Smoke Signals: ‘The Chris Samuels’ edition

By Spence | October 10, 2008

Matt Mosley of ESPN had a conversation with Redskins LT Chris Samuels about football, life and politics. It’s an interesting read and Samuels is definitely more interesting that the average pro athlete. We even get some info on Redskins plays.

He said that “90 crease” and “90 press lead” have been the team’s most successful running plays. In “90 crease,” Portis lines up in the backfield by himself and the line zone blocks outside. In “90 press lead,” fullback Mike Sellers lines up in front of Portis and the Redskins run it to the left side.

So, who is Samuels voting for in November? He’s voting for Obama because he believes the Democrat will look out for those who are struggling right now.

“I grew up poor in Alabama so I know what it’s like to struggle. Now that I have some wealth, it’s very important that I use it as a tool to help people.”

Samuels also talks about his plans to coach football after his playing days are over. Not college or pro ball, though, as Samuels believes coaching at the highest levels would not allow him to spend time with his kids, which is more important to him than anything else.

It’s a great read about a Redskins who is more interesting than I thought he was. Have a look.

DE Jason Taylor took part in practice yesterday and hopes to play on Sunday. He’s still got stitches in him from his frightful bout with compartment syndrome, but he was moving around pretty well on Thursday and he wants to face the Rams. We’ll see. It wouldn’t surprise me if they decide to hold Taylor out another week, or give him very limited work if he practices well today, Friday. Nevertheless, it would be nice to get a pass rush for once. Washington hasn’t had a sack in their last 2 games. Not good. It’s about the only beef one can have with the defense right now. It tells you something about how well the secondary is playing, though.

The Skins rank 30th in sacks per pass play. At times the passer has had far too much time to operate, but the superior ability of the corners and some big plays from the safeties has negated that for the most part. Opposing QBs have a meager 77.8 passer rating against the Redskins this season, completing less than 59 percent of their passes, with six TDs and five INTs.

Eventually, though, you figure the Skins will turn the ball over a few times on offense. And there will come a time when they need more takeaways from the defense, and getting the QB is the best place to start in the quest for those type of game changing moments. In the right match-up I think Chris Wilson can give these guys a boost, and if Andre Carter can build off his effort in Philly then that could be a great catalyst for more pressure, too.

The news was also good for CB Shawn Springs, who moved around well yesterday and is virtually certain to be in the starting lineup on Sunday. The news isn’t as good for SLB Marcus Washington, LT Stephon Heyer or SS Reed Doughty. None practiced yesterday and they seem like longshots to play on Sunday, particularly Doughty. So look for more playing time for LB H.B. Blades, LT Jon Jansen and SS Chris Horton.

The Washington Times has a nice story about Blades, who has started 2 games for the Redskins and looks like he may be getting his third start on Sunday. Despite his 5′10″ stature, Blades is a hard worker, a student of the game and a versatile player, allowing the Redskins to use him on special teams and all 3 linebacker positions, though he’s listed as the backup middle linebacker.

“I think it’s been good for him,” Zorn said. “He’s one guy that we can transfer to other positions. Some guys cannot do that, either at the offensive line position or linebacker position. You’re talking about playing two positions, that’s bearing a lot of responsibility.”

WLB Rocky McIntosh has surprised me and, I think, many others by coming back from a gruesome knee injury last year to really stand out on defense this season. McIntosh is second on the team in tackles to MLB London Fletcher and he has forced 2 of the defense’s 3 fumbles. [Fletcher forced the other one.] McIntosh is a shy man who shys away from media attention, but Redskins players say he’s become a leader on the defense. His defensive coordinator appreciates him.

“Rocky is becoming a very, very fine football player,” defensive coordinator Greg Blache said. “In the run game, he’s always been a big hitter, but his pass coverage is starting to improve. He’s becoming much more confident, and not just as far as assignments.

“He’s always been [solid] assignment-wise, but the nuances and the subtleties of the game are starting to become second nature to him. You see growth taking place, but also his ability to be a leader. Not necessarily a ‘rah-rah guy,’ but just a supportive guy out on the field. So there’s a lot of growth in Rocky.”

In welcome news, Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said on Washington Post Live, a cable TV sports show, that it was a big mistake to let the Redskins leave the District and he wants them back ” as soon as  humanly possible.”

“We want to get that done,” Fenty said. “But that is an expensive, longer-term project, but one we’re working on. The Redskins should play in Washington, D.C. I think it would be great to have a brand-new stadium, one that could accommodate a Super Bowl. So stay tuned.”

The mayor said the Redskins’ successful start to this season does intensify interest in the project.

“I think it does,” he said. “I mean, there are so many technical things involved. Our team, the city team, has really looked at what it would take to both bring the team back here, build a new stadium, et cetera. It’s a complicated proposition. But if people were around D.C. when the Redskins won the Super Bowl and in the quote-unquote heyday of past years, there’s nothing like it in Washington, D.C. There’s nothing like the excitement and having a Super Bowl team, walking around after the Super Bowl. So we want all that to come back to the city. It was a big mistake letting them leave, but we’ll get them back.”

Two teams in the Redskins’ division, the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, are building new stadiums. The price tag for each project exceeds $1 billion. Fenty said the major obstacles to bringing the Redskins back to Washington will be the franchise’s lease at FedEx Field and the desire of Maryland officials to keep the team in the state.

