D8 redskins from D1
an said. “He’s had two good days under his belt. I think he feels a lot better getting those two days in.”
McNabb skipped the final two preseason games — though he wouldn’t have played in the pre- season finale regardless of the ankle sprain — but also missed two weeks’ worth of practices. Asked what he missed during that time,McNabb said, “a lot of sweating.” But the truth is, while he’s still grasping a new and complex offense, every missed live-action snap is a missed op- portunity to get more comfort- able with the system. “You wish you could’ve been
out there and just worked on your timing and chemistry a little bit,” saidMcNabb,whocon- cedes that there are fewsimilari- ties between the Eagles’ West Coast system he ran for 11 years and the Redskins’ version of the West Coast offense. Among Shanahan’s calling
cards as a head coach has been adjusting his schemes to match his personnel, taking full advan- tage when he added a strong tailback, athletic wide receiver or sharp tight end. But offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan said the team didn’t need to tweak its offense much when it addedMc- Nabb, and the quarterback said after 11 years in the league, his style isn’t changing much either. “I’m just going to be myself,”
McNabb said. “When you get into trying to change who you are and trying to please others, then that takes you away mental- ly from what you set out to do.” So the challenge coaches have
faced these past five months is fitting McNabb into an offense that will feature plenty of pass- ing. Ayear ago,Kyle Shanahan ran
a similar offense inHouston and turned in the league’s top- ranked passing attack. Though he says he feels increasingly comfortable in the system, thus far McNabb has earned mixed reviews inside Redskins Park. “I knew it would be a chal-
lenge,”McNabb concedes. It’ll be Williams’s job to make
sure McNabb stays healthy, no easy task considering who will
EZ SU
KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Dallas will be a test for Williams, McNabb Redskins Insider
voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider
Haynesworth will be with teamSunday Defensive lineman Albert
Haynesworth, again the subject of trade reports this week, will be on the roster Sunday night when the Redskins kick off the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys at FedEx Field, CoachMike Shanahan said Wednesday afternoon. “If he wasn’t here, I think
you’d callme a liar, wouldn’t you?” Shanahan told themedia at Redskins Park. “And you’d have the right to do that. Okay?” The Redskins and Tennessee
Titans are reportedly in talks about Haynesworth, who has clashed with Shanahan for months. But Shanahan and GeneralManager Bruce Allen, have formonths denied reports that the Redskins have engaged in trade talks about Haynesworth, who requested a trade in June as he skipped the team’s onlymandatory minicamp. OnMonday, Haynesworth
and Shanahanmet after practice,multiple Redskins sources said. Shanahan does not comment
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
The job of protecting the blind side of quarterback DonovanMcNabb, who is recovering from an ankle injury, falls to rookie left tackle Trent Williams against Dallas and star pass rusherDeMarcusWare.
be lined up across from him on Sunday. Dallas linebacker De- Marcus Ware is averaging more than 14 sacks a season since 2006. Williams might not face a better pass rusher this season than the one he’s charged with handling in his debut. Williams says drawing Ware in Week 1 “ain’t a cupcake starting off.” “It would be easier to start off
with someone not as good,” he said. “But it sets the stage.” While coachesandteammates
have raved about Williams’s progress, he turned in mixed results in his biggest test of the preseason. The Ravens’ Terrell Suggs didn’t seem to mind lining up across from a rookie in the second preseason game, manag- ing a sack in limited snaps
against Williams. “I think that was a good test to
help prepare him, very similar guys,” Kyle Shanahan said. “It’ll be similar issues this week.” Williams knows Ware and
Suggs share a similar style — a bull-rush attack that features plenty of speed and the ability to get under a lineman’s pads quickly — and Williams feels he held his own against Suggs, even if evidence suggests the Raven scored his share of points, too. “After film study, I feel like I did good,” Williams said. “I had him where I wanted him.Even on the sack, he was where I wanted him to be, just me and the quarter- back was on a different page, as far as stepping up and playing in the pocket. But I felt like I did
okay.” Okaymightnot suffice against
Ware and the Cowboys’ 3-4 de- fense. While Ware will surely have his moments,McNabb will likely have to rely on his mobility Sunday, which hasn’t always been the best fallback plan in recent years. In three games against the Cowboys last year, in fact, McNabb was sacked 11 times. And Sunday, he’ll be tak- ing the field with a right ankle that he says still isn’t 100 per- cent. Asked to peg an exact percent-
age on his ankle’s health, Mc- Nabb said: “Does it reallymatter, at this point? This is the regular season.This iswhat it’s all about. It’s time to play football.”
maeser@washpost.com
on privatemeetings, but spoke in general termsWednesday about his relationship with Haynesworth. “Youmight not think we ever
communicate, but we do sometimes,” Shanahan said. “Even though the sources have not talked about us communicating.” Haynesworth has declined
multiple interview requests this week duringmedia availability at Redskins Park. Quarterback Donovan
McNabb also spoke out in support of the beleaguered lineman for the second day in a row. “Albert is one of our brothers
in the locker room. Albert is still in there. He’s practicing with us. Albert’s going to play. He’s going to be a guy we’re all cheering for to get to the quarterback,” McNabb saidWednesday. Said Shanahan: “Albert will be with us this week. For sure.”
