Rich Tandler @ CSN: Fred Davis, the Bye Week and Learning to Block

Blogger-patriot

Rich Tandler's second piece is up on Comcast SportsNet, tight end Fred Davis on how I spent my fall vacation, get over there and read it.

Did I mention that Rich also writes books about the Redskins? And the Hokies but I will not hold that against him.



Rich Tandler from here.

Rich Tandler @ CSN: How Deep Is Washington's Bag of Tricks?

Read me? Read him.

Our own Rich Tandler, dean of Redskins writers, editor of the indispensible Real Redskins blog and the most knowledgeable Redskins fan I know signed on with Comcast SportsNet last week as a writer and beat reporter covering Redskins Park, this is huge news for him, for CSN and for Redskins fans, please join me in welcoming Rich as a card carrying member of the liberal media establishment.

Curly R will be pimping out Rich's work at CSN, over on that side of the fence they care about things like pageviews so do the right thing, click over and give it a read and help me ensure there is ample audience for his work.

In his first piece, from Monday, Rich lists some changeups the Redskins should consider on the long road to the end of this season. Go read it.

Congratulations Rich.



Rich Tandler from here.

I Don't Even Know What This Means

Stomp on one face and never hear the end of it

This morning I got a tip from lifetime Eagles fan, season ticket holder and Curly R reader/lurker Wilbert Montgomery, it would seem Sports Illustrated ran a poll of 300 active NFL players in training camp on the league's dirtiest players and would you be surprised our own defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth came in second?

In first place was Steelers receiver Hines Ward and tied with Albert for second was former Steelers and current Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter.

Ok so maybe I have lost the plot here, are these guys really dirty players? Read through the comments at the Pro Football Talk post, they talk a lot about how Hines is somehow dirty because he blocks hard downfield and doesn't care who he blocks and wants to be seen as a football player and not a receiver, yada yada. I really do not get it, maybe I do not understand what is the definition of a dirty player any longer.

Yes we know Albert stomped on the face of Cowboys center Andre Gurode in 2006, an act that earned Albert a five game suspension. Does that make him dirty? I think it makes him angry with a rage problem, a condition sort of borne out by myriad traffic violations, injuries caused and divorces in process.

I think by definition in order to be dirty you have to get away with it, at least part of the time, Albert did not exactly get away with stomping Andre's face.

If by dirty you mean unblockable by a single person then Albert is a very dirty player. While rewatching game seven against the Eagles last night the broadcasters threw up an interesting statistic, while playing alongside Albert Haynesworth last season in Tennessee, defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch had 4.5 sacks, not a glorious number though Kyle is the only one of Albert's former Titans linemates from last season that is off his 2008 pace with only one sack through seven games.

In contrast defensive end Andre Carter has already rang up 6.5 sacks, two more over seven games than he had last season in sixteen games. It is clear that Albert has a halo effect and Andre Carter is benefiting from his presence.



Albert Haynesworth: AP photo from here.

About Freaking Time

No longer effective

Antwaan Randle El has been demoted from primary punt return duties and all of Redskinsland will join me in a big helllll yes. Redskins head coach Jim Zorn was careful to couch the move in some uncertainty so as not to tip the next opponent, that is just boilerplate, Antwaan has been demoted and DeAngelo Hall has been placed into the lead spot.

This is a good thing if for no other reason than Antwaan has been steadily losing effectiveness at this position to the point where he is hurting the team.

Antwaan's punt return average has continued a general career downward trend even as the number of punts he has fielded has remained steady. After fielding no more than eleven fair catches in a single season so far in Washington, last season Antwaan ballooned to 21 fair catches. So far this season Antwaan has fielded exactly as many punts, eleven, as he has fair catches.

The final straw was game seven against the Eagles two Monday nights ago. Even if you forgive Antwaan for fair catching a punt at the Redskins thirteen and another at the eighteen based on the possiblity the Eagles may have downed the ball even deeper, Antwaan still fair caught one at the nine to ensure awful field position to start, fielded one cleanly at the five and was downed inside the twenty, and of course most harmfully muffed one off his facemask that resulted in an Eagles field goal four plays later.

