rest more prior to the season opener. Remember last year he was the second team quarterback all the way though camp, never getting a day off, going in to the preseason games with the scrubs, and so on. He’s less likely to wear down as the season wears on.

While teams like the Colts and Chiefs would scoff at calling a string of 17 straight starts (counting postseason) continuity at quarterback, it’s a better situation than the Redskins have been in during the past several years. If Brunell can seize the day and erase the team’s one major question mark, the Redskins season could well end with an exclamation point.

Are Redskins Talking Too Big?

A few days ago I complained because Mike Wise had an Alan Alda moment at the beginning of his column on Andre Carter. So today, he comes up with a whole Alda-like column.

His issue is that the players are talking too much about winning the Super Bowl. In his column entitled “Big Pronouncements in August Can Haunt You in December” Wise quotes Clinton Portis talking about his goals:

"Winning the NFC East. Win the NFC championship game. Winning the Super Bowl. Rushing yards don't matter to me as long as I get a ring."

And Chris Cooley on how many passes he wants to catch this year:

“We win the Super Bowl, it doesn't matter to me.”

He follows with what he thinks in the real zinger, the most outrageous statement of them all:

And who can forget Mark Brunell's proclamation on Day One of training camp? "Anything short of going all the way would be a disappointment."

This, Wise says, is unorthodox and downright dangerous:

But most players gunning for a championship don't publicly talk about it. At all. Especially in training camp.

That’s silly, and it’s not true. It’s the goal of every player to go to the Super Bowl and win it. There isn’t a team out there that doesn’t think it has a chance and most players, when asked about personal goals, will say that they have none and their only goal is to help their team win it all. The recent history of worst-to-first performances in the NFL over the past decade or so backs up their confidence.

And what are the supposed say? As Brunell said, quoted by Wise in his column:

"If I had said, 'Hopefully, we'll win six games,' they would ship me out of here," Brunell said yesterday. "Thirty-one other starting quarterbacks should be saying the same thing."

All Portis and Cooley were saying is that the stats don’t matter, it’s the W’s that count. The ring is the thing. These guys aren’t boldly predicting that they’ll be hoisting the Lombardi in February. They are saying that they will be disappointed if they don’t get there. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Certainly, as Wise points out, the Redskins aren’t bullet proof. Countless things could go wrong that would derail their bid for a special season. But that doesn’t mean that the players should do nothing but sit around and wring their hands worrying about it. It seems to me that the Redskins are striking a good balance between caution and optimism. Apparently, Wise disagrees.

TO Getting Brittle With Age?

Well, well. For the past couple of days, Terrell Owens, the man who some are saying will turn the Dallas Cowboys from a 9-7, out of the playoffs unit into one that will be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy next February, has been on the sidelines with a hamstring pull. While plenty of stars are sitting out with various ailments, many of which wouldn’t keep them out of a regular-season game, this one qualifies as news. No, not because ESPN and the NFL Network are constantly cutting to updates on how the stationary bike riding is going for Owens. It’s because of this, from the AP story on his continued absence from practice:

Owens had not had a hamstring problem before

That’s right, in his 10 previous years in the NFL, plus, presumably, his four years in college at Chattanooga, and before that in high school (where nobody gave him any respect, according to his book) and back to Pee-Wee football, he never has had a hamstring problem.

Hmm, let’s see here. According to his page on NFL.com, he was born on December 7, 1973. That means that he’s 32 now and will be 33 before the season ends. That’s older than most of the wide receivers out there. I think it’s safe to assume that his advancing age and the appearance of an injury that he had never suffered before are related.

Just a fluke, just a one-shot deal? Maybe, maybe not. It’s also safe to assume that he had been dragged down from behind many times before Roy Williams did it to him on December 18, 2004. That time, however, 11 days after TO turned 31, he suffered a broken leg.

Bad luck or getting a bit brittle with age? Or maybe a little bit of both?

To be sure, nobody works out harder to keep himself in better shape than TO does. But very few of the wide receivers whose productivity dipped after age 30 largely because of various ailments, both small and nagging and big and debilitating, were couch potatoes in the offseason. Regardless of how much one may work out, eventually the body breaks down to the point where it can no longer function at the level necessary for one to be an NFL player at the very highest level. Everyone is different in terms of how long it takes and how rapid the tumble is once the descent downhill begins. But everyone is the same in that it happens sooner or later, more quickly or more slowly. TO is no exception.

Gray Matters

There are some new articles out there about Jerry Gray, the Redskins’ new cornerbacks coach. One is by Howard Bryant of the WP, the other by Melinda Waldrop, the new beat reporter for the Daily Press in Hampton Roads. Both made the point that he may not be around here for long.

