Redskins Ruminations: Pro Bowl, Senior Bowl, McNabb

It apparently is true that once a player gets to the NFL Pro Bowl, it is easier to get there again. It is great that Washington Redskins standout middle linebacker London Fletcher is going to go to Hawaii again and it doesn’t matter to me that it is because Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher has pulled out of the game due to an undisclosed injury. I say, the Fates (and yes, Fletcher’s play) made it so.

Even if Fletcher hadn’t had another good season – playing in all 16 games with 136 combined tackles, 87 solo and 49 assists, 2.5 sacks, 11 passes defended and one interception – he should go for the next five years just to make up for all the years he should have gone and didn’t. Not to take anything away from Urlacher, but Fletcher should have gone to the big game several times already. Look at his 2005 season when he logged 157 tackles, 104 of which were solo. And all of this is notwithstanding the fact that he has 208 consecutive starts in the NFL, tied with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and Tampa Bay Bucs’ cornerback Ronde Barber.

What I don’t understand is why Redskins safety LaRon Landry was not even an alternate for the fun-in-the-sun game. Before he got hurt, Landry was having a great year. I’ve heard people say that (the alleged) nose tackle Albert Haynesworth was the best defensive player on the team. I disagree. LaRon Landry was a better player than Haynesworth this past season.

Second year linebacker Brian Orakpo and cornerback DeAngelo Hall are also going to Hawaii, Hall having been voted in as a first stringer and Orakpo going in place of Green Bay Packers’ linebacker Clay Matthews. Matthews isn’t going because he’ll be a tad busy. Green Bay is, of course, playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superbowl on February 6. That should be a good game.

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My son was born in Johnstown, PA; not too far from Pittsburgh. Because of that, I have a sentimental attachment to the Steelers. But I have hated those terrible towels ever since they took over FedexField last time the Steelers came to Washington (November 2008). You hear me? I’m not alone in this hatred.

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 The mantra of head coach Mike Shanahan this past season has been that the staff is “going to do what is in the best interest of the organization.” Apparently, the head coach traveling to Alabama to attend the Senior Bowl to scout possible draft picks isn’t part of the equation for what’s best for the team.

No problem. That’s why the Redskins employ people like Director of Player Personnel, Scott Campbell, and he will be there evaluating the young NFL prospects.

“The Senior Bowl tends to tell a little more because it’s coached by NFL coaching staffs and is run in a way we’re familiar with,” Campbell said according to redskins.com, “with the one-on-one type drills with an NFL staff coaching it. It’s catered to our needs and the best players come to that game. It’s going to be the best product from a college standpoint.”

General Manager Bruce Allen will reportedly be at the Senior Bowl. I guess that means that he isn’t just the Director of Pants and Alumni (joke!).

Even with the Head Coach/Executive Vice President (Shanahan) not being there, his “system” will undoubtedly be to make sure he has all kinds of game film and reports for every single coach on the Redskins’ staff to view before the draft. And Allen will come home from the game with either glowing praise - or the opposite - of players like the University of Washington’s quarterback Jake Locker and Colorado tackle Nate Solder.

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I am still bothered by the events that transpired with current Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb. Between his being benched in the last two minutes of the game against the Detroit Lions, the lack of sincere verbal support by the head coach and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan during the season and the subsequent demotion to third string quarterback during the last games of the season….   I just hope Shanahan and McNabb have had the necessary discussions to bring it to a point where McNabb can live with it. The quarterback has a lot of class and talent and I think he's gotten the raw end of the deal - at least from this perspective.

I hated to have to qualify my first statement about McNabb with the word “current.” The word of course indicating that we don’t know how long he is going to be in Washington. I can’t believe he would want to stay here with everything that has happened. One can’t help but wonder how much better he could have become in Kyle Shanahan’s system had he been given both more time and more players - like Malcolm Kelly (if he is who some think he could be) or say, San Diego’s 2011 free agent, Vincent Jackson.

I am not taking anything away from Washington wide outs Santana Moss or Anthony Armstrong. They both had good years… especially Moss. There is some public thinking that McNabb didn’t have enough weapons in his arsenal to have a great year but I don’t whole-heartedly agree with this. Moss is a great receiver and his lack of height is surpassed by his effort and talent. Just look at his stats for this year.

I just think McNabb could have done more than he was given a chance to do… but that’s just me.

Well… Hail to the Redskins!! Onward and upward!

Washington Redskins: Season Is Over But Not For Long

The football season came and went quickly this year. It seems like just the other day I was standing down on the practice fields during the Washington Redskins’ Organized Team Activities (OTAs) wishing I’d remembered to put on sun block. Larry Michael from Redskins Nation was saying, “Only 30 more days until the first preseason game, folks!” and we were grumbling about defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth training down in Tennessee rather than with the team.

