Another receiver?
One facet of the offense that we’re likely to see change
this year is the number of passes thrown to running backs. Under Al Saunders’
coaching last year, the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson and Priest Holmes combined to
catch 51 very productive passes for 540 yards. One of Holmes catches, as we all
remember, was on a screen pass that went for 60 yards and the winning touchdown
for Kansas City in their Week 5 victory over Washington.
When Homes was Saunders’ prime back from 2001-2003, he
caught 62, 70, and 74 passes so 2005 wasn’t some kind of fluke in regards to
the number of balls thrown to the tailback.
Clinton Portis caught just 30 passes for a very pedestrian 7.2-yard
average per in 2005. It wasn’t that Joe Gibbs didn’t ever want to throw short;
it’s just that the screens went to Santana Moss most of the time. Portis’
catches came on swing and safety valve passes. He rarely had the luxury of
having any blockers out in front of him; when he made significant yardage it
generally was because he made someone miss. The thought of Portis with the ball
in space with Randy Thomas or Derrick Dockery in front of him has to have
entered Saunders’ mind frequently in the past few months.
Add to that Saunders’ expressed desire to get Ladell Betts
more involved in the offense and the fact that Santana Moss, Brandon Lloyd and
Antwaan Randle El have the capability of drawing enough attention from
defenders to create some significant space in the underneath portion of the
field and passing to Portis and Betts is a very attractive option. We could
very well see Portis’ carries drop by 25 or 30 but have his overall
productivity increase by him catching a couple of dozen more passes for a
12-yard average.
Character counts
In early December of last year after a Wednesday practice,
the locker room opened to reporters. The pressure was on the Redskins, as they
knew they couldn’t afford to lose another game. We had to be careful when we
came in because there were flying objects in there. At the far end of the room
Chris Cooley was taking batting practice with a broom handle substituting for a
Louisville Slugger and a ball of ankle tape serving as the ball. Cooley was
making pretty solid contact, spraying the “ball” to all fields although he was
unable to generate even warning-track power.
The other players went about their business getting dressed
before heading to the meeting rooms although the occasionally had to duck an
approaching tape ball. They spoke of the task at hand as something that would
take hard work to achieve but nobody was afraid of it. If anyone in that locker
room had the slightest doubt that it could be done, nothing was said either in
words or in body language that would reveal that doubt.
Contrary to what some skeptics may say, character counts.
Football is the ultimate team game and part of that says that a player has to
trust that the guy who is lining up next to him is going to fight until the
end. It doesn’t take very many players not giving a complete effort to drag the
whole team down. It also doesn’t take many guys who are poison in the locker
room to sour the whole mood of the team.
There’s no question that the collective character of the
Redskins—the sum of parts composed of a bunch of individual characters with
character—was what pulled them up from a 5-6 hole two days after Thanksgiving
to a Wild Card playoff spot on New Year’s Day. OK, talent had a lot to do with
it, too, but talent without character might get you to .500. Talent plus
character can take you a long, long way. Perhaps all the way to Miami.
Redskins under wraps
It’s disappointing that the Redskins have decided to open
only eight training camp sessions to the public. That’s exactly the same number
that fans could watch last year. Most NFL teams, including many who have new
coaches and are completely reworking their schemes, will open up at least twice
as many camp sessions to the public.
Like all football-related decisions regarding the Redskins,
this was Joe Gibbs’ call to make. For a coach who talks about how much the fans
mean to the team, he sure isn’t doing them any favors in this regard. On top of
that, he somehow managed to win three Super Bowls while opening up a
substantial number of practices while the team camped in Carlisle,
Pennsylvania.
There are those who will argue that having a lot of fans
around while they’re trying to practice would be a distraction to the team.
Well, if that’s the case, if a few thousand friendly fans take away from the
players’ focus, then they are going to have a hell of a time concentrating when
they go into Texas Stadium on September 17, when tens of thousands of hostile Cowboys
fans will make things very uncomfortable.