Now of course there are other factors at play, the opposing punter and coverage and Washington punt coverage have a role in each punt, it has just seemed to me over the past two seasons that you could put an equipment tub out there to catch punts and we would see about the same results.

And let me be clear, this is not simply about Antwaan, this is principally about the coaching. Antwaan's performance has been deteriorating and it is up to the coaches to identify that and find a replacement.

Santana Moss will still be a nice change of pace, he always seems to spark a return, though coach Zorn wisely will keep these to a minimum, even as Santana appears to suffer from the same accelerated decay as tailback Clinton Portis this season he is still the team's only real deep threat and it cannot afford to see Santana get clobbered on a special teams play.



Antwaan Randle El: Reuters Pictures from here.

Neighbor Bill Looking at a Picture of Him Looking at the Redskins-Eagles Game

Regressing

We have completed the rewatch of the Monday night game against the Eagles, I am completing the raw post, will go back and doll it up with links, this was an ugly game, it did not look any better on TV than it did in the stadium, except I did not have people getting arrested for fighting and signs being torn out of hands all around me.

If no one can block for Jason Campbell then Jason Campbell will no be able to do shit.



Photo by me.

If I Have to Rewatch a Crappy Game, This Is the Way to Do It

The media room

Curly R is off the bye weekend, I am over at neighbor Bill's, rewatching the Redskins-Eagles Monday night game on NFL Game Rewind. He has quite the rig, with two 42 inch monitors, one for the game and one for stats.

As you were.



Photo by me.

Department of Bad News: Chris Samuels

Done. Probably for good.

Redskins fans got some expected bad news back on Halloween, long time left tackle Chris Samuels was placed on injured reserve, the neck stinger he took in game five of this season back on 11 October against the Panthers caused Chris some extended numbness, in short order we learned that Chris had been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, a condition characterized by the narrowing of the spine in the neck, thereby making it more vulnerable to injury.

In the nearly three weeks since that game Chris has consulted with specialists and weighed his options, and there was really no question, with the risk of paralysis looming and a solid NFL career under his belt, Chris decided to shut it down, likely calling it a career.

It was in part due to the stenosis that Chris wore the big neck brace rising from his shoulder pads all this time. This condition was diagnosed while Chris was still in high school and was manageable, Chris eventually became an All-American and Outland Trophy winner at the University of Alabama before becoming the number three overall selection to the Redskins in the 2000 NFL draft, the Redskins having given up two first round picks in that draft, their own and the one acquired from Carolina in the 1998 trade of defensive end Sean Gilbert to the Panthers (thank you Sean).

Chris became the Redskins starting left tackle immediately, replacing Tre' Johnson and has been the team's anchor at the second most important position on the field for a decade. In ten seasons Chris started 146 of a possible 165 games, including playoffs and those he will not be eligible to start this season.

Chris was amazingly durable during his career, at six feet five and better than 310 pounds he continually tangled with the opponents' best pass rushers. He was selected to six Pro Bowls in his ten seasons, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 when the team was 5-11 but propelled backup tailback Ladell Betts to 1100 yards on nine starts, 2007 when Chris and Pro Bowl teammates tight end Chris Cooley and long snapper Ethan Albright all wore jersey number 21 in honor of fallen teammate safety Sean Taylor and last season in 2008 when he ended the season on injured reserve with a torn triceps.

Redskins success in the 2009 season was to be largely premised on aging veterans Chris Samuels and right guard Randy Thomas staying healthy, and now both are on injured reserve. Right now Redskins fans are stuck in the void loop of this season, forced to watch it play out slowly and painfully.

We will not fully realize what it means for this team to be without Chris Samuels ever again until the offseason when as expected he announces his retirement and then the team faces a serious rebuilding.

Thank you Chris, you were a hell of a left tackle and did your part to keep quarterback jerseys clean all these years, and Redskins fans will never forget it.


Curly R's Department of Bad News previous announcements on Chris Samuels: 2008



Chris Samuels: AP photo from here.