Phillips is familiar Cowboys CoachWade
Phillips knowsMike Shanahan better thanmany of his counterparts around the NFL. The two worked alongside each other on Dan Reeves’s staff in Denver. “It’s a good relationship,”
Phillips said in a conference call withWashington reporters this morning. “Our families know each other well.” But that doesn’tmean
Phillips knows what to expect heading into Sunday night’s regular season opener at FedEx Field. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Phillips said he believes the offseason upheaval in Ashburn has given the Redskins a distinct advantage, froma preparation standpoint, at least. “It’s always difficult, the first
game on the road, especially the first game of the season, no matter what,” Phillips said. “The Redskins have a new coach with a new scheme on offense and defense. They have some of the same players, but they have changes there, too. It’smore of an unknown.” In a league where every
second of game filmis dissected in slowmotion, then replayed and dissected again, the Cowboys have precious little to study on the Redskins. “They can look at us from
last year and the previous three years and say, ‘Hey, they are going to do these things,’ ” Phillips said. “We look at them and say, ‘Well, we’re not too sure what exactly they are going to do.We think they are going to do certain things.’ ” One of the big unknowns is
howmuch Haynesworth will play. “It’s important to know the
personnel of the other teamand what they can do,” Phillips said when asked about Haynesworth. “But when he’s in the game, he’s a force on the field.We’re well aware of that.” — Jason Reid and Tarik El-Bashir
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
‘And now people have to deal with the Saints’ saints from D1 “The aura isdifferentnow,”Vic-
tor Lewis, a former physical edu- cation teacher, said Tuesday as he walked past downtown shops, wearing a Super Bowl champions shirt. “We were loving the Saints when theywere losing,when they werenothing,whentheywere like dirty drawers. Now that we’re the champs, it’s big. After the hurri- cane, after the BP episode, we bonded even more. People thoughtwe’d bewiped off the face of the earth, but we’re still here. And nowpeople have to dealwith the Saints.” All around town, Saints fans
said they’re convinced the club is capable of another Super Bowl run. But some acknowledged that
even if this season ends with an- other huge celebration in the French Quarter, it still won’t be quite the same aswhat last season produced. “I think it’llbe a littledifferent,”
said Anthony C. Robishaux, who said he has been following the Saints since Archie Manning was the team’s quarterback in the 1970s. “The last time, a lot of people
weren’t expecting it,” said Ro- bishaux,wearing theNo. 55 jersey of linebacker Scott Fujita,who de- parted for Cleveland in the offsea- son. “People didn’t believe it would happen. It won’t be the same like that again.” Even if the dynamic is a bit
different now, however, the bond between the team and city re- mainsasstrongasever, localssaid. “The Saints are a team where
the fans and the team are like family,” said Lewis, aNewOrleans native who lived in San Francisco after Katrina but returned. “On mostNFLteams, they justplay for the organization. There’s no min- gling with the fans or conversing with the community. Here the teamand the fans are likemother andchild.” The Saints have enjoyed some
of the usual trappings of Super Bowl success.Paytonand quarter- back Drew Brees each wrote a book. The teamraised ticket pric- es for the first time since2008,but emphasizedthatmore thanhalfof season ticket holders would have per-game increases of $10 or less per seat and the club still offered some season tickets for $25 per game. The Saints have sold out every game at the Superdome
SEAN GARDNER/GETTY IMAGES Former Saints playerMikeMcKenzie rides a float in theMadden Gras parade, honoring quarterback DrewBrees. The bond between the team and the city remains strong.
since they returned there for the 2006 season. “The expectations for the fran-
chise have been low, based on the last44years,”SaintsGeneralMan- ager Mickey Loomis said. “That won’t be the case any more. We had a season in 2006 where we made it to theNFC championship game. Now we’re the Super Bowl champions. The expectations are going to be a lothigher. “When we go through a little
adversity as a football team, will the reaction be any different than it’s been in the past?” he asked. “My guess is that we’ll have the samelevelof supportwe’vealways had. But we’ll have to find out for
sure aswe go along.” Loomis said the Saints tried to
take abusiness-as-usual approach in the offseason but he conceded the franchise is inunchartedterri- tory. “The outside perceptionof us is
different,” Loomis said. “But in- side our building, we’ve tried to approach things the samewaywe have in the past. We have talked about it a lot, thatwe have to be a better teamthis year.We’re going to have a bull’s eye on our back. If we’re only as good,wewon’t do as well. Last year can’t help us any more.” Former Saints running back Hokie Gajan, now one of the
broadcasters for the team’s flag- ship radio station, said he “would be very surprised if they’re not in the hunt” for another Super Bowl title this season. “On paper, I think it’s actually a
better team,” Gajan said. “Now, does thatmean they’ll have a bet- ter record?No, I’mnot sayingthat. Whenyoubecome thehuntedand not thehunter, thingsalwaysseem to change. This is a position the Saints have never been in before. We don’t know how they’ll re- spond.” Gajan said he thinks last sea-
son’s Super Bowl run merely fo- cused national attention on the relationship between the fran-
chise and the city, rather than intensifying the bond. The focus on that relationship continues as thenewseasonstarts,he said. “It goes frompeoplewanting to
see the Saints win to expecting to see the Saints win,” Gajan said. “But the intensity of it isn’t any different. The city ofNewOrleans and the people, they look at the teamaspart of their family.” Win or lose, “they’re not gonna
turn their backs on them,” Gajan said. “That’llneverhappen.” The region’s troubles have not
faded; aside fromthe oil spill, the five-year anniversary of Katrina passed in August with significant parts of the city still waiting to be
rebuilt. As he waited for a bus Tuesday
morning,collegestudentAnthony Banks said he “thought hell froze over” when the Saints won the SuperBowl.He saidfansherenow might be experiencing “a Super Bowl hangover” from that tri- umph over the IndianapolisColts. But thelocalpassionfor theSaints neverwilldiminish,he said. “That’s never gonna change,”
Bankssaid. “Whenpeoplethought after the hurricane that [Saints owner Tom] Benson was gonna move them to Texas, that was al- most like talking about taking the Yankees out ofNewYork.”
maskem@washpost.com
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