“The biggest issues to deal with on a stadium like that are one, the owners have a longterm lease out there and just like any other longterm lease you can’t just break leases and it’s expensive to get out of them and it would be expensive for us to buy them out of one,” Fenty said. “The other thing is the state of Maryland is heavily involved in that. The state of Maryland would be in play, and we understand that. They’re not going to want to let the team go.

“But as Jack Evans has pointed out on the city council, that land could probably be used for a lot of other valuable things. We have a stadium site sitting here ready, willing and able to go. A new stadium could go on there. We could probably donate almost all of the land to the stadium and, I think, build a brand-new stadium that could accommodate a Super Bowl that has all of the new trappings of new stadiums. So I think there’s a win-win in it. We’ve got a lot of work to do before we put it together and have a proposal. We have started to talk with the Redskins officials, but I’d be lying and misleading if I said that it would happen, you know, right away or in the near term. But we just want it to happen as fast as humanly possible.”

Speaking as a long-time Redskins fan who attended games at RFK and The Big Jack [aka FedEx Field], I much prefer the DC location. It’s easy to get to, has subway access and is in the city, where a great team belongs. Although I’m a Maryland resident, I’d be the first to admit that the current stadium’s Landover location is awful. It’s hard to reach, hard to leave, is not conveniently next to a subway station and is soullessly cut off from the city and the sights that one normally associates with Washington, D.C. I think almost everyone who has attended games at both locations would agree with me. Let’s get the team back in D.C. where it belongs.

The NFC East is the NFC Beast. As I wrote in the latest edition of The World’s Most Prestigious Power Poll, the NFL should just let the two best teams from the division play each other for the Super Bowl. [Right now, that'd be the Giants and the Redskins.] Just how good is the NFC East? Check this out:

The NFC East is 10-1 against teams outside the division. The only loss was Philly choking away a game to the Bears 24-20 on a goal-line stand. The two previous NFC East teams to face the Rams - Washington’s opponent Sunday - did so in romps (Philly beat them, 38-3, in Week 1, and the Giants delivered a 41-13 beating).

In the 10 NFC East victories outside the division, the NFC East scored at least 24 points in nine of them (Philly’s 15-6 win over Pittsburgh is the exception). Now, a skeptic might say that NFC East teams haven’t faced many stern tests outside the division (playing the AFC North and NFC West in the divisional alignment this year certainly helps), but Dallas did handle Green Bay, and we noted the Philly win over Pittsburgh.

It’s looked all along like three teams from this division would reach the playoffs - the looming question being, which three? - and through a little more than a quarter of the season I don’t see any reason why that still won’t be the case.

Jason LaCanfora believes that London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh might have decided the Philly game earlier than most suspected when they laid some huge hits on TB Brian Westbrook, fracturing two of his ribs. Hey, I like the theory. It’d be nice to have a feared defense in Washington.

The Redskins are off to a great start, but Jim Zorn’s old team, the Seattle Seahawks, are not. Nevertheless, Mike Holmgren, head coach of the Seahawks, is happy for his former QB coach.

“He’s remarkable. One, they had a good team and Jim brings in a nice enthusiasm, maybe a little refreshing something to get them to do what theyre doing. That’s one thing. I just chatted with Jim last week. His management there, they’re really supporting him. They’re helping him. And thats a good thing. His players are responding to him. He’s winning close games. I’m very happy for him. Hes a good guy.”

While the Redskins have been installed by Vegas oddsmakers as prohibitive favorites and the media clearly expects a big win for Washington at home [so do I], Defensive Coordinator Greg Blache is having none of it.

On the Rams offense: “They have some huge weapons in Steven Jackson, Marc Bulger and Torry Holt. Those guys have been in the Pro Bowl. This is a football team thats like a ticking time bomb. Its going to explode at some point, I just hope its not this weekend. Its a real test for us to see what kind of football team we are and if were mature enough to handle this kind of situation. This is one of the scariest things as a coach you walk around whistling in the graveyard at midnight but you know theres danger out there. I hope the players are looking at film and not listening to everybody else. We went up there two years ago and Steven Jackson ripped us in the run game and pass game. If we dont recognize that and play up to our standards and our level, well be in for a shock.”

On the Rams: “[Bulger's] back and he has something to prove. They a new head coach and this is his second chance he has something to prove and a chance to secure that job. They have a new life and they feel this is their chance. They could go 12-4 and run the table and still win the division. This is not a team to write off and not a team to take lightly. This team has talent, they have weapons and if were not careful, theyll bite us in the rear.”

The Rams are a bad team with a bad offensive line [let's get some sacks this Sunday], but Blache isn’t totally wrong. The Rams do have some talent — on offense, at least — and they could score some points and make trouble for a team that doesn’t take them seriously. The Redskins are a much better football team and should win the game easily — if they’re paying attention to their jobs. This stretch of the schedule should be the easy part, but this is when not-ready-for-primetime teams stumble and lose a game they shouldn’t — a loss that usually haunts them come playoff time. For the Redskins to prove they’re for real, they need to win all 3 of these next 3 games and win 2 in very convincing fashion.

Finally, ESPN’s funny-man Kenny Mayne has taken an interest in Jim Zorn’s ‘hip-hip-hooray’ cheer and came to Redskins Park to do a story about it. Redskins Blog has the details so go read it.

Discuss this in Redskins Park with other DC sports fans!

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