While the season is over for the Washington Redskins, the playoffs will keep NFL fans busy for a while longer. The playoffs go throughout the month of January, the Pro Bowl is January 30 and the Superbowl is in early February (the 6th this year in Dallas).

Thankfully for professional football addicts like me, because of things like the NFL Network and the Internet, it’s true that the football season never truly ends anymore. There is free agency and the draft. Then shortly after, players reconvene in mini-camps and OTAs all throughout the league.

This year, that intense beauty pageant for top college football players that is called the NFL Scouting Combine starts on February 23 and goes through March 1, 2011. There is comprehensive TV coverage of this on the NFL Network.

(By the way, it’s interesting that the NFL uses the pronunciation of the word that is associated with a piece of agricultural equipment – i.e., a harvester - and uses the form pronounced com’bine as opposed to putting the emphasis on the second syllable as in com’bine… which means “to bring into a state of unity; to join forces for common purpose” which is the reason NFL teams and owners originally created the event - in order to ascertain medical information on the top draft eligible prospects in college football. I’m just saying… I guess the former pronunciation is cooler).

With the Superbowl being played on February 6, there is less than three weeks from that last game of the 2010 season until “it” all starts over again.

Free agent signings and movement will be interesting this off-season because of the situation surrounding the CBA. With the 2011 NFL Draft (thankfully, still) taking place on April 28-30 (at Radio City Music Hall in New York), top college football players will have the professional football world’s attention. They will keep minds occupied from the final whistle of Super Bowl XLV, through the combine until the end of the draft itself.

This off-season, the Redskins have some free agents with contracts expiring and what happens where they are concerned will garner a lot of attention. Key players about which head coach Mike Shanahan must make decisions are quarterback Rex Grossman, wide receiver Santana Moss, cornerbacks Carlos Rogers and Phillip Buchanon, right tackle Jammal Brown, defensive end Kedric Golston, linebacker Rocky McIntosh and safety Reed Doughty. Generally “free agency” ends about a week before the draft.

There was talk about what position(s) the Redskins need to concentrate on in the draft as soon as it was determined that they were not going to have a shot at the playoffs. With the situation unfolding around quarterback Donovan McNabb being benched there is speculation that he will not be back for the 2011 season. If not, the quarterback position must be addressed. By the same token, all season long we have lamented the neglect by the previous regime of the offensive and defensive lines. Additionally, many have opined that there are skill positions on which focus is important. Running back (will Clinton Portis be back? Is Ryan Torain a 25-carry-per-game back?), wide receiver (a taller end-zone threat to compliment Moss who rules in the slot?) and safety (ever since we lost Sean Taylor, fans have wanted to find a similar compliment to LaRon Landry… we’ll never have a pair like those two would have been but one can dream). 

Also, with Shanahan saying he wants the team to "go younger," the draft will be even more important. At least since it is General Manager Bruce Allen and Shanahan running the organization rather than Vinny Cerrato, we can count on having some draft picks left when the event comes around.

Last year, many of the Redskins players stayed around for much of the off-season. McNabb was brought to the team in early April and he was often out in Ashburn working out and getting to know his teammates. If the players take the same initiative this coming season, there will be things to report on and discuss.

Shanahan had his players in mini-camps on April 16-18 (voluntary), May 7-9 (rookies; voluntary for veterans) and in June from the 16th to the 18th last off-season.

The team had also OTAs on May 17-19, 24-26, June 1-3, 7-8 and 10-11.

During most of those times, there were reporters present and stories being relayed.

Training camp was, of course, a huge deal by the time it arrived in late July. There were record numbers of fans in attendance on the days they were allowed and, in the case of this past year, with the abundance of interesting story lines, national media as well as the local press showed up in Ashburn.

The remainder of the 2010 season going into the 2011 off-season will likely go something like this:

Playoffs - Now through January 23rd, 2011 (division championships are that weekend)

NFL Pro Bowl - January 30th, 2011

NFL Superbowl XLV - February 6th, 2011

2011 NFL Scouting Combine - February 23rd through March 1st, 2011

Free Agency - signings begin in late February, early March and end approximately a week before the draft

2011 NFL Draft - April 28th through April 30th, 2011

2011 OTAsOTAs on March 29th and Seattle began the first voluntary mini-camp of the season from April 13th through the 15th)

2011 Training Camps Begin - Mid- to late July 2011 (the Cleveland Browns had the earliest training camp last season when their rookies had to report on July 23rd)

2011 NFL Preseason - Early to Mid-August 2011. In 2010, the Hall of Fame Game was played on August 8th

2011 Regular Season Schedule - Last year, the first game was played on Thursday, September 9th, 2010

There will be a few times during this off-season when things will seem dull in Washington. The players and coaches all need some time off and they will take it. But in these days of instant access to the news, there will almost always be something about the Washington Redskins to discuss.

Whew… that’s a relief. I thought it was all over.