Bryant wrote of Gray accepting a job for which he is “clearly overqualified” in order to be reunited with Gregg Williams. Gray played for Williams with the Houston Oilers and coached with him in Houston and in Buffalo. He was the defensive coordinator in Buffalo under Mike Mularky until being dismissed when Mularky resigned after last season.

Waldrop’s article makes the point that Gray’s chances of moving up in the NFL world, back to a coordinator spot or even, eventually, a head coaching job, depends greatly on the team’s success.

"It's (the secondary) gonna be a real big strength," [Carlos]Rogers said. "That's what we've been talking about. We've got to lead this defense."
If that happens, Gray might find himself back in a leading role very soon.
"I think it depends on what we do here," Gray said. "Everybody wants winners. Everybody (thinks), 'I want somebody from their staff, because they won.' "

The Redskins went through a phase during the 1980’s when they had difficulty holding on to talented assistant coaches. Joe Bugel and Dan Henning, for instance, left to accept head coaching offers elsewhere. Jack Kent Cooke told Joe Gibbs to hire a staff of future head coaches. While only three of them eventually made it—besides Bugel and Henning, Richie Petitbon succeeded Gibbs—the idea was to hire quality and not be afraid if you get somebody who might do some things better than you do. Along with Gray, Greg Blache and Dale Lindsey are also former NFL defensive coordinators, so Gregg Williams obviously isn’t intimidated by strong resumes in contrast to, say, Steve Spurrier.

If you’re afraid of losing good people, you’ll never attract them in the first place. Williams realizes that even if he stays, it’s unlikely that Gray will be around for more than a year or two. And, to this team, that’s a good thing.

This just in: Williams will coach who is there

Mike Wise had a good column about Andre Carter in Thursday’s Post. The part worthy of discussion, though, came in the opening of the piece when Wise talked about Gregg Williams and showed that he (Wise) doesn’t quite get it:

There was a telling moment Tuesday in Ashburn when Gregg Williams was asked whether he had worried Andre Carter might choose Denver over Washington during free agency. He could easily have said that not acquiring a pass-rusher of Carter's ilk might hurt the defense. But Williams couldn't let his prideful self go there.

"Had he made a choice to go somewhere else, good riddance," he said, sneering. "That's fine."

What a nurturing way to let players know where they stand, no?

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about this coaching staff is that they don’t worry about players who aren’t there. I remember talking to Greg Blache last year when his defensive line was going through a major rash of injuries. He said, “I can only coach the players who are here. If a player’s here, I’ll coach him. If he’s not, I can’t coach him.” Williams expressed similar sentiments.

If the coaches aren’t going to worry about players who aren’t there, why in the world would they worry about players that they never signed in the first place.

It appears from the article that Carter’s father, former NFL defensive lineman and Redskins coach Ruben Carter, gave him plenty of nurturing. If he came to the Redskins, or any other NFL team for that matter, in search of it he came to the wrong place.

Wise is starting to grow on me as a columnist, except when he has wimpy, Alan Alda type moments such as this one.

Surprise vs. Execution

The Redskins offense will be full of surprises for the opposition this year. I mean, if you’re going to have your running back throw a bomb to a wide receiver in an open practice, well, imagine what Al Saunders is holding under wraps.

While the offense isn’t that different from last year’s in terms of its foundation and its terminology, the variety of plays and gadgets that will be employed will increase dramatically under Saunders. This is a change from the approach that Gibbs has used which was to run fewer plays but execute them to perfection and dare the opposing defense to stop them.

You do have to be somewhat concerned about the execution aspect when it comes to 700 pages of plays in the playbook, especially in the beginning. Regardless of how much you may be fooling the other defense, if your execution is sloppy the plays will break down.

When I asked him about this, Saunders told me that they wouldn’t call any plays that they didn’t feel that the players had a good enough handle on to properly execute. The bottom line is that these guys are pros and if the Kansas City Chiefs can learn to execute the offense well enough to be among the league leaders in offense year after year the Washington Redskins can as well.

Tough Salave ' a Back at Practice

I may have said this way too often, but Joe Salave’a is one tough sumbitch.

He played last year in ungodly pain in his foot, pain caused by plantar fasciitis that would have had most of us calling in sick to our day jobs. After one game he was standing there in his bare feet patiently answering my questions, probably hearing all of them for the tenth time. He never complained, never begged off to go to the trainer’s room.

Salave’a was a late arrival at camp following the death of his mother in Samoa. “I think I need these guys more than they need me, just to get over this.” he said.

The Redskins are a better team due to his presence as a player and, perhaps more importantly, as a man.