Rich Tandler's Real Redskins

Flashback Friday 11.04.90 Skins rally past Lions

The biggest deficit the Redskins have overcome is 21 points and they have done it three times. This is the middle occurrence of the three, a November game in 1990. It featured an unlikely hero in Jeff Rutledge and some cooperation on the part of the Lions was needed to give the Redskins the chance to make the comeback. From the pages of The Redskins Chronicle: Pontiac Silverdome—The Redskins had beaten the Lions 12 straight times, but with about 10 minutes left in the third quarter, that streak appeared to be in great jeopardy. Barry Sanders had just broken up the middle for a 45-yard touchdown and the Lions had a 35-14 lead. Redskin quarterback Stan Humphries had set up the touchdown run by throwing his third interception of the day. Humphries had started in place of an injured Mark Rypien so when Joe Gibbs looked down the bench, he saw third stringer Jeff Rutledge. He told Rutledge to start warming up. Rutledge quickly led the Redskins on a 63-yard TD drive that pulled the Redskins within 14, but the Lions got three back on a field goal on the last play of the third quarter. It was 38-21. Then Washington got two strokes of good fortune. First, Eric Williams sidelined Lions quarterback Rodney Peete after a hit. Second, Detroit coach Wayne Fontes got brain lock. During the entire fourth quarter, when just a couple of first downs strung together would have clinched the game for the Lions, when he had Bob Gagliano at quarterback, Fontes did not once call the number of his emerging superstar running back, Barry Sanders. Through three quarters, Sanders had 10 carries for 100 yards. When the game ended, Sanders had 10 carries for 100 yards. After a Chip Lohmiller field goal that made it 38-24, the comeback began in earnest. With 8:41 to go, Washington took over at its own 20 and moved smartly down the field, taking seven plays to score—a drive finished off with a 34-yard TD pass to Gary Clark. With Sanders no more than a decoy and spectator, Detroit could only manage to burn two minutes off the clock and punted with 3:24 left. Washington got the ball at its own 15. Rutledge converted three third downs in moving the ball downfield, completing 8 of 12 passes, the last to Clark moving the ball to the Lions 12. Washington called its final time out with 24 seconds left. The Posse of Clark, Art Monk, and Ricky Sanders was having one of its best days ever, on the way to combining for 32 catches for 432 yards. So it was going to be four shots to the end zone to tie the game, right? But Gibbs had seen something in the films that somehow made him think that the slow and not-so-nimble Rutledge could score on a quarterback draw. Rutledge seemed to take forever to make his way to pay dirt, but he did and the score was tied. Each team had a possession in overtime before the Redskins started their game winning drive. The big play was a 40-yard Rutledge to Monk connection on third and fifteen at the Redskin five. Nine plays later, Lohmiller was perfect from 34 yards out, 9:10 into overtime and Washington had a 41-38 win.

At WarpathConfidential.com--Weighty issues at WR

One receiver is putting on weight, the other gave up his favorite foods in an effort to lose some. Read my new article at Warpath Confidential.

Tandler on ESPN 950 AM in Richmond

Tomorrow morning as training camp is getting underway, I'll be appearing on ESPN 950 in Richmond with the dean of Richmond sports talk, Big Al. If you're in Richmond, tune in at 8:40, anywhere else you can connect the stream at www.espn950am.com.

Will Orakpo become a holdout?

[caption id="attachment_1000" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="When will Brian Orakpo see the field?"][/caption]

With less than 24 hours remaining until the first practice the Washington Redskins have yet to sign their top draft pick, Brian Orakpo. There has been no public negotiating which generally is a good sign. Michael Crabtree, the Texas Tech receiver taken at No. 10 is demanding top-three money, and that's not sitting well with the 49ers management. But no news isn't necessarily good news. It would indicate that there is a waiting game going on involving the slotting system. Rookie contracts generally are based on slots. Basically, a player get a little more money than the player drafted immediately after him and a bit less than the one take right before him. This "system", such as it is, relies on slots getting filled so that there is a basis for comparison at a given spot. As of right now, though, there isn't a slot to determine Orakpo's deal; in fact it's not even close. He's in the middle of a gulf. The Texas defensive end/linebacker was taken with the 13^th selection of the first round. On the higher side, the closest pick signed is Mark Sanchez, taken fifth overall. In addition to being eight picks away, Sanchez is a quarterback. They get the chicks and make more dough, so his deal is not a good basis for comparison. On the low side is center Alex Mack, taken at No. 21 by Cleveland. So we're looking at eight slots on that end. Orakpo is the man in the middle. There is another way of getting this done. Mack got a deal that was 12% higher than that of the player taken 21^st in 2008. The Redskins and Orakpo's agents, Ben Dogra andMichael Lartigue of CAA, could look at the contract signed by Carolina running back Jonathan Stewart last year and add 12% to that. The result would be a five-year contract worth about $15.6 million. Start there, build in a few incentives, call it a deal, and get Orakpo out on the practice field. This would serve the team and the player well but the agents will be hesitant of getting burned. God forbid the 12^th pick and/or the 14^th pick get deals 13% higher than last year. The reputations of Dorga and Lartigue would suffer (from their point of view, anyway), they would stand to be accused of leaving money on the table, and they believe they will have trouble lining up first-rounders in the future. So, the waiting game continues. If Orakpo misses Thursday and Friday it won't damage his development to any great extent. But I'll bet you that by Friday, Greg Blache or another defensive coach will be lamenting his absence and saying that each lost day is like missing two days. Sometimes that's just coach speak but in this case, with Orakpo being counted on the man two positions, it's not too far from the truth. It could be worse. The Washington Redskins could be having trouble getting a sixth-round pick into camp as the San Diego Chargers are. And they hardly are alone, with only five of the 32 first-round picks having inked contracts as of Wednesday morning. Still, it would be good to get the guy they're counting on so much into the fray as soon as possible.

