D12 WELCOMETOTHENFL


Redskins rookie tight end Logan Paulsen registered his first career catch Sunday in his seventh game, a nine-yard reception in the second quarter.


EZ SU Giants 31, Redskins 7 0FORWEEK1


The Redskins have not won their first game of December, since 2005, when they beat the St. Louis Rams, on Dec. 4. In that game, Clinton Portis rushed for two touchdowns and 136 yards. In Sunday’s loss, James Davis wasWashington’s leading rusher with 40 yards.


2,000


Linebacker London Fletcher’s four tackles gave him 2,000 for his career, according to coaches’ film reviews. He also had an interception in the second quarter, pictured at left, and deflected two passes.


Even the reliables are snakebitten


KLMNO


MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2010


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST Chris Cooley, whose fumble was one of six Redskins turnovers, hinted that the mistakes were fluky and unexplainable. “It absolutely drove us crazy,” he said. “I mean, if you look at the fumbles, they’re unreal.”


McNabb, Cooley contribute to Redskins’ six turnovers


on day when little goes right BY SALLY JENKINS


east rutherford, n.j. — The Wash- ington Redskins have been plagued all season by a shortage of playmakers. But in their 31-7 loss Sunday to theNewYork Giants, the few they have made the wrong kind of plays.With six turnovers, aswell as a blocked punt, fully half of the Redskins’ 14 offensive possessions end- ed in disaster. What made the performance most


baffling was that the assortment of miscues came from players whom the Redskins normally can rely on. Drive after drive was squandered,


with four fumbles and two intercep- tions, including three of their four possessions in the fourth quarter, to smother any chance of a comeback from a 21-0 halftime deficit at New Meadow-


lands Stadium. Some were freak acci- dents and some were simplymistakes. “I felt all game we had opportunities


moving the ball, moving the chains, getting ourselves in position, and it was a lost ball,” said quarterback Donovan McNabb, who is the least intercepted quarterback per attempt in theNFL, but contributed three of the turnovers. The most perplexing giveaway came


with 7 minutes 50 seconds left in the third quarter, when McNabb tried to slide at the end of a three-yard scramble, and instead got stuck upright. As he dropped to the turf, he loosened his grasp, and let the ball go. “I thought I was down,” he said.


Instead, Corey Webster fell on the ball, recovering it for the Giants. But perhaps the most uncharacteris-


tic fumble of the game camewith 4:41 to go,when tight end Chris Cooley caught a seven-yard pass over the middle from McNabb at the Giants 31 and turned upfield, seeking extra yardage, only to lose the ball when safety Deon Grant knocked it loose. Afterwards, Cooley spent a long moment on the field,


resting on one knee and radiating frustration and disgust. Before Sunday, Cooley had just ten fumbles in his career and had lost only three, none since 2008. “It absolutely drove us crazy,” Cooley


said. “Imean, if you look at the fumbles, they’re unreal. Look at Donovan’s slide, look atmy fumble. I’mtrying to run and the guy hits the ball. It compounded to become absolute [expletive] by the end of the day. I don’t knowwhat else to say.” With their playoff hopes effectively


ended at 5-7, the Redskins’ locker room was virtually silent, save for the occa- sional profanity, as players searched to explain such a performance with their playoff hopes on the line. Their offense has operated in fits and starts all season, for some good reasons:McNabb has had to absorb Coach Mike Shanahan’s new offense, and injuries and a thin roster have reduced the Redskins to looking for playmakers from among undrafted players such as running back Keiland Williams and wide receiver Anthony Armstrong. Both players have obliged with sur- prising contributions. Armstrong


MIKE WISE No more pretending about contending: It’s time for a major rebuilding project wise from D1


needs to stop pretending and start rebuilding in earnest, the day the architect of this franchise’s future needs to be spare and fussywith hiswords, to cut the charade and saywhat he feels. For instance: “Beat it,Albert.We tried.We really


tried.But inthe end, you didn’t care.And whenyou don’t care, youAintworth nothin’.” When a good number of dependable


veteran defensive players spend upward of 45minutes explainingwhy Haynesworthwas deactivated Sunday against theGiants,when those same players spentmuch of the offseason and training camp either covering or eviscerating their teammate— depending onwhether they feelBigAl crossed the line—it’s time to end the relationship. TheRedskins are going the same place


withHaynesworth theywere headed without him: to their third straight offseasonwithout a playoff date. At this point, Shanahan is the


proverbial teacherwho has spent too much time on the rotten-apple kid in homeroom, to the point that the hard- working kids have nowhad their educations adversely affected.Expel him


fromclass and school. Personal tragedy and professional nightmare of a season forAlbert aside, this school simply can’t help himreach his potential and he can’t help theRedskins reach theirs. After themost deflating day of his first