53: Defensive backs

[caption id="attachment_1004" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Chris Horton is looking to follow up a surprising rookie year"][/caption] Between now and the start of training camp I'll be making my predictions about who will be on the final 53-man roster for the Washington Redskins--who's there, who's in, who's on the bubble, and who's out. The predicted roster will be revised and updated as preseason events warrant. Today, in the last of the series, defensive backs: Who's here Now: (13) Cornerbacks: Kevin Barnes, Doug Dutch, DeAngelo Hall, Carlos Rogers, Fred Smoot, Justin Tryon, Byron Westbrook Safeties: Michael Grant, Kareem Moore, Reed Doughty, LaRon Landry, Lendy Holmes, Chris Horton. How many will stick: 9 Starters: Hall and Rogers at cornerback, Landry and Horton at safety—Hall isn't expected to be a shutdown corner but one who will gamble and win often enough to make some big plays. Rogers is underrated and in his contract year. He could play at a Pro Bowl level. Landry didn't exactly have sophomore slump but he didn't have the breakout to stardom many predicted for him. Horton was a great story last year and he should continue to improve. Solid backups: Smoot, Barnes, Tryon, Moore –Smoot may be slowing down a bit and Tryon and Barnes will push to be his replacement at nickel back in 2010 if not sooner. Moore is a solid hitter who needs to hone his coverage skills some more to warrant more playing time. Last man on: Doughty—He's an over achiever who's good to have on the team. He rarely makes a costly mistake. First man off: Westbrook—Unfortunately, he won't be eligible for the practice squad since he's been on it two years. 53-man breakdown:

• Defensive backs—9
• Linebackers –7
• Tight end—3
• Offensive line—9
• Specialist—3
• Running back—4
• Defensive line—10
• Wide Receiver—5
• Quarterback—3

Redskins will (again) say no to Vick

I wasn’t going to do it. I wasn’t going to write anything on the subject of Michael Vick joining the Washington Redskins. But when dozens of tweets go out on the subject, when my Facebook post about my article about the offensive line generates a string of Vick comments, when a Google search for “redskins vick” news turns in over 2,200 results, when the lead story of Pro Football Talk this morning is “Don’t rule out” Vick to the Redskins, it’s time. There are a few reasons why this won’t happen. According to Florio in his PFT article, the Redskins would sign Vick to run him in the Wildcat formation 10-12 times a game and then let him compete for the job if Campbell leaves after his contract is up. The problem with that scenario is that Jim Zorn is not about to jump on the Wildcat bandwagon. He doesn’t like it; he wants his team focusing on getting the hang of the base offense before running any gimmicks. And if he did want to run it he has the perfect player to do it on the roster already in former Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El. Even if Zorn liked the Wildcat, the last thing this team needs is the distraction of the media hysteria that would descend on Ashburn in exchange for getting a player who might play a dozen snaps a game. As Ryan O’Halloran said in the Times, “If Dan Snyder truly wants to give Jim Zorn every chance to succeed, he won't sign Vick and the 10-ring circus that will come with it.” There are plenty of other reasons which I outlined back in June, when John Keim reported that the Redskins had ruled out bringing in Vick. I suppose there is a chance that Vick will wind up in Washington. But there’s also a chance that a meteorite will land in the reflecting pool today, too.