season as coach, Shanahan also needs to take a hard look at themessage going forward, to drawa clear distinction between supplementing a rosterwith useful parts thatmightmake one playoff run in this parity-strickenNFL landscape and legitimately refurbishing this decaying historic district that is the NFL’s oldest team. Importing fast and hungry college kids, draft picks that make sense for the long term—not relics whomno other teamwill offer a contract. If this is indeed a copycat league,


forget about remaining contemporary with the 3-4 defense; commit towhat TampaBay,KansasCity, Philadelphia andDetroit, to somemeasure, have committed to the past couple of years with impressive results: getting younger, faster and competitive again for not just one or two years, but perhaps five. If Shanahanwere to sumup his off-


seasonmotivations and say, “Look, I’m57 and I’mnot going to do this forever—I wanted towinnowfor everybody,” folks might actually appreciate the honesty. He could further explain, “Whenwe


started to think 8-8.ButnowI know: I’ve got to stop thinking reload and start really getting serious about rebuild.” Now,My-WayMike being the


clandestine sort of coachwho doesn’t believe in divulging injuries,much less times of practices, games andwhy it is important to eat breakfast in the morning, thatwill never happen. But after 31-7,NewYork, after this


JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST


Brandon Jacobs andNewYork made it clear for all to see:Washington must give up its thoughts of winning now.


thought about a potential lockout,we figured,what the heck,we’ll roll the dice this season.Best-case scenario, I thought we could pull off a playoff berthwith the talentwe had.But you throwininjuries, our highest-paid andmost talented defensive playernot interested intruly being a part of us,wewereworried. Then you throwinDonovan’s inability to pick up our offense inany timelymanner,we


awful exhibition of pro football brought Washington’s postseason dreams to a halt, changing the culture has to be aboutmore than justmeticulous organization and unquestioned belief by his players (who privately backed his decision to benchHaynesworth). It needs to be about partingwith the old andwelcoming the new. As key free agents go, bring Santana


Moss backwithin financial reason. Clinton Portis can stay too, if he comes back healthy and takes lessmoney.Think hard onCarlosRogers, though, before committing. After that and several other keepers


likeMcNabb,ChrisCooley,BrianOrakpo and LaRon Landry, it’s re-evaluation time. It’s demolitionmonth. After Sunday, there is no other choice.


Alitany ofmissed tackles. Inept offense. Atotal embarrassment. Zeroing in on the precisemoment a


season died is not a perfect science.But the vision of London Fletcher at the 24- yard-linemidway through the third quarter clearly qualified Sunday afternoon. Hands on hips in utter disbelief, the


veteranmiddle linebacker had just watchedBrandon Jacobs high-step into the end zone, barely caressed by safety ReedDoughty and a defense that had just ceded its fourth touchdown. The ignominy ofDevinThomas


blocking a punt late in the fourthwas just dirt on the grave. “Whatwas that?” Fletcher asked of


Jacobs’s 28-yard touchdown run. “Extreme frustration.We knewwhat theywere going to run.We had the right defense called.And it didn’tmatter.” At 35 years of age, Fletcher is going on


12 years since he lastwon a SuperBowl and 10 years since he’s played in the big game. Of all the people in the organization


who still buys into hope and renewal with Shanahan, it is Fletcher.To see both expire here Sunday reinforces the need to genuinely change the culture, to part withNo. 92 and genuinely begin a complete refurbishing. There is no pretense anymore. It’s


over. wisem@washpost.com


caught the only scoring pass of the day, a wide open 33-yarder fromMcNabb with with 4:35 left in the third quarter. But each also contributed a fumble. In some cases, it was a question of trying too hard to make something happen, “try- ing to take a shot at the end of the game, trying tomake a play,”McNabb said. But after 12 games, the Redskins no


longer accept lack of depth or a steep learning curve as excuses. “Some days we look like we’re doing something, and some days we don’t” said wide receiver Santana Moss. “I can’t even find an excuse to tell you.” According to McNabb, it may simply


be amatter of needing another offseason in order to get the coaching staff and new players attuned to one another. He offered some historical perspective: In 1999, as a rookie with the Philadelphia Eagles, he went 5-11. “It was somewhat of a similar situa-


tion where we found ourselves in ball- games,we justweren’t able to pull it out. It was a young team, a team that was trying to jell together that just didn’t understand about winning. And the


next year, guys spent time in the offsea- son with each other, communicating, working well with each other.” He noted the Eagles went 11-5 the next season. McNabb could point to one positive:


when the Redskins weren’t giving the ball away, they actually moved it fairly well, with 338 yards of total offense, showing glimpses of what a rhythmic Redskins offensemight look like. For the time being, it was all the


Redskins had in the way of encourage- ment. With a miraculous playoff run probably out of the question, they can only spend the remainder of the sched- ule playing tomake next season a better one. “You got to put your pride on the line,”


McNabb said. “I think for all the guys, this is kind of the test in which you find out who you really are. I think when you’re in that locker room and guys are preparing themselves and spending ex- tra time and communicating with each other to try to get this thing changed, that’s kind of when you find out what kind of person you have on your team.” jenkinss@washpost.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60