Redskins will (again) say no to Vick

I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to write anything on the subject of Michael Vick joining the Washington Redskins. But when dozens of tweets go out on the subject, when my Facebook post about my article about the offensive line generates a string of Vick comments, when a Google search for "redskins vick" news turns in over 2,200 results, when the lead story of Pro Football Talk this morning is "Don't rule out" Vick to the Redskins, it's time. There are a few reasons why this won't happen. According to Florio in his PFT article, the Redskins would sign Vick to run him in the Wildcat formation 10-12 times a game and then let him compete for the job if Campbell leaves after his contract is up. The problem with that scenario is that Jim Zorn is not about to jump on the Wildcat bandwagon. He doesn't like it; he wants his team focusing on getting the hang of the base offense before running any gimmicks. And if he did want to run it he has the perfect player to do it on the roster already in former Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El. Even if Zorn liked the Wildcat, the last thing this team needs is the distraction of the media hysteria that would descend on Ashburn in exchange for getting a player who might play a dozen snaps a game. As Ryan O'Halloran said in the Times, "If Dan Snyder truly wants to give Jim Zorn every chance to succeed, he won't sign Vick and the 10-ring circus that will come with it." There are plenty of other reasons which I outlined back in June, when John Keim reported that the Redskins had ruled out bringing in Vick. I suppose there is a chance that Vick will wind up in Washington. But there's also a chance that a meteorite will land in the reflecting pool today, too.

Less than 48 hours

Training camp starts for the Redskins at 8:30 on Thursday. I'm going to be doing a live blog from the field to give you a feel for what's going on. However, the CoverItLive application has only partial functionality from the Blackberry and one of the major limitations is that reader comments can't go through. There is a workaround for that, I think so anyway. It involves Twitter hashtags so you'll have to be signed up with Twitter to submit comments or questions. I'm going to experiment with it later today and, assuming that it works, I'll put up details tomorrow. My friend Rick Snider posted this preseason fan checklist in his excellent blog. Just something different to kill the next 48 hours (and counting).

53: Linebackers

[caption id="attachment_1000" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Brian Orakpo's play at linebacker will be key to the Redskins' D this year"][/caption] Between now and the start of training camp I'll be making my predictions about who will be on the final 53-man roster for the Washington Redskins--who's there, who's in, who's on the bubble, and who's out. The predicted roster will be revised and updated as preseason events warrant. Today, linebackers: Who's here Now: (9) Alfred Fincher, Cody Glenn, Robert Henson, Brian Orakpo, Robert Thomas, Darrel Young, London Fletcher, H. B. Blades, Rocky McIntosh. How many will stick: 7 Starters: Fletcher in the middle, flanked by McIntosh and Orakpo. The Orakpo experiment is the key to the defense this year. If he can play well against the run and not get burned too often in coverage—and don't doubt that Greg Blache will figure out ways to shade some help his way—while playing standing up, the defense could be a truly dominant unit. If things work out as they hope, he may well be playing more end than linebacker because the opposition will be facing a lot of second and long situations. Fletcher started to show some signs of slowing down last year but he's still more than adequate and is Blache's extension on the field. McIntosh is fully recovered from his late '07 knee injury and could have a big year. Solid backups: Blades, Henson—Blades didn't embarrass himself as a starter, filling in much of the year for Marcus Washington, but he's better suited to coming off of the bench in situational substitutions. Henson has worked at all three linebacker spots and he will play special teams. Last men on: Thomas, Fincher—Both are valuable, veteran reserves. Fincher is a good contributor on special teams. If they are even in camp but one of them has to go, Fincher is four years younger than Thomas so he probably would get the nod. First man off: Glenn converted from running back and will have to catch on in a huge hurry if he wants to make it. Outstanding special teams performance could edge him onto the final roster as well. The odds are against it and he likely winds up on the practice squad. Spots taken so far: 44

• Linebackers –7
• Tight end—3
• Offensive line—9
• Specialist—3
• Running back—4
• Defensive line—10
• Wide Receiver—5
• Quarterback—3

Spots Remaining: 9 Next: Defensive backs

53: Tight ends

[caption id="attachment_994" align="aligncenter" width="335" caption="Will Fred Davis have an impact in 2009?"][/caption] Between now and the start of training camp I'll be making my predictions about who will be on the final 53-man roster for the Washington Redskins--who's there, who's in, who's on the bubble, and who's out. The predicted roster will be revised and updated as preseason events warrant. Today, the tight ends: Like with the specialists, there isn't much of a point in deep analysis at this position. Pro Bowler Chris Cooley is the starter and Fred Davis and Todd Yoder are the backups. Rookie free agent Robert Agnone has impressive size at 6-6, 260 but a practice squad berth seems to be the best that he can hope for. Cooley could have a better season than in 2008 but fail to make the Pro Bowl. Two quality, high-profile tight ends have come over to the NFC this past offseason in Tony Gonzalez and Kellen Winslow. Add in perennial Pro Bowl participant Jason Witten (and although the reputations of some who have to blue star on their helmets are overblown, I don't believe that to be the case with Witten) and you have four excellent players jockeying for one spot. There will be two odd men out. [polldaddy poll="1815556"] Spots taken so far: 37

• Tight end—3
• Offensive line—9
• Specialist—3
• Running back—4
• Defensive line—10
• Wide Receiver—5
• Quarterback—3

Spots to go: 16 Next: Linebackers